Entry # 5 Literature Review

I was excited to pull out two of my favorite books I like to read to my students each year. I chose Bintou's Braids by Sylvaine Diouf and The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush by Tomie dePaola. Both of these books have greater meaning to the reader if the vocabulary is clear and the audience understands the different settings in each book. There is rich culture throughout both books and meaning would be lost without understanding and scaffolding to readers who are not familiar with Senegalese culture and American Indian culture.

Bintou's Braids is a children's book set in Sengal in a tribal community. This is a beautiful story about a little girl who really wants braids like the older girls in her village only she can not quite yet. In her village you have to be older before girls can wear braids. The tradition was set in place so that little girls did not focus on their outside beauty but remained focused on their inner beauty until the time was right. Bintou does something very brave and saves some lives. When the village tells her what a great job she has done and asks her what she wants to celebrate, she says she wants braids. The elder women say they will make her hair beautiful. The next day she is woken with her same tufts but with beautiful barrettes and ribbons.

The vocabulary that may need scaffolding are words such as (tufts, cornrows, baptism, village, fish balls, fritters, papayas, mango).

The setting may need some scaffolding such as what is it like to live in a village, it is near the water, what are palm trees?

Some if the cultural aspects that could be scaffolded are what is a baptism, why did the parents not name the baby when it was born, why do little girls have to wait to get their hair braided, and why do the girls put gold coins in their hair.

The story "The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush" is about a boy who wants to keep up with the other boys in the village but struggles greatly. He is not as fast as they are or as skilled as they are. When the boy gets a little older he goes to the mountains to think about being a great man someday. He has a vision there and is told he will be a great painter and that is how people will know him in the tribe. After the vision the young man begins to create paintings and through several more visions he begins to paint silhouettes of nature. Because of his beautiful paintings his tribe has beautiful flowers growing amazing sun sets and he is then known as He-Who-Brought-the-The-Sunset-to-the-Earth.

The vocabulary that may need scaffolding are words such as (tee pees, plains, buckskin, tribe).
The setting may need some background knowledge such as what is it like living in a tribe.
There may need to be some scaffolding on context of meaning within the story such as why would someone go to a mountain and see a vision, why would someone collect animal skin, why do they give the boy nick names such as "gopher and He-Who-Brought-the-Sunset-to-the-Earth?

I would like to re-read these two books to my students making sure that vocabulary, setting and context is clear to everyone so they can enjoy these stories as much as I did!

Before I read the two books I would first introduce the vocabulary words mentioned above through pictures, video, and conversation. I would also have the students discuss some of their personal tradition in their families and then talk about the traditions of Senegalese and American Indians. I would have the students talk about what is similar and different in the cultures compared to their own cultures at home. Throughout the readings I would pause the story and make sure students understand the context of the vocabulary.

Dayna~