The books Her Right Foot, My Two Blankets, and Wishtree each carry the same theme throughout and deepen the thought of what immigration is and the feelings of those who are immigrants. Each book demonstrates the importance of community and building relationships.
Her Right Foot
Her Right Foot was very interesting and enlightening. It taught me so much about the Statue of Liberty and the back story of where she came from and what the right foot meant. The way Dave Eggers presents the meaning of the right foot and how the Statue of Liberty is an immigrant herself was very impactful.
This spread from Her Right Foot truly captures the meaning of the book and what Eggers wanted the reader to learn. I never thought of the Statue of Liberty as being an immigrant, but after reading this book, I can see how she is. She was created and built in an entire different country and then was brought to America to stand and welcome the other immigrants just like herself. This spread also shows an immigrant mother and child being welcoming into America by the Statue of Liberty which is so important for this book to include since the main point is demonstrating how the Statue of Liberty is an immigrant.
This book included many facts like where the Statue of Liberty was built and who had the idea to build her. It also mentioned what the Statue of Liberty was made out of and why her color changed from brown to green over the years due to the sun. It also covered every detail about the statue like how her crown has seven spikes to represent the seven seas, seven continents, and the sun’s rays. It also included the meaning of the torch, how Thomas Edison wanted to include a speaker inside of the Statue of Liberty, and how Eiffel (who would later build the Eiffel Tower, built the interior of the Statue of Liberty . All of these facts were so interesting to learn about and to kids I can only imagine how fun it would be for them to learn these facts as well.
A few themes I found for her Right Foot was immigration, welcoming of others, and finding acceptance. The main theme of this book was immigration and the welcoming of immigrants. This is a huge topic in America right now that is being heavily debated on. When reading this book, there were so many pictures that were shown that represent each ethnicity that come to America to find refuge or to begin a better life. By incorporating how the Statue of Liberty is an immigrant herself shows how America was truly built around immigration and how essential it is for Americans to welcome immigrants into the U.S. The theme of finding acceptance comes from the views of immigrants. Many, if not all, immigrants come to America to start a new life and it can be hard to do if they do not feel accepted by those around them. This issue is still happening all around us today and many immigrants are being turned away or not feeling accepted by their community. This book exhibits how crucial it is to accept others regardless of the person’s background or ethnicity.
My Two Blankets
My Two Blankets establishes how essential it is for friendships to be made for those who are new to a country and trying to find acceptance. This book introduces the reader to a girl who had to move to a different county with her aunt because of a war that is going on in her in her native country.
This book incorporates the themes of acceptance, building friendships, immigration, and sense of self. When Cartwheel and her aunt move to the new country to find safety, but when they move there Cartwheel feels strange and does not feel like she fits in. Throughout this book she is trying to find acceptance and belonging. One quote in the book that relates to this is, “When I went out, it was like standing under a waterfall of strange sounds. The waterfall was cold. It made me feel alone. I felt like I wasn’t me anymore.” This quote demonstrates how she felt unaccepted and could not find how/where she belonged in this new country. By the end of the story, she has found her belonging. This is made through her friendship that is created by a girl she met in the park. This girl helps her learn new words and helped her feel like she belonged in the community. Cartwheel always had one blanket in the book that represented her native country, at the end she creates another blanket that represents the new country she is living in. In the process, she finds her sense of self. She recognizes that each blanket represents her and can see herself in both.
A moral value that is dominant in this book is immigration. The topic is brought up in the very beginning of this book when Cartwheel and her aunt have to move to a whole new country to find safety from the war that is happening in their native country. When coming to the new country, they have to find where and how they belong in this new place. For many immigrants, finding acceptance and belonging is crucial in their transition to a new country. Cartwheel had a very difficult trying to belong in the beginning of the book, but was soon able to meet someone who allowed Cartwheel to feel accepted and wanted to help her. I think Irena Kobald did an excellent job at fostering social consciousness. The issue of immigration has gone on for a very long time and is still an issue that has many arguments towards and against it. For this reason, many immigrants find it hard to feel accepted and to find their belonging in new countries especially in America. I am glad Kobald included the emotions Cartwheel was having and the girl that helped Cartwheel feel more accepted.
Wishtree
Wishtree is a story of bringing together a community who have lost sight of what a community is. In the story we meet a new family who has moved into the town and we get to know the daughter, Samar, very well throughout the book. Samar’s family has Muslim roots and some people in the neighborhood are not happy they have moved into their community. This book shows the importance of community and the values of love, support, and friendships.
