World Wide Web: Resources for Teaching The Queen of Water

As you’ve probably read, we’re highlighting The Queen of Water for our September book group meeting. We’ll be posting our own review next week, and our Educator’s Guide is already available, but I thought I’d also share some other online reviews and resources that may be helpful as you consider using The Queen of Water in your classroom.

The Pirate Tree has a great review entitled “Domestic Slavery: a Review of The Queen of Water” that shows how to integrate current events issues with the content of the novel. They write, “The collaboration between Farinango and Resau has resulted in a powerful, well-paced story that will appeal to teen and adults readers alike, and is certain to generate lively discussion in classrooms and book clubs.” They also have a great interview with Laura Resau about writing the novel.

If you’re interested in connecting The Queen of Water to a more in-depth study on indigenous rights, you may also be interested in another book that takes place in Ecuador with similar themes: The Villagers (Huasipungo) by Jorge Icaza, translated from the Spanish by Bernard Dulsey (Arcturus Paperbacks, 1974). I originally read the book in Spanish while studying literature in Ecuador during college, and was reminded of it as I read The Queen of Water. Having no idea that it had been translated, you can imagine how excited I was when the English version was reviewed in a blog I follow. If you’re interested in reading more about it, check out the post–“Ecuador: righteous anger“. Getting a classroom set of copies may be difficult–in English or Spanish–but it could be a great book for read-aloud, even if it’s just sections that you highlight.

Laura Resau also has a wonderful website with a section dedicated to The Queen of Water. It includes all kinds of information, including photos of Ecuador, her inspiration for writing the book, an interview with María Virginia Farinango, and Resau’s own discussion guide for the book. Resau even has her own blog–Ocean in a Saucer.

Two other blogs I really like also reviewed the book, so I’ve linked to them below.

I hope these will give you a better sense of the book and its potential value if you’re considering reading it and/or using it in your classroom.

–Katrina