Justice On The Lesson Plan
By Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
In addition to the excitement and apprehension about tests, read alouds, and recess, there was tension as the school year got underway in many cities and educators wondered if and how to address the police killing of unarmed teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the civil unrest that followed. Do we have one conversation and then “move on”? Schedule a town meeting and then get on with the business of learning? As a parent and children’s author who regularly visits with children in a variety of school communities, I firmly believe that schools should take on the responsibility of engaging students around this story, and do so on an ongoing basis; it’s necessary, it’s relevant, it’s learning.
Some might disagree, with understandable concerns about escalating conflict, and fanning flames of prejudice and fear. It was reported that middle and high school educators in Missouri’s Edwardsville school district were initially advised to “change the subject and refocus the students” if Ferguson was brought up. The Superintendent later clarified his position via a letter to parents, as reported by the Edwardsville Intelligencer, writing “It was not our intent to ignore the educational relevance of these events. However, we felt it was important to take the time to calm a potential situation at the high school and to prepare administrators and teachers to approach this critical issue in an objective, fact-based manner.”
Please, let’s take the time to engage our children in ongoing conversations about race, justice, and power. The reality of the 24-hour news cycle and the ubiquity of social media most likely mean that children and teens know something of these stories. And what we know, we can unpack and discuss. Even if they are not aware of the specific events in Ferguson, what are we educating children for, if not to engage productively with the world they live in? And when that world goes horribly wrong, how do we help them move toward making things right?
Teachers can play a positive role by helping students gain a better understanding of troubling events, creating a safe environment where students can think critically about difficult issues, engage in respectful conversation, and think about what they can do to address the problems they see in the world,” write Laura McClure and Tom Roderick of the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, via email. The Ferguson story offers “…an opportunity for them to learn history, better understand current political realities, consider multiple points of view, think about possible ways to address problems and injustices, and perhaps become more aware of their own biases. It’s a chance for students to develop the ability to express their views and listen respectfully and open-heartedly while others share theirs. It’s part of educating young people for participating in a democratic society.”
In a blog post, Dr Shaun Harper wrote “Most school-age children in Ferguson are Black. They and Black youth across the U.S. need supportive spaces in which to process what happened. Likewise, youth from other racial groups (including Whites) deserve opportunities to talk about Ferguson, particularly what the implications of this tragedy are for their lives and our nation. Young people need to know the truth: Ferguson wasn’t an isolated incident, but instead is connected to a longstanding, more systemic set of structural problems and judicial errors.”
Of course we want teachers doing their best to ensure that all students are educated in a welcoming and safe environment. I’d suggest that that includes demonstrating to students that they, and their ideas and opinions matter. “To keep conversations productive, we encourage teachers to work with students to develop some ‘community agreements,’ starting at the very beginning of the year,” add Roderick and McClure. “This can set the stage for a more caring classroom where it is safe to discuss difficult issues, and safe to disagree.” These agreements include a ‘one mic’ policy (speak one at a time), agreeing to disagree, speaking from one’s own experience, and avoiding sweeping generalizations.
“You may not live in Ferguson, but we all must live with what has happened in Ferguson. Let’s find ways to talk about this,” wrote Dr. Marcia Chatelain in an August 20 Twitter post. Dr. Chatelain, a writer, historian and assistant professor of history at Georgetown University created the #FergusonSyllabus hashtag and initiative, and saw immediately that these conversations can happen in all kinds of communities. “It’s never too early or too late to help a student grapple with the issues that also trouble us…At all ages, students will have questions about why people are so tense and why they are so upset,” she points out in an email. “The best way to respond is to be honest that some people are upset, hurt and frustrated and engage them on how they can prevent making others feel this way through being honest and fair to others. You don’t have to get mired in the murky details of the killing of Michael Brown if you don’t believe you can handle it. Rather, you can talk about the range of emotions, the societal challenges, and the questions this moment elicits.” #FergusonSyllabus has become a compendium of resources across disciplines for early childhood to college classrooms, with contributions from educators, artists, activists, librarians, parents, writers and more.
