The Oldest Student

Rita Lorraine Hubbard has been writing ever since she could hold a pencil. She once found writing an isolating and depressing process. She didn’t much enjoy the solitude of being a writer-- the eye-squinting and hermit-like activities. But now she finds all kinds of writers on the internet and she never feels alone anymore.

Hubbard began her writing career with ‘stories spilling out of her ears’. And now she has five trade books and two historical picture books to her credit. Rita will do SKYPE visits with students. Visit her website https://ritahubbard.com/.

The subtitle of this picture book biography is How Mary Walker Learned to Read. At age 116 Mary Walker learned to read and was certified as the oldest student in America to achieve such a personal goal. The front and back matter contain seven primary source photographs with captions of Mary Walker at different points in her life after learning to read. The biography is written in a narrative style that takes readers from Mary’s life as a child slave to her triumph of finally learning to read at age 116 and to her role as Chattanooga, TN’s Ambassador of Goodwill. This is a story of personal dignity, sacrifice, heartache, persistence, and triumph. Mary received a Bible shortly after her emancipation and the story of this Bible is woven into the narrative. For 101 years Mary longed to know what the squiggles would say and finally her dream came true. This is the Bible in which the names of her sons were recorded by someone who could write and beside the name of each new son Mary would include her X. Once she learned to read the Bible, it was Mary’s constant companion.

This is an excellent book to explore the genre of biography. Using this book, teachers can help students explore how reading biography is different from reading a story (which includes reading the Author Note at the end). It can also be used when teaching students to write a narrative biography, especially for using passage of time elements to keep the narrative moving along. The idea of Civil Rights is introduced and this would be an excellent book for launching into a discussion on how the Bible contains the civil rights of all people. There is a subtle circular ending and this book could serve as a writing mentor text for students in grades 5-8. An additional teaching point would be to study the illustrations and the award winning illustrator’s effective use of collaged media to convey emotions, time periods, and ideas.

Pathways Theme: Yesterday, Heroes

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