Tar Beach

Tar Beach

Written and Illustrated by: Faith Ringgold
Genre: Fantasy and Science Fiction
Grades: K-3
Awards: Coretta Scott King Award for Illustrators

Cassie is the main character in this book and Tar Beach is actually the rooftop of her apartment building. At "Tar Beach," it is where her parents eat dinner and play card games with their next-door neighbors, while Cassie and her brother lay on the mattress and enjoy looking at all of the city lights. She says that she feels rich with the skyscraper buildings surrounding her with the stars, but the George Washington Bridge is her most prized possession. Cassie is proud that her father worked on that bridge, by raising the cables, and that the bridge opened the day she was born in 1931. She believes that the bridge gave her powers to fly and have the freedom to go wherever she wants to go, like the ice cream factory, so that she can make sure her family has ice cream for dinner everyday, in her dreams. Cassie says that it is easy for anyone to fly and be free, just like the way she feels when she is on the "Tar Beach."

I enjoyed reading this book as I believe it makes your students use their imagination to be in a mindset where they can be free. This book would be good for Kindergartners to third grade. A way to incorporate this book is by asking the students what is their "Tar Beach" of where they feel free. It is easy to discuss this with your students and have them engaged.