Our book discussion over pizza was somber. This was not an uplifting book, and several people noted the super sad ending and expressed a preference for books with happier endings. It is a fictionalized account of a refugee boy's long and dangerous journey from Ghana to Europe in search of his older brother and sister. We talked a little bit about why it's important to read books like this and how some Bookshoppers felt like they always seemed to be talking about refugees in school and out of school. We also talked about the title and if it's okay to call someone illegal.
After that serious but productive discussion, we split into two groups to recreate scenes from the book using Legos. Interestingly enough, both groups chose to portray the same scene independently. Granted, it's a highly emotional scene toward the end of the book involving an overturned boat, a tragic loss, and a helicopter rescue. Once the scene had been set, each group had an iPad with the free Comic Strip app loaded on in order to take pictures and create a short comic of the scene. There were some frustrating bugs, all the more frustrating because our meeting was almost over by the time each group was happy with the way their scene had come out and ready to start taking pictures. But the app is pretty easy to navigate and allows you to add fun captions and sound effects and filters. Below are some pictures documenting the creative process as well as the final comics.
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| Mickey's Helicopter |
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| Avery, Amy, and Arsalan's Lego Scene |
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| Avery, Amy, and Arsalan's Lego Scene |
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| Avery, Amy, and Arsalan's Lego Scene |
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| Naseem's Boat Scene |
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| Naseem's Boat Scene |
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| Naseem's Boat Scene |
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| Mickey working on a comic strip |
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| Avery and Amy working on a comic strip |
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| Avery and Amy's Comic Strip |
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| Avery's Comic Strip |
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| Mickey's Comic Strip |
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| Naseem's Comic Strip |
Our next meeting will be on Monday, January 7th, and we will be reading Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish, by Pablo Cartaya. Maya will be running the remainder of the meetings for this school year while I am off on maternity leave, but I'll keep checking the blog to see all the amazing things Bookshop is working on!
