History – Teaching Social Justice with Children's Books

Queer History Lives Everywhere

One of the many important insights that readers can gain from reading Alex Gino’s Alice Austen Lived Here, is that LGBTQIAP+ people (acronym used in the text) are not new, even if they are able to live more openly in the present day. There have always been people with different gender identities and sexual orientationsContinue reading “Queer History Lives Everywhere”

The Ebb and Flow of History

It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas begins in the late 1970s and ends in the early 1980s. Many of the 10-12-year-olds who read this book will think that seems like ancient history. For many of them, this precedes the birth of their parents. However, if these dates were not shared with them, andContinue reading “The Ebb and Flow of History”

A Sporting Chance

** Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the opportunity to review an Advance Reader Copy. This book will be available for purchase on April 7, 2020. The world is currently in the midst of a pandemic, which has prohibited many sports teams from competing or even practicing. This might not seem likeContinue reading “A Sporting Chance”

Progress in Fits and Starts

It is 2020 and one of the prospective Democratic candidates for the presidency of the United States is an openly gay man. Not only that, he kinda, maybe, sort-of won the Iowa caucuses (sorry about all of the confusion, by the way). This can be hard to reconcile with the fact that forty-six years andContinue reading “Progress in Fits and Starts”

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 thisContinue reading “Humanity Eclipsed”

A Turning Point

I recognize that, given the time of year, I am a little late with this reflection on two books covering the Stonewall Uprising. However, just like Black history should not only be taught in February, LGBTQ+ history should not be taught solely in June. This is especially true because many schools across the country areContinue reading “A Turning Point”