Pistes d'exploration

Discuss the dedication in the book. What kinds of unjust conditions might the family have had to deal with? Is this the same in our world today?

Discuss how the rope helps ‘tell’ the story. Make a list of other objects that could be used to tell a story that is passed down through generations of a family.

Conduct an interview with an older family member, asking about objects that have been passed down through your family.

Write a similar story (using the same pattern in the text) based on the answers to your interview questions.

Draw a timeline to follow the rope’s journey. Which family member used the rope first, who was next and who has the rope at the very end of the story? How did each person use it?

For show and tell, bring an object that is important to your family (or a photo of the object) and explain why it is so special to you and your family.

Discuss how the country and the city are different. Use a graphic organizer to explain the differences. What would make this move difficult?

In the story, the rope is also used as a skipping rope. Find some skipping rhymes and chants, and try them out with the class.

Pushes & Pulls: Why Do People Migrate?, Josepha: A Prairie Boy's Story

Mots-clés

Picture book , African Americans , cumulative stories , diversity , family history , heirlooms , intergenerational relationships , migration , recurrent patterns , social mobility

Commentaire descriptif

This story captures key moments in one black American family’s migration experience within the United States. As a girl in South Carolina, “my grandmother” finds a rope and starts skipping. Later, in New York City, “This is the rope” that serves as a laundry line and “This is the rope my mama held out to the girls on the block, her new Brooklyn block, a home of their own, that they finally owned.” The language expertly leads readers through themes of striving and opportunity, while portraying a sense of nostalgia and loss for “back home”. Realistic painted illustrations beautifully portray mood and emotion through facial and body expression. Decades of changing fashions, cars and household items are accurately depicted. The rope appears in family photos, it helps mama move to college and it holds up the banner that sways over a big family-reunion picnic. Children of immigrant families will find much to relate to in this book. An author dedication, “to the more than 6 million African Americans who left the unjust conditions of the South … from the early 1900s until the 1970s” will be of great interest to readers, spurring further research.