Daily Life on a Southern Plantation 1853 - Informational Text Picturebook

Erickson, P. (1997). Daily Life on a Southern Plantation: 1853. New York: Puffin Books.

This is a more advanced picture book (similar to the DK eyewitness books) that contains a myriad of photographs  diagrams, illustrations, and maps to tell about life on a Southern Plantation from two perspectives.  There is the perspective of the slave (Daddy Major) and the family of plantation owners (The Hendersons).  This combination of the two perspectives give an interesting twist on the information presented.  The book contains everything from daily life to getting the family ready, to schoolwork and where everyone sleeps.

Informational Picturebook for children in grades 4-6.  The book primarily has photography of how artifacts or places look today or how they look restored.  There are plenty of diagrams and maps to aid in learning as well as illustrations of what the family may have looked like.

I always love the DK eyewitness books because of the layout and ease of reading selected parts.  There is not an apparent sequence to this book so it allows one to skip and jump from section to section.  It lends itself very well to reading from both points of view and discussing the use of slavery from both the white owners side and the slaves side.

Because of the great discussion points that this book brings up, it is a great one to allow students to respond to the text.  It will allow students to look at an issue from a point of view that they don't often read about and take a stance.  The information provides within the text, allow the reader to substantiate their stance with evidence which is so vital in teaching informational literature!

Juneteenth: A Day to Celebrate Freedom - Informational Text Chapter book

Leeper, A. (2004 ). Juneteenth: a day to celebrate freedom from slavery. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, Inc.

This book describes the origins, the celebration and the growth of an African American holiday - Juneteenth. Juneteenth is a holiday to celebrate the last day that slaves found out they were free in Texas.  The holiday is celebrated with parades, barbecues and red soda pop (it never explained the significance of red soda pop other than it was part of the first Juneteenth celebration.  It may have been a luxury item in the time of slavery and something slaves couldn't normally drink, but once free they could.  Red soda pop was referred to multiple times as part of the celebration).

Informational Text - chapter book for grade 2-5.  It contains mostly photographs and maps to support the text.

When telling a friend about my project on reading a book a day, she told me to go to the Juneteenth celebration here in Winston-Salem.  Growing up in Connecticut I had never heard of such a celebration and thus felt that if I was going to read an informational text about slavery, I might as well read about information I don't already know about, thus my choice of text.  Juneteenth was the day that the slaves in Texas (some of the last slaves still in America) found out about the Emancipation Proclamation that all slaves were free and thus this is a day that African Americans in Texas and other states celebrate their freedom.

This is a great book to use Louise Rosenblatt's transactional theory concept with.  There will certainly be students whose families are very involved within the African American community who have heard of and experienced this holiday.  There will be others who have never heard of it.  It is a great way to just present the word and have people write what it means, what they know about it, etc.  I only wish it fell while we were in school to share the celebration with the class.