The Novels of Maria Testa
Becoming Joe DiMaggio
About the book:
It is the summer of 1936. The Yankees have a new center
fielder whose name sounds like music and Papa-Angelo has a new grandson. The
birth of Joseph Paul holds the promise of a better life and a brighter future
for the family of an old many from Italy. Young Joseph Paul grows up, his ear to
the radio, listening for the magical sound of a Joe DiMaggio hit, and learning
the rules of the game at his grandfather’s knee. He learns how to run fast and
how to make life’s difficult plays. He also learns how to dram: maybe someday
he’ll grow up to be a hero like “Joltin’ Joe” DiMaggio. Maybe someday he’ll even
make his grandfather’s “broken heart soar.”
Maria Testa’s tender verse novel tells a story about family
love that is as hopeful and ageless as the American dream.
An American Library Association Notable book for Children
A Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book
A Booklist Best Sports Book of 2002
Winner of the Lupine Award, presented by The Maine State
Library Association
An IRA Children’s Choices Award Winner
A
Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2002
“With ineffable tenderness and absolute clarity, Testa
tells a tale in blank verse about a boy named Joseph Paul after the great
DiMaggio…Powerfully moving.” – Booklist (starred review)
“ A powerful, glowing, unforgettable achievement.” – Kirkus Reviews (starred
review)
“Becoming Joe DiMaggio is wondrous in its heart-felt,
sparse, home-run, free verse tribute to botha family’s love of baseball and one
of the game’s greatest players.” - Lee Bennett Hopkins
Pre-reading:
If you could grow up to be anyone, who would it be? What
skills and abilities does this person have that you admire? Why do we dream
about becoming someone else?
Discussion Guide:
- What changed for Papa-Angelo in the summer of 1936?
Why wasn’t the boy named after his father? Who inspired his name? What is
the story of your own naming?
- How does Joseph get along with his sisters? What were
the expectations for girls during this time period? What clues do you have
about their relationship? What one detail would you choose to describe your
own sibling relationships?
- Who do you think is speaking in the poem “The
Conversation?” What does this conversation reveal about the family? Do you
ever listen in on conversations?
- What word changes its meaning with Joe DiMaggio’s
appearance in baseball? Are their worlds that needle you as a person too?
How do words gain their power? Are there words you use that you know you
shouldn’t?
- Have you ever wanted to be someone else? Who? What can
you learn about someone by knowing their heroes? What do yours say about
you?
- How would you describe the setting of this novel? How
are settings conveyed by writers? Do you think it is different for novels in
verse or is it the same? What makes you think so?
- Compare holidays at Joseph’s house to holidays in your
own. How are they similar, what are the differences? What is your most
memorable holiday? What will Joseph always remember?
- In “The Streak” the author says, “Hits were the same
as/hope/that summer.” What do you think this means? What means hope to you?
Is there anything special that you share with your own grandparents?
- How did the war change what happened that summer at
home and across the seas? Why weren’t people cheering in Hiroshima? How did
Joseph’s father avoid service? What was Papa-Angelou trying to do for his
people in Italy?
- In the poem “My Father, Running- 1945” Joseph says,
“everybody else’s/daddies/ would be coming home/like heroes/ mine would be/
going away/ again.” What is Joseph’s father’s story? How does this affect
Joe’s childhood? How does he grow up to be such a good person despite his
father? Why do some kids rise above their situations while it destroys
others?
- How do Joseph’s dreams change over the course of the
book? What does he discover about himself? DiMaggio made his parents, “Look
how he has made/their broken hearts soar” How does Joseph do the same thing
for his own family, especially his Papa Angelou? How will you?
- Which poem is your favorite? Why? What did you learn
about the construction of poetry from reading this book? What can you apply
to your own writing?
Almost Forever
About the book:
The young narrator must watch her father march off to
Vietnam, where he’ll serve a year in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. A year is a
long time when you’re waiting for letters, waiting for word. A year becomes
endless when you don’t know where your father is anymore. A year feels like
forever when you’re wondering…and forgetting.
A Book Sense 76 Selection
A New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and
Sharing Selection
A Chicago Public Library Best Book
A Bank Street College Best Book of the Year
A Voice of Youth Advocates Poetry Pick
“The
language is gorgeously spare…Rapt readers don’t need to know anything about
Vietnam to understand love, loss, fear, and waiting. A tour de force.” – Kirkus
Reviews, (starred review)
Pre-reading:
Have you ever been separated by a parent or loved one for a
long time? What was it like? Did you worry for them? Have you ever known someone
to go away to war? What was the hardest part for the family?
Discussion Guide:
- Why doesn’t the family finish decorating the Christmas
tree in 1967? Have you ever had a moment that just changed everything for
your family? What were you doing before?
- How is “seven/was everything/six was not” true for a
young child? Why do you think time seems so slow for kids and so fast for
adults? What is the difference between one school year and the next? Can you
imagine not seeing one of your parents for an entire year?
- What doesn’t change much for the narrator after her
father leaves? What things does her mom do to keep them happy? What suddenly
becomes very important that the narrator once ignored?
- Do you think the mother and her children are both
hoping for the same things as they listen to and watch Mr. Mudd on TV every
evening? What would you want to see? How do they stay in contact with each
other? How do soldiers and their families stay in contact now?
- Why do you think the narrator wants her father to know
about their weather, their dinner, and what they are doing? What would be
the most difficult thing about not having one of your parents for an entire
year? What could you do to make it easier for someone who is going through
this right now?
