Powerful, personal accounts like this one, however, put a face on the victims. What's more tragic than bullying is the fact that discussion of it has become almost cliche. Its characters and images will resonate with children long after you've read it. I highly recommend this book as a read-aloud. Be careful what birds you choose to pluck from their nests. The Raven thought that she was there to teach me a few things, but in the end, I think it was she who learned a lesson. But at its highest level, I believe that Fatty Legs is a a book about a willful spirit that can't be broken. At another level, it's a book of social importance, condemning those who would bully and belittle the children whom they're intended to instruct and nurture. It's this same Raven who requires Olemaun to wear thick, red socks, in sharp contrast to the slender grey socks of the other girls, giving rise to the derisive nickname Fatty Legs.Īt some level, this is a book of historical importance, decrying the attempt to wipe out the cultural roots of Native People. The setting and culture are new to readers, but the emotions and themes of the book are universal.Īnd true to her word, Olemaun is not worn down by the outsiders, not even by the malicious and vindictive Raven who singles Olemaun out for the most tedious chores. In what author Christy Jordan-Fenton calls a "hybrid picture book and chapter book," we are effectively transported to another world which, in reality, is not far from ours either in time or space. How could an adult charged with the care of a child be so malicious? The Raven, after all, isn't a storybook villain, but a real-life person. While many students will recognize the bullying behaviors of Olemaun's peers, they'll be shocked to hear of the even greater torment dealt out by The Raven, Olemaun's pale-faced, hook-nosed teacher. When she's finally granted permission to leave her Inuvialuit people and attend the Anglican school, nothing can prepare her for the institution's intentional humiliations, nor the ridicule of her fellow students. Fatty Legs tells the true story of one girl's triumph in the face of oppression and alienation in a foreign environment.Īlthough the tales eight year-old Olemaun (OO-lee-mawn) hears of the outsiders' school are ominous, she wants nothing more than to learn how to read.
0 kommentar(er)
