As I began to read Carnival at Candlelight I was excited to find out that it would be set in Venice, a place I would love to go, and then I was even more excited to find out that part of Jack and Annie's mission was to find an actual painter of the time period they were visiting. At first I was somewhat worried about how I could use a book like this and make it useful or meaningful in an art classroom ( I am an Art Education major), but there are so many ways that an art lesson can be adapted to the themes of this book.
The book is set in Venice, Italy two hundred and sixty years ago. This gives the author, Mary Pope Osborne, the opportunity to not only teach her readers about a different place and culture but a different time period entirely. I love how she puts the passages from the "Venice book" in bold to help the readers distinguish between the factual information of actual places and the fictional story the she is telling. As I mentioned before, I can see being able to use the time period and Venice's rich culture as well as the specific mentioning of the artist Tiepolo to teach an art lesson.
I also enjoyed how she taught moral lessons as well. The readers learn about the importance of patience and imagination. Throughout the middle of the book though I kept wondering how the people at the Carnival could just ignore the water that was filling the streets and slowly rising. I thought about how they were probably so consumed with the Carnival and the fun they were having that they weren't realizing the danger that they were in. This reminded me of what I learned about this time period in my art history class. This time period was the Rococo, a time of frivilous concerns, the art often reflected this by becoming "fluffy", with subject matter that was concerned with having fun and not worrying about things. In thinking about it this way you can learn another lesson about having fun but remembering to keep an eye out for the dangers around you and to help those in need.
The painting that Lorenzo showed Annie and Jack- http://www.famsf.org/imagebase_zoom.asp?rec=5049161418950004
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3 comments:
Well its good that not everyone is in Elementary Education! I had no idea that time period was called Rococo. I thought it was really odd also that the people didn't seem to mind that they were standing in sea water. I on the other hand would have been disgusted and worried about my house flooding! I'm glad that the author, Mary Pope Osborne, chose to reflect that time period in how she wrote the story. Everyone there was fascinated by the fireworks and had fun in their costumes. They must have had to create something fun and interesting to get their minds off of their troubles.
I really liked that there were so many subjects that you could teach in conjunction with this book--English, social studies, history, and art! It truly is a very versitile book.
Thank you for sharing this link with our class!
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