Ways to supplement reading of The Other Side of Freedom

Wow! It’s the end of the month already. Have you enjoyed reading and sharing about our featured novel, The Other Side of Freedom by Cynthia Toney? Today, I’m sharing some ideas for parents and educators to use to supplement their reading program. So, whether you’re a homeschool parent or an educator at a public or private school, we hope you will find this compilation of resources and quiz helpful in supplementing your curricula.

Supplemental Educational Ideas

First, here are some ideas to dig deeper into the story.

1. Take a field trip. If you live in a small town, as I do, call your local police department to see if they will give tours. Not only will your child learn about careers and the law, but he will think it’s cool. Younger kids may even get a souvenir badge. When we did our tour, there was no one in the jail. Of course, if there is someone in the jail, you probably won’t see that part of the facility. Officers may also show how fingerprinting is done.

2. Watch a video of how fingerprinting is done. Make your own fingerprints. Do each finger and study how each print is unique. (Did you read Kristen’s interesting blog on the importance of fingerprinting in solving crimes and mysteries?)

3. Find a food mentioned in the story. Cook a new recipe with this food and enjoy it with your family.

4. Plant a garden. What fruit or vegetable did Sal’s family grow that you most enjoy?

5. Did you know you can create different food varieties? What’s a food variety you’d like to create? Read an article about grafting, plant genetics, or agricultural biotechnology. Learn about a favorite kind of vegetable or fruit.

6. Dig deeper into history.

• Learn about the notorious Al Capone and the mafia and their part in bootlegging and speakeasies.
• Research your own community’s history during Prohibition. You might be surprised at what you learn. Visiting a local museum and asking the curator questions will reveal interesting tidbits that you might investigate more.
• Study some vintage cars at a car show or look up examples online.
• Every period in history seems to struggle with some form of prejudice. In Sal’s story, people were prejudice against Italians and African Americans, and then his family because they thought they did something they didn’t. In other areas and times, we see discrimination against Irish, Chinese, Swedes—new immigrants. You’ll find that not only have Jewish people suffered for their faith, but so have Catholics, Quakers, and many others. Discuss other novels you have read that touched upon this subject.
• Corruption exists. In this story, we see a good cop and a bad cop. How can you be discerning? Write a letter thanking the hardworking officers in your community.
• Study the 18^th and 21^st amendments and the reasoning behind each.

7. Dig into Scripture. Find Bible verses about wisdom, fear, perseverance, greed. Discuss how the characters in the book exemplified these traits.

8. Have you ever moved? How did leaving one place for another make you feel? What similarities and differences did you discover?

9. Examine the literary techniques found throughout the story. Kristen pointed out this imagery in the discussion: “In an instant, all five strangers turned away from the house and began walking toward the road, their coats flapping behind them like buzzards’ wings.” (page 8) What other forms of description did you discover? Identify metaphors, similes, or onomatopoeias. For the latter, an example is swishing on page 15.

10. What was it like living in Louisiana during the Prohibition? Your state?

11. Have you ever wished to get away from a place or situation? If you succeeded, did it go as you thought? Write an essay about it.

12. Have you stood up to a bully? It’s hard to do what’s right sometimes, but standing up for truth is always the right thing to do. In your situation, what did it cost? What advice would you give to someone?

Quiz

Here’s a quick quiz to test your memory of the story’s details. Let us know in the comments how you did!

1. What did Sal dream of doing at the beginning of the story?
2. How did Sal know Sheriff Husser?
3. What finally convinced Sal he had done the right thing?
4. How did they outsmart the Mafia?
5. What happened to Hiram?
6. What was the name of their special strawberry?
7. The price of testifying against Angelo cost them the farm—the one place he wanted to leave at the beginning. Now, it wasn’t his choice. He had to leave if he testified. What else did he leave?
8. Uncle Enzo had the least to do with it all, and he got the worst. What did he lose?
9. What is a cucuzzi?
10. What happened to Carlo?

Quiz Answers

1. He wanted to leave the farm and see the world beyond Freedom, LA.
2. He saw his photo in the newspaper.
3. When Matilde testified against her own brother, he knew he’d done the right thing.
4. They moved to the outskirts of Chicago, hidden in plain sight.
5. They signed the strawberry variety over to Hiram when they moved away. Hiram went to college and became a professor of agriculture at the college in Grambling.
6. Freedom Beauty
7. Besides having to leave the farm his grandparents started, he had to leave his best friend, Antonina, and his Italian heritage.
8. He lost his girl, his home, his family.
9. It’s a type of squash.
10. He died in prison of pneumonia shortly after being incarcerated.

We hope you enjoyed the novel. If you haven’t read it yet, check out Julane’s blog.  Gretchen shared about choices and problem solving in the book, which will prompt a family discussion. And don’t forget the author interview for an interesting chat with Cynthia Toney.

Thanks for joining us!

Vegetable photo by Primal Felines on Unsplash.

Strawberry dessert photo by Reuben Mcfeeters on Unsplash.

Bible photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash.