Book Detail

Why War Is Never A Good Idea

Publication Information
Author:  Walker, Alice Illustrator:  Vitale, Stefano
Title:  Why War Is Never A Good Idea Date:  2007
Publisher:  Harper Collins City:  New York
ISBN, paperback:   ISBN, hardback:  

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

General Information:
Book Type(s):    poetry, essays

HSE Descriptor(s):    social studies

Summary:
This beautifully illustrated poetic essay uses images of water and earth to communicate the destructiveness of war. Dscribes war as a "something which has grown old, but not wise as it destroys beautiful things and nice people."

Teaching Ideas:
READER RESPONSE to this dramatic text would allow students to offer personal issues and ideas - can be read aloud, responded to then shown as illustrated text. SKETCH TO STRETCH would be a form of response and illustraions could be thebn compared for content with Vitale's work. CHART WORK WITH CAUSE AND EFFECT would really drive home the points of this poem. It could go beyond the explicit info of the poem to the next effect, next effect and so forth. COLLABORATION to learn more about peace movements could be done with small groups. This inspiring poem really makes a statement about pacifism and groups could learn more about anti-war literature and movements. Because the images make inferential leaps, teachers may want to explore the images and metaphors to identify what is happening. Students need to explore why war does occur and who are the victims in the book. Readers may want to write their own poems about "why war is never a good idea." This book can be uesd to introduce discussion on how decisions of policy makers impact citzens on many levels.

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 Matrices or Charts
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/matrices_charts.pdf
bullet Sketch to Stretch
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/sketch_stretch.pdf
bullet Think-Pair-Share
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/think_pair_share.pdf

Keywords: select any link below for a list of resources which also have that keyword
bullet Hardships > adversity
bullet Hardships > survival
bullet Geography > environment
bullet Social Studies > sociology > social issues
bullet Social Studies > sociology > social issues > violence
bullet History > topic > war
bullet History > topic > war > children and war
bullet Social Studies > sociology > social issues > exploitation
bullet Literature and Language > poetry
bullet Music > requiem


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