Local teacher writes history book for children

Pupils get first-hand lesson about the Underground Railroad

Thursday, Jan. 12, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Bryan Haynes⁄The Gazette Ralette Cruse, a mentor and reading teacher at Cooper Lane Academy in Landover Hills, gives fourth-graders Katrina Cole, 10, and Andrew Pines, 9, their lesson from her recently published book, ‘‘The Underground Railroad.” A map from the book, which also serves as the front cover, is on the wall behind Cruse.

But as the author of ‘‘The Underground Railroad” in the Really Good Stuff Publishing series ‘‘Becoming History,” she didn’t have the uncertainty some teachers do in getting used to a new book.

‘‘They tell us to use other sources,” Cruse said, referring to her superiors at Cooper Lane, where she has taught for two years after spending 20 years at other schools. ‘‘So it’s nice when you can use your own materials.”

‘‘The Underground Railroad” is a 32-page paperback book that describes the secret network slaves used in the 1800s to get to freedom.The book is written for the age group Cruse teaches and is supplemented by activity suggestions in several subjects.

‘‘It’s a much better way to teach history than sitting and reading a book of facts,” she said.

Cruse, who is a mentor to other teachers and a reading teacher for kindergarten through fourth grades, tells her small group how slaves used symbols on their quilts to communicate with other slaves and explained what some of the symbols meant.

‘‘Slaves couldn’t be in groups. They’d be beaten and arrested,” she said.

Cruse spent about a month in late last winter researching the book that was published last fall.

The research process was long, she said, because she used three separate sources for accuracy. Part of it involved visiting a museum dedicated to the Underground Railroad in Cincinnati.

‘‘You have to make sure everything is correct. That’s what is so tedious. It has to be factual,” she said.

When Cruse began writing during the nights and weekends last spring, the process was difficult because of the rewrites involved, she said. She kept a notebook by her bed for the ideas that came to her while she was sleeping.

Cruse, an Upper Marlboro resident, wrote the book as a way of leaving a legacy for her grandchildren. Growing up in Connecticut, she didn’t see any similar books about African-American history, she said.

Then, a friend who retired from teaching, began writing for Really Good Stuff. Officials were looking for an African-American author to write about the Underground Railroad and approached Cruse at her friend’s suggestion.

‘‘They took a chance on me and liked me so much they asked me to write a book about the Constitution,” Cruse said.

That book, titled, ‘‘The Constitution,” is expected to be published before Constitution Day, Sept. 18, she said.

Cruse’s books have won the respect of colleagues and students.

‘‘A very talented woman. We have a very talented woman here,” said Maryalice Batvinis, also a mentor teacher.

Cruse’s group of students agreed they were more likely to remember the Underground Railroad presented the way she did. They knew different accounts about the Underground Railroad before Monday’s class.

‘‘If she wrote the book, we can read it and try to understand it,” said Andrew Pines, 9.

Completing the book and seeing it published gives Cruse a sense of satisfaction, but she said she’s not resting on her laurels. She initially wanted to write about a different topic when she connected with Really Good Stuff.

‘‘I wanted to write a book about children’s literature. I still will do that,” she said. ‘‘This is going to be the first of many things I want to do for kids.”

E-mail Jennifer Donatelli at jdonatelli@gazette.net.