Perhaps that is why I have always turned to books when I am down or when I feel stressed. Books surround me and my house is filled with them. One of the oldest books I have is a book titled Miss Minerva and William Green Hill. This book was read to my third grade class by Mrs. Chapman, a gifted teacher who read to us for the last thirty minutes of the day.
When the school year ended, Mrs. Chapman, who knew how much I loved the book and her reading it, let me take the book home so I could finish it over the summer. I am sure Miss Minerva would be banned today because of the language used between the white kid, William Green Hill (Billy) and his friend, a black boy his age. The dialect used through out is difficult to read, and I admire my teacher for doing such a good job with it. I think the author was being true to the culture of our country at the time, the early twentieth century.
The two children loved to be together and played together, got into loads of mischief that brought Miss Minerva, Billy's aunt, down on them with angry words. She preached to Billy, and he responded with words that often made his aunt stop and think. The book will make you smile and laugh but you need to know it is full of stereotypes regarding race.
When I ran across the book in a used book store about twenty years ago, I had to have it. When I opened it and tried to read it, I was amazed at how much dialect was used and how difficult it was to read. I didn't remember it that way.
In writing classes today, we are encouraged not to use heavy dialect in our writing because it often stops the reader who has to go back and try to understand the weird writing. We use only a few phrases or words to indicate the dialect, but it is not acceptable to misspell words or write a sentence with so much dialect the reader must struggle to understand what the author is trying to say.
The Miss Minerva books, and there are several, remind me of the Mark Twain books which also reflected the culture of the time. The author of the first book in the series is Francis Boyd Calhoun. After her passing the books were written by others. I loved the book when I was a child. The reviews of the book tell the same story of kids who were read this book by adults and insist their own children hear it.
Did you read this book when you were a child? Did you have a special book you loved as a child and bought it as an adult?
I am so glad that you had a teacher who recognised and encouraged your life long love of reading.
ReplyDeleteFor me it was The Land of Green Ginger by Noel Langley. Mrs Curran read it to us - a little each day. She very, very kindly didn't read any of it when I was off school sick, and finished it when I came back to school. I now have my own copy - and read it (with pleasure) most years.
EC, what a great teacher you had. She must have known you well to hold off reading when you were not there. Teachers can make a great big difference in our lives. I wanted to be a teacher like my Mrs. Chapman, but it was not to be. I only taught in public schools five years because I carried home the pain of my students. However, I was meant to be a teacher, I think. I taught ten years Kindergarten and for the past two decades taught adults. I will look for your book and learn what you liked when you were a child.
ReplyDeleteDJan, authors have made progress in this area, thank goodness. I once knew a new writer who said he loved to write about the people of Appalachia because he liked to use the dialect of t he natives in his books. Natives of my area have a way of speaking that is different from the one I grew up with, but south Georgians like me have our own accent and sayings that are different from others. However, as writers we want our readers to know what is being said so they can follow the story.
ReplyDeleteI never remember a teacher reading to the class as your teacher did. Great memory!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Glenda! I loved all books when I was a child and I still do! Among my favorites were the Little House books, the Box Car Children series, and a set of books that were in my elementary library—the books were orange hardbacks and they were biographies on important people from America's history. I still remember where each of those book series set on the library shelves even though the library and school burned well over twenty years ago.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite books as a child was The Wizard of Oz. With my visual impairment, it was the first book I read on my closed-circuit television magnification system the schoolboard purchased when I was in the sixth grade. I've read the book and watched the movie several times as an adult.
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