The story has been told thousands of times (the first book was printed in English in 1475 recounting the Trojan War). But for author, Paul Fleischman, it seemed that telling a story over again and relating it to today's happenings throughout the world just isn't so different after all. Paul Fleischman creates collages using newspaper articles that describe current wars, stories of inhumane acts, and the effects of beauty on the world and relates each of these themes to a particular event leading up to the Trojan War.
I was captivated by the comparisons that Paul Fleishman was able to connect for the reader. A war that could have happened so many years ago to events that happened in our lifetime makes the reader appreciate the relevance of the events that led to the war (as well as the events that led to the upheaveal in our own world today.
What can we do with these facts? What would we do differently today? Are we doing anything differently today? Children can relate so well to the great parallelisms that the author made which makes for great remembering tools.
I agree that the comparisons Fleischman was able to make were very interesting. It is important for students to be made aware of all of these important events in history. It is sad that the same battle is still being fought in modern day times. It is a great question to ask--what can we do differently?
ReplyDeleteI guess there is some trutht to the saying, "History repeats itself." So, I think this parallel is really great to honestly make us reflect before we make decisions in our world. It would be nice if we could do something differently to end many of the tragic events that continue to occur.
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