I am so excited for Global Read Aloud, a six-week period where students in classrooms and libraries around the globe read the same book and connect with each other to share their thoughts and experiences.
This year's upper elementary/middle grade choice Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed will be a fabulous shared reading experience. Amal Unbound is a classic Nancy Paulsen Book - beautifully-written prose, richly-developed characters, and thought-provoking subject matter.
In a nutshell, Amal Unbound is "the compelling story of a girl’s fight to regain her life and dreams after being forced into indentured servitude." Amal finds herself having to pay off a debt to the corrupt landlord of her Pakastani village after she has a run-in with his son. While working at his estate, she comes to understand his hold over the village and courageously finds a way to change not only her situation, but the situations of others.You can read more about the book on the PenguinRandomHouse website.
I was fortunate to receive an advanced galley of the book at the end of last year. After reading it, I had to put it into students' hands. Three fifth graders (two girls and one boy) read it. As you can see from this post-it note that was left by one of these students, this book really resonated with this reader.
These students readers were encouraged to mark up the book with their questions, comments, and thoughts. Their comments and questions give me a sense of what our GRA18 readers will hear and notice. All the quotes and excerpts are from the advanced galley.
Here all three of them commented.
This writing resonated with two of them.
After the three of them finished reading the book, they shared their reflections.
What are you wondering?
What surprised you?
Aisha Saeed, you should know...
These reflections were also shared:
These students' comments, questions, and reflections give me a sense of what I can expect while reading the book with my Lunch Bunch Book Group. The exploration of themes and relationships in Amal Unbound will no doubt lead to interesting conversations during our shared reading experience.
There are also a few paragraphs and sentences that I know I want to pause on so that students have time to reflect. Here are four of them:
"I realized now that as kind as Nasreen Baji could be to me, she could never understand my position." What a great opportunity to talk about perspective taking and sympathy versus empathy.
"You're our guest here for a short while. Relax." Here we see the dawning realization of the change in Amal's circumstances and role in the family. And in the excerpt below.
"...it turned out that change, no matter how good and necessary, came with a price." My three early readers of Amal Unbound were surprised to learn that not all the characters were happy with the outcome at then end of the story. Amal had a future, but not all of the servants and workers did.
"I knew that one person could hold many different dreams and see them all come true." Inspiring words indeed.
We'll be reading Aisha Saeed's author's note after we finish the book. This paragraph about individual acts of good having an impact is sure to get students thinking, and, hopefully, acting.
I can't wait to read Amal Unbound with my students. I know that our conversations around our reading of this book will be interesting and thoughtful.
No comments:
Post a Comment