The kids and I are taking a short break from doing "the riches" with the Ambleside Online rotation and doing Picture Study and Composer Study with Heritage Mom's Harlem Renaissance Stomp study. We're about half way through and it's been really enjoyable so far. We just finished a read-aloud about a young girl who wants to be a writer. In the story she is mentored by Zora Neale Hurston so naturally when I was searching for a BIPOC Classic Challenge book, I thought of her and her works. Their Eyes Were Watching God is her best known work so I thought it was a pretty safe bet as it's almost December and I didn't have time to get half way through a book and give up for another. Time is ticking people!
But I'm glad I picked it! I enjoyed the plot a lot more than I thought I would. I was expecting it to be sadder, or more emotionally challenging and while it definitely had some challenging moments, I just ENJOYED reading it more than I was expecting. I really liked the main character Janie and I wasn't sure I would at the beginning so that was a really nice surprise. I really respected her choices throughout the story and I was really rooting for her.
I did find the dialect really difficult. I often have to resort to reading dialect out loud but this was my Jude's bedtime read (as in, I read it on my phone while sitting with him waiting for him to fall asleep, not that I read it to my 3 year old :-) ) which made that difficult. I stumbled along and got better at it but I do think, if read well, this would be enjoyable as a audiobook.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is my Classic by a BIPOC author selection in the Back to the Classics Challenge.
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