Book Detail

Black and White Airmen: Their True Story

Publication Information
Author:  Fleischman, John Illustrator:  
Title:  Black and White Airmen: Their True Story Date:  2007
Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin City:  Boston
ISBN, paperback:  061856297-4 ISBN, hardback:  

Recommended audience:
ABE/ABLE:   Yes ESOL:  
Family:   Young Adult:   Yes
Picture:  

General Information:
Book Type(s):    nonfiction, true story, memoirs/reminiscences, biography and autobiography

HSE Descriptor(s):    social studies

Summary:
The history of airmen in WWII is told through the experiences of two men from Cincinnati, one African American and one Caucasian. Information about race relations at the time is woven throughout the narrative.

Teaching Ideas:
War buffs will certainly enjoy this book. Students may want to synthesize John's/ Herb's experiences and then compare them. Additional study about the Tuskeegee Airmen might prove interesting. Map work can focus on finding places in the European Theater. A 3 level timeline would bring the events of this book into perspective. The center line would be historical events; the top line life events of John and the lower line life events of Herb. The theme running through this book is about social and political situations affecting individual lives so the continuing development of this 3 layer timeline would illustrate how this worked and organize the wealth of information in this book. The men's developing friendship- how and why they became friends- is another interesting aspect of the book.

Teaching Strategies:
bullet Agree? Disagree? Why?
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/agree_disagree_why.pdf
bullet Bleich's Heuristic for Responding to Reading
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/bleichs_heuristic.pdf
bullet Discussion Webs
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/discussion_webs.pdf
bullet Matrices or Charts
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/matrices_charts.pdf
bullet Unsent Letters
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/unsent_letters.pdf

Keywords: select any link below for a list of resources which also have that keyword
bullet Ethnic Groups > African-American
bullet Emotions-Personal Issues > emotions > determination/perseverance
bullet Emotions-Personal Issues > personal issues > group > relationships > friendships
bullet History > topic > war > World War II
bullet Social Studies > sociology > social issues > racism > race relations
bullet Social Studies > sociology > social issues > racism > segregation
bullet Transportation > flight > aviators
bullet History > topic > Black History
bullet Work > soldier


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