Embedded Files
Anchor Text:
Anchor Text:
The Parker Inheritance
The Parker Inheritance
Topic, Issue, and Theme:
Racial Injustice and Inequality
Summary
Summary
The novel threads together two stories from different time periods and illustrates how social issues have transcended across those time periods. We see how people of color were treated in the south during the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes of Big Dub, Siobhan, and Reggie. They battle separate but equal in the school system as well as the town of Lambert itself. We then see how people of color and communities of color are treated in the contemporary south through the eyes of Candice, Brandon, and their families. This novel draws connections between the way people of color in America were treated before, during, and after the Civil Rights Movement. It provides an approachable way for students to begin a discussion about systemic oppression and racial injustice and their relation to slavery and civil rights.
The novel threads together two stories from different time periods and illustrates how social issues have transcended across those time periods. We see how people of color were treated in the south during the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes of Big Dub, Siobhan, and Reggie. They battle separate but equal in the school system as well as the town of Lambert itself. We then see how people of color and communities of color are treated in the contemporary south through the eyes of Candice, Brandon, and their families. This novel draws connections between the way people of color in America were treated before, during, and after the Civil Rights Movement. It provides an approachable way for students to begin a discussion about systemic oppression and racial injustice and their relation to slavery and civil rights.
Main Characters
Main Characters
Modern Timeline:
Candice - Our main hero! She is clever and enjoys puzzles and challenges. Throughout the book she struggles with what a healthy family looks and acts like, as well as trying to not only see and hear what you want to.
Brandon - He becomes Candice's partner-in-crime for the story, and is also very clever. He helps Candice make it through her summer away from home with his friendship, and Candice does the same for him. Brandon struggles with enduring/standing up to bullying and discrimination.
Historic Timeline:
Siobhan - Daughter to "Big Dub" and a star tennis player. She struggles with the boundaries of "acceptable" love and living with loss.
Reggie - A star athlete who comes from a home without parents. He is very aggressive usually except for children and those he loves. He too struggles with "acceptable love" as well as revenge for past wrongs and injustices.
Book Talk
Book Talk
About the author
About the author
Varian Johnson
Varian Johnson
Varian Johnson was born and raised in Florence, SC. His childhood small town inspired the setting of his novel The Parker Inheritance. He originally earned a BS in Civil Engineering at the University of Oklahoma before going on to earn an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, where he is now a faculty member. He has a passion for young readers and captivating them in his stories. Varian now lives in Austin, TX with his family.
Focusing Questions
Focusing Questions
1. How can we have meaningful and positive conversations about race?
1. How can we have meaningful and positive conversations about race?
- Why is it important to engage in a conversation about race?
- How can I be respectful and reflective in this conversation?
- What is meant by the term "raced-based privilege"?
2.What are the challenges/benefits of living in a diverse society?
2.What are the challenges/benefits of living in a diverse society?
- How can we and why should we learn about people of different backgrounds, cultures and experiences?
- What does diversity in our school look like and how are students of different backgrounds faring?
- What are ways to create diversity awareness or to celebrate diversity in your school community?
3. How can we celebrate what we have in common while acknowledging our differences?
3. How can we celebrate what we have in common while acknowledging our differences?
- Where we are on the road to true equality of the races in our country? How much further do you think we still need to come?
- What has played the largest role in your belief about “How far we have come”? Personal experiences, films, friends, the news?
- Is there any particular event in recent history that has made you feel strongly about your belief?
4. What can you do as an individual to bring us, as a society, closer to true racial equality?
4. What can you do as an individual to bring us, as a society, closer to true racial equality?
- What would you march for?
- What would you want to accomplish and how would you know if it had been accomplished?
Initiating Experiences
Initiating Experiences
Zootopia clip
Zootopia clip
Then and Now
Then and Now
Zootopia Clip
launching the unitZootopia Clip
For this activity, students will be shown the clip and asked to write down anything they notice while watching. They will then be shown the clip a second time. Students will turn and talk with a partner and discuss their thoughts. Students will then share the thoughts and ideas of their partners with the class. This activity is intended to help students to enter into a discussion of how we talk about race. This activity will also give students the chance to talk about instances of injustice and inequality they have witnessed personally.
Then and Now
launching the anchor textThen and Now
For this activity, students will be given three different pictures that show examples of how blacks and whites were separated and treated differently in the past. On this worksheet, there are three photographs and explanations about what is going on in the photo. Students are asked to write and/or draw what these pictures would look like today. Students can work in groups up to 4. This is an initiating activity for the anchor text, The Parker Inheritance because the book switches between the contemporary south and the south during the Civil Rights Movement. This activity will allow student to begin to think about how things have changed in our society and allow the teacher begin a discussion about these changes and the people who had to fight for it.
Click here for the worksheet.
Report abuse