Both of these books carry so much meaning. They are both about families who are adapting to new lives/worlds and trying to find their way in it. Many of the characters were refugees or immigrants that so much bravery when life gives them many obstacles.
A Crack in the Sea
A Crack in the Sea is by far one of my favorite books I have ever read. The plot, the characters, and the illustrations are just amazing. This book follows the story of many different characters such as Pip, Kinchen, Caeser, the Raft King, Venus, Swimmer, Thanh, Sang, Mai, and so many more. Each story plays an important role and eventually are all tied to one another. This books dives into fantasy and history and H.M. Bouwman does a fantastic job balancing them both out. Some of the themes that I noticed from this book are being parentless or orphans, immigration, breaking gender roles, and family separation.
“The urge to go up. This was the spot, right here. Right now. She couldn’t explain – she just felt as if she must go up into the storm. As if there were a door standing open…”
The setting of this book takes place in a place called the “second world”. This world was founded by Venus when trying to save the refugees and helping them find a new home. In the second world there is multiple islands grouped together called Tathenn and a place called Raftworld that is led by the Raft King. The “first world” in the book refers to the world that we, the readers, live in. The second world, in my opinion, is better than the first world. People in the second world have powers that are heightened like being able to communicate to fish, being able to walk at the bottom of the ocean, being a storyteller, and being able to walk on the water. Each character who has a power are able to learn more and more about it when they are in the second world and how to use it wisely and more meaningfully. The second world is also a place where people feel safe and can live freely, listen to stories about their past, and can call home. Whereas the fist world is filled with war and families are trying to escape or were being sold as property. The characters Thanh and Sang are brother and sister and lived in Vietnam. A war was happening they were escaping with some of their adopted family in hopes of finding a refugee camp where they could live and be away from the war. During their journey, many terrible situations occurred like them starving and thirsty and Uncle Hang being stabbed by pirates. When they arrived to the second world, they were able to drink from the sea water and they found safety. Here, Thanh and Sang found their new home.
Each character played an essential role in the story, but two characters that intrigued me the most were Pip and Venus. Pip, in the beginning, was afraid to talk to people because he sister, Kinchen, had told him he may look stupid if he can’t recognize someone’s face or because he is very different from others on the island that others may think he is weird. When he was taken by the Raft King, he had to learn how to be on his own and make his own decisions of how he wanted to talk and interact with others. This is when Pip really took on stronger leadership roles and made a friend in Jupiter, the storyteller who live in Raftworld. He used his power of communicating with fish towards the better good and he developed a stronger sense of empathy throughout the book. When Thanh had to say goodbye to his friend, Mai, Pip told him how he was sorry that Mai wanted to leave and how he wished that people never had to be split apart. Venus was another favorite of mine because of what she stood for and for her acts of bravery. He stood up for the greater good of the people and was determined to save the refugees from the boat. She led to shelter and tried to take care of them the best she could. She also broke boundaries like leaving Raftworld to experience life on Tathenland. This was not like others, but she wanted to live her life on land.
Dreamers
This book is about a mother and her child as immigrants coming to America. The language, the words, the sights were all different from where they came from, Mexico. The mother was very brave and took a risk of coming to America in hopes to give her child a new and better life. One day they happened to come upon a library which changed their lives forever. They learned to read the books that became such a huge impact in their lives.
“Books became our language. Books became our home. Books became our lives. We learned to read, to speak, to write, and to make our voices heard.”
Yiyi Morales, the author and illustrator, wrote where this story came from. It was based on her life and bringing her two-month-old son, Kelly to America with her. This is an #OwnVoices story because it is based off of her life and her experiences.
Connections Between Stories
A Crack in the Sea and Dreamers introduce the reader to people who are immigrants or refugees who face many different challenges and demonstrate much bravery. The families in each story were refugees or immigrants or trying to help refugees or immigrants. Each character in both books demonstrated an act of bravery. Both stories takes the readers deeper into what it means to be an immigrant or a refugee and how life looks different for each person.
Teaching Application
Both of these books would be great to use in the classroom. There will be students in my future classroom that have or know someone who is an immigrant or a refugee. Also, I want my students to learn more about what it means to be an immigrant and how much bravery it takes to come into a whole new place and have to start/learn all over again. I think it would be a great idea to have a class discussion on how they think the characters feel and how they would feel if they had experienced life like that. Another idea for A Crack in the Sea would be to have a timeline where the students can write down what happened and for them to have a character chart to write details about each character. This would give them something to look back on if they cannot remember a character or when an event took place.
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