‘Rescue and Jessica’, ‘Last Stop on Market Street’ and ‘Red: A Crayon’s Story’ are all about overcoming obstacles in your life. It is all about making the most out of situations despite the circumstances willing to take you down.
In Rescue and Jessica, Jessica made the most out of her disability. She overcame the obstacle of losing both of her legs in an accident. She overcame her disability with the help of her service dog, Rescue. Last Stop on Market street is from a different perspective about overcoming obstacles. CJ and his Nana are on the helping side of overcoming obstacles. Even though CJ and Nana don’t have any known obstacles to overcome, they help out at the soup kitchen every Sunday. The individuals that they are helping are facing the obstacle of homelessness. Lastly, Red: A Crayon’s story is about overcoming labeling to be true to oneself.
‘Rescue and Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship’
“You Rescued me, Rescue,” said Jessica. But the truth was, they had rescued each other.”
-Rescue and Jessica, Kensky and Downes
Rescue and Jessica was written by the married couple Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes, who survived the Boston Marathon Bombing. It is based off of their real-life experience of their service dog; Rescue.
When Rescue was growing up, he always thought he was going to be a seeing-eye dog. When he finds out that he is better suited to be a service dog, he is worried that he is not made out to fit the position.
Jessica, the one who is in need of the service dog, life has turned out differently than she had expected. Jessica had experienced a traumatic accident in which she is in need of a double-leg-amputee. Jessica wonders if she will ever again lead a normal life. She is in need of Rescue by her side to help accomplish her everyday tasks. As they begin to work together, both are proud and determined to meet the needs of the other. They don’t want to let the other down.
Both Rescue and Jessica have the power to make choices for a better world for themselves. Rescue provided aid for Jessica to live an assisted life. Despite the hardships and deep psychological scars, Jessica was transparent about her disability. Through her writing, she provided a transparent lens for children and adults alike. It illuminates life with disability and aspires discussions about what life may be like for a person without limbs. Jessica stayed strong and made light out of darkness.
Authors Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes created a inspiring story that illuminates what its like to live with a disability. Because of their personal experience’s of the Boston Marathon bombing, they are both an #OwnVoices insider. It foster’s social consciousness by relating to all readers and our struggles and how to stay strong.
Rescue and Jessica is endorsed by the National Education for Assistance Dogs (NEADS
‘Last Stop on Market Street’
CJ saw the perfect rainbow arching over their soup kitchen. He wondered how his nana always found beautiful where he never even thought to look.”
-Last Stop on Market Street, De La Pena
Every Sunday after church, C.J and his nana ride the bus across town. However, on this particular Sunday, C.J wonders why they have to travel all the way to the ‘Last stop on Market Street.’
C.J wonders why they don’t travel in a car like his friend Colby. He also wonder’s why he doesn’t have an iPod like the people on the bus. He also wonders why they have to get off at the dirty part of town. Through each of his inquiries, C.J is met with a encouraging answer from his nana.
C.J’s nana helps him see the beauty and fun all around them. According to nana, the bus is magic, filled with nice people. Without the iPod, C.J was able to listen to magic of music from a guitar. And finally, her response to the dirty part of town was “sometimes when you are surrounded by dirt… you’re a better witness for what’s beautiful.”
In this text, no one is marginalized. In fact, C.J and his nana assist the characters that might be marginalized. They are helping at the local soup kitchen. By doing this they are not only helping the people that impoverished, but they are making the world in which they live a better place.
The Soup Kitchen in which they are volunteering at represent’s homeless people as all genders, race, ethnicities and abilities. This is depicted through the diverse illustrations of individuals. By not depicting one group of people and they helping of others, the author and illustrator is fostering social consciousness among respect for others.
Matt De La Pena is a critically acclaimed author. He won the Newbery medal in 2016 for the book ‘Last Stop on Market Street’. This book is one of two picture books that have won the Newbery medal. Matt De La Pena identifies as a Mexian writer. He wrote ‘Last Stop on Market Street’ with the sole intent to feature diverse characters in a storyline that wasn’t focused on diversity. Matt is a #OwnVoices writer.
When I sat down to write the text of Last Stop on Market Street, this troubling mindset was rattling around in my brain. Nana, the wise grandma in the book, is urging C.J to see the beauty of his surroundings, yes, but she’s also steering him toward something much more fundamental. She’s teaching C.J to see himself as beautiful. To see himself as worthy. “Sometimes when you’re surrounded by dirt, C.J you’re a better witness for what’s beautiful.”
-Matt de la Pena, 2016 Newbery Acceptance speech
‘Red: A Crayon’s Story’
Blue jeans! Bluebells! Blue bird! Blueberries! Blue whale! I’m blue!
-Red: A Crayon’s story, Michael Hall
Red, the ‘Red’ crayon, has a bring red label. However, Red is actually blue. Talk amongst the other Crayon’s
Red’s teacher tries to help him be red by drawing strawberries. However, Red ends up creating a row of blue strawberries. Red’s mother tries to help him be red by sending him to color with the Yellow. Red’s mother tells them to color a nice orange by mixing colors. However, Red and Yellow end up making a green circle. Red’s grandparents think that Red is not warm enough, so they offer him a scarf to keep him warm. When that doesn’t work, the art supplies chime in to help. The masking tape uses tape to hold Red together, the scissors snip his label, and the pencil sharpener sharpens Red to help out. Red just still couldn’t get the hang of being red. Red was marginalized by the people around him. They didn’t see Red for his true worth.
It’s not until the Purple Crayon sees Red’s true potential for who he really is that Red starts to flourish. Red judged himself only on by how well he could draw Red. he accepted the label and suffered because of it. He tried as hard as he could to please everyone with the Red label. However, all it took was the help of Purple crayon that Red saw himself for his worth. A Blue crayon! Purple crayon made the world a better place for Red. He allowed him to have his own creativity and prosper.
Author Michael Hall is writing from an #OwnVoices perspective. Michael Hall is dyslexic. He never thought of himself as mislabeled; he just thought of himself as not being very bright. “Bright about somethings and not bright about other things” (Hall). Michael was blessed with a supportive community that tried their best to help. However, since they couldn’t see beyond the label, their actions only made things worse. Instead of acting in ignorance to each other, we should see each other for our strengths and weaknesses. We as humans should see the importance of being true to oneself.
As a teacher, we should encourage students to think critically about this text. This book should provoke classroom discussions about issues like judging people based on outside appearances, strengths and weakness, and staying true to oneself. By using ‘Connection Stems’, students can be prompted to provide structure and make connections while reading narrative and informational texts. The prompts from ‘connection stems’ will encourage reflection during reading. Some of the prompts students can use are…
- That reminds me of…
- I remember when…
- I have a connection…
- An experience I have had like that…
- I felt like that character when…
- If I were that character, I would…
- I remember another book about this…