And then there are books. Literature one of the richest, most productive ways of all to frame these conversations. By helping our children understand that Black Youth Matter and we need diverse books, we teach and learn in critical and transformative ways. Books like
Rita Williams-Garcia’s ONE CRAZY SUMMER and P.S. BE ELEVEN,
Kekla Magoon’s THE ROCK AND THE RIVER and HOW IT WENT DOWN,
Sharon Dennis Wyeth’s SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL,
Jaqueline Woodson’s BROWN GIRL DREAMING,
Zetta Elliott’s BIRD, and A WISH AFTER MIDNIGHT
MARCH: Book One by John Robert Lewis and Andrew Aydin with artist Nate Powell,
Julius Lester’s LET’S TALK ABOUT RACE,
Shane Evans’ WE MARCH,
and our own Crystal Hubbard’s THE LAURA LINE and Don Tate’s IT JES’ HAPPENED share the stories of struggle, triumph, creativity, beauty, and more that make up our past, present, and future. In my own 8th GRADE SUPERZERO, essentially a contemporary’school story’, characters are challenged by the questions of who and what they stand for in large and very small ways. Resources like Notable Books for A Global Society, RIF, Sarah Park’s Social Justice in Children’s/YA Reading List, Mitali Perkins, the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, Just Us Books, The Pirate Tree, and of course The Brown Bookshelf’s 28 Days Later campaigns offer a wealth of ideas and titles to add to classrooms and libraries.
Clearly, these conversations won’t be easy and will likely be, at the very least, uncomfortable. But we don’t educate simply for comfort. Discomfort can mean that there is authentic teaching and learning going on. As students examine not only the events but also the narratives that are presented to them, they can learn to think and act responsibly in many areas of their lives. “One lesson is to beware of misinformation coming through social media about upsetting world events, especially as those events are unfolding,” write Roderick and McClure. “Students need to learn how to evaluate the information they are getting and avoid jumping to conclusions.”
If we claim to be preparing our children for that real world “out there,” let’s recognize that ‘out there’ is our homes, our classrooms, our lives. And these conversations need to continue, need to grow and evolve along with our students during the school year — this is not a “one and done” situation. Let’s give students room to reflect on and navigate many stories in it. Just as Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “The Case for Reparations” wove a fascinating narrative of the links between slavery, Jim Crow, and public policies of the past and present, we can use our classrooms to examine how and why Michael Brown is part of the same larger, complex story of race, power, and privilege in America. We can work with our students to look at what we’ve done, and work toward doing better. It’s a matter of life and death.
Additional Resources
“How To Talk To Students About Ferguson” by Dr. Marcia Chatelain
“What Happened in Ferguson and Why” from the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility
“Challenging Stereotypes: Michael Brown and If They Gunned Me Down”, from the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility
#dontshoot, from
Teaching Tolerance
Ferguson: Response and Resources compiled by Philip Nel
So many books. So little time.
I’m overwhelmed with the sheer number of books available. I used to feel ignorant when someone would wax on about an author I hadn’t heard of, because they’d speak of them as if everyone should know the person.
I no longer feel that way.
There are lots of books out there. Our job here at The Brown Bookshelf is to help bring attention to a very tiny niche of books in that vast sea of literature.
It’s no easy feat. So I got to thinking (always a dangerous thing, by the way), how does one narrow the field when directing someone to good books?
Hey, I thought, those books were produced by a publisher! Why not start there?
Although the CCBC’s stats revealed that the number of African American authors producing children’s books actually decreased in 2007 - made my heart ache - information is a dangerous thing. If you’re looking for children’s books for and/or by African American authors here the following are a few places to begin.
Now, just like it’s tricky to go all “I’d like to thank” on people, because you’ll always leave someone out - I do not claim the list below is comprehensive. Nor are these the only imprints that print multi-cultural books. But it’s a good starting point.
