The Stone Thrower

by Jael Richardson

Stone Thrower CRP.docx.pdf


The Stone Thrower, in Richardson’s title, refers to her father Chuck Ealey, who threw stones at a passing train while living in small town US. On the surface, the novel explores her father’s escape from poverty and his development as a College football star and later a professional player in the CFL. The real story of the novel, though, is the story of how Richardson learns about her father’s life, growing up during the turbulent civil rights era, as she reflects on her own struggles with racial identity and culture as a student in Canada. The novel explores the search for identity, through the lens of sports and culture.

Jael Ealey Richardson was born and raised in Mississauga, in a predominantly white neighbourhood, and she now lives and raises her family in Brampton. She is an avid sports fan and athlete, and her father was a professional football star. In her writing, she explores her African-American heritage and her Canadian identity. Her personal local connections and stories provide a fascinating look at culture and life in Peel.

Curriculum Connections

Reading: Each chapter contains significant events from Richardon’s life, her father’s life, and from historical events. Come up with a chapter title for each chapter that reflects these events. Explain how each title reflects the events in the chapter.

Writing: Research a significant historical event that occurred during your life. Write a short narrative, reflecting on what you were doing during the event and reporting on the event concurrently, using the model Richardson uses in her book.

Oral Communication: Imagine that you are the sports caster for one of the games described in the novel. Script and record your play-by-play and colour commentary for part of the game.

Media: Create a picture or video collage reflecting on the events covered in the novel; use songs and music to complement your images and meanings.

Essential Questions

  • What does ‘home’ mean for people in Ontario, especially for people who have roots in other parts of the world and in other cultures?
  • To what extent are we defined by our past and our ancestry? Can we separate ourselves from the prejudices the past?
  • How have racial relations changed in North America since the civil rights movement? What problems remain and what new problems exist? Have things improved?
  • How is our understanding of ‘self’ created? What happens when the way that we view ourselves is different from the way that others view us?
  • How does popular media perpetuate the idea that the ‘degree of whiteness’ is associated with beauty?
  • How has professional sport perpetuated racial stereotypes and racism? How do sport, politics, and race relate?

Key Quotations

“I was being told in words and expressions by people both black and white: you’re not really black… Maybe they were right” (22).

“For most people in southwestern Ontario, ‘home” means elsewhere… We celebrate our international culture more than our current places of Canadian residence. It’s why it’s sometimes hard to distinguish what it means to be Canadian” (62).

“’What is your greatest accomplishment?’ a man asked my father.

“Getting my kids to have respect for other people” (230).

Trigger Warnings

“The purpose of trigger warnings is not to cause students to avoid traumatic content, but to prepare them for it, and in extreme circumstances to provide alternate modes of learning”

-Eleanor Lockhart

  • Children growing up in single parent families, especially without fathers, are mentioned, e.g. page 26.
  • Racial intolerance is discussed in different ways, including people being judged by their relative ‘blackness’ or ‘whiteness,’ e.g. page 76.
  • Spousal abuse is discussed, e.g. page 60.
  • Issues of poverty, illiteracy, and alcoholism are discussed.
Trauma Informed Practice A Coffey 2017.docx.pdf

Text to Self Connections

  • Do you follow professional sports? Have you played organized sports? Have you ever experienced, viewed, or been aware of people being discriminated against or not being included?
  • How do Richardson’s descriptions of life and school in Peel reflect yours? To what extent has the experience for high school students changed? Does our racial or cultural identity help shape our own unique experiences?

Text to Text Connections

Thank You_ Ma_am.pdf

Text to World Connections

  • The novel references many events during the civil rights movement in the United States:
    • Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech, and his assassination.
    • John Carlos and the 1968 Olympics, link
    • Kent University and Jackson State College protests and shootings
    • The Black Panther movement

The report produced by the American government discussing the “American Negro” can be found here. Richardson discussed this on page 39. The report was written during the civil rights period.

Jael Ealey Richardson is artistic director for FOLD (The Festival of Literary Diversity). She is available for speaking engagements in Peel: Director@thefoldcanada.org

Strategies from Mini Lessons from Literature Circles

  • “Tableaux” page 247. Choose a familiar scene from the early part of the book, and have all students create 4-5 Tableaux scenes. Co-write the narration that accompanies the scene. After, have small groups create their own from significant parts of the book.

“Examining the Setting with Research” page 198. Some of the settings in the novel, such as Southern Ontario will be familiar to the students, but some of the areas in the US will be different. The context and comparison between settings can help enrich discussion.