I read two adult nonfiction titles last month that have influenced my reading of children’s and young adult literature. The first was The Plateau by Maggie Paxson which looked at a region of Southern France called Plateau Vivarais-Lignon. This region is best known for the number of individuals and families that hid Jews during World War II. Now, the people within the region are accepting refugees from a number of countries into their community. Paxson attempts to answer the question of what makes the people within this region sacrifice their own comfort to help others. She does so in exquisite prose that demonstrates the complexities of what is, quite simply, showing humanity.
Continue reading “Some Things Stay the Same”A Guide to Anti-Racism
Tiffany Jewell’s book, This Book is Anti-Racist, is not just a fantastic book for youth who are looking to increase their own activism. It is also a tool for young adults to make sense of their own identities and to dive deeply into issues of privilege. Jewell does a remarkable job of conveying the importance of activism, without making it seem like this will be easy for teens who are still concerned with social image.
I was lucky enough to receive an Advance Reader Copy of this book through NetGalley and Frances Lincoln Children’s Books. It is one of the best tools that I think a family or classroom could have to introduce a variety of identity groups, institutional racism, and methods for combating racism in communities. In a relatively short text, Jewell provides an enormous amount of information. While this could have been overwhelming, Jewell thoughtfully includes opportunities for reflection at the end of each chapter in her book (there are 20 chapters, so many opportunities to reflect). Readers are asked to think deeply about their own identities, their histories, and their actions when they encounter racism in their communities. These opportunities for reflection also allow for readers to process the large amount of information that is packed into each chapter of the book.
While the information throughout the text is very intense and readers might start to feel a bit overwhelmed by all that they are facing as anti-racism activists, the illustrations by Aurélia Durand are bright and vibrant, showing the power and energy of small groups and individuals taking action against injustice. While Jewell never makes it seem like the journey will be easy, this book provides hope that young activists will prevail.
Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards:
Justice 13: I can explain the short and long-term impact of biased words and behaviors and unjust practices, laws and institutions that limit the rights and freedoms of people based on their identity groups.
Justice 14: I am aware of the advantages and disadvantages I have in society because of my membership in different identity groups, and I know how this has affected my life.
Action 17: I take responsibility for standing up to exclusion, prejudice and injustice.
Action 18: I have the courage to speak up to people when their words, actions or views are biased and hurtful, and I will communicate with respect even when we disagree.
Action 19: I stand up to exclusion, prejudice and discrimination, even when it’s not popular or easy or when no one else does.
RI.5- Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter).
RI.6- Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
Humanity Eclipsed
The last residential school for Native American Indian children in the United States was closed in 1973. The last residential school for First Nation Canadians closed in 1996. These schools were specifically designed to force children, native to their countries, to assimilate to the cultural norms of white people. The methods used to force this assimilation included physical and sexual abuse, changing the children’s names (in some cases to numbers), forbidding the use of their native languages, cutting their hair, and changing the way that they dressed. Not to mention that these children were forcibly removed from their families. Residential schools are not only a part of North America’s history, they are a part of our recent history. The effects are still felt in communities today.
I was recently given the opportunity, by NetGalley and Second Story Press, to read an Advance Reader Copy of I Am Not a Number written by Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer and illustrated by Gillian Newland. This is the story of Dupuis’ grandmother, Irene Couchie Dupuis, who was taken from her family in Ontario and placed in a residential school in 1928. Irene is a member of the Nipissing First Nation community and this book is written in both English and Nbisiing (the dialect of her community). The Nbisiing text is placed in larger font above the English, which is a powerful shift in display from what many of us are used to seeing.
On the first page of this book, the Indian agent speaks the words, “I am here for the children.” This has sent shivers through me every time that I have read the text and I imagine that it always will. What could be more terrifying to a parent or to a child? When Irene arrived at the residential school, she is told that she will now be called 759. The nuns within the school attempted to erase every part of her culture and that included evidence of her humanity such as her name.
Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer use language throughout the book to keep this same feeling of tension flowing for readers. While this is a picture book, it is very intense, and might be best read with children in the upper elementary grades or above. Dupuis and Kacer do not shy away from documenting some of the abuses that occurred during Irene’s time at the residential school. The illustrations, by Gillian Newland, also mirror the fear of the children within the school. The white adults within the book all appear as though the reader is looking up at towering and intimidating figures.
Even surrounded by all of this anger and hatred, Irene stays strong. Her story is one of triumph, but that was not the case for all of the children taken to these schools. Nothing can make up for what happened to these families, but talking about it with the next generation could prevent it from happening again.
Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards:
Diversity 8: I want to know more about other people’s lives and experiences, and I know how to ask questions respectfully and listen carefully and non-judgmentally.
