Delacorte, 1991

Summary: Eleven-year-old Journey is angry and lonely because his mother left him and his sister with their grandparents. Looking for answers from the past and for the future, he searches for old photographs hoping that they will put his life into perspective. It is his grandfather who teaches him that cameras are able to capture some parts of reality and that the four of them can build a loving family relationship.

Level: RL: 4 IL: 4-8

Themes: coping with abandonment; familial love

Activities:

1. Small group: Before reading Journey, discuss the opening quotations and speculate why they might have been chosen. The group secretary should take notes. After you've finished the book, each person explains how the quotations fit into the events described and why they were selected. Using the notes from the previous discussion, talk about your prediction. (Optional: Pre & post discussion about the drawing on the title page) [Thinking Skills: application, analysis]

2. Reading Journal: How did Journey get his name? What clues can you find that show whether or not he liked it? (Include the page numbers.) Look up the meaning of your name. Do you think it is an "accurate" name? If you could, would you want to change yours? To What? Why? ([Information Skills: location. Thinking Skills: knowledge, application]

3. Reading Journal: Make a web of at least five times that pictures or photographs are mentioned in the book. Include page number and context. Write down any patterns that you find. (You could use webs or mind maps, software such as Inspiration etc.) Share your ideas in a small group. [Thinking Skills: analysis]

4. Individual: Study your family photographs. Write in your journal about the physical characteristics that have been passed down to you. Read Lila Perl's book (The Great Ancestor Hunt ) to gain insight and techniques into researching your roots. With your family make a "Four Generation Direct-Ancestry Chart." The sisters in the picture below had blond, red and brown hair and they were known as "morning, noon and night." [Thinking Skills: analysis]

5. Pairs: Examine some books containing historical photographs. Select a picture which appeals to you. What information does it tell you? What is the mood of the picture? Write a short story about the people who are posing. Read your story to your partner. [Information Skills: interpretation. Thinking Skills: synthesis]

6. Go to your library and find out how to take pictures without a camera. Try it out and hold a class exhibit for your family. Find out how to use "trick" photography, (double exposures, reflections, strobe flash bulbs. etc.) Describe in your journal the process needed to produce an original picture that you have in mind. Optional: learn to develop your own film. [Information Skills: location, selection, application. Thinking Skills: knowledge, analysis, synthesis]

7. With a partner, read Mama, Let's Dance. Give a "Booktalk" to your class which will entice them to read both books. Decide first how you will make the thematic connections of abandonment. Optional: Address in your journal: What might have happened to Journey & Cat if they didn't have their grandparents? How are they different from Mary Belle, Callie and Ariel? Find out more about America's homeless. (Causes, how many people are involved. etc.) Brainstorm possible solutions in your journal. Relate solutions to specific facts that you learned during your research. [Information Skills: selection, organization. Thinking Skills: knowledge, comprehension, synthesis]

8. Journey and Cat become part of a loving, non-traditional family. Conduct a survey of family members in your class. Transpose the results onto a chart or graph which shows number family members or which portion live in "non-traditional" families. Find out the percentages of single parent family in the U.S. (Possible sources: World Almanac or the U.S. Census Bureau. Compare with your survey. [Information Skills: Thinking Skills: comprehension]

RESOURCES

Photography: Freedman, Russell. Children of the Wild West. Clarion, 1983.

Freedman, Russell. Cowboys of the Wild West. Lodestar, 1985.

Noren, Catherine. The Way We Looked: The Meaning and Magic of Family Photographs. Lodestar Books, 1983.

Webster, David. Photo Fun: An Idea Book for Shutterbugs. Watts, 1973.

Family and Homelessness: Fagan, Margaret. The Fight Against Homelessness. Gloucester, 1990.

Fields, Maxine. Baby Names from Around the World. Pocket Books, 1985.

May, Julian. Do You Have Your Father's Nose? Creative Education, 1970.

O'Connor, Karen. Homeless Children. Lucent Books, 1989.

Perl, Lila. The Great Ancestor Hunt: The Fun of Finding Out Who You Are. Clarion, 1989.

Rossel, Seymour. Family. Watts, 1980.

Simon, Norma. All Kinds of Families. Illus by Joe Lasker. Albert Whitman, 1976.

Unusual and Most Popular Baby Names. Consumer Guide, 1988.

Abandonment in Fiction:

Fox, Paula, Monkey Island. Watts, 1991.

Hermes, Patricia. Mama, Let's Dance. Little, Brown, 1991.

Voigt, Cynthia. Homecoming. Atheneum, 1981.

Prepared by Abigail Garthwait, Asa Adams School, Orono, ME

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