by Susan E. Goodman
illustrated by E. B. Lewis
copyright 2016
Bloomsbury Children's Books
ATOS: 4.7
Lexile: 770
Interest level: Gr. 3-8
Description
By focusing The First Step on one little girl's legal battle to go to her neighborhood school, Goodman helps young readers understand the history of segregation in this country and the on-going fight for equality. The story is important historical reading in its own right because it recounts the first legal case addressing separate schools, the first African American lawyer arguing before a Supreme Court, the first time African American and White lawyers teamed up for a case, and how one city became the first to integrate U.S. schools. The watercolor scenes on each page help the story unfold and ground it historically in mid-19th century Boston. With its integration timeline, summary of important characters' lives, and the author's discussion of nonfiction writing, this book provides content-rich nonfiction for elementary through middle school students.
Qualitative Analysis
Structure
- The basic telling of Sarah Roberts' story is easy to follow.
Language Demands
- There is some specific vocabulary necessary to understand the story (for example, petition, decision, integration) but otherwise sentences are not too long and use a simple construction.
Knowledge Demands
- It would be important for students to have background information about segregation in the U.S. to fully understand the gravity of the events described.
Levels of Meaning or Purpose
- This book can be read simply as one family's fight for equality, but it really needs to be understood as a magnifying glass through which one can learn basic history about desegregation.
Text Complexity
Curriculum Connections (Social Studies/History)
The First Step makes sense as a 3rd - 5th grade nonfiction text for a study of slavery and integration. It can be used at this grade level for comparison with a similar story from over a century later (The Story of Ruby Bridges). How were Sarah and Ruby alike? How was Boston in 1847 different or the same as New Orleans in 1960?
In middle school, The First Step could be used while learning to use primary sources. After reading the story, but before reading the author's notes at the end of the book, students can be asked how they would gather the information to tell Sarah's story: what kind of documents would they need, where could they find the documents, and would there still be anyone alive they could talk to? Students could also make comparisons with historical fiction, such as Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, (by Gary Schmidt, it's based on tragic real events of an African American island community off the coast of Maine). Rich discussions could include examinations of how historical fiction is similar to nonfiction, whether they both use primary sources, and why you would choose one over the other.
Related Resources
Library of Congress - Teacher resources for using primary sources
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/
ALA: Finding, Evaluating and Using Primary Sources on the Web
http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/history/resources/pubs/usingprimarysources
Kathy Schrock's Primary Sources in the Classroom
http://www.schrockguide.net/primary-sources.html
Malaga Island - Radio and Photography Documentary (focus of Lizzie Bright book)
http://www.malagaislandmaine.org
Ruby Bridges Teaching Guide from Scholastic
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/ruby-bridges-and-civil-rights-movement-slide-show-teaching-guide-kindergarten-grade-2
Standards
ELA Reading Informational Texts for Grade 4
Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
ELA Standards in History/Social Studies for Grades 6-8
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
Final Thoughts
I love a book which does more than one thing well. This book is history, a lesson in how to use primary sources, and a parable about the courage of taking that first step.
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