Thirteen-year-old Staggerlee used to be called Evangeline, but she took on a fiercer name. She's always been different--set apart by the tragic deaths of her grandparents in an anti-civil rights bombing, by her parents' interracial marriage, and by her family's retreat from the world. This summer she has a new reason to feel set apart--her confused longing for her friend Hazel. When cousin Trout comes to stay, she gives Staggerlee a first glimpse of her possible future selves and the world beyond childhood.
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Staggerlee is searching for answers to hard questions about life, love, and the racist world around her as she embarks on the journey from childhood to young adulthood.
Fourteen-year-old Staggerlee Canan is the middle child of a mixed-race family. Her grandparents were killed while participating in a civil rights demonstration in Alabama in 1969. Like her white mother, Staggerlee feels lonely and "set apart" from the people in Sweet Gum, the small town near their family farm. Staggerlee longs for a friend with whom she can discuss her deepest feelings.
Then Staggerlee's cousin Tyler, a girl known as Trout, comes to spend the summer. She and Staggerlee explore answers to questions they have about their family, sex, love, and friendship. Most of all, they wonder about how they will "fit in" in a more grown-up world. At the end of the summer, Tyler returns to her family and Staggerlee enters high school feeling changed and more confident.
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
Born February 12 in Columbus, Ohio, Jacqueline Woodson grew up in Greenville, South Carolina and Brooklyn, New York and graduated from college with a B.A. in English. A former drama therapist for runaways and homeless children in New York City, she now writes full-time and has received The Kenyon Review Award for Literary Excellence in Fiction. Though she spends most of her time writing, Woodson also enjoys reading the works of emerging writers, encouraging young people to write, heated political conversation with her friends, and sewing. At one time, she made most of her own clothing, but now she makes mostly scarves and quilts for her friends.
Jacqueline Woodson began to consider becoming a writer when she was chosen to be the literary editor of a magazine in the fifth grade. Eventually, three books helped convince her to pursue a writing career: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Daddy Was a Numbers-Runner by Louise Meriwether, and Ruby by Rosa Guy. Before reading those books, Woodson thought that only books featuring mainstream, white characters or works by William Shakespeare constituted valid literature. But in those three books, Woodson saw parts of herself and her life, and realized that books could be about people like her; and she knew she wanted to write them.
TEACHING IDEAS
The House You Pass on the Way challenges young readers to examine how family relationships and friendships help shape a person's identity. It also offers readers the opportunity to openly discuss the importance of communication among family members; how to deal with loneliness; teenage sexuality; and the presence of racism in our society.
Woodson presents a character who experiences all of the emotions of adolescence. For this reason, young adults will identify with her journey toward maturity, and will find comfort in what she discovers in the end. In addition to discussion suggestions for each theme, this guide offers interdisciplinary activities for language arts, social studies, drama, music, art, and careers.
Pre-Reading Activity
Ask students to write down at least three questions about being a teenager that they would most like to have answered. These questions may relate to topics such as family, friends, and sexuality. Some students may be willing to share their questions; others may wish to keep their questions private. Engage the class in a discussion about where they might go to get answers to their questions.
Thematic Connections
Communication
Staggerlee's family never talks about the things that bother them. They never talk about racism, religion, sexuality, or their estranged relationship with Staggerlee's father's family. Engage the class in a discussion about the importance of communicating issues that trouble you. How does the lack of communication in Staggerlee's family contribute to her confusion about her self-identity? When does she feel closest to her family?
Friendship
Staggerlee has a difficult time making friends. On the other hand, Dotti, Staggerlee's sister, is very popular. Ask students to discuss why Staggerlee can't seem to make friends. At one point, Staggerlee says, "I figure I'd like to have me a good friend in my lifetime" (p. 44). Ask students to discuss how Staggerlee's social life changes when she enters high school. Allow the class to brainstorm ways a new student might make friends in school.
Loneliness
Staggerlee is a very lonely girl, and feels "off step--on the outside." Ask students to discuss whether Staggerlee's loneliness is connected with her family being interracial. How does her confusion about her sexuality contribute to her loneliness?
Staggerlee says that she wishes she could start her life over again. How does this desire to be a different person indicate the degree of her loneliness? Describe the person that Staggerlee wishes to be. Cite evidence that Staggerlee's mother is also lonely. What does Staggerlee's father mean when he says that her mother has always been a "solo"?
