Grade Level: 4th Grade and above
Illustrations By: Richard Yarde
I enjoyed reading "Stompin' At The Savoy". This story is about a young African American girl that is nervous to perform at her dance recital. That night a magical drum comes to visit her and takes her to an alternate world where she is surrounded by music, dancing, and jazz. This book portrays a significant standing on African American culture, and expresses many components of jazz music and dance. I also enjoy how this book expresses the significance of family support and values. Mindy is also able to conquer her fear of dancing in front of a group of strangers after she dominates the dance floor in her dream world. I also think this book could suggest a greater means of support beyond the physical world through the use of the magic drum. I think that this book would be a great interlude into encouraging students to be passionate about their culture and hopefully sharing specific concepts or traditions with our class. I think it is important to understand the background of the people that surround you; this will not only help my students to learn something new about their classmates but to also appreciate what makes the unique as individuals. I also think it would be very interesting to compare multiple differences throughout culture in our classroom. This form of education coming from their peers will hopefully cause them to appreciate a new culture as well as their classmates through their cultural identity. I also enjoy that Mindy conquers her fear and is able to perform confidently at her jazz recital. She took the encouragement of her family and of her spiritual guide on stage with her and was able to express her happiness and skill to the fullest extent.
No comments:
Post a Comment