The Forgotten Girl
Written by India Hill Brown & published by Scholastic Press, ©2019
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Grade Level: 3-6 Whole Class Read
Lexile Score: 670L Accelerated Reader: 4.7
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Iris and her best friend/neighbor Daniel have a signal for when they want to sneak outside at night: a flashlight at the window. One night, when Iris and Daniel quietly slip out of their houses and wander to a clearing in the woods to play in the fresh falling snow, they accidentally stumble across the grave of Avery Moore, a young girl buried in a forgotten and segregated graveyard. After this night, the ghost of Avery begins to visit Iris, and Iris has a very hard time believing what she sees. While this is going on, Iris and Daniel research the very segregated history of their town and lobby to have the mysterious graveyard restored. But Avery's ghost has other, scarier plans that make sure she is never forgotten again.
Key words/phrases: friendship, forgiveness, bridging the gap, segregation, and history
Suggestions for the Classroom
This video, from India Hill Brown's Youtube channel (Books and Big Hair), features Brown discussing her book, including a spectacular two minute synopsis, inspirations behind the book, and more. This is a great way to provide students with background knowledge on the text.
This image links you to an article from a free website for students and educators called Newsela. This particular article features a recent story of a boy who restores a segregated graveyard, just like Iris.
click the image to be linked to the website
This image links you to an educator resource from Scholastic that provides student-friendly information on Ruby Bridges, the first African American to be integrated into a southern elementary school. Bridges is referenced in the text, and this website can be used to extend student knowledge.
click the image to be linked to the website
SUGGESTED COMMON CORE STATE STANDARD:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.5
Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall
structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.
KEY VOCABULARY
Abandoned: left forever and forgotten about
Latch: to attach to a person who does not want you to be there
Perpetual: lasting forever
Ruby Bridges: the first African-American to attend an all white elementary school in the
south
Segregation: to separate people based on the color of their skin
Superstition: a belief that is not based on facts
COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES
Before Reading: The Forgotten Girl has a strong emphasis on segregated and abandoned cemeteries from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Before reading the text, show clips of these two videos to students: (1) African American Cemetery in the Woods and (2) Old Trilby African-American Cemetery in Pasco County (for video one, play from 0:00 to 3:00 and for video two, play from 4:35 to 5:40). Both of these videos showcase the same abandoned, segregated cemetery in Trilby, Florida. After viewing the videos, have students pair up and discuss the following questions:
(1) Compare and contrast the cemetery shown in these two videos with cemeteries you've
seen (in real life or in pictures). What do you notice that is similar and what do you notice
that is different?
(2) Why do you think these cemeteries have been forgotten about and abandoned?
(3) Do you think it is important to bring awareness to abandoned, segregated
cemeteries? Why or why not?
During Reading: Throughout the book, have students map out the setting. As new places are introduced, students should add them onto their map. Along with creating the map, have students write a brief description of an important event that occurred in each place they map. Students should be creative with this project, and they can choose to add new aspects, like characters, to their map as well.
After Reading: Instruct students to choose one of the main characters from the book and create a playlist their character might listen to. Students can either pick one song for a each event in a series of events from the text or focus on one moment in time, creating a playlist for that moment. Have students justify their song choices after creating the playlist.
WRITING ACTIVITY FOR INFERENTIAL COMPREHENSION:
After reading the book, have students write a letter to either Iris or Daniel. This letter should include the students' thoughts on the book along with at least three questions they still have about the plot, characters, setting, etc. After writing the letter, have students write a response to their letter from Iris or Daniel's point of view. In these second letters, students should answer their own questions based on their thoughts and textual evidence.