Witness by Karen Hesse
Witness is a powerfully told story of how the residents of one small Vermont town reacted to the arrival and infiltration of the Klu Klux Klan in the early part of the 1920s. Written entirely in free verse (just as in her exceptional title Out of the Dust), Karen Hesse presents 11 different community members, each speaking in first person about their views and interactions at this tense time.
Each character has a different view about African Americans and a different approach to dealing with the changes they see in their town. And each character speaks with a distinct voice, making this a good book to use when teaching this trait in Six Traits lessons.
Reading Levels
Interest Level: Grade 6+
Reading Level: young adult
Topics Covered
-Tolerance and Non-Discrimination (Character Ed)
-Life after abolition--early 20th century (US History)
-Six Traits of Writing--Voice (Language Arts)
-Free Verse Novels (Language Arts--Poetry)
Awards
& Rating
-ALA Notable Children's Book 2002
-National Council of Teachers of English Notable Book 2002
Lesson Idea: Readers
Theater
This
book makes an exceptional and emotional readers' theater. In fact, the
book is written in five acts, making for natural divisions for
different days. We have heard a number of teachers attest to this Witness lesson
idea, and even found some customer reviews on Amazon saying the same
thing! (If you are going to have students also do the graphic
organizer activity below, have them stop at the end of each act to jot
down notes about the different characters.)
Activity Idea:
Graphic
Organizer of Views
Witness presents the wide range of personal views
regarding African Americans that were present in early twentieth
century America. Have students graphically depict the
spectrum of acceptance vs. hatred that is shown in this book on either
their own graphic organizer or one provided by you. The graphic
organizer could be as follows:
This would be in the middle of a legal size paper, perhaps with labels
inside the bar (I've shown them outside due to the smaller size
available) and then have students make lines to eleven different
circles--one for each character, placed appropriately on the spectrum
based on their views.
There are eleven main characters (shown in pictures at the front of the
book), and the students will need to read the book to know where to
place the character on the spectrum. Each character circle should
include their name, their role/job in the community, and at least
three supporting pieces of information (quotes, actions...) to justify
why
the character was placed where it was on the spectrum.
Students should take
notes throughout the reading so that near the end they will clearly
understand where to put the different characters and have their
supporting evidence ready.
Looking for more American History books for kids?
See our SALE historical fiction books |
