D is for Drinking Gourd: An African American Alphabet

D is for Drinking Gourd:

An African American Alphabet

Written by Nancy I. Sanders

Illustrated by E. B. Lewis

Title: D is for Drinking Gourd: An African American Alphabet

Nancy and Jeff Sanders

Author: Nancy I. Sanders grew up in Everett, Pennsylvania and currently lives in Chino, California with her husband Jeff. They have two adult sons, Danny and Ben. Nancy enjoys writing about Bible stories, educational subjects, and African American history. She also enjoys crafting and spending time outdoors. Nancy and Jeff are vegitarians and have been for over twenty years. Togetehr they have written a vegitarian cookbook called Naturally Good. http://www.nancyisanders.com/

E. B. Lewis self portrait

Illustrator: Earl Bradley (E. B.) Lewis was born on December 16, 1956, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has illustrated over fifty books for children. E. B. comes from a family of artists and was inspired at a young age. He attended the Temple University School of Art. After graduating E. B. taught art in public schools for twelve years. From there, he began teaching at the University of Arts in Philadelphia. He currently is not teaching and is working as a full-time children's book illustrator. http://www.eblewis.com/illustration/eblewis.html

Genre: Poetry and Expository Text

Grade Level: Elementary

Synopsis: D is for Drinking Gourd: An African American Alphabet is an alphabet book that uses items and words from African American culture and history for each letter. Each letter has a little poem that accompanies it, along with an expository text that explains things in greater detail. 

"R is for African Roots and the glories that Africa once knew."

Theme: The two major themes that can be connected to this story are the American alphabet and African American history.

Pre-reading Activity: Sing the alphabet song as whole class.

Post-reading Activity: After the story is read, have the students start working on their own alphabet books. The students will each have a little book where they will have one letter per page (standard American alphabet letters A-Z). On each page they will pick a word, a sentence, or a poem (depending on ability level) that starts with that particular letter. Once the students are completed with the writing portion of each page they can illustrate their alphabet book.

Assessment: The students will be assessed on their book activity. They will be assessed on how the letters match up with the word, sentence, or poem they chose. They will be assessed on neatness and readability. They will also be assessed on how their pictures match up to the letter, word, sentence, or poem.

Personal Reflection: D is for Drinking Gourd: An African American Alphabet is a great alphabet book. This book is cultural and educational from start to finish. I was very pleased to learn that there are many more alphabet books for different cultures (http://www.sleepingbearpress.com/). They are something I will look into for my future classroom. This book would be great for African American history and alphabet review. It is a nice change of pace from the standard alphabet books that use the same pictures and words.