Responding to Underground to Canada 3

We are currently reading chapters 6 and 7 of Underground to Canada.  This week, we are trying to find places where we can make inferences.  First of all, we can see that the characters Julilly and Liza are starting to become friends.  Liza acts as a guide at this new plantation.  She helps Julilly learn the ropes by telling her what to do.  For example, she points out that the food Julilly was given was to be saved for lunch and tells her not to eat it right away.  She also warns Julilly about fat Sims and tells her that he tends to whip elderly, crippled and people who aren't picking enough cotton.  When working in the cotton fields, Julilly recognizes that Liza is having trouble picking the higher cotton, so she takes initiative to pick the higher cotton leaving the lower cotton for Liza.  At the end of chapter 6, Julilly starts to open up to Liza about what her Mammy told her about Canada.  We think this shows that Julilly trusts Liza and maybe that she is really wanting someone to talk to about the thoughts that keep going on in her mind.

Also, we stopped to chat about why this new character, Alexander Ross, stopped Fat Sims from whipping Julilly again in the cotton fields.  The author doesn't exactly tell us why he stopped Sims, but we think perhaps he is an Abolitionist.  An Abolitionist is someone who doesn't believe in slavery and is against it.  This makes sense because we know that Alexander Ross has come from Canada, where slavery is not allowed.  He probably felt sympathy for Julilly and wanted to do what he could to help her.  Furthermore, he is a bird watcher, so he could have just been impatient and wanted to get going on his bird exploration.

By Monday, post your own blog entry to discuss points in your book where you can stop and think about the following prompts:

-In the story,_______ happened, but the author doesn't tell why. This is what I think...

-Why did the character________ do that?

-Why did the character _______ say that?

-These two characters became friends (or enemies) because...

-These two characters agreed (or disagreed) about________ because...

Responding to Underground to Canada 2

When reading chapters 4 and 5, we came across a few places where we had to stop to ask questions.  First of all, Julilly and the other children in the wagon were given a hoecake.  This isn't something we had ever heard of!  We looked it up and found out that it is sort of like a pancake but made of cornmeal, salt, and water.

http://growingupgabel.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Hoe-Cake.jpg

Eventually, Julilly and the children arrived in Mississippi.  The driver of the wagon talked about how they had finally arrived.  We wondered how many days they have been travelling.  We google-mapped how far it is from Virginia to Mississippi, and we found out that it would take 262 hours to walk that far!  That means that the men have been walking that entire time chained to the back of the wagon!

Now, you try!  As you read, mark at least 5 places where you had to look up more information about something you read.  Highlight those places in your own blog post!

Responding to Underground to Canada 1

We have just finished reading chapter 3 of Underground to Canada written by Barbara Smucker.  So far, we have learned that the book is taking place in Virginia, USA on a plantation called the Hensen plantation.  We're not exactly sure what year the book is taking place in, but we do know that at this point Canada has abolished slavery and will not return the slaves to the USA.  That law was passed in 1850 (The Fugitive Slave Act) so it must be happening some time after that.  We did learn a bit about the Hensen plantation too.  Slaves are treated well there.  They are given decent clothing and sleep in a slave cabin with wood-planked floors.  The slaves mention that they know not all plantations treat their slaves as well as Massa Hensen treats his.  But, in these chapters, some of the slaves are sold to slave traders from the deep south so we don't know where they're headed at this point.

We are learning about the protagonist, Julilly.  She is named June Lilly but people often slur the names together so it sounds like Julilly.  She is African American and is a slave at the Hensen plantation with her mother. At this point in the story, we know that she is 12 years old and is strong for her age.  We know that she is an only child and that her father died of a snake bite when she was born.  She is very close to her mother, Mammy Sally but at the end of the 2nd chapter, she was taken away from her.  She seems to be helpful, caring, and kind.  We know this because she helped out the kids in the wagon that were thirsty by holding a drinking gourd to their mouths.  She also seems curious about the things around her.  For example, when the cart of children sees a black boy, she asked him questions about whether he is a slave or whether he is free.  She immediately starts wondering if the words spoken by the driver, "Quaker Abolitionist" had anything to do with Canada.

Now, try writing your own blog post about your thoughts on the character and setting of your novel.  Remember, you don't need to include only the things the author tells you directly.  Try to think of how you can interpret the character's actions and what they show about the character's personality.