Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Reader Response to Thanksgiving: The True Story
Patty Murphy, a graduate student in education, wrote: Penny Colman's book made me smile when she described the various ways we Americans celebrate Thanksgiving from watching or playing football games to adding our own ethnic foods to the usual Thanksgiving feast. . . . I loved her chapter "Turkey and Lasagna." This is exactly what we do in my family, as I am Italian. We dress the table with a lovely table cloth, fine china and silverware, and crystal water and wine goblets. We have a floral centerpiece and the best salt and pepper shakers. I never set up a children's table. The children have the same place settings as the adults and participate fully in this family feast. (They have never broken anything, not like some of the adults.) We start off the meal with salad and lasagna. Then we bring out the turkey, ham, potatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach stuffing (it's delicious), green bean casserole, and don't forget the cranberry sauce. We pray and have a toast. We talk about what we are thankful for. Later we bring out the coffee, tea, homemade Bavarian shortbread, and an assortment of pies, such as pumpkin, apple, blueberry, and coconut. Sometimes we have chocolate and vanilla pudding with real whipped cream and Jell-O. We talk, play piano and enjoy our loved ones' company. We laugh a lot. The day is magical. Penny Colman's book made me remember all of the things I love about Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Thanksgiving: The True Story Readers' Responses
A group of graduate students in education at Queens College, the City University of New York, read a galley of Thanksgiving: The True Story. If so motivated, I asked them to write their response to the book and classroom connections. With their permission, I will continue to post their responses/ideas on my blog: Here are the first two:
Trina Gasper-Miller wrote 7 pages of chapter-by-chapter ideas and a response! First here is an excerpt from her response (I'll start posting her classroom connections in my next blog entry.)
The book allows readers to reflect on the different claims as well as the different activities surrounding the holiday. It gives readers the opportunity to understand the changes in America. . . .The book, written as a narrative, allows readers to reflect on their cultural celebrations as well as the American holiday of Thanksgiving. . . . The book is hard to put down once you start reading it. I would recommend this book for teachers to read anytime of year and for older students to read on their own.
Michele Nicholas wrote: Thank you for writing a book which enables the reader to truly look beyond the 1621 Pilgrim and Indian version of Thanksgiving. From Sarah Hale's relentless pursuit of an official day of Thanksgiving, the Native Americans' National Day of Mourning, pageants (with and without Indians), as well as Lydia Maria Child's classic poem, my favorite holiday has and always will be Thanksgiving! I look forward to the release of Thanksgiving: The True Story.
Trina Gasper-Miller wrote 7 pages of chapter-by-chapter ideas and a response! First here is an excerpt from her response (I'll start posting her classroom connections in my next blog entry.)
The book allows readers to reflect on the different claims as well as the different activities surrounding the holiday. It gives readers the opportunity to understand the changes in America. . . .The book, written as a narrative, allows readers to reflect on their cultural celebrations as well as the American holiday of Thanksgiving. . . . The book is hard to put down once you start reading it. I would recommend this book for teachers to read anytime of year and for older students to read on their own.
Michele Nicholas wrote: Thank you for writing a book which enables the reader to truly look beyond the 1621 Pilgrim and Indian version of Thanksgiving. From Sarah Hale's relentless pursuit of an official day of Thanksgiving, the Native Americans' National Day of Mourning, pageants (with and without Indians), as well as Lydia Maria Child's classic poem, my favorite holiday has and always will be Thanksgiving! I look forward to the release of Thanksgiving: The True Story.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Thanksgiving: The True Story
Recently I received a box with 20 copies of galley proofs of Thanksgiving: The True Story with this printed on the cover: "UNCORRECTED PROOF
NOT FOR SALE." So what is a galley proof? It is an almost-but-not-final version of a book that is bound with a soft cover. It does not include the final corrections or all of the material, e.g. this galley proof is missing the map that shows the 12 competing claims for the "first" Thanksgiving and the index, etc. It also has a revised jacket image clipped to the jacket image on the galley proof. (The revised image resulted from concerns I raised about the original image). In addition it is printed on inferior paper stock so the pictures aren't crisp and clear.
