Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean

Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean

by Sarah Stewart Taylor and Ben Towle

About the book:

“Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.”  - Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart developed a love of flying at a very young age… and she wasn’t about to let any man get in the way of her dreams. What began as a simple joy became something much deeper—a commitment to open doors for all women. As Amelia built a name for herself in the field of aviation—breaking numerous recores along the way—she inspired future trailblazers to soar to new heights.

In Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean, Taylor and Towle focus on Amelia’s triumphant crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 1928, offering us a glimpse of her relentless ambition and her tireless will to promote women’s rights. But above all, author and illustrator leave us with a sense of her deep-rooted desire to touch the sky.

About the creators:

Sarah Stewart Taylor is the Agatha Award-nominated author of the Sweeney St. George mystery series, which follows the exploits of an art historian who specializes in funerary imagery. She teachers writing at the Center for Cartoon Studies, and is co-founder of the Writer’s Center, a teaching space and drop-in workshop open to the public in White River Junction, Vermont. Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean is the first graphic novel she has written. She lives in North Hartland, Vermont, with her husband and two sons. Visit her website at www.SarahStewartTaylor.com.

Ben Towle is an Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist and comics educator whose most recent graphic novel is Midnight Sun, which chronicles the fate of an Italian airship expedition to the North Pole in 1928. Aside from Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean, he is currently hard at work on Oyster War, a raucous adventure story set around the Chesapeake Bay at the turn of the twentieth century. Ben lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Creator Interview:

1. What fascinated you most about Amelia Earheart’s story?
2. Could you describe a bit about your process for research and writing this book?
3. What advice would you give young people who would like to write or become cartoonist?

Artist:

1. How would you describe your process for bringing Amelia Earhart’s story to life?
2. Is revision a big part of an artist’s work like it is for writers?
3. What is your next project?

Questions to consider:

1. Why does Amelia come to Trepassy, Newfoundland? Why is this location ideal? Would you put your faith in a place called “Dead Man’s Bay?”
2. Deduce why Grace’s mother calls her “Nosy Nelly.” List careers where being a nosy questioning person is an asset.
3. Explain why Earhart and her team has so much difficulty getting airborne. How do they try to solve the issues?
4. Theorize how the Trepassy Herlad got started. Why do you think she created it? What clues lead you to believe this?
5. Summarize what happened to the other women who tried to fly the Atlantic. Would you want to be the first at something? What?
6. How does it become a race for Amelia? Do you think competition makes something more interesting or worthwhile?
7. What do the men on the team do to pass the time? Explain why this is probably not the best idea. What do you do when you’re bored?
8. Determine how Amelia Earhart became interested in flying? Do you think her father regretted introducing it to her or not? Why?
9. Consider Amelia Earhart’s choices compared to most women of her time. How did she behave compared to her contemporaries? Do you consider her brave?
10. “The ocean up her is hungry for foolish souls.” Would you consider Earhart foolish or not? Why?
11. How does Grace learn the outcome of her Atlantic flight? What does she do with the information?
12. At the end of the book how has Grace changed? Do you think Amelia Earhart was a big influence on her life or not? Who are your personal heroes? Why?

Projects:

Art: Create a new series of cartoon’s which depict another even in Amelia Earhart’s life. Use the illustrations by Ben Towle as inspiration and include at least ten frames. Be sure to vary the perspective in at least three.

History: Research life in the 1920’s and create a poster, pamphlet, powerpoint or commercial about what you learned. Consider one of the following topics: women’s rights or issues, music, art and architecture, technology, transportation, medicine or entertainment.

Math: In pairs create equations which calculate either how much gas is needed per miles for Amelia Earhart to fly her plane or how man hours per miles it would take her to complete a trip across the Atlantic.

Science: Create a diagram explaining the physics of flight. Be sure to define any necessary terms for the lay person to understand it.

Satchel Paige

Satchel Paige
Striking Out Jim Crow
by James Sturm & Rich Tommaso

About the book:

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Leroy “Satchel” Paige (1905?-1982) changed the face of the game in a career that spanned five decades. Much has been written about this larger-than-life pitcher, but when it comes to Paige, fact does not easily separate from fiction. He made a point of writing his own history…and then rewriting it. Told from the point of view of a fictional sharecropper, this compelling narrative follows Paige from his earliest days on the mound through the pinnacle of his career. A tall, lanky fireballer, he was arguably the Negro Leagues’ hardest thrower, most entertaining storyteller and greatest gate attraction. Playing for dozens of teams, Paige vanquished thousands of batters; but his part in helping strike out Jim Crow may be his most lasting legacy.

In stark prose and powerful graphics, author and artist share the story of a sports hero, role model, consummate showman, and era-defining American.

About the guide:

This guide includes discussion questions intended to provoke thought and insight into the themes of the book which include baseball, violence, racism, boundaries, discrimination, and fame.

