29. The Other Side
Jaqueline Woodson
E.B. Lewis
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2001
29 pages
Multicultural
I chose this book because I saw the illustration of
the girl on the front sitting on the tire swing and it reminded me of my
childhood when I would swing on the tire swing in my front yard. This book
describes the blossoming of a friendship between a Caucasian girl and an
African American girl. The girl’s mothers both told them not to ever cross the
fence that separated their yards, but finally one day the girls decided it was
acceptable to sit on top on the fence because it was not breaking any rules.
The girl’s friendship grows and dream of a day when someone will come along and
knock down the fence that separates their lives.
The illustrations in this book are captivating. The
illustrator used watercolors to create the pictures. The text is on one side of
the layout in the negative space while the illustration occupies the remainder
of the layout of the pages. The illustrations do not give great attention to
the small details, but captivate the relationship between the two friends
perfectly. The colors used are cool colors full of purples, blues, greens,
browns, and whites.
I enjoyed reading this book because of the unique
friendship that started off simply because of a boundary placed between the
girls. This story gives the implication of the fact that there is a day that
was coming that no longer would there be such segregation between different
races and the girls were anxious and dreamed about that day. This book could be
used in a language arts lesson to have students explore the possibilities of
how the girls could have furthered their friendship and what finally led them
to no longer worrying about the fence that separated them or how they would
react and handle that situation if it was about them. This book could also be
used in a character development lesson to teach students to accept others just
as they are for their differences and uniqueness in life. This book does not have
any awards, but tells a story of hope for all readers.
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