Jump At the Sun (Hyperion)
Likely one of the most recognized African American children’s publishers, the 10-year-old imprint is home to some of the most well-known African American children’s authors, among them Sharon G. Flake, Kadir Nelson, Andrea Pinkney & Jerry Pinkney, Deborah Gregory (author of The Cheetah Girls) and Christopher Myers. It’s also the publisher of several 28 Days Later spotlight authors including Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, Valerie Wilson Wesley and illustrator Shane Evans.
Inspired by and named for the advice of author Zora Neale Hurston’s mother, telling her daughter to aim high and jump at the sun, JATS is a leading publisher in the field of African American children’s books, offering both the literary and the popular. If award-winning books are your thing, you’ll find no shortage among JATS’ authors.
Dafina for Young Readers (Kensington)
Kensington Books is the last man standing among independent U.S. publishers of hardcover, mass trade and paperback books. Well-known among romance readers and writers, Kensington’s African American imprint, Dafina, ventured into YA in 2006 to help fill the void in diverse offerings for African American teen readers, with the release of the popular Drama High series.
Though a newcomer to YA, Dafina for Young Readers is fast earning a reputation for hip, contemporary, multi-cultural popular teen literature. The imprint is cultivating a growing stable of authors, among them 28 Days spotlight author, Stephanie Perry Moore, Latino author, Kim Flores and Brown Book shelf co-founder, yours truly, Paula Chase.
Amistad (Harper Collins)
Another long-time player in the African American children’s book publishing game, Amistad is home to 28 Days Later vanguard authors Walter Dean Myers, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Eloise Greenfield as well as hidden gem, Nina Crews.
Although best known for its heavily literay list with name authors like Nikki Grimes and Gwendolyn Brooks, Amistad could rightly be credited with taking the first step in offering middle grade pop fic for African American readers with the ‘05 release of Philana Marie Boles, Little Divas.
Kimani Tru (Harlequin)
Like Dafina for Young Readers, Kimani Tru was born of a traditional romance house. One of the most recognized romance publishers in the U.S. and no doubt internationally, Harlequin joined the YA for AA fray in ‘07 with its first release, Indigo Summer by Monica McKayhan. Since then, you’re likely unable to get out of the YA section without noticing the bold, colorful Kimani Tru label luring your eye to one of their many teen lit books.
Using a balanced mix of fresh new voices - teen writer, Cassandra Carter and JD Guilford- combined with veteran writers taking their first step into young adult fiction (Joyce Davis of Upscale Magazine, Kendra Lee of Heart & Soul) Kimani Tru is becoming a go-to source for readers seeking teen lit with various shades of romance.
Just Us Books
A rare bird in today’s giant publisher-dominated landscape, Just Us Books is an independent black-owned company dedicated to publishing children’s books. Kicked off with the popular AFRO-BETS ABC picture book, Just Us Books is now celebrating its 20th year offering books of interest to people of color. Although they offer all levels of children’s books, picture books are the lion’s share of JUB’s catalog.
Known for agressively pursuing opportunities to showcase their authors, JUB’s focus on children’s books has attracted a wide range of writers - from the award-winning to the debut. Among the authors whose books have found a home at JUB, 28 Days spotlight authors Eleanora E. Tate, Valerie Wilson-Wesley, vanguard, Carole Boston-Weatherford, popular authors Nikki Grimes and Rosa Guy, and Brown Bookshelf member, Kelly Starling Lyons.
When looking for children’s books of African American interest, no better place to start than where the rubber meets the road. Check these publishers and their imprints out for future releases and stay tuned while I dig deep among publishers like Flux and biggie, Random House - those without a special imprint for multi-cultural but who have and are publishing multi-cultural books.
'Tis the season!!
