The New Girl...and Me

 The New Girl…and Me

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.