- What lie does Mama tell at the post office? Why is it
important? What could it mean? How do parents try to keep information from
their children? In the long run does it make it easier or more difficult?
- Compare the prayers of the narrator to her brothers.
How are they similar? How are they different? How can you remember things
about someone you love when you aren’t with them for a long while?
- What does the narrator say wrong during Christmas?
Have you ever regretted something you said? What did you do? Can anything
she say make it better?
- How does the narrator learn her father is missing? Why
doesn’t she suddenly car e about playing at recess? How do they finally
learn what has happened? How would you feel?
- In the poem “The Wedding” the narrator shows that her
mother had a wonderful time. Does this poem also reveal how lonely her
mother must be? How? Do you think the narrator considers how much her mother
must miss her father too?
- What is the meaning of the title of the novel? How
does the narrator change from the beginning of the story to the end? Do you
think she will be close to her father despite his long absence? What makes
you think so or not?
- Which poem is your favorite in the collection? Why?
What did you learn about writing that you can apply to your next piece?
Something About America
It has been ten years since her family fled the fires of
ethnic hatred in Kosova, Yugoslavia- long enough for the narrator to have
learned how to hide the scars of war and transform herself into a typical
American school girl. Her parents, however, continue to feel like foreigners,
and she grows impatient with what she perceives as their refusal to assimilate.
Then an ugly incident in a nearby town changes everything, stirring the passions
of an entire community and forcing each member of this refugee family to
consider what being an American truly means. Inspired by actual events in her
home state of Maine the author has crafted a nuanced, provocative, and very
modern American drama.
A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
"Testa's distilled poetry never seems forced, and her
stirring words enhance a sense of the characters' experiences and emotions,
particularly those of a young person caught between cultures." – Booklist
"Testa writes stories told in poems of surpassing beauty,
fragility, and depth. . . . Riveting -- and tender." _ Kirkus Reviews
Pre-reading:
Why do people continue to immigrate to America? What do
they hope to find within its borders that they cannot find in their own
countries? How did your family become American?
Discussion Guide:
- What is the narrator’s earliest memory? What does it
tell you a bout her relationship with her father? What is your earliest
memory?
- What did the war change for this family? Has war ever
touched your own family? If so, how? Who do wars hurt the most? The
narrator’s family is from Kosova (which is the Albanian spelling of Kosovo,
a region of the Balkans). From this one letter difference in spelling we
know the family are probably ethnic Albanians and were expelled by the
Serbs. What clues about your own heritage are revealed in pronunciations,
spellings or even in your diet?
- What opportunities and possessions do you have if you
are considered “lucky” in America? Contrast that to what it meant to be
lucky if you were in Kosova? How can these disparate views of lucky exist in
the same world? How can we change the meaning of lucky for all people?
- Describe Ms. Lee’s class. Compare it to your own
classroom. Why does the narrator say, “we could be a slice of pizza.” (p.
14) What do we gain by knowing people of diverse backgrounds?
- Why are scarves so important to the narrator? What do
you think it would be like to carry scars (both literal and figurative) from
your old life to America? How has this affected her relationship with her
father? In the end how does she herself differently?
- What does the narrator love about America? Why does
she believe she might be more American than anything else? What does it mean
to be American? What do you love about America?
- Do you agree with the narrator’s mother that work is
important to a man? What does she say is important to a woman? Is there a
difference? Why? Do you agree?
- Why is the narrator’s mother ready to explode? Who is
she trying to please? “I know this because/she’s my mother,/ I’m her
daughter,/and when I stare at her/ I notice something, /recognize
something.” Can you read one of your parents or caregivers better than
another? Why?
- The poem “A Dream Divided” is a literary allusion of
the poem “A Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes. Compare the two poems. How
are they similar, how different? Whose dream do you most identify with? Why?
Which poem would your parents most identify? What makes you think so?
- What happened in Lewiston that suddenly made this town
visible? How does this activate the narrator’s father? What does he do with
his anger? How had her father become disillusioned with America over time?
How does this event restore his purpose and his humor?
- Reread the poem “Close Enough” on p. 68. What does the
narrator believe should be true about America and Americans? How do we
disappoint her? Why is it ironic that some people believe that immigration
should stop? In your opinion, what should America mean?
- Which poem was your favorite? How does Maria Testa
often surprise her readers at the end of poems? How can you apply this to
your own writing?
Projects:
Create a PowerPoint, website, poster or pamphlet about one
of the following topics from the novel:
Ethnic Albanians
Kosova/Kosovo
Lewiston, Maine (letter to immigrants)
Immigration
Language Arts:
Try to tell the story of one of your own grandparents in a
novel-in-verse format. Find scenes that represent their story well and sculpt
them into portraits of your family.
Art:
Create a collage based on one of the novels of Maria Testa.
Use images, words and materials from newspapers, magazines, the internet, or
create your own. Consider not just the elements of color, shape, and texture but
also the shape and object you might use for your creation (like a box). Explain
your choices in a brief journal.
Social Studies/ History
Find maps that relate directly to each of the stories in
Maria Testa’s novels. Identify where the setting takes place and also any
connections to any additional geography that the parents or grandparents may
have. Be able to locate these places on a world map and globe. Print out the
maps and answer the following questions:
- Who are the political neighbors of this location?
- How does the location affect the outcome of the novel?
- What wars and conflicts has this region been affected
by in the last 75 years?
This guide was created by
Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, a reading
specialist and author of Reaching for Sun.