Alternate Cinderella text draft

It was a typical day. I was cleaning the house while my step sisters enjoyed making more messes for me to clean up.  As I cleaned I was daydreaming about a fairy godmother or a prince coming to rescue me. That’s when I saw it.

Something shiny was under the bookshelf. I quickly picked it up and put it in my pocket because I didn’t want anyone to see what I had found.  I went back to cleaning. Then when no one was watching me, I peaked inside my pocket.

The shiny object was a key, a small golden key that I had never seen before. How mysterious and exciting! I started imagining that it was a key to a secret underground passage that would lead me out of the house.

I decided to try every keyhole in the house to see if the key fit into any of the doors. I waited until my stepmother and step sisters left to go shopping for their dresses to the ball. When I heard the front door close, I jumped up and started running from door to door trying to find which one the key would open.

Then I got an idea. Maybe the secret door was near the bookshelf where I found the key.  I took out all of the books from the shelves and then pushed the bookshelf to the side. There was a skinny door there and the key fit into the key hole! As I turned the key my heart was beating fast, maybe my daydreams would finally come true.

When I opened the door I saw a small dark tunnel, just like the one I had imagined!  I slowly slid with my back against the wall through the tunnel.  I could see some rays of light at the other end of the tunnel.

As I got closer to the other end I saw that the light was coming through an old wooden door that had lots of cracks in it.  I tried the special key in the door and it fit! As I turned the key my heart was beating even faster than before. This was it! My chance to be finally free!  I pushed the door open and froze.

I was not in a secret garden or a magical land. I was not even outside.  I was in my room, my tiny, smelly, gray room.  The tunnel that I thought would help me escape only led me back to my room.  I crawled into my room, sat on the floor and cried. That key had not helped me it just made me feel worse than before.

I sat there for a long time looking out the old dirty window.  Then a thought came into my mind, it was something I had never thought of before. I don’t need a magic key or a fairy godmother to rescue me.  If I want to escape, I have everything I need right in my room.  

I have a big broom to break the window, rags, and a needle and thread to sew the rags together to make a rope and climb out the window.  Why had I never thought of this before?

I quickly began sewing the rags together to make a long rope. Then I tied the last rag to the leg of my bed.  I hit the window as hard as I could with the broom handle. Finally the window cracked and broke.

Before I jumped through the window, I grabbed the small golden key and put it in my pocket.Even though it wasn’t a magical or secret passage key, it was a special key because it helped me find the courage inside to set myself free.

The End

Hidden Roots by Joseph Bruchac

This story is told through the eyes of 11 year-old Howard or Sonny and it is about his family. Its a coming of age story through which he slowly learns about his family's history and begins to get answers to many questions he's always had. The story builds up until he finally learns the truth about his Native American identity and how his parents have been trying to cover up their identity because of the discrimination they faced in the past. The story incorporates several issues such as domestic violence and racism. In the end it also addresess the history of discrimination toward American Indians, particuarly the practice of eugenics in the U.S.

At the end of the story there is a note from the author explaining the social issues raised in the book as well as how many of the details and characters from the book are derived from his own life.  I think the Bruchac does a good job of conveying difficult issues through the book although I was a bit confused by what the message he was trying to portray.  When I initially read the back of the book I thought that the main issue was domestic violence and that the 'hidden roots' were that habits of violence can sometimes pass down in the family.  As I was reading the book I began to realize that the hidden roots had to do with the family hiding their identity and the father's violence was a byproduct of that.  Eventhough it was intially confusing for me and it might be for children reading it, incorporating several issues in the boook is effective because issues within families are not clear but often complex, interconnected, and hidden.

My main criticism of the book is how it ended, it felt somewhat abrupt.  It ends with Sonny finally learning the whole truth about his roots  which helps to bring the whole family together.  Also Sonny's dad makes a promise that he will stop being angry. The ending is hopeful but it seems sudden and does not sync well with how the author had slowly built up complex issues and emotions throughout the story. For example, domestic violence was kind of pushed to the side once the reasons for Sonny's father's anger were revealed.  Leading up to the ending Bruchac describes some transformation taking place in Sonny's father especially when he has an accident and is physically not able to be abusive anymore. So the author does show how changing violent habits is a process.

 Still, I felt like the ending was trying too  hard to show that once the truth is revealed and all the questions answered then everything is okay.  This may not have been the author's intention but this was how I interpreted it.  So definately when reading this book it is important to follow up with discussion about what may have happend after the closing scene. In addition, to discussing the social issues raised in the book.

A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza

This is a picture book about a little bird named Choco who is trying to find his mother. He goes around asking  various animals if they are his mother and they say no because they don't have certain features he has, like no wings or no round cheeks etc. Eventually he becomes sad and starts to cry. Mrs. Bear comes and finds out why he's crying and asks him if she could be his mother, eventhough she doesn't look anything like him. She takes Choco home to her other children who are all different types of baby animals. And the story ends with line "and Choco is very happy that his new mommy looked just the way she did".

The social issue this book address is adoption.  I like how it conveys an important message in a simple way that is easy both enjoyable for young children to read and easy to understand.  The main message being that Mrs. Bear doesn't have to look the same as Choco to be his mother it just matters that she cares for Choco as a mother would.  I think the clarity of book's message makes it easy and almost natural to start discussion after reading it about  adoption and the general concept of what makes a family.

Something I found interesting is how throughout most of the book is Choco asking around for his mother but when he meets Mrs. Bear, she asks him instead.  I feel like this subtely shows the importance of adoptive parents allowing room for the children to accept them as their parents.  Also I was smiling at the ending because I guessed that her children at home would not bears but other types of animals.

This book was also personally interesting to me because I do not look like my mom in terms of skin and hair color because my mom is Caucasion and my dad is African American.  So I could relate to the book in some ways because of this. I wonder how I would have reacted to this book if I had read it when I was young.  From what I remember though I didn't think/care about the differences in parents race they were just mom and dad.
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