MASL: Morning Girl by Michael Dorris

Maine Samplers Part III

Morning Girl by Michael Dorris

Hyperion, 1992

Summary: Morning Girl and her brother Star Boy narrate alternate chapters, depicting a refreshingly natural yet introspective San Salvadoran lifestyle in 1492. The reader develops a rich, respectful, and at times envious perspective of this culture. In the final chapter, Morning Girl witnesses Columbus' arrival. A contrasting passage from Columbus' journal concludes the book.

Level: R.L. Gr. 5 I.L. Gr. 4-7

Themes:

Values; Arawak/Taino culture; West Indies; Pre-Columbian; Family relationships.

Activities:

1. Read Encounter, a short description of Columbus' landing in San Salvador from the point of view of a native Taino boy. List some culture that is in both Encounter and Morning Girl, such as covering one's mouth when laughing. List some Taino culture that is only in Morning Girl, such as spreading the fingers when greeting others to show that your hand is empty. Write a description of Taino culture from these lists. Now research how Columbus treated the Tainos, including how he depicts them in Encounter and Morning Girl. Write a description of Taino culture from Columbus' point of view. Now write a comparison of the two descriptions. What problems and mis-understandings do your see?

2. A. Make a family tree for Morning Girl. Include both names for family members with more than one name. Below each set of names write how Morning Girl feels about that relative.

B. Explain how people's names are given in Morning Girl. Include some examples. Now create two descriptive names for yourself (or ask someone who has known you for a long time to do this, since Taino names were given by others). One name should be reminiscent of you "as you were" four or five years ago. The other should refer to you as you are today. Write a paragraph explaining your names. C. Taino names changed because people change. Research other reasons why names are changed. Write about each reason, giving examples.

3. Morning Girl is written in the first person, with each chapter alternating its point of view from Morning Girl to her brother, Star Boy. Group plan a story about two people who are also very different, yet who are in the same setting and experiencing many of the same happenings. Then write the story using the same format as Morning Girl. Four chapters should be enough for your story. When your story is complete, ask for the file titled Morning Girl first person stories and read at least two of the stories there. The file may be on a computer disk or in a manila folder. Be prepared to compare your group story with those in the file and with Morning Girl. Now sign up for a group conference.

4. In a group, compare how Morning Girl is written with the way Words of Stone is written. (Hints: tense, person, chapter titles, alternating chapter formats, among other things.) Do NOT compare the content, just the format and style and structure. What is the same, and what is different? What are the results of the differences? Of the similarities? Group plan and write a four chapter story using the structure of Words of Stone. Now ask for the Morning Girl first person stories file and read two of the student stories. Discuss with your group how the different styles impact you. Make two group lists: the kinds of stories you might write in the style of Morning Girl, and the kinds of stories you might write in the style of Words of Stone. Now sign up for a group conference with your teacher and/or librarian.

5. Group-write a script for a radio news broadcast about the hurricane in Morning Girl. Write it in a sequential style so the listener can imagine the beginning, each step along the way, and the end of the hurricane. Since your audience is a listening audience, make up for the lack of photos, maps, movies, by describing the hurricane in a way that listeners can picture each step clearly in their minds. (You may want to use sound effects, similes, metaphors, or other means to help your audience 'image' the hurricane in their heads.) Add information that you have researched besides that in Morning Girl to help listeners understand hurricanes better. You might also include an interview with Star Boy of Morning Girl's mother or father. Now record your script. Play it before a small or a large group. Have the audience critique the recording using an assessment tool you have prepared. You may wish to discuss some of their responses with them. Select what your group feels are their most important suggestion, and re-record the broadcast. Discuss your changes with your teacher and/or librarian. Present your new recording at some special event, then request that a copy be processed for circulation by the library.

6. Pat MacLachlan is quoted on the back cover of Morning Girl, saying that the book is "about the things we need to know about ourselves". Who is Pat MacLachlan, and by what authority or background does she make such a statement? Write your answers in your journal, and then write what you think are the things we need to know about ourselves. Now describe how these things are depicted in Morning Girl. Discuss your findings with a small group or with the whole class.

7. Create a written plan, including specific responsibilities and criteria for the completion of the following group responsibilities: make a large wall map of San Salvador, Morning Girl's island. Illustrate every landmark in the story, such as the ghost tree and the marsh. Include accurate renditions of the plants and animals mentioned in the story. Make the jut large enough to include the details inside and out. (Some large pictures may be placed outside the map and connected to their location by bright yarn.) Use the map in a book-incentive presentation. Evaluate the completed project according to the original written plan. Now execute your plan.

