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Printer Friendly
Booktalking Colorado Full Record:
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Title: |
A Long Way Home |
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Author: |
Graff, Nancy Price |
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Date Published: |
2001 |
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Genre: |
Real Life |
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Grade Level: |
6 - 8 |
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Booktalker: |
Bonnie Phinney |
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Notes:
Intro to booktalk combined with "Slap Your Sides" by M.E. Kerr
After September 11th, when all of us felt violated and angry and hurt, our country sent troops into Afghanistan and began its “war on terrorism.” Later we sent them into Iraq. Patriotism – the flag waving kind – was unabashedly proclaimed – on our cars, in our sports stadiums, in the media – everywhere. It would have been pretty hard to go against the grain.
Do you know anyone who then, or now, opposed this war? Your parents? Some friends? How do you feel about that person? How do you think that person feels?
Why might someone oppose a war?
I have two books here, both of which were written before September 11th, but each one explores the question of conscience. They deal with two very different periods in American history – two very different wars - but the issues are the same.
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Booktalk:
It’s a different time and a different war, but Riley grapples with similar questions. What happens when someone takes an unpopular stand – out of very real convictions – against popular opinion, against a lot of opposition?
Riley’s mother’s friend, Sam, is like Bud Shoemaker, only worse. He wasn’t a conscientious objector, so much as a deserter. Now, nine years after the Vietnam War ended, the people of his small town in Vermont still snub him. Riley, who is trying desperately to make new friends in their new community, finds Sam’s presence an annoyance.
Riley’s a serious student, and when his mom gives him a pair of binoculars that had belonged to his great great great grandfather, Riley becomes obsessed with the role his relative played in the Civil War. He’s looking for a REAL hero in his family tree. And everyone knew that the Vermont regulars had been heroes at the Battle of Gettysburg.
But a shocking revelation forces Riley to ask himself two important questions? What is a hero and what are the consequences of living by your convictions?
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