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Uncle Tom's Cabin??


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Anyone know if Uncle Tom's Cabin is appropriate independent reading for an 8th grader? Or, as a read-aloud for a 5th and 8th grader? My teacher's manual lists it for 7+ but it seems I most often see it listed for 11th+. The TM says there is a "subtle portrayal of a slave owner's sexual advances to a slave" so I thought I'd ask the Hive. I started pre-reading it this summer but I haven't gotten very far and it's so long. I think this is one of those that we only got excerpts from when I was in school.

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For 8th grade, we opted just to do some reading *about* UTC and a selection from it. Yes, it's an important work historically, but I didn't feel that the literary merit really warranted spending that much time on it at this age. So ds read some background about it in Hakim and other history books, then read the introductory material and sample chapter in our Norton Anthology of American Literature and we moved on to other works. I felt that was an adequate encounter at this age and it left us time to read so many other works that I found more suited to ds' current age.

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For 8th grade, we opted just to do some reading *about* UTC and a selection from it. Yes, it's an important work historically, but I didn't feel that the literary merit really warranted spending that much time on it at this age. So ds read some background about it in Hakim and other history books, then read the introductory material and sample chapter in our Norton Anthology of American Literature and we moved on to other works. I felt that was an adequate encounter at this age and it left us time to read so many other works that I found more suited to ds' current age.

 

Thank you! That's exactly what I thought about doing. I actually have the Norton Anthology, so maybe we'll just do that with Hakim.

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For 8th grade, we opted just to do some reading *about* UTC and a selection from it. Yes, it's an important work historically, but I didn't feel that the literary merit really warranted spending that much time on it at this age. So ds read some background about it in Hakim and other history books, then read the introductory material and sample chapter in our Norton Anthology of American Literature and we moved on to other works. I felt that was an adequate encounter at this age and it left us time to read so many other works that I found more suited to ds' current age.

 

:iagree:

 

Exactly. It is an important book, but not a great literary work. I would wait until high school. And I don't think it is for a 5th grader at all.

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I agree - I read it a few months ago to decide if we'd do it as a read-aloud at the beginning of 6th grade. Definitely not. I would say late high school is about right. Besides the sexual exploitation content, it is extremely brutal. I think a kid needs some maturity to deal with that particularly in the context of the fact that stuff like this happened - daily - in our nation's history. It's really heavy stuff.

 

There is also actually some very interesting political discussions that I think a kid needs to be a bit older to appreciate. It's not a fantastic book from a literary perspective, but it's worth covering for the historical/political material. Just when they are older.

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I will be the opposite and say that I think I would have no trouble with an 8th grader reading it. But take this with the grains of salt being that my oldest is still only 9 and I might feel differently when she is older, and that it has been several years since I last read it.

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I will be the opposite and say that I think I would have no trouble with an 8th grader reading it. But take this with the grains of salt being that my oldest is still only 9 and I might feel differently when she is older, and that it has been several years since I last read it.

 

It's not that I thought no 8th grader could handle the material. Certainly many could. ... But when it comes to *prioritizing* time and attention during the 8th grade modern history year, there were So Many wonderful things that I wanted my child to read... I just didn't think the benefit was really there. Ds read some pretty heavy lit this year, but I felt that our time was best spent merely *introducing* UTC for now. *shrug* I don't think it would have been *wrong* to read it. :)

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I definitely wouldn't have a problem with it in 8th grade. I wouldn't have a problem with it as a read aloud in 5th grade either. It is a powerful book that will evoke emotions and it details the horrors of slavery. That said, I personally don't have any problems with my little ones knowing the horrors of slavery or extreme poverty.

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The real value of the book is the way it shows a good cross-section of different slavery "lifestyles" and different people groups of the South.

 

Many of the vignettes in UTC are based on true occurrences, though not all.

 

It's not the most brilliantly written work, but it's not that bad either as far as pure literary merit goes.

 

I did allow my 8th grader to read it last year. There is some violence and some ugliness, but it is not celebrated nor is the detail graphic or overwhelming. The only reason I would choose to save this for an older child is because of some of the ideas. For example, one character has a slave mistress. This is not described in any inappropriate detail, but it is still in the book.

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I definitely wouldn't have a problem with it in 8th grade. I wouldn't have a problem with it as a read aloud in 5th grade either. It is a powerful book that will evoke emotions and it details the horrors of slavery. That said, I personally don't have any problems with my little ones knowing the horrors of slavery or extreme poverty.

 

I think about this one a lot, and I don't necessarily disagree, but I find that for myself, there is definitely a continuum of emotional impact, from reading about something horrible in a nonfiction format -> reading a fiction work that details how it feels to experience the horror --> seeing a movie showing something horrible, explicitly. As an adult, I can handle the first two levels for about any topic, but I shy away from the 3rd. Period. I have trouble getting the images out of my mind, and while I want to be aware of what is going on in the world, I do not need to see it. Obviously I'm not a big horror movie fan, either ;).

 

The question I ask myself with respect to my kids - every day - is how much, of what format, when? We are studying early American history this year, so we are studying the treatment of Native Americans by europeans, and we are studying slavery. These are terrible and horrible things that I want my children to know about. But, I know my kids, and I am making a judgement about how much, in what format, they can handle. And so I'm choosing not to read UTC to my 5th grader. Not saying I'm right, but that's the choice and that's what it is based on. And I'm glad I read it myself first before making that call. As far as whether to read it when she's in 8th grade, I won't be able to tell until then. Right now I think we'll revisit that period of history in 10th or 11th grade, and I feel certain that by then it will be fine.

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:iagree:

 

Exactly. It is an important book, but not a great literary work. I would wait until high school. And I don't think it is for a 5th grader at all.

 

It's not that I thought no 8th grader could handle the material. Certainly many could. ... But when it comes to *prioritizing* time and attention during the 8th grade modern history year, there were So Many wonderful things that I wanted my child to read... I just didn't think the benefit was really there. Ds read some pretty heavy lit this year, but I felt that our time was best spent merely *introducing* UTC for now. *shrug* I don't think it would have been *wrong* to read it. :)

 

:iagree:

 

I have doubts about whether it is necessary reading for anyone. It is not a great literary work. If you don't end up having time for it, so be it. When I was in college I had a professor who wanted us to distinguish between great that level just below in terms of writers. UTC is in that secondary level.

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I agree - I read it a few months ago to decide if we'd do it as a read-aloud at the beginning of 6th grade. Definitely not. I would say late high school is about right. Besides the sexual exploitation content, it is extremely brutal. I think a kid needs some maturity to deal with that particularly in the context of the fact that stuff like this happened - daily - in our nation's history. It's really heavy stuff.

 

There is also actually some very interesting political discussions that I think a kid needs to be a bit older to appreciate. It's not a fantastic book from a literary perspective, but it's worth covering for the historical/political material. Just when they are older.

 

:iagree: I read it as an adult and I cried my eyes out over some of the stories, particularly the ones dealing with slave mothers and children. Prue's story. :crying:

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