Multicultural Literature Activity

Crossing the Starlight Bridge

by Alice Mead. New York: Bradbury Press, 1994.

Rayanne Sunipass and her mother leave Two Rivers Island and move into town with her grandmother when Rayanne’s father leaves them. Rayanne leaves behind her pet rabbit and many of the things she holds dear, including the Penobscot people. She vows to return one day. She has trouble settling in school at first because everything is so different. Rayanne expresses herself and her Indian culture in drawings and eventually wins people over.

Pre Reading Activity: Finding out about the author

Talk about the author Alice Mead. Ms. Mead is an art teacher and writer. Alice Mead has written seven other books, including Adem’s Cross and Junebug. She enjoys writing about childhood and bringing many of the turmoils associated with it come to life. She studied the Wabanaki culture and attended workshops on Native American ways to research Crossing the Starlight Bridge. Ms. Mead lives in Maine with her husband, two sons and dogs. She is actively involved in helping the people in the Balkans. Ask the children to name some books that have been written about the Balkans region.

After Reading Activity: Creating a bridge out of collage

Material:

Large black construction paper

Scissors

Glue

Old magazines that can be cut up

Method:

Ask the children to look for the colors of the chapter titles (bronze, pink, red, brick red, white, sky blue, midnight blue, gold, gray, pine green) in the magazines and cut them out. They can cut out as much of the color that they need. For starlight, they can use their own discretion in deciding what they want to use. Suggest other alternatives like silver or the background of the sky that has stars. Ask them to make/shape a bridge using the material they have cut out and paste it on to the construction paper. For additional detail to the art, the children can cut out pictures of water and paste that on also.