Intergenerational Book Event

Generously funded by the Franklin Education Foundation

To build rapport between young people and older adults.
Recognition and appreciation of other people’s cultures and experiences.

On March 6, 2018 about a dozen students from Franklin High School met with a dozen Franklin senior citizens to discuss the book You Bring The Distant Near by Mitali Perkins. The book was long-listed for the National Book Award and received many other awards. The New York Public Library, School Library Journal, Horn Book, and Publishers Weekly all featured it as one of the best books of the year. It's also one of the titles on the American Library Association Best Fiction for Young Adults list.

Franklin Senior Center Director, Karen Alves, and Caleigh Keating of the Franklin Public Library worked with Franklin High Librarian, Tricia London to organize this event meant to bring different generations together. The event began with Ice Breaker Bingo .

Melissa was one of the winners of Ice Breaker Bingo ! She is holding her prize, a mango!

One of the highlights of the day was Skyping with author, Mitali Perkins. Website: http://www.mitaliperkins.com/

After our Skyping session we enjoyed lunch. Thank you to the Curry House of Franklin for their generous discount. This was followed by our book discussions. Here are some of the Discussion Questions We talked about code-switching, shadeism, privilege, and the Twiggy. One of the women in our group, who was born in India, talked about arranged marriages. One young lady told the story of her grandmother fleeing her native country to avoid political oppression. We talked about speaking multiple languages and playing stickball in the Bronx. We listened to songs sung by the Brady Bunch and ate dried mangos, fresh mangos and drank mango juice. Caroline one of the Franklin High students said, "The event was really fun. I really enjoyed talking with the people from the senior center. I thought it was interesting that even though we were so different in age we had the same ideas about the book."

Thank you Franklin Education Foundation for this great experience!

Here is a local newspaper article about the event

You Bring the Distant Near Playlist | Songs for the Novel

We listened to these songs and watched the videos while we played Icebreaker Bingo.

Vocabulary:

Teep - page 12 (A red dot Hindu women wear on their forehead.)

Shradh ceremony - page 107 in Hinduism, a ceremony performed in honour of a dead ancestor.

Kurta - page 107 A kurta is an upper garment for men and women

Utaldhara Badal Jhare - (The song Ranee sang that won Rajeev’s heart)

Caleigh Keating, Franklin Public Library, Karen Alves, Senior Center and Tricia London, Franklin High co-wrote the grant.

Due to a death in her family, our classical Indian dancer was unable to join us. Here is a video of an event in Newton, with a different Kathak dancer.