Racism
Dotti says that Aunt Hallique, their father's sister, hated them. Dotti's mother responds, "She didn't know you. It was the idea of us she disapproved of" (p. 13). Ask the class to discuss how disapproval is different from hatred. Encourage the students to think about how hatred and disapproval can ruin family relationships. Might Hallique be considered a racist? How do you think Hallique would have reacted to Staggerlee's family had she taken the time to get to know them?
Staggerlee's family is the only mixed-race family in Sweet Gum. Ask the class to list the incidents of racism in the book. Why do you think Staggerlee's father brought his family back to Sweet Gum?
Interdisciplinary Connections
Language Arts
Staggerlee's father writes a letter to Ida Mae, his other sister, inviting Tyler to come and spend time with them during the summer. He doesn't feel that he can talk with her on the telephone. Ask students to write the letter that he writes to Ida Mae. What does he say about their "broken" relationship?
Everything seems different for Staggerlee once she gets to high school. Ask students to write a letter that she might write to Trout telling her how high school has changed her life.
Social Studies
Staggerlee's grandparents were killed while participating in a civil rights demonstration in Monroeville, Alabama, in 1969. Have students construct a time line of the most important civil rights marches or demonstrations in the 1960s.
Hallique started a couple of fund-raising organizations to benefit African Americans. Ask students to find out about organizations such as the United Negro College Fund that continue to raise money today to aid African Americans.
Drama
Staggerlee's grandparents had been in the entertainment business and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. Send students to the library to research the show: What type of acts appeared on the program? How long did it run on television? Then select a student to be Ed Sullivan and have the other students work in groups or as individuals to prepare acts. Present the show to another class, giving them background information about The Ed Sullivan Show and the opportunities it opened for many performers.
Music
Music is important to Staggerlee's family. They often gather to listen as she plays the harmonica and Dotti sings. The type of music that a person enjoys sometimes reveals much about them. Ask students to discuss the type of music that the Canans enjoy. How might Staggerlee's choice of music change from the beginning of the novel to the end?
Charlie Horse, Staggerlee's brother, gets a scholarship to one of the country's most prestigious music camps. Ask students to use the Internet to locate music camps for talented young musicians.
Art
Ask students to discuss what Staggerlee is searching for when she looks at the family photo album. Have students bring in one photograph from their family photo album or memory book. Then have them think of an appropriate caption for the photograph. Ask students to discuss the definition of art. How is photography a form of art?
Careers
Adeen, Staggerlee's mother, is a paralegal. Ask students to find out the training and responsibilities of a paralegal, as well as where a person in their state could study to become one.
Staggerlee's father is a pilot and operates a small airport. Have students find out what a person has to do to become a pilot. How long does it take to become licensed?
Teaching Ideas prepared by Pat Scales, Director of Library Services, South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville, SC.
VOCABULARY
Have students list unfamiliar words in the novel and make a note of the page number where each word is located. In small groups, ask students to share the paragraphs containing the words and attempt to figure out the meaning of the word from the context of the paragraph. Then ask the group to look up the words in the dictionary.
AWARDS
Winner of the Lambda Literary Award
REVIEWS
"Sympathetic and lyrically written. . . . Staggerlee's search for self will resonate with many young readers." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Recommended
"[A] poignant tale about growing pains and the ongoing process of self-discovery." -- Publishers Weekly
"[A] provocative topic, treated with wisdom and sensitivity." -- Kirkus Reviews
"This richly layered novel . . . [is] notable both for its quality and for the out-of-the-way places it goes." -- School Library Journal
"Woodson writes beautifully about feelings and issues." -- VOYA
FURTHER READING
Another Way to Dance by Martha Southgate[0-440-21968-X]
BETWEEN MADISON AND PALEMETTO by Jacqueline Woodson[0-385-30906-6]
FINDING MY VOICE by Marie G. Lee[0-440-21896-9]
The Friends by Rosa Guy[0-440-22667-8]
I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This by Jacqueline Woodson[0-385-32031-0]
LAST SUMMER WITH MAIZON by Jacqueline Woodson[0-440-40555-6]
Maizon at Blue Hill by Jacqueline Woodson[0-440-40899-7]
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
http://www.wmich.edu/politics/mlk/