Diversity 10: I know that the way groups of people are treated today, and the way they have been treated in the past, is a part of what makes them who they are.
Justice 13: I know that words, behaviors, rules and laws that treat people unfairly based on their group identities cause real harm.
Justice 14: I know that life is easier for some people and harder for others based on who they are and where they were born.
RI.3- Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.
RI.8- Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point(s).
Becoming and Accepting
I often write about why individuals are not always able to live their lives openly. However, I have just finished a book that made me think about identity in a different way. I was lucky enough to receive an advance reader copy from NetGalley of Becoming Beatriz by Tami Charles and published by Charlesbridge Teen. This was a beautifully constructed story of how one teenager became (and accepted) who she wanted to be.
Beatriz immigrated from Puerto Rico to Newark, New Jersey, with her mother and brother in the 1970s when she was a little girl. As readers, we learn more about the reasons behind this departure in short vignettes interspersed throughout the book. Most of the story takes place during 1984, in the months after Beatriz turns fifteen. On her birthday, Beatriz had been dancing with her family, which she loved to do, when gunshots interrupted the celebration. Beatriz and her brother Junito belong to a gang and they know that the shots are being fired by a rival group. Beatriz follows Junito into an alley where she is beaten up and Junito is shot by members of a Haitian gang. He dies of his injuries.
Junito had been the leader of the Diablos gang and, within a few months, Beatriz resumes her role as the coordinator of drug sales within her school. Gang activity is really the only part of Beatriz’s life that seems to be unchanged after Junito’s death. Her mother is no longer able to speak and Beatriz will not allow herself to dance. That is, until she meets Nasser, a Haitian immigrant who, when not dancing, is involved in all sorts of intellectual activities. Nasser reminds Beatriz of who she once wanted to be and gives her the confidence to believe that these were not impossible dreams.
Tami Charles does a remarkable job of communicating the types of struggles that youth in urban areas experienced during the 1980s and, unfortunately, those struggles continue today. Joining a gang is not the only option for teens, but it often seems that way to those who are being encouraged to do so. Gangs give teens an identity. What young people don’t always see in the moment is that gangs also take individual identities away. They are a source of protection, but only if members do what they are told. They offer belonging, but at a cost.
One truly important reminder that Beatriz offered to me was that educators need to find ways to make school relevant to every child. Schools may not always be able to get every child to perform on grade level or to master every concept, but they can be places that inspire kids and young adults to take a different path. After school clubs, the arts, and building relationships with students are some wonderful places to start.
Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards:
Identity 2: I know my family history and cultural background and can describe how my own identity is informed and shaped by my membership in multiple identity groups.
Identity 3: I know that all my group identities and the intersection of those identities create unique aspects of who I am and that this is true for other people too.
RL.2- Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.3- Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
RL.4- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
RL.5- Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
Standing Up by Standing Out
In the Neighborhood of True by Susan Kaplan Carlton takes place in Atlanta, Georgia in 1958. After the death of her father, Ruth Robb moves from New York City to Atlanta with her little sister, Natalie, and her mom, Alice. Atlanta is where Alice grew up and “came out” (in the debutante sense, that is). Alice left Atlanta to attend Sarah Lawrence in New York and ended up converting to Judaism to marry a Jewish man and raise her daughters as Jews. Ruth, upon arriving in Atlanta as a junior in high school, is immediately encouraged by her grandmother to get involved in pre-debutante activities. In order for this to happen, she will have to conceal her faith.
In the meantime, Ruth’s mom still wants them to be active in the Jewish community and joins the local temple which is actively engaged in the Civil Rights struggle for African Americans. If Ruth wants to attend deb preparation meetings, she will also be required to attend Shabbat services. Keeping these two parts of her life separate becomes more difficult when Ruth begins to date Davis Jefferson (not Jefferson Davis, but also a clear indication of his family’s views on Civil Rights and Jewish people).
This book, written in Ruth’s voice, does a wonderful job of conveying the challenges of trying to fit in when you know that your truth is a more powerful tool for justice. Sometimes long term happiness takes a back seat to immediate satisfaction and Ruth discovers which she would prefer throughout the course of this story. While In the Neighborhood of Truth is Ruth’s story, and told from Ruth’s perspective, Davis also has a story to tell. His might be even more important for teens to read and consider because it deals with the difficulty of confronting one’s own complicity in acts of injustice. This is a book about a city 60 years in the past, but it is also timeless in its depiction of ethical dilemmas that continue to affect all of us today.
Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards:
Identity 1: I have a positive view of myself, including an awareness of and comfort with my membership in multiple groups in society.
Identity 3: I know that all my group identities and the intersection of those identities create unique aspects of who I am and that this is true for other people too.
