Genre 5 JIP - Historical Fiction

JIP
Written by Katherine Paterson
New York, N.Y.: Puffins Books
ISBN: 0-14-038674-2

It is about a boy who after several years of helping out in the poor farm, which happens to be the only home he knows, begins to question where he came from. It is during this time that events begin to happen to change for Jip. His desire to find out who his mother was and how he ended up in the poor farm. His friendship with the town lunatic, who was caged up and ends up at the poor farm with Jip and the caretaker shows a touch of human kindness. The lunatic, Put, begins to educate Jip of worldly things. Jip realizes the importance of learning, but is afraid of letting others know he can read. At this time in history, the poor and the slaves were not given the same opportunity to be schooled. Strangers come into town asking question of Jip and it is then that the teacher in school takes an interest in Jip’s welfare. When the strangers beginning to ask question in town, they feel that they have found the boy of the slave girl. The strangers make haste to capture the boy and to receive the reward for his capture. The teacher gives Jip a note to get help from the Stevens. Jip’s loyalty to Put (the man that became Jip’s friend) shows as he includes Put in his plan to escape without thinking of being caught. Eventually they both go on the journey, meet trouble along the way and Jip gets caught. Caught and feeling depressed because his friend Put was shot, while sitting in jail, he tries to think what would Put want him to do. Escape to freedom was the key and Jip managed to break out of jail and use the underground railroad to reach Canada.


Analysis

The books depicts the mid 19th century life of 1895 and 1987 of the residents in Vermont. In the story the boy Jip lives on a poor farm, during this time period this was a very common practice. All orphans and or lunatics were sent off to a farm to be treated as best that the caretaker could. Use them as laborers or hired out to people. The description of the living quarters and Jip’s daily routine are so vivid that you can picture yourself being there. The theme and style are brought together as the dialogue between other tenants at the poor farm and Jip makes it more realistic. It gives you enough factual information to know to let you know what was going on. The historical documentation in the acknowledgments helps to set up and to understand the historical accuracy of the story. The facts and events are authentic in the story as during this time of history slavery was a big issue, right along with the slaves running away from their masters to obtain freedom. The Underground Railroad and other sympathy fighters provided passage to many slaves to escape to Canada.


Reviews

When an aged lunatic named Putnam arrives at a poorhouse farm in rural Vermont in 1855, he is treated as little more than a beast by everyone except the orphan Jip, who himself arrived at the charity orphanage/asylum after being found abandoned by the roadside. Jip and Putnam become friends, then allies of a sort, as Jip struggles to improve his own lot and that of his friend Lucy, the unfortunate daughter of the late town drunk. This historical tale by Katherine Paterson involves its young protagonist in the great 19th century struggle between slave owners and abolitionists while sending him into a test of his own loyalty and courage. Paterson handles weighty issues with grace and verve, and does not shrink from terrible truths in this challenging novel for young readers.

Amazon.com review


Abandoned as an infant, Jip West accepts his grim fate on a Vermont poor farm without question until a series of disturbing events changes his beliefs about himself and the people around him. The turning point occurs when, in the year 1855, Jip (who has a gift for "handling beasts and residents") becomes caretaker of a lunatic brought to the farm. The boy's growing friendship with the mysterious, moody man called Put coincides with Jip's discovery that his mother was a runaway slave. Tension mounts when Jip's biological father, the master of a Southern plantation, arrives to retrieve his "property." Like Paterson's Newbery-winning Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved, this historically accurate story is full of revelations and surprises, one of which is the return appearance of the heroine of Lyddie. While Jip's concerns provide insight into 19th-century society, his yearnings for freedom and knowledge are timeless. The taut, extremely readable narrative and its tender depictions of friendship and loyalty provide first-rate entertainment.

Pulishers Weekly

Paterson's companion novel to Lyddie (Lodestar, 1991) rewards readers with memorable characters and a gripping plot. Jip has been told that he tumbled off the back of a wagon when he was a toddler in 1847. He has been raised on a poor farm in a Vermont town, where he is an indispensable asset to the lazy manager and his equally lazy wife. The boy befriends the newly arrived "lunatic" Put, who is kept imprisoned in a cage because he is subject to violent, self-destructive episodes. Jip's life is quietly circumscribed-until a stranger plants the idea that his father might be searching for him. Although he has long fantasized that a loving parent awaits him, he sees the stranger as an unlikely messenger. His instincts prove correct when the man is revealed to be a slave catcher. Then Jip learns the truth about his past: his mother was a runaway slave. With the help of his teacher, Lyddie Worthen, and her sweetheart, Quaker neighbor Luke Stevens, Jip escapes to Canada, where he is welcomed as a free man into the home of a former slave whom Lyddie helped shelter in the earlier book. Paterson's story resonates with respect for the Vermont landscape and its mid-19th-century residents, with the drama of life during a dark period in our nation's history, and with the human quest for freedom. Fans of the previous book will relish meeting up with Lyddie and Luke again at a somewhat later period in their lives. Readers will be talking and thinking about this book long after they finish the last chapter.?

School Library Journal

Set in the 1850s, this story centers on a boy named for his supposed abandonment by gypsies and for his swarthy complexion. Jip lives on the local poor farm, doing chores and caring for the animals. He befriends a caged lunatic, ``Put''; a menacing stranger appears who inquires about Jip's background and turns the boy's life upside down. As he struggles to find answers, he is given the opportunity to attend school and is befriended by the teacher, whom readers will recognize from Lyddie (1991), and her Quaker sweetheart. Through this friendship, Jip is able to face his ancestry and the fact that he must escape or suffer dire consequences. As usual for Paterson, all the characterizations are penetrating--even the villains are interesting. An epilogue lets readers in on Jip's success in reaching Canada and his decisions as the Civil War begins. Unfortunately, the ending is abrupt: Put is sacrificed, and it is not clear what lesson Jip derives from putting his friend in harm's way. Regardless, this is fine historical fiction.

Kirkus Reviews


Connection

The Underground Railroad
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/slavery-us/activity/4167.html
Grade Levels: 6 - 8
Objectives
·Students will use vocabulary related to the Underground Railroad.
·Students will identify key facts related to the Underground Railroad.
·Students will evaluate their personal responses to the Underground Railroad.
·Students will make a judgment about the morality of the Underground Railroad.

Materials
·The Underground Railroad Worksheet website and follow the directions to take the journey.
·Set aside time for students to gather as a group and share and discuss their activity worksheet responses.
·Challenge the whole group to discuss the moral issues (e.g., right vs. wrong) that the Underground Railroad posed.

Assessment
·Use a checklist to assess students' understanding of the factual, legal, and moral implications of the Underground Railroad. Assign a point value to each item.
·Find a variety of assessment techniques to use with this lesson.

Extension Activities
·Choose from a large collection of cross-curricular activities for all grade levels.
·Explore outstanding lessons and activities in the Black History Month theme.
·Have students use the Internet to select slavery topics they are interested in learning more about. Direct students to work in small groups and conduct panel discussions on the practice of slavery.
·Have students find a timeline showing the order of events in the history of slavery. After studying the timeline, students can write questions about the timeline to quiz each other.


Related Links
·The Underground Railroad Vocabulary
·The Underground Railroad Teacher Checklist
·The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
·The Underground Railroad Worksheet
·Three Comprehension Tests for To Be a Slave
·More Resources