You will not be able to keep this book on your shelf. Readers devour this powerful young adult book about a black teenager growing up in an inner city but attending a private, mostly white, school. In teaching, it could be a great introduction to the concept of code switching. In the beginning of the story Star's childhood friend is shot and killed by a police officer. It's the story of this young woman grieving and watching how her white friends respond to the shooting compared to how her black friends react. This can also lead to a powerful discussion around the use of protest and looting.
“That's the problem. We let people say stuff, and they say it so much that it becomes okay to them and normal for us. What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?”
Essential questions:
How do rules change in society based on where you live or the color of your skin?
What does it mean to code switch and can you find examples of characters of both races doing this?
What parellels can you identify to Star's story and some of the protests occuring across the country?
Themes:
Protest
Integrity
Equality
In the classroom:
Great for high school students and more mature middle school students (strong language, some sexual references)
Low lexile = students who struggle with reading can still access the text
Consider pairing this with some of Terrance Hayes' "American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin" or news articles on Black Lives Matter protests to add to the discussion
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In the classroom:
Best for high school readers because of the language and genre rule breaking that younger, less skilled readers may struggle following
As a hyrid-genre, this could lend itself to a rich discussion around the use of prose and lyric throughout and the role they play in the experience
A piece that plays with point of view. Often using second person, Rankine continually puts the reader in racial microaggressions that helps to explain the larger race conflicts in America. It allows a privileged reader to appreciate more the systematic, continued attacks people of color feel and the exhausted nature of it.
"The state of emergency is also always a state of emergence" (126).
Essential questions:
What role does point of view play in a reader’s understanding of a character’s experience? “Randomly the rules everyone else gets to play by no longer apply to you, and to call this out … is to be called insane, crass, crazy. Bad sportsmanship.”
What role does the building of small microacgressions described in the beginning of the novel play in understanding the larger theme of the text?
What does Rankine and Zora Neale Hurston mean when they state and repeat the line: "I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background" (53).
What role does the artwork play in your understanding?
Themes:
Identity
Race
Power
Jointly told by one white author and one black, this is the story of Rashad, a black high school student who loves to draw and is a member of ROTC, and Quinn, a white teenager who goes to the same school and plays basketball. They don't know each other but their lives intercept when Rashad is falsely accused of stealing and then beaten by a police officer while Quinn witnesses. Almost immediately the school, town and country begin to debate the confrontation, typically divided by race. Quinn is the only one who knows the truth, but does he have enough courage to stand up for what is right?
"I was marching...because some people had told me racism was a thing of the past, they'd told me not to get involved. But that was nuts. They were nuts. And more to the point- they'd all been white people. Well, guess what? I'm white too- and that's exactly why I was marching. I had to. Because racism was alive and real as shit. It was everywhere and all mixed up in everything, and the only people who said, 'Don't talk about it' were white. Well, stop lying. That's what I wanted to tell those people. Stop lying. Stop denying. That's why I was marching. Nothing was going to change unless we did something about it. We! White people! We had to stand up and say something about it too, because otherwise it was just like what one of those posters in the crowd outside school said: Our silence is another kind of violence.”
Essential Questions:
How does the shifting of perspective change your understanding of the full story?
What parallels can you draw from this novel and incidents today?
What stereotypes exist around certain races? How does this book help to dismantle those stereotypes?
Themes:
Power and protest
Honestly and integrity
Race
In the classroom:
Great for mature middle school students and high school students (some strong language)
An excellent book to help students understand the current moment and that racism didn't end with the Civil Rights Movement or the election of a black president
Consider pairing this book with recent articles about Black Lives Matter marches
In the classroom:
Great for grades K-3
Could be paired with many other books, or videos online, including a recording of the author reading the book out loud.
A simple yet beautiful story of those who marched on Washington for jobs and freedom. This gorgeous illustrated book is a perfect introduction to conversations around injustice and protest.
"We are hot and tired, but we are filled with hope."
Essential questions:
Why would some people need to protest or march either in the 1960s or even today?
What effect can marching or protesting have?
Can you describe the emotions of the characters in the pictures based on their faces? What is it about their face that tells you that emotion?
Themes:
Race
Protest
Historical context/teachings
This breathtaking story is written in verse and gives readers an insight into the mind of Xiomara Batista, a young woman growing up in Harlem and feeling the pull from friends, family, her religion and her neighborhood. Throughout all this struggle, Xiomara turns to poetry to determine her identity and her power in the world.
“The way the words say what I mean,
how they twist and turn language,
how they connect with people.
How they build community.”
Essential questions:
What is identity?
How can you use poetry to answer the question: Who am I?
How does society shape our thoughts?
Themes:
Race
Religion
Identity
In the classroom:
Best for mature middle school students (language and sexual references) and high school students
Written in verse and a great tool for poetic language or to support students interested in slam poetry or the Poetry Outloud competition
It's Trevor Noah is the young adult version and has been adapted to for kids from as young as 4th grade through early high school.
In the classroom:
Born a Crime is best for high school students due to language and sexuality.
While often political in his comedy, this book is mainly apolitical.
