A Morning of Weighing Babies
Print this Page- Subject(s): Language Arts & Literature
- Region / Country: Africa / Republic of Mali
- Grade Level(s): 9–12
- Duration: 50 Minutes
Overview
Students will explore literary characters and their relationships to an author and to each other.
Procedures
1. Ask students to read the excerpt "A Morning of Weighing Babies" from Kris Holloway's book, Monique and the Mango Rains.
2. Instruct the students to write a paragraph describing the character Monique. What is her job? What is she doing? What do we know about her? What can we infer about her?
3. Play the audio version of "A Morning of Weighing Babies" for the students, read by author Kris Holloway.
4. Let students edit their paragraphs about Monique. Did they get additional insights from Holloway's reading? How is this information conveyed?
5. Ask students to share their profiles of Monique.
6. Based on what we know about Monique, ask students what can be inferred from the relationship between the author and Monique, her literary subject?
7. Ask students to imagine what the future holds for Monique, Kris, Elise, and Karamogo. [Monique continues to help the village in this capacity until 1998 when she dies in childbirth; Kris returns the United States and later writes a book about Monique; Elise continues to live in the village; Karamogo dies in infancy.]
Extensions
1. Students can do research on the healthcare systems in Mali, other African countries, or other regions of the world.
2. Ask students to rewrite the same story from the point of view of Monique, Elise, or Karamogo. Share these with the class and discuss how the story and its characters change.