I have another fun giveaway here for our readers, which also includes a favorite teen book! It's a book that's debuting in eleven days. A book that I had the privilege of reading during the very beginning stages. A book that I fell in love with immediately and couldn't put down (okay, technically, I couldn't stop scrolling because it was on my computer screen.) It's got one of the most beautiful endings ever and I can't wait for everyone to read it. It's by one of my bestest buddies, Wendy Toliver and it's called THE SECRET LIFE OF A TEENAGE SIREN:
Geeky to gorgeous in sixty seconds...
Roxy's about to turn sixteen, but life isn't so sweet. As a band geek, Roxy can barely get the cute guys to notice her, much less go out with her. Then, on her birthday, Roxy is transformed into a siren: seductively beautiful with the power to control all men. She thought sirens were an ancient myth, but suddenly Roxy can get any guy she wants with just a few notes on her flute.
There are only two rules: don't tell anyone about being a siren, and don't fall in love. When she starts dating Zach, the guy everybody's crushing on, Roxy realizes she could get used to this siren thing...but how can she keep herself from falling in love?
I hope everyone rushes out to get the book on December 26th! And, for one lucky blog reader, I'll be giving away a copy of the book. Keep reading!
But wait...there's more! My editor told me that my advanced reader copies of SORORITY 101: ZETA OR OMEGA will be shipped to me next week. Sooo...I'm giving away a copy of it, as well.
Here's the blurb:
High school is already a distant memory for incoming Latimer University freshmen, Jenna, Roni, and Lora-Leigh. Jenna wants to meet cute college boys, Roni wants to get away from home, and Lora-Leigh...well, Lora-Leigh couldn't care less. She's going to LU and participating in sorority recruitment only to appease her mom. Sorority girls are pretty, rich, andsnotty, and Lora-Leigh doesn't want to be one of those girls. So she's shocked to find her self actually connecting with the sisters of Zeta Zeta Tau. And her new friend Jenna can relate. She came to sorority recruitment only because her roommate begged her to, but now she can't decide with sorority to join; she likes them all! Roni, on the other hand, knows which sorority she should join. The Tri-Omegas are exactly the type of "it" girls she would usually befriend, but Roni came to LU to reinvent herself. As recruitment progresses and the girls to make big decision, they'll need to heed the best advice there is: follow your heart. But where will it lead?
To qualify for both giveaways, please leave a comment about the absolute best, most rocking holiday present you've ever received. Winners will be announced on Wednesday!
And now...for the winners of Simone and Dona's giveaways:
For Simone's post, here are the winners!!
These people won
all three titles:
WannabeWriter
Alyssa
Katie
Teen Zone
These people get to choose
one title:
Charlotte
Burger
The Page Flipper
Zachariah
Please e-mail Simone your name/address to simone_elkeles @ yahoo.com (no spaces)
And for Dona's giveaway:
The winner is...
Marlayne
Please e-mail Dona at dona @ donasarkarmishra.com (no spaces)
Thanks everyone!!!
Hugs,
Marley = )SORORITY 101: Zeta or Omega? (May 2008, Puffin Books)SORORITY 101: The New Sisters (May 2008, Puffin Books) GHOST HUNTRESS Series (Begins May 2009, Houghton Mifflin)
*Just in case. But really, the spoilers are no worse than what’s in the Booklist review you can read at Amazon.com*
Leaving Paradise is one of those books that makes me glad we don’t give grades here, just opinions. Because I’m not sure how I’d grade it. It’s flawed but readable, engaging but exasperating, and left me with very mixed emotions.
Caleb Becker has spent the last year in a juvenile detention facility after he “was convicted of hitting a girl with my car while driving drunk.” Maggie Armstrong has spent the last year trying to recover from the injuries she incurred when Caleb hit her. Both end up working for the same person, Mrs. Reynolds, Maggie doing odd jobs in the hopes of earning enough money to spend a semester abroad, Caleb as part of his community service. Although she would prefer ignoring him, Maggie is still drawn to Caleb, finding him the only one who can understand her isolation.
