Tar Beach

Author: Faith Ringgold Illustrator: Faith Ringgold

Guided Reading Level:

Lexile: 790

'''Interest Level: Gr. 1 - 5'''

Genre: Fiction

Identity Group: African-American, Native American

Themes: Poetry, Social Justice, Creativity, Social Change

Summary: 

From School Library Journal
"Grade 1 Up--Tar Beach is a work of modern art translated into a children's picture book, and the adaptation is so natural that it seems inevitable. From her 1988 story quilt, reproduced on the cover and within the last pages of the book, Ringgold has taken both the setting and the text. The painted scene in the center of the quilt shows a Harlem rooftop on a starry night with four adults playing cards and with Cassie Louise Lightfoot and her brother, Be Be, lying on a blanket gazing at the sky. Cassie sees herself flying over the city lights; dreams of wearing the George Washington Bridge as a necklace; imagines giving her father the union building he is not allowed to join because of his half-black, half-Indian heritage; flies over the ice cream factory; and takes her little brother with her to the sky. Cassie's story, written along the borders of the quilt in tiny script, becomes the text of the book. The illustrations painted for the book version are done in the same colorful, naive style as the quilt. This type of art translates beautifully into the storybook format, and a border of bright fabric designs on the bottom of each page duplicates the material used in the quilt. In capturing the euphoria of a child's dreams, and in its gentle reminder of the social injustices of the adult world, the book is both universal and contemporary." --Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ

 Instructional Suggestions:

Read Aloud: This text works best as a read aloud so the teacher can provide scaffolding for the figurative language. Students reading alone might struggle deciphering the poetic images and metaphors in the text.

Mentor Text: Use to model incorporating poetic elements into realistic fiction.

Interdisciplinary Connections:

Writing: Social Studies: Arts: Vocabulary:
 * Students can find figurative language, specifically metaphors and similes, to use as models for their own writing.
 * Socio-economic divisions
 * Social Justice/Social Movements: Equity issues surrounding the exclusion of African-Americans and Native Americans from unions (grandfather clause).
 * Students create art inspired by illustrations to put together as a class quilt. Illustrations could include poetic describing challenges students want to overcome. (What will they fly over?)

Note: Much of the language difficulty arises not from the vocabulary, but use of figurative language.

Stars fell down

Eyes like huge floodlights

Tar beach

Prized possession

Hoisting cables

Marvel

Union

Steel Grinders

Colored

Half-breed Indian

Threatened

Fly over (used in the text to indicate ownership)

Family/Community Connections:

How can you, as a student, help empower your family to overcome challenges?

Resources:

http://www.reading.org/literacy-daily/classroom/post/engage/2014/02/18/putting-books-to-work-tar-beach