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In the All I Ever Want Christmas Doll you see the story of a family suffering through the economic effects of the Great Depression. It is Christams time and the middle daughter in the family does not know if Santy Claus will come this year to her house.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the literary criteria go I will first discuss the plot of this picture book. I felt as though the plot definitely was realistic in the sense that families truly could not have enough money to celebrate Christmas or even birthday the way some other people do with gifts galore and food to feed ten families combined. I especially found this plot very believable with our recent economy fall that we have been experiencing write here in the twenty-first century. So you see that the theme of not having enough is definitely something that can happen even in today's society. I found it very sad that the family was so poor in the book that they had to cover the walls with newspaper to keep the drafts out. As far as the characters go I did think they were believable in the sense that siblings would fight over who would get the single toy that was bought for all three sisters to call their own. The part that I did not believe would happen was when the parents took the doll that was bought for the Christmas and tell the girls they needed to decide how to work out who would get the doll. I think that a parent would tell their children to share the toy rather than tell one of them to decide who's doll it would be. However, considering I am not a parent yet, let me ask my friend and book talk partner Lauren this question. Lauren, as a new mom how do you think you would have handled the situation with buying only one doll for three children? I think the setting did show time really well. In the book there is reference to a Depression going on. You can tell the family does not have a lot of money because the three daughters all share one bed and newspaper is used to keep the draft out of their house. The illustrations show the family pulling down the old newspaper from the walls while they put up new newspaper. The dialogue definitely seemed very real. Especially, when the middle daughter is trying to make like she is having a great time with her new doll that she just fought to be the sole owner of, but yet she is really not having a great time because her new doll doesn't respond to her as her sisters would and she begins to miss playing with her sisters. For example in this line, "I eased to the window to sneak one peek at my sisters. They were making string sculptures. I wish you could do something more than sit around like a spot on a toad, I whispered a little disgusted like." As you can see, it is killing this little girl that because she made such a fuss she insists on not giving up by trying to have a good time just she and her doll. She goes through various activities with the doll such as singing, stories, etc., but each time she comments on how the situation is not as good as when she does those things with her sisters.
Sincerely,
Heather
I made a connection between the All I Want For Christmas Doll and Show Way. The connection I made was to the significance and importance of quilts in African American culture. In Show Way Woodson tells her family story of her ansectors who were sold into slavery making quilts that served as maps for slaves to escape to freedom. Then, once slavery ended Woodson's family continued to sew quilts together for a profit and also to keep the tradition and stories of history alive. In the Christmas Doll, the mother in the book has just sewn a fresh quilt for her daughters as she places the quilt upon all three of them slumbered down together in one bed before they head off to sleep.
Hi Heather,
ReplyDeleteI also found it a bit strange that the parents basically had the kids "fight it out" as to how they would share the one and only Christmas present. Since I have never been in their situation, I can only imagine how I might handle it. It seems that a more believable situation would be for the parents to tell the girls that they must decide how to share the doll, but the girls could decide how.
However, the fact that the middle child gets to have the one and only Christmas present to herself seems critical to the "theme" of the story. The author seems to want to celebrate the fact that it is the people and relationships in our mind that really matter, not the material objects that we have or do not have for that matter. It is only BECAUSE the middle girl got the doll all to herself that she was able to realize how important her sisters were in her life. You are absolutely right that the fact that we are currently in a recession makes this book very appropriate for the world we live in.
I actually read this story to my 5th graders. While some of the plot seemed a bit young for my students, they could all relate to the concept of "All I'll ever want for Christmas is... ". They could all remember the feeling of wanting that one special toy for Christmas, and also reflected on how they often ended up tiring of the toy after not too long. Though the plot of the story was quite simple, it worked well with our current focus on Theme and Author's Message.
What do you think of the genre? Do you think that the historical details make the story a quality piece of historical fiction?
-Lauren :)
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the middle girl in the story was central to the theme of the story that material items are never as important as the people close to you in your lives are. I think the little girl learned her lesson that a doll can never replace your siblings. The little girl basically thought she only needed the doll to be happy and then learned that she was missing out on hanging out with her sisters because the doll never responded, or talked, or laughed at her stories. Because of this important theme I think this book could definately be used in our fifth grade classrooms. I think on the surface the book may come across as too childish for fifth graders. However, deeper within the book is that important theme of not replacing your loved ones with material objects. I think this book could be used to help teach theme in our classrooms. Hmmm... maybe something to add to our unit we created using the Strategies that Work books by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis. What do you think? Do we have a theme section in our unit yet? Do you think this would be a good picture book to include?
