FernFolio » poverty

The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake

fernfolio — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:44:14 +0000

Thirteen year-old Maleeka Madison is laughed at and called names by her classmates. Tall and reed-thin and black, she is called beanpole and taunted because of her skin colour. To make matters worse, she wears clothes made by her mother, which often don’t fit properly, and she’s been a straight A student, a teacher’s pet. Now in Grade 7, Maleeka has made up her mind to fight back against the name-calling and bullying. She makes a deal with Charlese, the toughest girl in the class, to do her homework in exchange for being able to hang out with her, and views Char’s decision to bring Maleeka clothes each morning, so that she’s fit to be seen with, as an added bonus. But being seen in her company doesn’t stop the cruel remarks or prevent Char from using Maleeka to do her dirty work or from making nasty digs of her own.
When Miss Saunders comes to McClenton Middle School to teach English, Maleeka recognises her as trouble. Miss Saunders is determined to make a difference in the lives of her students, and identifies Maleeka as someone who is working well below potential. The teacher challenges the girl to begin to speak up for herself, and sets the example by inviting her students to openly discuss her own facial disfigurement, then telling them to take ownership of their sense of self. Miss Saunders encourages Maleeka to write and loans her books to help her improve her work. When she catches Maleeka smoking with Char in the girls’ washroom, she arranges for her to work in the school office in an effort to break the ringleader’s hold on the girl.
Maleeka knows she doesn’t want to be friends with Char and her gang, but fears the consequences of walking away too much to sever the relationship. John-John, who has tormented her for years, seems to get nastier and nastier, and, even when confronted about his behaviour, won’t back off. Caleb, with whom she used to hang out, has abandoned her, getting up and walking away from Maleeka to the cheers of their classmates. Though she prays for a strong spirit, the young girl simply lacks the courage to live up to Miss Saunders’ expectations.
But, when the verbal taunts and name calling turn physical, Maleeka has to decide whether she is going to continue to be held prisoner by the prejudice of others or find the courage to set herself free.
FernFolio Editor

Yossi’s Goal by Ellen Schwartz

fernfolio — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 00:31:24 +0000

When they fled the pogroms in Russia and made their way to Canada, the inhabitants of Braslav thought they were coming to a land of hope and opportunity. However, though they are free from the fear of soldiers arriving to burn their homes and kill them, Yossi and his family discover that they have traded one form of injustice for another.
While Yossi’s father, Avram, and soon-to-be brother-in-law, Daniel, work long days in the sweatshops of lower Montreal, his mother, Gussie, his seventeen year-old sister, Miriam, and Miriam’s soon-to-be mother-in-law, Sadie, labour over an old sewing machine doing piecework to supplement their meagre income. Yossi sells newspapers on the street and carries bundles for Steiner’s sweat shop before attending school each day. Yet, even with everyone working, the two families can afford only a small two-bedroom apartment, and everyday items such as enough food and warm clothing are always a little beyond their reach. Daniel and Miriam despair of ever earning enough to get married and find their own apartment.
Daniel and other young men who work in the sweat shops decide to organize a walkout in support of better working conditions and higher wages, and begin to meet in secret to plan their protest. Though Yossi is excited by the idea of his friends and their families finally taking action against the unjust working conditions at Steiner’s, he is worried by his father’s objections as well as by Avram’s growing weakness, and fears that Daniel’s actions might bring disaster upon the family.
Yossi is also preoccupied by a exciting new game he has discovered in the streets of Montreal, and by the young French Canadian boys who play it. As he learns more about hockey and makes friends with René, Michel, Jean-Paul and the others, Yossi begins to long for a pair of skates so that he can play, too. But, with his father’s illness and the family’s constant state of poverty, will Yossi ever be able to afford the $2.00 cost of skates?
Yossi’s Goal is a lovely story about the immigrant experiences of poor Russian Jews who came to Canada in the 1890s to escape the pogroms. It is told with humour and tenderness by Ellen Schwartz.
FernFolio Editor

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

fernfolio — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:55:47 +0000

Eleven year-old Jess Aaron’s life is a hard one. The family farm can’t support them, so he and his four sisters and parents struggle to make ends meet on what his father can earn working in construction. They are a poor family in a community of poor families; money is tight and there is rarely any left over for anything beyond the bare necessities. Jess, an artist and a dreamer, is expected to help out at home with the milking and with chopping wood for the stove. His parents cannot understand his preoccupation with drawing and are irritated, at times, by the fact that he draws “the way some people drink whiskey”. Jess’ life at school is no better; he has few friends among his classmates, and cannot imagine how he is going to survive another eight years.
The arrival of Leslie Burke in Jess’ life changes everything. The daughter of well-educated, freethinking hippy writers, whom she calls Bill and Judy, Leslie dresses and talks and acts in ways that at first shock and then attract Jess. When he defends her against their schoolmates, Jess and Leslie begin to be friends, but their friendship really blossoms after they find Terabithia, a stretch of land in the woods that they reach by swinging across a creek on an old length of rope. Leslie decides that she and Jess will be king and queen of Terabithia. Drawing upon her favourite books and stories, she opens for him the world of the imagination. Through Leslie, Jess realises that he is not alone in his need to feed his heart and mind and spirit. In Leslie, Jess finds the other half of his soul.
When tragedy strikes, Jess must re-evaluate all that he is and all that his friendship with Leslie has taught him. He discovers within him the strength and courage and purpose to take her lessons and make them his own.
It has been many years since I last read Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia. I am struck, again, by the power and beauty of this story. It is one to be read and discussed and wept over.
FernFolio Editor