p49-61 Glass of Water & Inseparable

Not that this is something that I wouldn’t have noticed before MESE, but this book is subtle. It’s not purposefully about the Black Panther Movement, at least in an obvious didactic way. The history and culture is blended in to the background- it’s the little touches, like grace notes, Miyazaki’s slipping of a shoe, give little bits of insight into the book. Today when I was teaching about efferent aesthetic reader response one of the things we talked about that it can often ruin fiction and poetry to force kids to read from an efferent stance when they are accustomed and the material suggests reading from an aesthetic stance. While I’m paying attention to all these details like Delphine’s responsibilities as the oldest of three little Black girls- “I’m used to doing what is hard” (p53)- I’m not sure I would want a child to attempt to do so as they read. It’s hard to keep in mind that kids are often still struggling with basic decoding and comprehension (Vygotsky’s tools becoming signs ideas) while I am able to read as a pretty advanced reader. This book is suggested for grades 4 through 7 (ages 9 through 13) with an 11 year old main character. I think it would be a good read aloud in fourth grade but probably wouldn’t try having kids read it until 5th or 6th grade on their own. It’s not that it’s long, but the cultural references present in the text could be confusing and probably require some assistance from the teacher answering questions. On the other hand, I think that it’s okay for students to just be swept up in the story in an aesthetic response, if they are capable of this type of reading, and then have the teacher return them to the book at the end to unpack some of the issues hidden behind the text.