Many publishers, including mine, send galley proofs to reviewers, bookstores, media outlets between three and six months before a book is officially released--that date, known as the publication "pub" date--is September 16, 2008, for Thanksgiving: The True Story. The point is to create "buzz," or excitement about a book.
I distributed my copies to teachers, librarians, and academics because I am eager to get their responses and ideas. I'll be posting their comments. First, here is what Myra Zarnowski, a professor of education and my colleague at Queens College, the City University of New York and author of Making Sense of History emailed me: "I finished Thanksgiving last night. It reads so smoothly! I just kept moving along until I finished. BUT the most important thing about the book is how you speak to the reader about your own thinking. I don't know of any author who reveals to children the process of raising and answering questions, searching for answers, who gives the reasons for thinking one way rather than another, who integrates comments of so many contemporaries, and who makes puzzling about the past both fun and important. The whole book is about historical interpretation.
Parts I and Parts II work well together. The first part will introduce children to thinking about the "truth" of competing stories. It can easily be extended in the classroom. The second part will likely get children thinking about Thanksgiving as they experience it. Again, easily extended in the classroom.
So Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! As a teacher, I see this book as being about Thanksgiving, but also about historical thinking. This is a great contribution."
Note: Myra is one of the many people who answered my Thanksgiving survey whom I quoted. She's in chapter 7, Food: Turkey and Lasagna--"Myra Zarnowski remembered the first time she spent Thanksgiving with her Polish American husband's family. 'After we ate the turkey and stuffing and all the side dishes, I thought we were through. But we were just getting started because then they started bringing out all the Polish dishes--kielbasa, pierogi, etc.'" (pp. 113-114)
NOT FOR SALE." So what is a galley proof? It is an almost-but-not-final version of a book that is bound with a soft cover. It does not include the final corrections or all of the material, e.g. this galley proof is missing the map that shows the 12 competing claims for the "first" Thanksgiving and the index, etc. It also has a revised jacket image clipped to the jacket image on the galley proof. (The revised image resulted from concerns I raised about the original image). In addition it is printed on inferior paper stock so the pictures aren't crisp and clear.
Many publishers, including mine, send galley proofs to reviewers, bookstores, media outlets between three and six months before a book is officially released--that date, known as the publication "pub" date--is September 16, 2008, for Thanksgiving: The True Story. The point is to create "buzz," or excitement about a book.
I distributed my copies to teachers, librarians, and academics because I am eager to get their responses and ideas. I'll be posting their comments. First, here is what Myra Zarnowski, a professor of education and my colleague at Queens College, the City University of New York and author of Making Sense of History emailed me: "I finished Thanksgiving last night. It reads so smoothly! I just kept moving along until I finished. BUT the most important thing about the book is how you speak to the reader about your own thinking. I don't know of any author who reveals to children the process of raising and answering questions, searching for answers, who gives the reasons for thinking one way rather than another, who integrates comments of so many contemporaries, and who makes puzzling about the past both fun and important. The whole book is about historical interpretation.
Parts I and Parts II work well together. The first part will introduce children to thinking about the "truth" of competing stories. It can easily be extended in the classroom. The second part will likely get children thinking about Thanksgiving as they experience it. Again, easily extended in the classroom.
So Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! As a teacher, I see this book as being about Thanksgiving, but also about historical thinking. This is a great contribution."
Note: Myra is one of the many people who answered my Thanksgiving survey whom I quoted. She's in chapter 7, Food: Turkey and Lasagna--"Myra Zarnowski remembered the first time she spent Thanksgiving with her Polish American husband's family. 'After we ate the turkey and stuffing and all the side dishes, I thought we were through. But we were just getting started because then they started bringing out all the Polish dishes--kielbasa, pierogi, etc.'" (pp. 113-114)
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