Elkeles alternates points of view, with Caleb and Maggie taking turns narrating chapters, but Caleb’s voice never rang true. Maggie’s did, but when half the book is told by a character whose chapters kept pulling me out of the story, asking myself what kind of teenage boy talks—to other people, not just internally—like that, well… I’m not exactly sure how Elkeles kept me reading. There were also too many coincidences for my liking. Caleb and Maggie happen to live next door to each other, and his twin sister just happens to have been Maggie’s (pre-accident) best friend. Maggie’s mother works as a waitress in a diner. Mrs. Reynolds is the mother of the diner’s owner, and just happens to have an unfinished gazebo in her yard, and lucky for her, Caleb spent a couple of summers doing construction, and building her gazebo happens to qualify as community service.
Despite all this, Elkeles convincingly conveys Maggie’s turmoil and Caleb’s frustration with peoples’ perception of him. I was emotionally invested in the story and characters, which is why my biggest problem with Leaving Paradise is the ending. If Elkeles hadn’t made me care about Caleb and Maggie, I wouldn’t have cared about what happened to them. But I did, and that’s why I absolutely hated the ending.
(more…)
Sorry to be posting late! We went up to Salem, Mass this weekend to participate in some activities surrounding the Festival of the Dead. Our hotel was so overrun (as you can imagine Salem would be in the month of October) and too many users crashed their free Internet connection. So, my post yesterday was long somewhere in the midst of blogger.com.
I hope everyone's had a chance to VOTE for Simone Elkeles' YA debut novel that is up for the American Library Associations Top Ten Young Adult book. It's one of the best YA's I've read...just zipped right through it. Loved everything about it. There's still time to drop in and vote! I know I did!
We're so proud of Simone here. She's one of the hardest working writers out there. Not only is she kind, caring and supportive to her fellow authors, but she speaks to many schools and is out there getting young people to read! She deserves all the success in the world and I'm happy to call her my friend. We're liquid eyeliner buddies, right Simone?
And for those of you who post a comment today, you'll be eligile to win a copy of Diana Peterfreund's awesome Under the Rose, the second book of the Secret Society Girl series. And just wait until the third book, Rites of Spring (Break) is out next year!
Please leave your comment to enter to win Diana's book. Since I posted late, I'll let you comment here over the next couple of days and we'll announce the winner on Wednesday.
Hugs,
Marley = )
SORORITY 101: ZETA OR OMEGA?
SORORITY 101: THE NEW SISTERS
writing as Kate Harmon
May 2008, Puffin Books
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In addition to the excitement and apprehension about tests, read alouds, and recess, there was tension as the school year got underway in many cities and educators wondered if and how to address the police killing of unarmed teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the civil unrest that followed. Do we have one conversation and then “move on”? Schedule a town meeting and then get on with the business of learning? As a parent and children’s author who regularly visits with children in a variety of school communities, I firmly believe that schools should take on the responsibility of engaging students around this story, and do so on an ongoing basis; it’s necessary, it’s relevant, it’s learning.
my most rocking holiday gift was on my brother made for the holidays
In my country it is the use that you hide toyr gift in a sort of thing similar to somthing as a pinjata (in dutch we cal it The Surprise). You also have to make a poem with it.
In that time i was a huge fan of the musical miss saigon who played here in The Hague. My brother had made the best Surprise ever. He maded a bush and a helikopter and a red background with the miss saigon logo on it. My brother mada also a a poem with it. That the santa claus carriage had lost the gift for me above the forest and that the helicopter from miss saigon was trying to locate and get the gift in time back to the nordpole and then to me. it was a book wat was the gift!(that is always the best gift!)
it was the most special gift i had!
hope i enter the contest!
There have been a lot of gifts that I have received, throughout the years that have been rocking. But my most rocking gift ever would have to be the diary that my mom gave me way back in the day when I was eight (this would be right after the dinosaurs died, but before high speed internet). Although I didn't write in my diary everyday, when I was eight, I still wrote in it quite frequently. Now that I'm older, I write in a diary everyday, and sometimes (when I'm in the mood for nostalgia) I either laugh or cry at my old entries. I feel that if I never got my diary I would have never got into writing and I would have forgotten a lot of stuff about my childhood (include things I would like to forget, like bad haircuts and former obsessions with really bad boy bands).
