Girl Of The Alamo By Susanna Dickinson Sparknotes

A book that can be read as a class in both English and History classes is, Girl of the Alamo. It is a historical fiction book about one of the survivors from the Alamo, Susanna Dickinson along with her infant daughter Angelina. The story is about Susanna’s life traveling to Texas and what it was like living at the Alamo during the Texas Revolution. This book is a great account on what Susanna could have possibly felt and thought during this chaotic time in Texas History. Great Texan heroes are mentioned such as William B. Travis, David Crockett, Jim Bowie, and Sam Houston. The story is told from Susanna’s point of view. To her these heroes are great men who are trying to fight for a good cause and protect them from the Mexican forces. The Mexican

Susanna knew that no matter what the outcome for the troops was victory or death. In particular, on how Susanna felt about the Mexican troops especially towards Santa Anna is shown in the following, “Now, Susanna realized, there was something more dreadful than snakes or Indians; there was Santa Anna. Santa Anna, cruel and arrogant in his headquarters in the Yturri home on Main Plaza couldn’t know that even his name made her tremble – General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna!” (Kerr 23). To the reader it really shows that Susanna felt that Santa Anna was the most fearful person of all. To clarify Susanna only was fearful about Santa Anna and the Mexican troops because in the book she was friends with Tejanos that were in the Alamo. The book did kind of shed negative light on Santa Anna since this is a portrayal from an Anglo woman who was living in the Alamo. This portrayal of Susanna can be compared to the one that is in, Voices of the Alamo, where Susanna again describes what it was like on March 6, 1836. Both give an account on when the fighting began and how the women and children hid in

This book is a picture book that is very informative and it will serve as great resource in the classroom for students to benefit from. It is told in a story format from two points of views, Susanna Dickinson and Enrique Esparaza, who are both survivors. When reading it, I found that it is suited more for middle school students due the heavier reading content, but elementary school teachers will be able to benefit from this book as well if they guide their students while reading it. The book goes in depth about the battle of the Alamo, but more specifically the day the Mexican army attacked which was March 6, 1836. The account of the attack is explained in depth than the other previous books mentioned. It even provides some stories about some of the people that resided in the Alamo. The book is divided up into chapters and each chapter explains events that took place when the battle happened. Particularly chapter two explains about the attack in an almost like story way, but it provides factual accounts of what exactly happened. If students want to learn more in depth about the actual attack then this chapter is very useful for them to read about because the way it is explain it provides a vivid description, “For every man that fell, it seemed that two appeared. They tore their hands on the rough timbers of their ladders. They climbed on one another’s shoulders