Today in class we discussed the book "Bronx Masquerade". After reading the book on my own, I felt the book was a great read for students because it not only discussed issues of diversity but it also discussed issues that teens encounter no matter what their ethnicity. After reading Nikki Grimes' website, I found out some reasons why she wrote the book. She stated, "I knew people like Raynard, and Sheila, and all the rest. The characters in Bronx Masquerade are my peeps! So, while these characters are all fictional, they come from someplace real. (There is one real person in the book, though: Mr. Ward. That character is based on a teacher and poet I am honored to call my friend.)" I felt this said a lot about being an insider to the book because she did experience the issues she wrote about.
People in class today talked about how this book might have portrayed negative stereotypes because it put an issue with a certain ethnicity. I do agree with this point of view, but I also see how she wrote about these ethnicity's with these certain issues because they were real stories. In her website she wrote about the book "Each small story has its own theme, or core idea. However, the overriding theme of the novel is the power of poetry, specifically the power of poetry, the power of poetry as a means of self-expression, as a strategy for shaping community, and as a tool for teaching us that we are all alike beneath the skin. We all bleed when cut, and when everything else is stripped away, the greatest common denominator is the human heart." After I read this I realized that that explains the whole story. Grimes wanted her readers to see how every individual has a voice and you can't judge someone by looking at them from the outside.
When talking in my discussion group we discussed how this book would even bee a good book to pick apart as a teacher and make copies of certain poems for class discussion without even having your students read the book. This way as a teacher you could make sure these stereotypes are discussed in a positive way without leaving students feeling mad about what they read.
Vikki Grimes website :http://www.nikkigrimes.com/bronx/bronx1.html
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2 comments:
I found it to be very interesting that you looked up Nikki Grimes website and found out what she had to say about the book. I think that would have been very important today in our discussion to add to her point of why she wrote the book, "Bronx Masquerade". When I think back to the discussion we had, I would have said that she wrote this book based on the issues that affect many people today. Like you said, it is reality. There was also some discussion about all of the issues raised in the book that could be seen as "stereotypes" and why none of these had been addressed by the teacher. I think it is important to remember that this is reality in many places and just like many of our classmates said today, there is only so much that you can do.
I like your idea about using just the poems from the book in a class and students could look at these from a different perspective. I think it would be interesting to many older students and they may even be able to relate to the poems. I think that you brought up a very good point today.
Julie-
I think it was a really great idea to go on Nikki Grimes website. I actually did the same thing because of the conversation created in class the other day about her intentions for the book. Although I thought that the book did in some ways perpetuate negative stereotypes in this particular community, I agree that the book did much more than just that. Especially looking at her website and insights on the book, I think her goal was to do what you said and help students learn about each other and how it is important for everyone to get to know each other before they judge each other. I think that although this book brought upon some negative stereotypes that I discussed in my paper, Grimes' insider perspective made the situations of these children not so "stereotypical."
I also agree with Sarah that looking at this website before discussion would have been helpful for the development of my own ideas and thoughts. However, this is what blogging is for! I think it is important to do more research no matter what the book is on where the author is coming from in order to understand the peice of literature better.
I really did enjoy reading Bronx Masquerade and think that it is a quality peice of literature. I think is would be very interesting as Julie and Sarah both mentioned to only present the poems. I wonder how the context of the book would change and the tone would be different without Tyrone's voice throughout it.
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