The Most Rocking Holiday Gift I've ever gotten was a trip to Italy, where my mom was from, then to a small country called Lithuania, where my dad was from...I also got to meet some family that I never even knew I had. After that we went on a cruise to the Bahamas for New Year's Day...it was one of the best christmas gift I ever had!!!
I can't wait to pick up Wendy's book! How exciting that your arc's are on the way! :)
Well there have been a lot of rocking presents, but one of my absoulte favorites is the duilt my grandmother hand made for me. I have been using it on my bed for years and it makes me think about her. I just love it because it's warm and she made it in my favorite colors and patterns.
I've had a lot of rocking gifts over the years... But the one that immediately sprung to mind was actually a book. The book itself wasn't the point. It was that it was picked out and paid for by my then eight year old niece all by herself. She'd told her mom (my sister) that she wanted to buy me clothes as a gift (I often give her clothes) and my sister suggested that maybe I liked picking out my own clothes... So, her second idea: a book. My sister took her to the store and she picked one out just for me.
My most rocking holiday gift was an old typewriter given to me by my grandmother. This was back when I was 8, and I was trying to write my first story. I was using a computer, and always had a fascination with the old typewriter in my grandmother's house. So when she gave the seemingly magical typewriter to my for Christmas - I was overjoyed! After several years, the typewriter is no longer in operation, but I remember the thrill it gave me to write stories on the typewriter, and how grown up and professional I felt. That feeling is why it was my most rocking holiday gift ever!
i want to win books!
My most rocking holiday gift? I've had so many. But I particularly remember a set of play dishes my grandparents gave me when I was about nine, and a game my brother made me in school when I was about the same age, and a Madame Alexander doll my parents gave me just a few years ago because I lost my childhood one somewhere in one of my moves...and... I could name so many! I've been very blessed over the years.
oh, sorry. didn't say my rockin' gift. i got an amazing pair of earrings from my mother two years ago. they're opals and have tiny diamonds and i wear them every day.
My morning caffeine hasn't hit my brain yet, so I can't remember a rocking gift from Christmases long ago. Except for last Christmas when my sister-in-law told me she was pregnant with my niece (I have two boys so this was a double gift- having a girl to spoil with buying YA books and now having a good reply to all those questions about if I'll 'try' for the girl!) Congrats on the new books Marley!
Meg
My most rocking holiday gift was a money tree. my friends all pitched in. They took a little tree and paper-clipped money all over it. We had such a great laugh over it. That was the year before I moved away. They wanted me to have the best Christmas ever with them. It truly was.
^^^ sry. i forgot to sign in.
My most rocking holiday gift was a money tree. my friends all pitched in. They took a little tree and paper-clipped money all over it. We had such a great laugh over it. That was the year before I moved away. They wanted me to have the best Christmas ever with them. It truly was.
here it is again.
Hi Marley,
This is a tough one but 2 things come to mind as my most rocking holiday gift. The first is a Tiffany charm bracelet that my husband gave to me a few years ago. I love it and now he just adds charms on other occasions like my birthday or mother's day. My other most favorite gifts are crochet slippers from my grandmother. Sh'e give me a new pair every year up until I was about 10 years old. I can't begin to describe the joy of sliding across worn linoleum at 30 mph. Oh the fun.
my most rocking Christmas gift was the year my husband had a stained glass window plate of my sorority's symbol and letters handmade by an artist! I still have it and it is beautiful!
These are GREAT stories everyone! Thanks so much for the posts.
Melanie...what sorority were you in?
Phi Mu...I started out in a local sorority and then helped colonize the Phi Mu chapter. It was an awesome experience!
please please enter me to win!