Quarter Two: Blog 2

This week, I began Bee Season by Myla Goldberg. Eliza Naumann is a fifth grader in the "not gifted" class at her elementary school. She envies the beautiful and popular kids in the TAG program at school, Talented and Gifted students. She tells about how in second grade, her teacher had the honor of choosing which of her students would be put on the accelerated course and which ones would not. Eliza was not one of the ones her teacher chose. Since then, mediocrity has been expected of Eliza by her teachers, nothing more. So when she wins her first ever class spelling bee and then goes on to win the school spelling bee, everyone, including Eliza is surprised and she is so proud of herself for proving wrong everyone that thought she wasn't smart.

I found it odd that the book was in first person- from a fifth graders point of view on life. Every once and a while, the narrator will step in and give some background on a character or event, but for the most part, Eliza is the speaker. More interesting than the point of view is the vocabulary. Even when Eliza is speaking, the author uses words that even I had to look up, like unvariegated (which means not diversified or unvaried (Webster)). The book just doesn't sound like it was written by an elementary school student.

Quarter 2: Blog 1

This week, I read The Epic Of Sundjata, the fictionalized tale of the historic ruler of Mali of West Africa. This story takes place from about 1210-1235 AD, from the birth of Sundjata (also known as Sundiata) to the battle of Karina, in which Sundjata defeats the evil sorcerer king, Sumangaru. This tale shares much about the culture of West Africa at the time it was written. It shows that the region was Muslim because of the constant references to Allah and that they believed in "spirit doubles," animals that inhabited each person and also was the source of their strength. Also, they believed in talking to soothsayers, or fortune tellers. The soothsayers would toss stones or shells on the ground and study the shells/ stones to decide the future of the person that came to them. The person would then take the advice of the soothsayer to keep themselves out of harm or to obtain for themselves a great fortune. Another piece of culture that the story tells us is that although women were not the rulers of the kingdoms of West Africa, they still played major roles in the governing of the regions. We see this when the wife of the father of Sundjata ruled with her son when Sundjata's father died. I believe that although this story may not be completely true, it was important for the Jalis, who were advisors to the kings, to pass this story down from generation to generation of kings because not only does it show the kings how to rule a kingdom, but it also shows us how the West Africans lived in the 1200s AD.