Identity 4: I express pride and confidence in my identity without perceiving or treating anyone else as inferior.
Justice 12: I can recognize, describe and distinguish unfairness and injustice at different levels of society.
RL.2- Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.3- Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
RL.5- Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
The Violence Inside
Oftentimes, when we discuss homophobia and hate crimes, we are talking about heterosexual individuals who hate and/or attack, members of the LGBTQ community. In Deposing Nathan by Zack Smedley, a different narrative unfolds, and this one seems equally important to include in discussions of homophobia. In this book, it is a member of the LGBTQ community who feels such internalized hatred that he lashes out at the person he loves most.
Nate has lived with his dad and his aunt since he lost his mom at a very young age. He is respectful, has a deep connection to his Christian faith, and does well in school. However, the book opens with Nate being questioned at a deposition where he is describing the events of the night when he was stabbed by his best friend, Cam. It turns out that Nate does not blame Cam entirely for this act and that the stabbing was preceded by Nate horribly beating Cam. The reasons for this become clearer as the book progresses.
We know that the rates of homelessness and suicide among teens belonging to the LGBTQ community are significantly higher than for teens who do not. These are topics that are not uncommon in young adult literature addressing this identity group. The externalized violence in Deposing Nathan is rooted in the same hatred that causes young adults to be thrown out of their homes and to take their own lives.
In schools, we need to show students that they are appreciated and accepted for who they are regardless of how they might be treated at home or in their religious communities. Educators need to watch for signs that students might be hurting themselves or others. Deposing Nathan is also a reminder to students and educators that healthy relationships can be very complex, whether they be familial, platonic, or romantic. What teens (and adults) interpret as love can be accompanied by hate. When that is the case, sometimes an outside intervention is needed.
Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards:
Identity 1: I have a positive view of myself, including an awareness of and comfort with my membership in multiple groups in society.
Identity 4: I express pride and confidence in my identity without perceiving or treating anyone else as inferior.
Diversity 10: I understand that diversity includes the impact of unequal power relations on the development of group identities and cultures.
RL.1- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
RL.2- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.3- Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
RL.5- Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
RL.6- Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
No Longer Hidden Away
Bayard Rustin worked with A. Phillip Randolph, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Senator John Lewis, and many other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. However, his own role as a major leader in this movement was often kept secret from the public because of his sexual orientation. Bayard never wanted to hide who he was from the people who were most important to him and he also wanted to do as much as he could to promote equality for all human beings. Unfortunately, because he lived openly, his contributions often went unseen and unacknowledged by history. At least until recently.
Troublemaker for Justice by Jacqueline Houtman, Walter Naegle, and Michael G. Long, is an exceptionally well written biography of Bayard Rustin for young adults. It covers his childhood with his grandparents, his teenage years when he really started to encounter and stand up against segregation, and his adult years which were full of activism and courage. Bayard was the driving force behind some critical aspects of the Civil Rights Movement including integrated bus trips, Dr. King’s embrace of a philosophy of nonviolence, and the March on Washington. Still, his involvement and impact were hidden away from the public for many, many years.
Walter Naegle was Bayard’s partner from 1977 until Bayard’s death in 1987. In 2013, Naegle accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama on Bayard’s behalf. Bayard was truly an extraordinary person. He never stopped working towards a more just world even when his contributions were ignored or erased by others. Troublemaker for Justice is a book that belongs in every middle and high school library biography section and students researching the Civil Rights Movement should always be presented with materials that acknowledge his contributions. Bayard Rustin dedicated his life to the pursuit of equality and his is a name that should stand out in United States history.
Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards:
Justice 13: I am aware that biased words and behaviors and unjust practices, laws and institutions limit the rights and freedoms of people based on their identity groups.
Justice 14: I know that all people (including myself) have certain advantages and disadvantages in society based on who they are and where they were born.
Justice 15: I know about some of the people, groups and events in social justice history and about the beliefs and ideas that influenced them.
RI.2- Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
RI.3- Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).
RI.4- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
RI.9- Analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation.
Not Alone
Lynne Kelly dedicates her book, Song for a Whale, to everyone who’s ever felt alone. This is the perfect way to introduce a story that highlights the experiences of an underrepresented group, while also reflecting the thoughts of children from every background. Kelly’s book centers around Iris who is twelve and the only Deaf student in her school. While Iris has a sign language interpreter with her all of the time, she still feels incredibly disconnected from her teachers and fellow students. When Iris finds out about Blue 55, a whale whose song is at too high a frequency for other whales to understand, she can completely relate. Iris becomes determined to help Blue 55 to make connections.
