Queen of the
Falls
Van
Allsburg, Chris. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Books for Children, 2011.
978-0-547-31581-2
Quantitative Reading Level: Reading Level 4.0, Lexile 1060,
Fountas and Pinnell R
Qualitative Reading Analysis:
As can be
seen in even the quantitative reading level this is not a picture book designed
for the younger students. All you have
to do is look at the text and you can see that there is a lot of it and it is
quite dense on the page. The level of
meaning is fairly straightforward however, there are a few jumps in time that
could confuse younger readers. Because
it is a historical text readers do need an understanding of the time period –
the attitude toward women, the economic structure, the apparel. The illustrations help with this aspect. I would say that according to the “Text
Complexity: Qualitative Measures Rubric for Literary Text” this book would be
rate as middle low.
Summary:
Sixty two
year old Annie Edson Taylor was out of work, single, and needed a way to
support herself or risk being sent to the poorhouse. So she did what any other woman her age in
the year 1901 would do – she went over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Wait what?
Her idea was to gain notoriety, fame, and of course fortune. Well, she succeeded in going over the
falls. Annie was first person to
successfully go over the falls and remains the only woman to do so alone. Unfortunately, she did not gain the notoriety,
fame, and fortune she desired. Her
biggest problem? Her age – few people
believed someone as old as her could have survived and she didn’t really have
the charisma to make a big name for herself.
Content Area: Reading/ELA, Social Studies
Content area standard:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3
Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or
technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information
in the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.5
Describe the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect,
problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in a text or part
of a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.6
Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or
topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.9
Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or
speak about the subject knowledgeably.
Curriculum Suggestions:
As a text
about a historical event students can look at the way the text is organized and
discuss why Chris Van Allsburg may have organized the text in that way.
There is a
brand new book called Barreling Over Niagara Falls by Nancy Kelly Allen, It would be great for students to read that
book as well and compare how the two authors deal with the event and with
Annie. The book is also considered a
picture book with a reading level of 5.0.
Students
could also look at newspaper accounts of the actual event such as the newspaper
article cited at http://www.newsinhistory.com/blog/lady-daredevil-first-go-over-niagara-falls-barrel
Students
could discuss Annie choices. Why did she
feel she needed to do something? What
were the conditions for women and the elderly in 1901?
Compare and
contrast the books of Chris Van Allsburg.
Chris Van
Allsburg talks about the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMCRavWvsDo
Personal Thoughts:
This is a very
interesting book. Growing up near
Niagara Falls I had heard stories of the people who went over the Falls
successfully and unsuccessfully. I have
been near the river and have seen the “point of no return”. For students not familiar with Niagara Falls
it would be great to expose them to the power of nature and the pluckiness of a
real person who decided to take her fate into her own hands.
Subjects/Themes: Self-preservation, role of women,
self-reliance
High Interest Annotation: If you were an elderly woman who was
looking for a way to fund your retirement you’d go over Niagara Falls in a barrel
– right?
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