This blog is devoted to exploring the connection between the secondary Social Studies and English classrooms. We aim to discuss relevant literature that bridges the content between the two subject areas. We look forward to hearing your ideas and suggestions about the literature and the ways it can be used in the classroom.
Disposable People is a powerful awakening on the reality of slavery's existence in our modern world. His investigation of conditions in Mauritania, Brazil, Thailand, Pakistan, and India reveals the tragic emergence of a "new slavery," one that is intricately linked to a global economy. Bales explains the difference between this "new slavery" and Trans-Atlantic slavery. I would suggest using excerpts from this book. It is a good book to offer students at the high school level insight into a world that many thought had ended more than a hundred years ago.
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The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff is one of my favorite books. It is a great piece of historical fiction.
Emma, the main character in the book is a young Jewish woman, who has only been married to her husband, Jacob, for three weeks when Nazi’s begin to occupy Poland. Jacob is forced to go into hiding leaving Emma in a Jewish ghetto. The resistance movement in Poland is strong and they help Emma sneak out of Poland to live with Jacob’s Catholic cousin, Kyrisa. Emma takes with her a young Jewish boy, whose looks are not those typical of a Jewish person. As part of the plan to get Emma out she takes on a new identity, Anna Lipowski. Kyrisa is part of the resistance movement but has to keep up appearances and therefore holds dinner parties for many who are Nazi’s or support them.Emma (now Anna) is introduced at a party to Nazi Kommadant Richwalder. The Kommadant really likes Emma and asks her to come work for him in his office as his personal assistant. Emma agrees only to help gather information that will further help the resistance movement. Throughout the book Emma becomes more involved with the Kommadant in the hopes of gathering information.
While I'm not sure if I would teach it, it is a book I would definitely recommend to any student in 11th or 12th grade.
Jean Sasson's sequel in the Princess triology, Princess Sultana's Daughters is an exhilerating sequel. Sasson takes the reader through a journey of fundamentalism, mental illness as well as the gender inferiority Sultana and her daughters face as a female. The detail of the Muslim Hajj is eye opening, as well as an increased same sex relationships as a result of the restrictions placed on mix gender relationships. There are many opportunities for learning in this book just as Sasson's first book in the Princess triology. Please check it out!!! SOOOOOOO GOOOD!!!!
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen is a mesmerizing book. I picked this up during Spring Break and found that I couldn't put it down. This novel has quickly become my favorite book!
Jacob Jankowski is a college senior attending Cornell University during the Great Depression. About one week before final exams start Jacob gets horrible news: his parents died in a horrible car accident. When he returns home to pick up the pieces he finds there are no pieces, the bank has foreclosed on his parents house and his dad's veterinary business. So now Jacob feels like he has no future; the business he has was supposed to come home and take over doesn't exist anymore. He returns back to college to write his final exams, but ends up walking out of the exam and not writing the exam. After he leaves he continues walking and walking and eventually jumps on board a train that is going by next to him. He soon finds out that he has jumped on board a circus train. From that moment on his life is changed forever. The book continues on to tell about his adventures and all of the wonderful friends that he made including Camel, Marlena and Walter.
This is a very advanced book. It has some graphic content so I'm hesitant to teach it. An eleventh grader read it and recommended it to me, but I would probably use this in a 12th grade classroom or an AP classroom.
This novel is being turned into a movie and is due out sometime this year. I look forward to watching it!
The Kite Runner is the first book written by Khaled Hosseini. It explores the story of two young boys at the invasion of the communist Soviet Union. The reader takes an emotional ride with these two boys who experience a cultural/ societal change in Afghanistan.
This book is great for the boys in your classroom through an easily relatable male point of view novel. There are so many options for English/ Social collaborative projects!
Jean P. Sasson's interview with a Saudi princess brings readers into the life of a woman in a society that views the female gender as a second class citizen. Sultana, a granddaughter of the Saudi king, is a caged woman held captive in luxurious mansions, controlled by her father, then their husbands and in some instances, sons. As a result of this novel's vocabulary, it would be suggested to use it at AP levels or higher grade levels. Again it screams interdisciplinary!!