In Song for a Whale readers are introduced to a young woman who is Deaf, but Iris is so strong and resourceful that the only people who seem to have a disability are those who treat her differently or seek not to communicate with her at all. Iris is an engineering genius and the creativity she shows throughout the book is limitless. Her intensity and commitment to her cause are also truly admirable.
Iris’ story will appeal to a wide audience and might even inspire some budding marine biologists or STEM trailblazers. We have all felt alone at one time or another, but there are some students for whom this feeling is constant. As educators we need to make sure that we identify these students and do all that we can to connect them to others who share their interests. Everyone needs to know that they are not alone. Even whales.
Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards:
Identity 3: I know that all my group identities are part of who I am, but none of them fully describes me and this is true for other people too.
Diversity 8: I want to know more about other people’s lives and experiences, and I know how to ask questions respectfully and listen carefully and non-judgmentally.
Action 20: I will work with my friends and family to make our school and community fair for everyone, and we will work hard and cooperate in order to achieve our goals.
RL.1- Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
RL.3- Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
RL.6- Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.
W.2- Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
Picturing Home
Home is a bit of an abstract concept. While the dictionary defines home as the place where someone lives, people have been expanding that definition for many years. We have all read things or said things such as: home is where the heart is, home away from home, or home is the people who love you. At the end of the school day, we say, “It’s time to go home.” But what if “home” is where students have been all day. School can be a home for many students, others have multiple homes, and some aren’t quite sure where home is yet. There might be as many definitions of home as there are people.
In Jasmine Warga’s, Other Words for Home, Jude is coming to terms with the idea of having more than one home. Syria was her first home and it was full of people and experiences that she loved. When her brother joins the resistance against Assad’s government, Jude and her mother travel to the United States to live with an uncle, leaving her brother and father behind. At first, her uncle’s house and the United States do not feel like home to Jude. Her cousin isn’t particularly welcoming and, while Jude learned English in Syria, she is not entirely comfortable with the language.
This novel in verse chronicles Jude’s journey to find home. It certainly isn’t an easy task and home ends up being more about Jude herself than about any one place. As the school year is just starting and students are getting used to new classrooms and people, Other Words for Home might be the perfect book to share in middle grade classrooms.
Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards:
Diversity 8: I want to know more about other people’s lives and experiences, and I know how to ask questions respectfully and listen carefully and non-judgmentally.
RL.2-Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
RL.3- Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
RL.5- Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text.
Safe Spaces
As the new school year begins, I want to emphasize the crucial role that schools and classrooms can play as safe spaces where students can be themselves. Most students, hopefully, go home to families where they are accepted, but we know that this is not true for every child. In I Wish You All the Best, Mason Deaver introduces us to Ben, who is an extraordinary artist, caring friend, loving sibling, and who happens to be nonbinary. When Ben is kicked out of home they move in with their sister, Hannah, who has been estranged from her family for many years. Hannah is married to Thomas who is a teacher at the nearby high school. While Ben does not come out to anyone else at school, knowing that Thomas is aware of Ben’s truth and that he accepts it makes an enormous difference.
I Wish You All the Best is a love story in every sense of the word. It tackles the true meaning of unconditional love and what can happen when, all of a sudden, conditions seem to appear. Hannah and Thomas show Ben what familial love should be. They are also tremendous examples for readers of what it looks like to be accepting of a difference that we do not completely understand. They make mistakes, they ask questions, and they constantly try to learn and improve. Finally, there is Nathan, who becomes Ben’s romantic love interest. Ben struggles to understand their feelings for Nathan and deals with anxiety over how Nathan will react when he finds out that Ben is nonbinary.
Deaver made an excellent choice to write this book from Ben’s perspective. Deaver is a nonbinary author and therefore is able to write this story using a first person point of view, which gives the reader a different experience than reading about a nonbinary supporting character in a book written by a cisgender author. Obviously, this book is not a reflection of every nonbinary person, but it is an entry point for understanding some of their experiences. I have written about the importance of using students’ correct pronouns and this book is a wonderful testament to why that is so crucial in schools. I recently misgendered someone on Twitter and a reader was kind enough to correct me so that I was able to apologize and make changes to my post. Reading I Wish You All the Best helped me to realize that mistakes can be made and will make me more conscious of pronouns in the future. Using this book in classrooms can help to make schools safer spaces for all students.
Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards:
Identity 1: I have a positive view of myself, including an awareness of and comfort with my membership in multiple groups in society.
Diversity 6: I interact comfortably and respectfully with all people, whether they are similar to or different from me.
Diversity 7: I have the language and knowledge to accurately and respectfully describe how people (including myself) are both similar to and different from each other and others in their identity groups.
RL.2- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.3- Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
Teaching Social Justice with Children's Books 