8. On page 63, Morning Girl the author mentions "stories told to small children about the giant starfish who creeps ashore at night", to keep them from wandering away in the dark. Confer with your teacher or librarian about creating a story that serves the same purpose and that uses a different West Indies animal. Together you will select an audience for your completed creation and go over how your work and your skills will be assessed.

The web below is an example of the brainstorming you might do after you have thought about your animal for a while. It could serve as a plan for your initial research. (A written plan for your research will be part of your grade. ASSESSMENT RUBRIC)

octopus web

Use at least three new items of information you have learned about your animal in your story, and identify them in some way. (Pop-ups in hypercard, highlighting with colored pen, starring of bracketing or underlining, are a few ideas.) Make your story fit the island and people of Morning Girl, partly by using at least three objects or situations mentioned in the book. Again, identify these in some way. Be sure to put an explanation of your 'ways' at the beginning of your story.

Illustrate your story if you wish. You may use a scanner or computerized graphics to help you. If a group has completed the map project in #7, you may use information from that, and you may research the setting in the school library. Since this story is designed for presentation, you may illustrate for a shadow show, felt board, claymation video, an accordianized sequence of drawings, a computerized 'slide show' using "Slide Shop" if you are using an Apple 2E, or Hypercard or some other visual-type program if you are using a Macintosh. (Illustrations can help cue a storyteller's memory.)

Prepare a final bibliography to be included in your grade.

Arrange a telling or presentation to your pre-selected audience. Be sure you know how your presentation will be graded. (A dress-rehearsal before teachers or peers would be helpful, asking for their input. Students may prepare a form for attendees to encourage helpful critiques.)

The story below is a sample. New octopus information is in bold , and references taken from the book are starred*.

The Octopus: Oh, little children, listen to me; for I have a tale to tell you. It's the tale of a giant octopus, who lives just beyond the outer reef. Long ago, one of our islanders forgot that we are all brothers. He paddled his long, dugout canoe* past the far reef to where the waves crested behind some sea anemones. Yes. There they were. Thousands of eggs clinging to the roof of the cave, but under the watchful eye of their mother. How could he steal them for himself? She NEVER left them! Not even to eat! But what is this? A moray eel has the same theft in mind, and boldly approaches hes quarry. The mother octopus decides to sacrifice instead of fight such a formidable enemy, and loosens a number of the eggs and blows then into the ocean with her siphon. While she is turned away, the Islander rakes over a thousand eggs into his fine net and speeds to the surface. He climbs back into has canoe and rides the waves swiftly to the beach edged with coconut palms*. He covers his canoe with palm fronds that have been cut to re-thatch a hut roof*.

As he takes the net out of the canoe, a baby octopus that has just come out of its shell escapes, unnoticed because it is so tiny. It rides back into the sea on the tide, which is ebbing, and swims past the reefs to its home in the cave. It tells the giant octopus where the canoe is beached and about the palm fronds. "Aha!" says the octopus. "I will have my revenge! At every ebb tide in the night I will swim to a beach where there is a coconut grove. I will hung little islanders and bring them back on the ebb tide to my cave. I will hunt until I have stolen the same number of children that have been stolen from me!"

And so, little ones, stay close to your homes in the night. The giant octopus has such keen eyesight it needs not the moon. And so, little ones, I have spoken.

[Teachers and librarians: this project works especially will if the book is being read aloud and an entire class (in small groups) can create such stories. The assessment tool following Resources may be used as is or appended to include group social skills. A student checklist may be designed that reflects one or more of the assessed activities.]

9. One or more students may design an original activity in writing and confer with teacher and/or librarian for approval.

Resources:

Caney, Steven. Kid's America. Workman, 1978.
Excellent models for designing family trees - also a huge number of games and activities for students to adapt to appropriate books.

Henkes, Kevin. Words of Stone. Greenwillow, 1992.
An unlikely friendship develops between two children - Blaze, still mourning his mother's death years earlier, and Joselle, coping with virtual abandonment by her mother. (MSBA nominee 1993-4)

Meltzer, Milton. A Book About Names. Thomas Y Crowell, 1984.

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

Yolen, Jane. Encounter. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992.
A San Salvadoran Taino Indian boy recounts the landing of Columbus in 1492.

Prepared by Audrey Conant

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