Read:
Noe. J., Johnson, N (1999) Getting Started with Literature Circles. Christopher-Gordon Publisher, Massachusetts
Williams-Garcia, R., (2010) One Crazy Summer: New York HarperCollins
Reason for reading: Reading Noe and Johnson has had a specific influence on my reading for entertainment. I use to read 5-10 books a week and had to structure my reading more toward academic because of my coursework. Recently, I began scheduling time for reading for myself the same way I do for my literature students. The adjustment has been wonderful. At the heart of this revival has been One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams –Garcia. Noe and Johnson talk about what is worth worry about and what is worth letting go. (p.32) A lot of my personal writing involves some type of time travel. I take my characters through time to connect with emotional or dramatic points of their past to inform their future. One Crazy Summer took me on such a journey.
After our family relocated to Oakland California (2908 Harper Street) My three brothers and I were forced to engage hippies, the Black Panther movement and the death of our national icons, King, X and Kennedy our promised saviors. My father was a minister at the time and I read many a leaflet and pamphlet of propaganda during those crazy years and then quietly found my own voice at Golden Gate Park where my Uncle Russell Lacey played golf and the park became my platform.
“Hear that trumpet sound?
Change is coming round and round.
Round that corner fast,
Snap this frozen place and twist that Golden Gate.
Hear that trumpet sound?
No it won’t rain around here,
But the wind will blow and blow that trumpet sound.
Yes, hear that trumpet sound.
The journey Delphine. Vonetta and Fern take to California from New York "One Crazy Summer, allows me to hear "that trumpet sound" once again.
Wow what an amazing background you have with the book we are reading! I can't wait to hear your thoughts this Thursday!
ReplyDeleteI loved the craft of Crazy Summer, but it also harkened to memories for me as well. I did not live in California, but in reading about the tv shows that the girls wanted to see, the music they listened to, the clothing described, and the news stories, I could see it clearly. Great details that made the book alive. I wonder for a young student reading it, what would they think? It would be a great stimulus for doing some history research, prompting questions about what has changed, what is the same? I particularly loved reading the children's score board of "counting colored people" on tv, how many words spoken, etc. It helped me to see through their eyes and jog my own experience.
ReplyDeleteWhat an inspiring entry! I sigh and push my non-required reading to the side at the beginning of every semester. I have a pile of neglected books I couldn't "justify" spending my free time on, so your idea of scheduling time makes so much sense.
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