Her Right Foot
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Author: Dave Eggers
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Illustrator: Shawn Harris
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Date: 2017
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About the book:
We know about the Statue of Liberty. We know what it looks like, how it was built, and all the fun facts. But did we know about the history? Why it was built? What does it represent? The Statue of Liberty's right foot is a good start of understanding what she stands for in our society today.
Dave Eggers and Shawn Harris beautifully made this book about something we think we know so much about. They start off the book by talking about the history of the Statue of Liberty in a fun tone of voice. They make the reader feel like they are talking to Eggers. Eggers is allowing the reader to show off what they already know before introducing all the new information. The book starts out by including some easy facts like, "If you have heard of France, you may have heard of the French." If for some reason the reader doesn't know the information, Eggers clarifies further to make everyone feel included. He even goes to state that this book is a "factual book." With a lot of fiction in the classroom, it is good for the reader to know that they are now reading nonfiction. The art within the book is something that is both beautiful and beneficial. Harris created the illustrations with construction paper and India ink. All of the small details of the construction paper and coloring add to the story.
This double spread found in the middle of the book is a great decision made by Harris. The beginning of the book talked about what we know about the Statue of Liberty. The next half of the book is talking about the relevance of her right foot and what it stands for. The color choices found on this spread is what is meaningful. The Statue of Liberty was originally made out of copper, but overtime it oxidized and changed to the green color we know today. The copper side of the page represents what we used to know and the green side of the page represents what we will now know after reading the remainder of the book. If we see Harris's decision making of color, we can think deeper about this new perspective they are about to introduce. In the past, people want to teach the obvious things the Statue of Liberty represent like the Declaration of Independence or the seven spikes on her crown. Amy Edwards makes a good point that we usually want to talk about the easy topics when teaching about controversial things (Edwards). For example, when talking about a war, we want to talk about the things that make us look good. Talking about something that could be controversial is difficult to mention sometimes. Therefore, sometimes the Statue of Liberty lessons usually don't include immigration, but we need to think critically about all historical moments. When we think critically, we are allowing students to be more open minded and have greater insights in discussions. According to Jon Callow, we need to promote "positive civic and social values to our students" (Callow, 2017). While opening up discussion of everything the Statue of Liberty has to offer, we are showing all civic values to our students.
All of these books would make a great text set when discussing the big concept of immigration. Wishtree is about a tree watching a world full of hate overcome their outdated values by showing kindness. In this book a Muslim family moves into a neighborhood and quickly feel unwelcome by an ugly message on the tree outside their house. The story introduces beautiful characters and past stories that allow people to see that kindness is always better than hate. Children can easily see themselves as the tree, or bystander, and see what is going on in our world. One thing that kids don't often think of, is the history of immigration and what it stands for. Her Right Foot is a great addition to this text set because it is the history and the truth of a common landmark in our country. People see the Statue of Liberty and think of freedom, but what is her right foot really showing? It's a different approach to how we should remember where immigration started and how it's still so meaningful today to so many people in our country. Two Blankets still continues to tell the story of how it feels to be different in a new place, a common feeling immigrants have. On the cover page under the title it says, "moving is hard-- friends make it easier." In this part of the text set, we are able to feel the emotions you go through when you are new to everything. We can also see how being the person who helps can make everyone happy. With all of these books combined, we can grow a deeper mindset on how immigration affects our daily lives and how we can be "welcomers" in our community.
Two Lessons Based On This Text Set
12.13 Talk Between and Across (pg. 340)
In this lesson, you need various books with similar themes. We want students to deepen their understanding of a topic, therefore a large text set with help them be able to compare and contract different elements of each book. You can compare by asking the students, "this author thinks _________, but this one thinks __________." Or "this author thinks _________, but I think __________.
7.20 Respond to Issues That Repeat (pg. 213)
To build on inferencing skills, students can determine what a common issue is within a book and what the author's stance is on it. Students can find familiarity in author's stances or they can find differences. From their introduction to multiple stances, they can create their own idea on the issue.
Text Set About Immigration
Something that is appreciated by the author and illustrator in this book is the diversity represented. In the other books in the text set, there is a Muslim girl and a Sudanese girl. It's great that there is diversity within the text set, but Her Right Foot shows an array of various cultures. The author is fostering social consciousness by including White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, etc. in images of people immigrating. Eggers and Harris also include all ages: babies and elders and everything in between. When talking about immigration we need to include all. We often think of certain races and certain ages, but anyone and everyone can be affected by this.
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One thing that was also appreciated was mentioning that even the Statue of Liberty is technically an immigrant too. She was made and brought over from France. The statue that represents our freedom and liberty is something that we often forget. That is why we need to teach the entire background of the Statue of Liberty in order for students not to be confused on what it truly represents.
Click here for a classroom guide for Her Right Foot. It includes activities and more information about the author and illustrator.
Callow, J. (2017). "Nobody Spoke Like I Did": Picture Books, Critical Literacy, and Global Contexts. Global Literacy, 71(2), 231–236.
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Edwards, A. (n.d.). WOW Stories: Connections from the Classroom. Retrieved from https://wowlit.org/on-line-publications/stories/storiesi2/15/
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Serravallo, J. (2015). The reading strategies book: your everything guide to developing skilled readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.