As my lesson plan will focus on The Declaration of Independence, I was interested in Wood's description of the event. His writing is very concise and tends to read like a college-level text offering his readers a 'bare bones' explanation of the events leading up to the Revolution and the founding of our nation's government. When referencing the Declaration, he does however, address the fact that "Congress removed a quarter of Jefferson 's original draft, including a passage that blamed George III for the horrors of the slave trade." (pg. 56) This was new (and fascinating) information for me. I felt Hakim's book does a better job describing the issue of slavery and the impact it had on writing the Declaration. Her text makes it very clear to the reader that slavery is the moral antitheses of the essence that "all men are created equal." Hakim's writing provides a greater sense of the depth of difficulty the issue over slavery presented to the establishment of a 'free society.' In my opinion, Wood's skims the surface of the struggle the signers had over slavery. Wood's text did not give me a new understanding of the event; it merely reinforced the difficulty Hakim presents to her readers.
I personally preferred Hakim's book to Wood's. I am very visual so the use of pictures, portraits, political cartoons, timelines, documents, and maps held my interest and enhanced my learning. Also, I really preferred Joy's personalized style of writing; I like the way she 'speaks' to her reader with comments and questions that make them reflect on what they have read. And as a teacher, I appreciate the subtle way she introduces vocabulary. Her use of vignettes and trivia made me want to dig deeper. While I realize Hakim's text is written for a younger audience, she does not 'dummy down' the significance of the historical information. She is like a gracious hostess presenting a full-course meal for her guests to savor, whereas Wood's book in comparison is a plate of cheese and crackers! When it comes to fascinating history, I prefer the full-course meal
I totally agree with your evaluation of the way the Hakim book is able to captivate the reader. I found myself going back to do a more thorough reader after just initially skimming it for the May assignment. I am very excited about actually sharing the book itself with some of my higher level readers next year (I teach 3rd grade), and also using several of the anecdotes that directly relate to our Social Studies text.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your choice of Hakim over Wood. I too enjoyed the "extra stuff" a lot more. It helped me understand the material with much more ease.
ReplyDeleteI agree that for a specific event, you would probably get more information from Hakim as she is only spotlighting some events. Hopefully, Hakim tantalizes your interest, Woods puts the whole Revolution in context, and then you can dive deeper into a more detailed book!
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