Trevor Noah was born to a black mother and a white father in Apartheid South Africa. He was quite literally born a crime. In this memoir, Noah weaves personal and often humorous stories with the history of South America and race relations globally. Part history book, the reader will enjoy context given to understand, for example, why Noah's mother threw him out of a moving car as a child (trust me, you'll laugh!) In so many ways, this is a love letter to his mother who raised him under such difficult circumstances, in addition to a cry for change.
“In society, we do horrible things to one another because we don’t see the person it affects. We don’t see their face. We don’t see them as people. Which was the whole reason the hood was built in the first place, to keep the victims of apartheid out of sight and out of mind. Because if white people ever saw black people as human, they would see that slavery is unconscionable. We live in a world where we don’t see the ramifications of what we do to others, because we don’t live with them. It would be a whole lot harder for an investment banker to rip off people with subprime mortgages if he actually had to live with the people he was ripping off. If we could see one another’s pain and empathize with one another, it would never be worth it to us to commit the crimes in the first place.”
Essential questions:
What role do stories play in our understanding of the world?
How does the time and place we are born impact the person we become?
This is a Pride and Prejudice "remix". Set in a Brooklyn neighborhood rapidly gentrifying, Zuri Benitez (ZZ) is watching her home change. So when Darius Darcy, a ultra-rich black kid from out of state moves in, she is not impressed, even if he is cute. This book can be a stand alone or read before or after the British classic.
“Sometimes love is not enough to keep a community together. There needs to be something more tangible, like fair housing, opportunities, and access to resources. Lifeboats and lifelines are not supposed to just be a way for us to get out. They should be ways to let us stay in and survive. And thrive.”
Essential questions:
What types of XXX should be considered when building a neighborhood?
What stereotypes exist around race and how do they play out in this books?
Are the themes of this story and Pride and Prejudice similar? In what ways are they different?
Themes:
Family
Love
Inequality
Change
In the classroom:
Great for all middle and high school students
Pairs perfectly with Pride and Prejudice, given that it is a "remix" of that story
In the classroom:
Great for mature middle school students (some language and sexual scenes) and high school
Many students will devour this book because of the romance but with your help asking questions about the role race and culture play, there is much to be learned.
This book brilliantly weaves a teenage love story into the backdrop of two very different immigrant families living in New York. The best part of this book is Yoon's chapter's that interrupt the two main protagonist's stories with "histories" on things like African American or Korean hair and Quantum theories of multiple universes. We meet Natasha on the day before he family is being deported to Jamaica, the place she was born but barely remembers. In her final attempts to stay in the country she considers home, America, she meets Daniel, an American born to South Korean immigrants. Daniel's parents have laid out a very specific path for him, including going to Yale becoming a doctor and marrying a Korean woman. Daniel's dreams are to become a poet, and once he meets Natasha he has found his muse.
“For most immigrants, moving to the new country is an act of faith. Even if you’ve heard stories of safety, opportunity, and prosperity, it’s still a leap to remove yourself from your own language, people, and country. Your own history. What if the stories weren’t true? What if you couldn’t adapt? What if you weren’t wanted in the new country?”
Essential Questions:
What role do the "histories" in this story play and how do they help you understand the larger context of the character's struggles?
What impact do and should parents have on their children's future?
Do you believe in fate? Defend your answers using the book.
Themes:
Love
Destiny
Family
Immigration and patriotism
This book is powerful and breathtaking in its directness. It begins with the "first racist" and leads up to the 2020 presidential election. The book divides people into three categories: segregationists, assimilationists or anti-racist. When Reynolds introduces us to different historical figures, he often starts by saying whether his or her actions were one of these three categories. Teachers should know there are moments that will surprise and even make readers uncomfortable in its bluntness and call for change. Remember, talking and thinking about race can feel uncomfortable but is so critical. Reynolds puts people like Abe Lincoln, Bill Cosby and even President Obama later in his presidency in the assimilationist category.
“To know the past is to know the present. To know the present it to know yourself.”
Essential questions:
What parts of this book shifted your thinking? In what way?
How has this "not history book ... helped you understand the here and now"?
What types of actions would Reynolds call anti-racist?
Themes:
Freedom
Activism
History
In the classroom:
Accessible to mature middle schoolers and high schoolers - Reynolds calls it "not a history book".
Gives readers a full history of the "first racist" all the way to today.
Provides readers with some great language to better understand racism and anti-racism
In the classroom:
Probably best for high school students, as it can feel thick with difficult history
Great for teachers to find small passages or chapters to use a history text
Another non-fiction book that encourages readers to reflect on America's history with race, in particular the continual cycle of black advancement being met by "white rage". Anderson offers historical examples like the abolition of slavery leading to Jim Crow laws, all the way to the election of President Barack Obama and the rise in white supremacy and the election of President Donald Trump. This book encourages readers to reflect on the role anger and fear play in America's past and present and ways we can begin to stop the cycle.
"White rage is not only about visible violence, but rather it works its way through the courts, the legislatures, and the range of government bureaucracies. It wreaks havoc subtly, almost imperceptibly. ... It is only by recognizing the roots of this rage that we can build a future without it."
Essential questions:
How can studying our history help us understand where we might be headed?
Is it possible to use history as a way map out a future that is more tolerant of all races and people?
Themes:
Equity
Power
Anger