Like Sisters on the Homefront |
Publication Information
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Author: Williams-Garcia, Rita |
Illustrator: |
Title: Like Sisters on the Homefront |
Date: 1995 |
Publisher: Puffin |
City: New York |
ISBN, paperback: |
ISBN, hardback: 0-14-038561-4 |
Recommended audience:
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ABE/ABLE:
Yes |
ESOL:
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Family:
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Young Adult:
Yes |
Picture:
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General Information:
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Book Type(s):
fiction
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HSE Descriptor(s):
language arts - reading
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Summary: |
When 14-year-old Gayle gets into "trouble," she and her baby Jose leave New York City to live with family in rural Georgia. At first bored with and distressed about her situation, Gayle eventually makes friends with her cousin Cookie. Through "tellings" by Great, the family matriarch, Gayle learns about her family's past and develops some ideas for her own future. (Coretta Scott King Honor Book) |
Teaching Ideas: |
If this were a movie, Reading Group members would rate it PG-13; the sensitive issue of abortion is an early part of the story. Nevertheless, this is a compelling book, a very "good read." The disparate family backgrounds of Gayle and Cookie lend themselves to comparison/ contrast discussions or writing, perhaps using matrices or Venn diagrams. Students might be interested in writing the family history (itself a microcosm of African-American history) using Great's "tellings." Ongoing journal entries about Gayle or Cookie would be a good way to track their transformations. Other areas for discussion or writing include intergenerational relationships, family secrets, how (and why and what) parents should teach children about human sexuality, or the dynamics of parent-child relationships. DR-TAs or response activities will work well throughout the text. |
Teaching Strategies: |
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DR-TA: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/dr_ta.pdf
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Matrices or Charts
http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/matrices_charts.pdf
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Types of Journals
http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/types_of_journals.pdf
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Venn Diagrams
http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/venn_diagrams.pdf
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Keywords: select any link below for a list of resources which also have that keyword |
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