Also, I was having a tough time answering your question of whether or not this book could qualify as a historical fiction picture book. The reason why I had such a tough time deciding this is because the book refers to "A Depression" going on. However, never do the words "The Great Depression" come up. I mean I'm assuming they are referring to the Great Depression. However, with our current recession in place and the economy the way it is they very well could be talking about a Depression now, in the year 2009. But, because the book was written before 2009 I'm assuming they mean The Great Depression. I don't know if there is enough factual information included in the fiction piece of the story however. The year is never given, the cause of the Depression is never included either. However, the family aspect and how families were affected because of the Depression seemed to be portrayed rather factually. I'm still grappling with this question and will get back to you.
Heather
I found this review on www.librarything.com: Many of the reviews on this review website do classify the book as a piece of historical fiction because of the circumstances affecting the family that Christmas due to the Depression going on.
ReplyDeleteGenre: Historical Fiction
Age Appropriateness: primary, intermediate
Media: pencil and watercolor
Review: This is a good example of historical fiction, because of the time frame the story takes place and the financial circumstances that the family is struggling with. It is Christmastime during the Depression so funds for presents are limited. This does not stop the girls from making a list and writing to Santa, which must have been a challenge among many families during this time period. ( )
KJackson | Nov 26, 2008 |
This second review was found from New York Times Reviews on the Barnes and Noble website for the book:
The New York Times review - Krystyna Poray Goddu
The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll is a rich portrait of a poor black family in the midst of the Depression. Written by Patricia C. McKissack, the winner of numerous awards, and illustrated by the equally renowned Jerry Pinkney, it has the look, sound and feel of a classic. McKissack's direct and unfettered language partners beautifully with the vivid tones of Pinkney's pencil-and-watercolor illustrations. Inspired by a true story, The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll is an evocative book with a universal message.
This was interesting to me. I did not know that the All I'll Ever Want Christmas Doll was based on a true story according to the New York Times book review. What do you think of that? I think that this definitely constitutes as a piece of historical fiction especially if it is based on a true story. To me if a story is based on true events, a family dealing with the restrictions that came from the Great Depression than the work should be seen as a piece of historical fiction. What do you think based on the reviews of the book or any other reviews you found?
Heather
Hi Heather,
ReplyDeleteI think that incorporating a Theme unit into our Reader's Workshop is a great idea! I have already been working on this with my students, because I created a Comprehension Pacing Guide based on the Nancy Boyles workshop that we attended at the NERA conference this fall. I would like to align the Comprehension Pacing Guide WITH our Strategies that Work mini-lessons. Though the plot is simple, I think that makes it work all the better for introductory lessons on Theme/ Author's Message.
I got the chance to have my students try the Tableau (that we practiced in class last week using the fables), and I used this book to model the process. I wanted my students to use a Tableau as a culminating project for their most recent Book Club novels, and we modeled the process with the all-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll. Again, the simple plot made it easy for the students to choose meaningful scenes for the Tableau. We decided that the part when the 3 girls were fighting over the doll was an ideal scene, because there were a good number of characters and it was essential to the plot of the story. The students LOVED this process, and it really helped them to think about the essential plot of their novels!
I have a question about the dialect that this book is written in: The review that you found states that, "McKissack, the winner of numerous awards, and illustrated by the equally renowned Jerry Pinkney, it has the look, sound and feel of a classic. McKissack's direct and unfettered language." We have talked about respecting all cultures and sub-cultures. I wondered about reading this book aloud, as a white teacher using the dialect that McKissack wrote in, to a group of African American students. After discussions that we have had in class, I wonder if any groups might find this practice offensive. What do you think?
Definitely sounds like historical fiction... thanks for doing the research!
-Lauren :)
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteHmmmm... you bring up a very good point. I'm not sure if poeple of African American descent would find it offensive for you, a white teacher, to read this book using the correct dialect that the author intended. I'm going to go ahead and say GO FOR IT! The way I look at it is you didn't write the book, you're just reading the story how the author intended it to be read; and I see no harm in that. As we've learned in class in respect to multicultural books the author or person writing the book needs to either be from the culture being represented in the book or have done plenty of research on the culture the author is writing about if he/she is not of that culture so that the book is authentic and not offensive to the culture being portrayed. This would be an interesting study though. You raise a good point. Maybe something to consider for our action research course toward our reading Masters.
Heather