The themes that are in this book are immigration, community, importance of friendships, resilience, and nature. Immigration is shown when Samar’s family moves into the neighborhood. They have to find a sense of belonging and people at first are not making it easy for them. There is a boy who carves “leave” into the tree in front of their home, people are looking at them differently, and Samar is having a hard time creating friendships. Samar even makes a wish on the Wishtree that she would make a friend. Immigration is also shown when Red, the wishtree, begins to tell the story of how the wishtree came to be. Red tells the story of a girl named Maeve and how she was an Irish immigrant. She also had to find acceptance in the community when she moved their. Later, she did ended up having generations after her continue the wishtree. Community is shown in the neighborhood when Samar’s schoolmates make wishes for Samar to stay since her family was thinking about leaving. As the reader, we mostly see community for those who live in or around Red. We see the different animals such as crows, owls, raccoons, skunks, and opossums that make up the community around Red and that can live in harmony with one another. They are each very different from one another, but they each bring an importance to the community in which they live and would rely on each other at times. Also, at the end of the book Francesca is reminded the importance of community and how her great great grandmother, Maeve, had to start her life in the community and how important it is to love and support those around us. The importance of friendship is shown through the animals and in Samar and Stephen. The animals, especially Bongo and Red, have meaningful friendships that have helped them overcome boundaries and have given them a support system when they need it. For Samar and Stephen, their friendship took a little longer to create, but once it was made, their bond could not be broken. Stephen also had his class write stay wishes for the wishtree for Samar because of how important their friendship was. Resilience was shown by the animals when the tree terminators came to cut down Red. The animals knew it was their home and Red meant so much to them and they did not want that to get taken away. The picture in the book that shows the resilience of the animals the best is on pages 202 and 203. There is a spread that shows the animals sitting in the tree, refusing to get out, so the tree cutters cannot tear down Red. Resilience was also shown when Samar and Stephen made Francesca read the journal Maeve wrote when first coming to America. They knew how important Wishtree was for everyone in the community and wanted Francesca to be able to hear it in Maeve’s words. Nature is also a theme in this book because Wishtree is about a tree that is home to so many animals and a tree that is so important for the community that is about to be torn down. The animals were forced to leave somewhere they felt safe because a human did not like their home. This is something that happens a lot because a tree is used for many resources that we use in our everyday life. However, it is critical to think about the homes that are being taken away from the animals that have relied on it for so long.
The characters in Wishtree were very believable because it was easy to connect to their emotions. Red is a tree, but when Katherine Applegate begins to include the feelings and the hopes Red has for the ones around it, it becomes effortless to connect with Red and to feel the same emotions. This applies to every animal and to Samar and Stephen. Each of them are facing a problem and they have have different feelings about what is going on. They want the same thing, but the way they each approach the situation is different. Applegate did a wonderful job at connecting the characters to real life events which each reader will have their own opinion about. Having these real life events like creating friendships or saving a tree are topics that the reader can relate to and become connected to.
There are multiple moral values portrayed in Wishtree such as immigration, environment, and race. The wishtree begins because of Maeve who was an immigrant and then later Samar’s family comes to live in the community as well. The community is not very accepting of either one of the immigrants when they each move there and for most immigrants it is hard to find acceptance and to begin friendships because they are viewed differently. This book describes how difficult it can be, but how meaningful the friendships are once they are made. Environment is another moral value. The tree provides for many animals and people in the community and without it, the animals have to find a new home and the people lose a symbol of hope for their community. The environment is something that is very essential for all that live around or in it and some people push the environment to the back burner because it does not seem important at the time. Wishtree shows just how important the environment is and how instead of tearing it down, we should be building it up. Race was not fully discussed in the book, but it was mentioned what ethnicity Samar was and what she looked like. Based on how others treated her and her family, it was inferred that she looked different than the rest of the community and her race probably had something to do with that. It is imperative to think past someone’s race. Just because they look different does not mean they should be judged for it.
Connections Between Stories
The connections these three books share are the themes they each share which are immigration and finding acceptance/community. In each book, the author includes the emotions of the immigrant that is moving to a new country and how hard it is to transition to a whole new place. For Her Right Foot, the Statue of Liberty is the one who is being looked at as an immigrant because in reality she is. It also mentions how there are many immigrants that come into America and looking for a new start or a better life. In My Two Blankets, Cartwheel is faced with many new things that are strange and unusual for her. She has to learn how to adapt to her new surroundings which is very difficult at first. in Wishtree, Samar is in a new community where it seems hard to be if a person is an immigrant. She has to learn how to make new friends and how to live this new life. In each book, someone is trying to find acceptance. Whether it be the immigrants that are coming into America in Her Right Foot, Cartwheel and her aunt, or Samar and her family. Finding acceptance in a place that is completely new and where there are not many others that may look/act like them can be challenging and feeling accepted by others is a great barrier to overcome.
Each book has the theme of immigration, but each one approaches the topic differently. In Her Right Foot, immigration is focused around the people who are coming to America and how one of America’s well know statues is an immigrant herself. In My Two Blankets, the book is focused around Cartwheel’s point of view and how she feels being in a new place and trying to fit in. In Wishtree, Samar’s story is not from her point of view but from Red’s. In each book, the character that is the immigrant have different perspectives and stories of how they are handling the change. This is important thought because it’s true. Every immigrant has a different perspective when coming into a new country like America and find their acceptance in different ways.
Teaching Connections
These books go great together to teach with because they each cover the topic of immigration. This is an important topic to cover in school and some students may be in the same situation or can relate. Immigration is a topic that I feel that does not get talked about or covered enough especially in younger grades. To me, I think it is important for students to begin to know what immigration is and to hear stories about those who are trying to find acceptance and trying to adapt to a completely new country.
I would definitely use these three books in my future classroom because they are each understandable for elementary aged students and I think the students would like to learn facts about the Statue of Liberty and learn more about immigration. I have also seen many projects that people have done in their schools that relate to Wishtree like making their own wishtree or making wishes for the environment and for immigrants. I think these ideas and values will make a huge impact in a child’s life.
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