Written
by: Jacqui Robbins
Illustrated
by: Matt Phelan
Published
2006
Stacy
Barros
Human
Development 25
Professor
Kelly Bliss
October
12, 2014
Shakeeta,
a new African American girl is introduced to her new class and is told to be made
like she feels at home. She introduces
herself and tells about her pet iguana. Eighteen girls try to show her around
the school while Mia stays back. An African
American boy named DJ calls her Shakeeta Mosquita, and she threatens to punch
him in the face. Mia was nervous about
meeting Shakeeta’s iguana so she asked her teacher for more information. On the second day of school all the kids
played soccer with DJ, and DJ said that there’s an even number of kids and she
can’t play, this happens to Mia all the time.
DJ said she looks like an iguana.
Mia thinks that shakeeta does not feel at home with so many people
around her and no one talking to
her. Mia asks Shakeeta about her iguana,
and offers to tie Shakeeta’s shoelace.
Shakeeta ties her own shoe lace while Mia asks about her iguana. Shakeeta says her pets name is Igabelle and
they both start laughing. Shakeeta
brings Mia to her house to teach her about iguanas. Mia feels that in Shakeeta’s house, she likes
people who like iguana’s, eat lettuce, and makes her laugh, this is how she
will feel at home even in school.
The characters in this
book are depicted as individuals and not caricatures. The only stereotype that I recognized is that
Shakeeta who is African American automatically wants to punch DJ in the head for
calling her names. [Robbins, J. (2006) The
New Girl…and Me page 8.New York: Simon and Schuster.] The one that is teasing her happens to be an
African American boy. These two characters
are illustrated authentically and are culturally accurate in their
illustrations [Evaluating Children’s literature handout.] The two aggressive people portrayed in the
book are both African American. The one
who is standoffish is a smaller Caucasian girl.
The
one who has the wisdom in this story is Mia.
She takes the time to observe Shakeeta and see what she likes and dislikes. When she does not know something about a
topic she knows to go to the teacher and ask for reference books to expand her
knowledge. [Robbins, J. (2006) The New
Girl…and Me page 9.New York: Simon and Schuster.] Once Mia has this knowledge she uses it to
not be afraid to talk with Shakeeta about what she once was afraid of. This conquering of fear also leads to Mia and
Shakeeta becoming friends. The
consequences of Shakeeta’s behavior of telling DJ that she is going to punch
him in the head is no one talking or playing with Shakeeta. Her punishment for being new and different
was a group rejecting to talk with her.
The teasing and aggressive behaviors were only coming from African American
children. Not the Caucasian, Asian, or
Hispanics that were also in the book.
Jacqui
Robbins is a Caucasian female and the illustrator is a Caucasian male. When Jacqui was asked if she related more to
Mia or Shakeeta she said, “I am definitely more like
Mia. I am shy until I know people are safe; then I don't stop talking. I always
watched people like Mia does and thought a lot about how to make friends.”[http://jacquirobbins.com/aboutme.html] The only real voices in the story that are
heard are Mia, Shakeeta, DJ, and the teacher.
None of the children in her class speak up at all. The illustrations and language depicted the
culture that it is intended for. It was
intended to be a grade school type setting and it depicted exactly that.
In the illustrations most
of the children are just standing around with their hands in their
pockets. Almost like they don’t want to
say anything or they might get laughed at too.
It feels more like a following when they have their hands in their
pockets and a smirk or blank expression on their face. The illustrations made me feel as if African
American children are the ones that start fights and have to be better than
anyone and everyone else. Caucasian, Asian,
and anyone else could also be put into that illustration, but it was two
African American children instead. That to
me felt stereotypical. The end of the
story seemed very short and almost unfinished.
From the ending the main point of this book is to see how Shakeeta gets
to feel at home in her new school. I
felt like it needed a little more, but I was left thinking ok, now what.
***I tried for several hours to put my books pictures on this site and I couldn't figure it out, and after trying the link at the top and it crashing my computer three times, I'm just including this note.
***I tried for several hours to put my books pictures on this site and I couldn't figure it out, and after trying the link at the top and it crashing my computer three times, I'm just including this note.
Sounds like a great story. I agree it seems that the illustrations do kind of portray that African Americans as violent which is a stereotyped. It's hard being the new kid or the kid that always gets left out like Mia. Many children can relate. I feel that this would be a cute story to have in a classroom. Great job.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a story that I would like, thanks for sharing it with us. As for not being able to add pictures...... I had the same problem. I found that when I typed it in a word document first and added my pictures there it worked. I just cut and pasted it on my blog after that, so maybe next time that might help. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for that bit of info, I'll try it next time!
DeleteWow, this story sounds absolutely amazing. I love how you tied in all the different information, and even though you couldn't upload the pictures, you described them in your analysis in such detail that I can see what it is that's pictured. This is a book that I would love to find and have for my collection, thank you for sharing.
ReplyDelete