Feathers

This novel tells the story of a girl named Frannie who is in the sixth grade. It takes place in the 1970’s in an urban, all African American school. One day, things change at their school. A white boy who becomes known as “Jesus Boy” begins to go to their school. This brings problems and misunderstandings as to why a white boy would come to an all-African American school. Jesus Boy and Frannie become friends. She is amazed that he knows sign language like her. Frannie has an older brother who is deaf. Students begin to think Jesus Boy is actually Jesus because he does not retaliate when the bully Trevor picks on him. One day, Trevor and Jesus Boy get into a verbal fight and Jesus Boy says some very hurtful things to Trevor. Trevor tries to fight Jesus Boy but only ends up falling. This idea that Jesus Boy is Jesus disappears in the students. They realize that both Trevor and Jesus Boy are just normal kids. In the end of the novel, Frannie realizes that her friends like Samantha, began to see Jesus Boy as a symbol of hope. She realized like her favorite poem that through everything in life, people look for hope.

I would definitely use this novel in my upper elementary grades: fifth and sixth grade. These aged students would appreciate the story more. If I were to use this novel in my future classroom, I would want to use this book for the specific lesson of helping students learn how to identify and analyze themes. The symbolism in this novel is very important and leads the themes of the book. A big part of this story was the metaphor of hope which revolved around the theme of the novel: hope. This theme is introduced through one of Emily Dickinson’s poem that describes hope as, “Hope is the thing with feathers…” I would first of all want my students to read this poem before reading this book. The students could obviously connect to the poem and this book in a different way then. Jesus Boy is also another symbol of hope in the book. When Jesus Boy does not automatically act like a normal boy, getting into fights and defending himself, the children begin to associate him as Jesus. They begin to see him in a different light and maybe a sign that different days are coming. Understanding was another theme that was incredibly important to this book. The children in the book were always trying to understand something, whether it was trying to figure out Jesus Boy or why people had to be mean. These two very important themes are relevant to an upper elementary grades classrooms. I feel that it would bring some difficult topics up to be discussed in class, but I believe that it could lead students to find a new understanding of these hard concepts of life.

Feathers

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Year Published: 2010