Discussion guide:

1. How does the author and illustrator weave the story Emmet Wilson, a sharecropper, with the story of Satchel Paige? Why do you think they made this choice instead of a typical biography?
2. Why is Emmet Wilson willing to leave his home and family? Compare his opportunities at home during this time period to those he’ll have in the black baseball league.
3. Describe the narrator’s experience as an opponent to the famous Satchel Paige.  What does the game reveal to the reader about both Paige and Wilson?
4. Explain why the narrator then returns to Tuckwilla, Alabama. As a reader, how do you know that time has passed in the story? What is Emmet’s main conflict now?
5. How do Dizzy Dean and Satchel Paige capitalize on their talents to make the most money? Despite this what is Paige still refused? How would you handle this kind of discrimination?
6. Why does Emmet feel compelled to attend Mr. Jennings’s celebration? What happens ? Would you be able to bring yourself to attend?
7. By 1941 how has Satchel Paige’s career climbed? What does he say about himself? Why do you think the Jim Crow laws of the south persisted over such a long time period?
8. Emmet tries to “humble down” to the Jennings twins but they resort to violence to make their point. What do they do? Why is Emmet afraid to retaliate?  How does impact every single aspect of his life, even his faith?
9. Summarize the game between the famous Satchel Paige and the Tuckwilla, Alabama home team. What does watching this game do for the Wilson men?
10. How does the graphic novel format add to your understanding of the subjects presented? What have you learned about the institutions of sharecropping and the Jim Crow laws that you might have missed otherwise?

Panel discussion questions:

1. Are there still disparate wages among whites and African-Americans today? Why?
2. Do you think the Arican American newspapers were welcome below the Mason Dixon line or not? Why?  How do most people communicate about important issues today?
3. What is the most interesting fact you learned about baseball from this story?
4. How did the police handle lynchings during this time period?  How was this a form of terror and control?

Projects:

Language arts/ Art:

Create several graphic novel pages about an important sport, academic or social hero of your own. Be sure to research information about your subject’s life so that the panels educate and entertain.

Create a Venn diagram and compare and contrast the lives of Satchel Paige and Emmet Wilson.

History:

Research one of the following topics from the novel and develop a PowerPoint, website, or newspaper article about what you learned (site at least three different sources, only two of them may be online):

National Negro League

African American Press

History of American Baseball

Barnstorming

Railroad

Brotherhood of Sleeping Porters

Jim Crow laws

Lynching

Graphic novels

Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen, Will Travel

Ellie McDoodle
Have Pen, Will Travel
Wriiten and illustrated by Ruth McNally Barshaw
May 2007

ISBN-10: 1-58234-745-X
ISBN-13: 978-1-58234-745-5
176 pages
$11.95

About the book:

Ellie McDougal (better known to her friends as McDoodle) is being held prisoner…by her aunt, uncle, three annoying cousins, and baby brother, Ben-Ben. Sentenced to a camping trip with them while her parents are out of town, Ellie is absolutely, positively determined to hate every single minute of it. Thank goodness she at least has her sketch journal in which to record all the excruciating (and, ahem, funny) details. But how will Ellie keep her journal from falling into Er-ick the Enemy’s hands? And what will happen if- inconceivable!- she actually starts having fun? Part graphic novel, part confessional journal, part wilderness survival guide, Ellie’s story is a treat for young campers, vacationers, or any kid looking to curl up with a great summer read.

Author interview:

1.       Admit it- you were just like Ellie as a girl, weren’t you?

2.       What was your favorite part of creating this story?

3.       What advice do you have for young people wanting to become artists or authors?

Pre-reading Discussion:

Have you ever had to spend several days with family or friends when your parents were out of town? What was it like to suddenly be dropped inside another family? What did you learn about them and yourself?

Discussion questions:

1. How does Ellie end up camping with her cousins? In the beginning how do they get along?
2. Ellie likes to describe people in both pictures and words. Which sketch of a person is your favorite? Why? Create one inspired by Ellie.
3. Ellie calls her cousins obstinate, obnoxious, and obstreperous (p.33) What does she mean by this? Use three words to describe someone you know. Explain why you chose those words.
4. Not only is Ellie creative on paper but she’s also fabulous at sharing fun games with her cousins. What are the games that they play? What are your favorite games to play on rainy days or on long car rides? Try one of the games described in the book and then share it with a friend or family member.
5. What are Ellie’s tips for surviving camp with family you can’t stand? What tips do you have for surviving the following activities:  a boring sermon at church, a substitute teacher who hates kids, a rained out picnic, a sleepover with someone who is not any fun?
6. What happens at frog pond? Why is this an important event between Ellie and Er-ick? Describe the biggest accident you’ve ever had. 
7. Write your own version of “I Am a Nice Girl” (p. 124) Then compare yourself to Ellie in a venn diagram.
8. How do people react who read Ellie’s private book? Should Er-ick and Aunt Ug have read it or not? Do you think kids should have total privacy or not?
9. Explain what happened the last night at camp. How would your parents react to this situation? What are you supposed to do if you find yourself lost in the woods/
10. How does Elllie change from the beginning of the story to the end? Do main characters always change? Why or why not?

Projects:

Language Arts/ Art:

Keep a sketchbook journal for one week. You do not actually have to share the contents of it (though it should be at least ten pages long) but you will have to show that the pages are written and drawn on in your own handwriting. Teacher will grade it by walking around and checking to see that the work is complete.

Music

Sing to the tune “take me out to the ball game”

Take me out to go camping

Take me out of my world

Buy me a sketchbook

and mosquito spray

I’ll  go exploring  the  woods all day

Cause its sketch, sketch, sketch

The whole family

And all the animals too

For it’s one, three, seven days too long

To be stuck with you!

Science:

Create a pamphlet, poster, PowerPoint presentation on one of the following topics from the book:

Animal tracking

Survival skills for kids

Bacteria in water

Lifecycle of frogs

Low impact camping

Edible wild plants and insects

Trout hatchery

Geology

Bald eagles

Fire safety

Math:

Camping budget-

Plan a camping trip to a dream destination. Figure out how much money you’ll need for travel, camping equipment, food, and entertainment. Draw or find pictures to represent each part and add up all your totals. Don’t forget to add on five percent for taxes.