COPPER SUN BY SHARON M. DRAPER
Bibliographic Information:
Author: Sharon M. Draper
Title: Copper Sun
Copyright: 2006
Publisher: Atheneum Books
ISBN: 978-1416953487
Summary: Fifteen-year-old Amari had it all: a handsome fiancé, loved by her family and lives in a beautiful village. In the blink of an eye her world comes crashing down when slave traders invade her village capturing her and countless others in order to bring them to the Carolinas where they will be sold as slaves. Once finally in America she is sold to Mr. Derby who is looking to buy her as a gift for his son. Mr. Derby also purchases Polly, an indentured servant who has fourteen years left on her service. Both girls form a bond due to wanting the same thing: freedom. With the odds stacked against them can Amari and Polly escape the harsh conditions of slavery?
Critical Evaluation: This book has a two-part narration; the first part is told from Amari’s perspective and then from Polly’s perspective which gave the book a unique twist as well as insight into what the main characters were thinking and feeling not only about what was going on around them but also about each other. In many ways both Polly and Amari were very similar regardless of their different ethnicities which was one of the underlying messages that the author was trying to get across. The author handles the delicate topic of slavery very well by being written in such a way that younger readers can understand without all of the graphic details. There were some incidents that were hard to read ;however, the author was only staying true to what actually happened in real life. I liked the fact that the author included Polly as a character to demonstrate that white people were to a degree enslaved as well, not to the degree of African American people, but there were in fact some that were indentured servants.
Reader’s Annotation: Amari has a decision to make: Stay and be miserable living as a slave for the rest of her life or run away for a chance at freedom. Which one will she choose?
Author Information: Besides being a writer, Sharon M. Draper is also a teacher. In fact she has received several awards for her outstanding abilities as a teacher including: Ohio’s Outstanding High School Language Arts Educator, Ohio Teacher of the Year, and the National Teacher of the Year. Among her many many achievements, she has been honored at the white house for a total of six times. She even represented the United States in Moscow at Moscow’s Book Festival.
Also she is a five time winner of the Coretta Scott King Literary Awards. Another title that she wears is a New York Times bestselling author. Three years ago in 2015, Sharon received the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime literary achievement. “Copper Sun” was chosen by both the US State Department and International Reading Association to participate in the international reading project called Reading Across Continents.
http://sharondraper.com/biography.asp
Genre: Historical Fiction
Curriculum Ties: History
Book Talk Ideas: Slavery
Reading Level/ Interest Age: Grades 9-12.
Challenge Issues & Defense Preparation:
Selection Policy: http://ccclib.org/policies/CollectionDevelopmentAccess-1999-11-16.pdf
Library Bill of Rights: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/intfreedom/librarybill/lbor.pdf
Right to Read: http://www2.ncte.org/statement/righttoreadguideline/
Rationale:
Bibliographic Information:
Author: Sharon M. Draper
Title: Copper Sun
Copyright: 2006
Publisher: Atheneum Books
ISBN: 978-1416953487
Intended Audience: The intended audience is young adults specifically the upper grades of 9-12. This particular book would be beneficial for an English or social studies class. Primarily the book will be used for individual study in which every member of the class should read the book, and then afterwards there can be a group discussion of what transpired in the book as well as observations and thoughts concerning the book. “Copper Sun” can be utilized to open up discussions concerning the topic of slavery and indentured servitude.
Summary: Fifteen year old Amari had it all: a handsome fiancé, loved by her family and lives in a beautiful village. In the blink of an eye her world comes crashing down when slave traders invade her village capturing her and countless others in order to bring them to the Carolinas where they will be sold as slaves. Once finally in America she is sold to Mr. Derby who is looking to buy her as a gift for his son. Mr. Derby also purchases Polly, an indentured servant who has fourteen years left on her service. Both girls form a bond due to wanting the same thing: freedom. With the odds stacked against them can Amari and Polly escape the harsh conditions of slavery?
Relationship to the Program: The relationship of the book to school objectives would be helping 9th graders develop their literal and inferential understanding skills and comprehension skills. Through reading this book they would learn and develop the following skills: SLE #R. 9.9.2. Identify specific ways an author accomplishes purpose, including organization, narrative and persuasive techniques, style, literary forms or genre, portrayal of themes, tone and intended audiences; R.9.9.4 Recognize how works of a given period reflect author’s background, historical events, and cultural influences; and R.9.9.5 Draw inferences from a sentence or a paragraph (including conclusions, generalizations and predictions) and support them with text evidence. Concerning summary and generalization students will utilize R.9.9.8 Summarize and paraphrase structures in informational and literary texts, including relationships among concepts and details and R. 9.9.13 Identify and discuss a position using concepts gained from reading (e.g. debate, discussion, position paper, etc.). Concerning analysis and evaluation students will utilize R. 9.9.11 Recognize and define various points of view (e.g., omniscient narrator, third person limited).
Impact: This book would definitely have a positive impact on the students. It would certainly enlighten them on the harsh realities of slavery. Also it would introduce another form of slavery which is indentured servitude which isn’t discussed heavily discussed in history books. By reading this book, students may be inspired to research the time period as well as slavery and indentured servitude even more.
Why Included: This book is an amazing work of historical fiction. It captures the harsh realities of slavery, yet it is written in such a way that it makes it easy for younger readers to understand. While history books covering slavery often have small passages, this book offers at up close detailed account of Amari and her journey to America and all that she went through. By reading through the eyes of other teens, the teens may be able to understand the topic as well as the seriousness of the various situations.
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