Just Teacher

Just Ella

Originally published by Aladdin Paperbacks

Written by Margaret Peterson Haddix

The last time I had a teacher incorporate a read aloud into my school schedule (before Dr. Johnson, of course), was Mrs. Shields in fifth grade.  We read a number of books throughout the year, but the one that has stuck with me is Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine.  I was obsessed with Ella’s go-getter approach to life and her constant perseverance in breaking her curse (for those of you who are not familiar with that story, Ella was given the “gift” of constant obedience by her fairy godmother at birth and is trying to break the spell as a young adult).  Ella Enchanted is a variation of the classic Cinderella story and the events that led to young Ella at the ball in a beautiful gown with glass slippers; Just Ella is about her supposed happily ever after.

I first bought Just Ella after my wonderful classroom read aloud experience because I thought it was the sequel to or a spin off of Ella Enchanted, but I was very, very wrong.  Despite what the people of the kingdom say about Cynthiana Elenora, the mysterious and beautiful princess to be, she’s just Ella Brown, a girl who escaped her wicked stepmother to make it to Prince Charming’s ball.  She lost her glass slipper while running home at midnight and got swept to the castle by the Prince and his entourage the very next morning.  Once in the castle, a slew of teachers and counselors are assigned to make her into the princess she never intended to be.  She tolerates her etiquette lessons and tight corsets all in the name of love, until she questions whether or not she is in love with Prince Charming.  

Ella’s story is filled with inspiration for young girls.  At times, its feminist undertones may be a little to extreme for some young readers (and even adults).  When Ella stands up to Madame Bisset, her primary instructor/advisor, because she and her ladies in waiting are forced into, “a change of pace to do needle point in a cloth prison instead of a stone one,” she is drugged and dragged into temporary confinement (102).  Ella later finds out that she was selected to be the future queen not because Charm fell hopelessly in love with her, but because she was the most beautiful girl at the ball and “the Charmings must always produce beautiful children.”  Things get even more complicated when Ella decides that she does not want to marry Charm, but that would be giving away too much!

I think that this fantasy story would be a great addition to upper-level elementary discussion on stereotypes and human rights.  Most children are familiar with the classic fairytales, but they probably have never thought about why there’s often a wicked stepmother, a dead father, a hopeful girl, and a brave prince.  Disney addressed some of these stereotypes in their movie Enchanted, but there are plenty of books that delve into more realistic experiences.  Scholastic (who now publishes the book and it’s companion tale, Palace of Mirrors) has a useful discussion guide available on their website to help inspire student conversations http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp?id=10860_type=Book_typeId=4672.  When talking about alternative fairy tales, I have to mention a favorite book from my childhood: The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch.  This book would be a great read aloud for younger students, but it would be a great tale to revisit after discussing literary stereotypes and gender roles.  You can hear the story read aloud by the author for free on his website to see if you like it, but seeing the pictures is definitely worth it http://robertmunsch.com/the-paper-bag-princess/#. 

Behind the Classroom Wall

Behind The Bedroom Wall

Published by: Milkweed Editions

Written by: Laura E. Williams

Illustrations by: A. Nancy Goldstein

This book sparked my interest in the Holocaust as both a historical time period and a personally significant event.  I first read this book when I was in third grade and it has remained one of the most meaningful literary encounters of my life.  I do not remember where I got the book from or why I selected it; I just remember feeling changed after I read it.  Behind the Bedroom Wall is a young adult novel that delves head first into a time period and a state of mind that many modern-day adolescents cannot even begin to comprehend.  I cannot describe the power of this book any better than a passage from its back cover:

Filled with adventure, Behind the Bedroom Wall helps us to

understand the madness that drove so many to turn on their neighbors

and the courage that allowed some to resist.

This book was the spark of my fascination with the Holocaust, Jewish religion, and my own family’s heritage.  Although I was raised in a nuclear family that did not identify with any particular religion, my mother’s side of the family is of Jewish decent and my father’s side of the family is traditionally Catholic.  I grew up with limited exposure to the major holidays and traditions of both cultures; however, I have always had a special interest in Jewish culture.   My grandmother is a Holocaust survivor who secretly left Germany as an eleven-year-old Jewish girl on one of the last Kindertransport trains to Great Britain.  Her older sister was already in England attending school when their father and grandfather were taken away by the Gestapo in the middle of the night; less than a week later, my great grandmother dressed my Nana in her favorite dress and said goodbye to her forever.

As a young child, I could not even begin to wrap my head around the emotional trauma that my grandmother must have dealt with at such an early age, but reading this book helped me understand how disorienting this period really was.  Some critics on Amazon.com feel that this novel oversimplifies history and makes for a flat read, but the overwhelming majority (40/44 posted reviews) praise Behind the Bedroom Wall’s stirring plot line.   Korinna Rehme is a thirteen-year-old member of her local Jungmädel Nazi youth group who believes that “Hitler is the most wonderful man.”  While this statement is unsettling to most readers, it helps to illustrate the extremist mentality that took Germany by storm in the late 1930s.  While there are a number of young adult novels that describe the horror and despair of concentration camps and ghettos from a Jewish protagonist’s perspective, this novel makes readers think about the other side’s story and how sometimes, there is no clear line between right and wrong.

This book would be a wonderful addition to an upper-level elementary classroom full of curious readers learning about ethics and duty.  Students have numerous opportunities to make predictions about what will happen later in the text, starting with Korinna’s complaints about the mice she hears behind her bedroom wall.  If I were giving this novel to a class or a small group, I would be sure to remove the book jacket (if it’s a hard copy) because I feel that the synopsis on the back gives away too much. Milkweed Edition’s website even has a guided reading guide available at http://www.milkweed.org/downloads/cg_BBW.pdf that breaks the novel down into eight suggested lessons, an overview of the text, and helps set the historical context for the unit.  There are interdisciplinary connections (creating skits, looking at artifacts), word lists, and writing exercises available FOR FREE.  Milkweed Editions also has similar teacher’s guides available for a number of other texts (and did I mention you could download them and save them forever as PDF files?!)  Laura E. Williams’ website (http://www.lauraewilliams.com) is not the best resource, but it does have some interesting bits of information.  First of all, it lists her direct email, and second, is a link to http://www.btbwthemusical.com/, the site of the recently developed musical adapted from this novel.  Though it hasn’t quite made it to Broadway, this just shows the type of scope and sequence this powerful novel can have.