"Katie's Trunk"

"Katie's Trunk"

Written by Ann Turner

Illustrated by Ron Hinker

Macmaiilan Publishing Company, 1992

Picture Book, Historical Fiction , K-2

Katie is a young girl living during the days of the American Revolution, which would be around the year 1773. She lives with her family which consists of her Mother, Father, sister Hattie and brother Walter. Her family supports England; they do not support the rebels who are againist England's power of the colonies. The people of the town no longer talk to Katie's family. Katie says that her and Walter's friends hiss at them, "Troy!" which is a word that describes an England supporter. One day Katie's father runs toward the house, screaming for the family to hide in the woods because the rebels were coming. While they are hiding in the woods, Katie becomes so mad that she decided to just run back to the house, because she thought it was not right, fair, or just for these men to hurt their house and their things. When she goes inside the house, she looks and touches her favorite things. When she hears the men at the door, she runs to hide in her Momma's trunk in the bedroom. She hides down under her Momma's dressses, and she can scarely breathe. The men are looking for money and they decide to look in the trunk. As one man begins to pull out the dresses, his hand touches Katie. Suddenly the man shouted, "Out! The Tories are coming!" Katie was very thankful that this man, John Warren, decided to protect her family from the rebels.

This book is a great way to teach students about the Revolutionary War. The teacher will have to distinguish between the rebels and the tories. The tories supported England ruling the colonies on North America continent. The rebels no longer wanted England to contorl the colonies. The teacher should use a map to show the students where England is located and where the colonies were located so the students can better understand. Students can be introduced to the reasons the Revolutionary War started. The book refers to the Boston Tea Party. Katie's mother says, "Tea in the harbor! Wasting God's good food!" The teacher can teach students what the Boston Tea Party was and why the rebels threw crates of tea into the harbor. For example, students will need to understand what the Stamp Act was and why this made the colonists so angry. A great source that can be used for grade 3-5 is to allow students to read (either indvidually or together) a primary source about the account of the Boston Tea Party. It is from the Boston Gazette Newspaper, 1773. This will greatly enhance their understanding of life during this time as well as increase understanding of the book "Katie's Trunk." Also, the teacher may want to show pictures of the Boston Tea Party or pictures of the war. This will help enhance students understanding.

The illustrations of this book are done in watercolor and pencil. I believe that they greatly portray the tone of the characters and this time in history. For example, the characters do not smile throughout the book. This is because there was much conflict between the colonists. The way that Katie and her family dress also teaches students the way that men, women, and children dressed during this time. The men also wore their hair long with a braid in the back with black hats and the women wore bonnets and buns. The children wore dresses, trousers, and buckle-up shoes. I believe that the illustrations communicate symbolically through the use of backgrounds and colors. The background is simple, for during this time period there were not large cities or elaborate houses.

I really enjoyed this book because his book taught me very much about this time period. I believe that what makes this book even more special is that this book is based upon a true story. The students can try to imagine what Katie must have felt as she was hiding in the trunk and how thankful she must have been that John Warren did not tell the other men he found her. The last page of the book is very meaningful and speaks of how thankful that Katie is: "He'd(John Warren) left one seam of goodness there, and we were all tied to it: Papa, Mama, Walter, Hattie and me."