Journeys

When looking at Dreamers, Malala: Activist for Girls’ Education, and Freedom Over Me the common themes and depictions of displacement, identity, dreams, and empathy are throughout this text set. All of the characters in these texts are displaced in their journeys of life. In Dreamers, the author and her child have immigrated to the United States, a land they are unfamiliar with. In Malala: Activist for Girls’ Education, Malala and her family cannot return to their country of Pakistan without fear of assassination for their “progressive” thinking and view of educational equality. In Freedom Over Me, the eleven slaves that are highlighted across the book all were removed from their homes and families to live on the Fairchild Estate. All of these characters also discover and establish their own identities along with their goals and aspirations in their journey of life. For example, on page 18 of Dreamers, the text reads “Books became our language. Books became our home. Books became our lives. We learned to read”. This is an extremely powerful statement in this book for many reasons. These characters have begun to find who they are in their new home upon discovering the public library, exploring the books, and eventually learning to read. This is also powerful because this statement reminds the reader of how powerful books can truly be and how they can impact one’s life in significant ways. Dreams are also a common theme of this text set. All of these characters have their own perspective dreams that they want to make a reality. For example, in Malala: Activist for Girls’ Education, one of Malala’s biggest goals was ensuring access to education for not only girls but all children. She faced many challenges and obstacles and still does to this day, but she raised awareness of this critical issue and continues to work towards helping young girls obtain an education. The last common theme that I would like to address is empathy. Empathy can be found throughout all of these texts. As readers, we empathize with characters as we learn more about them and become invested in their story. For example, in Freedom Over Me, the reader can empathize with the terrible conditions that slaves endured even though this book takes place in the 1800s. Readers do not know what it was actually like, but because they have gotten to know the characters through characterization in the book they feel for them when they experience struggles and difficulty. Empathy can be seen across almost every book, if not all books, allowing the reader to make deep and meaningful connections to the characters/story. 

After exploring this text set, there were a few things that left a lasting impression with me. First, the power of books. As I mentioned above, books are extremely powerful for many reasons. I think that a lot of times that they are taken for granted or are overlooked as a valuable tool. Some children grow up in houses that are full of books and adults who will read the books to them, while some children will grow up in a household with very few to no books and nobody reading to them. As teachers, I feel that it is our responsibility to introduce children to a wide variety of texts, especially ones that the child can see themselves in, as I talked about a few weeks ago. In my classroom, I will also strive to give students access to books, allow them to take them home to practice their reading skills, conference with them about what they are reading, and introduce them to a wide variety of genres. Another lasting impression I had was about access to education in other countries for children, especially girls. Upon reading Malala: Activist for Girls’ Education I came to realize that Malala is one year older than I am and has made such an impact on children’s educational rights. In the United States, every child has the right to free public education. But this is not the case in many other countries, such as Pakistan. I think that this book reminded me of how lucky and blessed we are to live in a country that provides children with educational rights and opportunities to help mold them into productive citizens of society. Lastly, in Freedom Over Me, I was truly blown away with Ashley Bryant’s ability to create identities for the eleven slaves from the Fairchild Estate. I was in awe throughout watching this Epic movie because I felt like the characters were talking to me personally. I think that this was an amazing way to engage the reader and help them develop empathy for the slaves that are mentioned throughout the book.