[NIFL-WOMENLIT:1066] Books

From: Daphne Greenberg (ALCDGG@langate.gsu.edu)
Date: Thu Oct 19 2000 - 10:46:46 EDT


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From: "Daphne Greenberg" <ALCDGG@langate.gsu.edu>
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Subject: [NIFL-WOMENLIT:1066] Books
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I was wondering if anyone would like to recommend works of fiction or nonfiction that they would suggest would be interesting  to our women learners.  I just finished reading a very moving book that I want to recommend:
The Last Time I Wore A Dress by Daphne Scholinski, printed by Riverhead  Books, 1997.
Phyllis Burke, author of Family Values and Gender Shock is quoted on the sleeve of the book as saying:
"The Last Time I Wore A Dress is an extraordinary, dramatic document, tracing a young girl's incarceration in institutions for the mentally ill because she was not considered appropriately 'feminine'.  Daphne Sholinski's story is horrifying, but ultimately triumphant.  It makes you want to go through the country's psychiatric wards, finding and freeing the girls whose only 'illness' is a refusal to wear makeup, or dresses, curl their hair, sit 'like a lady', or bat their eyelashes.  This book is a wake-up call for all of us."
What amazed me the most about this book is that it took place in the 1980's.  I did not realize how archaic so many of our mental hospitals were at that time (and maybe still are).  
I think that this book may be appropriate for adult learner book discussion groups, and for younger adults who could relate to the difficulties Daphne had in school.  
The book is not written for the adult learner, and therefore, would only be easily read by advanced GED learners, or if read to by an instructor.
Anyone else have recommendations?
Daphne

Daphne Greenberg
Center for the Study of Adult Literacy
Georgia State University
University Plaza
Atlanta, GA 30303-3083
Fax: 404-651-1415
Ph: 404-651-0400
E-mail: alcdgg@langate.gsu.edu



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