This Is the Rope

Reader Response: As a reader, I was instantly intrigued by the beautiful artwork on the front cover of This Is the Rope, and the illustration's connection to the title. What was so special about the rope this little girl was jumping with on the cover? The story weaves a beautiful tale that starts with the little girl's grandmother growing up in South Carolina, moving to New York City, raising the little girl's mother who goes off to college, and then ends with the whole family coming together at a park in New York City. After reading each page and absorbing the beautiful illustrations, I was interested to see how the rope would be used on the next page, and to see what would happen to each of the family members over time. This is a book I connected to as a female who is close with my mother and grandmother, as well as being a member of a matriarchal family led by strong and successful women who have lived all over the country but kept their family together.

Evaluator Response: The theme of the rope ties the book together from beginning to end, with the first and last page depicting the narrator's grandmother jumping rope in her yard in South Carolina. It tells the tale of a family who made it through the hardships of the Great Migration in order to give their children and grandchildren access to a better life. With the story telling the tale of three generations of women, the story could have the potential to be too convoluted, but because of the narrator's strong voice, and the reference always back to the rope and its many uses in the family, the story line remains clear throughout.

Teacher Response: This book would be an excellent text for a social studies unit to teach about the Great Migration in America. Because of the illustrations and author's descriptions that depict the transformation of the quality of life for the family, there is a visual representation of the reasons why so many African American families moved from the South to the North throughout the 20th century. Additionally, this book could be used in and English/Language Arts lesson to teach introduction and conclusion--since the story begins and ends in the same way--or as a way to teach theme and story elements--using the author's constant reference back to the rope, and the way it provides an anchor for cohesion throughout the text.

Literacy Coach Response: This Is The Rope would be an excellent way to help struggling readers connect to content, because nearly every student will be able to recognize the reference to the rope throughout the text, and his or her confidence can be built in knowing that he or she was able to see this common story element represented in the text. It would also make the social studies content of the Great Migration accessible to middle and high school students who may be struggling to understand the reasoning behind this movement, since the story details the progression over time of one particular family, and because the book has such beautiful illustrations that so clearly connect to the text. Readers who struggle with monitoring for comprehension could be encouraged to pause and go back regularly to see if the story is currently talking about the girl, the mother, or the grandmother, as a way to separate the narrator from characters, and to be sure the student is following the sequential events in the text accurately.