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Discovering Wes Moore is the YA follow up to education advocate, veteran, and Rhodes Scholar Wes Moore’s New York Times bestseller, The Other Wes Moore. The Other Wes Moore is the story of two men with very different paths. While one is heading off to Oxford University on a scholarship, the other was sentenced to life in prison. The Other Wes Moore traces their paths from childhood to adulthood. What went wrong in the life of the other Wes Moore? Discovering Wes Moore is an accessible version of the bestseller, for young readers, requested by teachers.

This Way Home is Wes Moore’s first young adult work of fiction, with Shawn Goodman. Moore and Goodman’s book is set in Baltimore, which has been in the news most recently due to several protests in response to police brutality. Elijah and his friends live for basketball but a street gang threatens to take that all away if the team doesn’t rep their colors. What happens if they don’t give in? What happens when a community takes a stand?

I want them [young people] to say, “He gets my life. He gets what I see. He understands what I know.”  — Wes Moore on writing This Way Home

Watch this episode to learn more about Wes’ books, what he is doing to further his service mission as a veteran, and how he’s making attending college a bit easier for young people in Maryland.

We’re giving away three (3) signed copies of Discovering Wes Moore and This Way Home. Enter to win this mini bundle, now!

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ABOUT DISCOVERING WES MOORE

Discovering Wes Moore by Wes Moore
Published by Ember

For fans of “The Wire “and “Unbroken “comes a story of two fatherless boys from Baltimore, both named Wes Moore. One is in prison, serving a life sentence for murder. The other is a Rhodes Scholar, an army veteran, and an author whose book is being turned into a movie produced by Oprah Winfrey.

Two men. One overcame adversity. The other suffered the indignities of poverty. Their stories are chronicled in “Discovering Wes Moore,” a book for young people based on Wes Moore’s bestselling adult memoir, The Other Wes Moore.

The story of the other Wes Moore is one that the author couldn t get out of his mind, not since he learned that another boy with his name just two years his senior grew up in the same Baltimore neighborhood. He wrote that boy now a man a letter, not expecting to receive a reply. But a reply came, and a friendship grew, as letters turned into visits and the two men got to know each other. Eventually, that friendship became the inspiration for “Discovering Wes Moore,” a moving and cautionary tale examining the factors that contribute to success and failure and the choices that make all the difference.

ABOUT THIS WAY HOME

This Way Home by Wes Moore with Shawn Goodman
Published by Delacorte Press/Random House

One young man searches for a place to call home in this gut-wrenching, honest novel from New York Times bestselling author Wes Moore with Shawn Goodman. Elijah Thomas knows one thing better than anyone around him: basketball. At seventeen, he’s earned the reputation of a top-level player, one who steps onto the court ready for battle, whether it’s a neighborhood pickup game or a tournament championship. What Elijah loves most about the game is its predictability: if he and his two best friends play hard and follow the rules, their team will win. And this formula has held true all way up to the summer before their senior year of high school, when a sinister street gang, Blood Street Nation, wants them to wear the Nation’s colors in the next big tournament.

The boys gather their courage and take a stand against the gang, but at a terrible cost. Now Elijah must struggle to balance hope and fear, revenge and forgiveness, to save his neighborhood. For help, he turns to the most unlikely of friends: Banks, a gruff ex-military man, and his beautiful and ambitious daughter. Together, the three work on a plan to destroy Blood Street and rebuild the community they all call home.

This Way Home is a story about reclamation. It’s about taking a stand for what matters most, and the discovery that, in the end, hope, love, and courage are our most powerful weapons.

ABOUT WES MOORE

Via theotherwesmoore.com Wes Moore is a youth advo­cate, Army com­bat vet­eran, social entre­pre­neur, and host of Beyond Belief on the Oprah Win­frey Net­work. His first book The Other Wes Moore became an instant New York Times and Wall Street Jour­nal bestseller.

Born in 1978, Wes and his sis­ters were raised by their wid­owed mother. Despite early aca­d­e­mic and behav­ioral strug­gles, he grad­u­ated Phi Theta Kappa in 1998 as a com­mis­sioned offi­cer from Val­ley Forge Mil­i­tary Col­lege, and Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity in 2001, where he also played foot­ball and earned a bachelor’s degree in Inter­na­tional Rela­tions. He then became a Rhodes Scholar, study­ing Inter­national Rela­tions at Oxford University.

After his stud­ies, Wes, a para­trooper and Cap­tain in the United States Army, served a com­bat tour of duty in Afghanistan with the 1st Brigade of the 82nd Air­borne Divi­sion. Wes then served as a White House fel­low to Sec­re­tary of State Con­deleezza Rice. He serves on the board of the Iraq Afghanistan Vet­er­ans of Amer­ica (IAVA), The Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity, and founded an orga­ni­za­tion called STAND! that works with Bal­ti­more youth involved in the crim­i­nal jus­tice system.

Wes is com­mit­ted to help­ing the par­ents, teach­ers, men­tors, and advo­cates who serve our nations youth. A por­tion of all book pro­ceeds for “The Other Wes Moore” are being donated to City Year and the US Dream Academy.

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The Armenian genocide and the Holocaust took place decades ago, but the novelist William Faulkner was right when he said that “the past is never dead. It’s not even past.” It had been hoped that “Never again!” might be more than a slogan, but in April 1994, the Rwandan genocide began and was soon in full cry.

The post An ‘in-spite-of’ joy appeared first on OUPblog.

Stella by Starlight, by esteemed storyteller Sharon M. Draper, is a poignant novel that beautifully captures the depth and complexities within individuals, a community, and society in 1932, an era when segregation and poverty is at the forefront.

By Valerie Maholmes

Someone asked me at a recent book talk why I chose to write about hope and children in poverty. They asked whether it was frivolous to write about such a topic at a time when children are experiencing the challenges associated with poverty and economic disadvantage at high rates. As I thought about that question, I began to reflect on the stories of people I know and families I’ve worked with who, despite the challenges they experienced, were managing their lives successfully. I also reflected on popular figures who shared stories in the media about the ways in which they overcame early adversity in their lives.

As I reflected on these stories, it occurred to me that a common theme among these individuals was hope. I began to see the various ways in which hope is a highly influential and motivating force in their lives. This kind of hope is not passive—it is not merely wishing for a better life, but it is active. It involves thinking, planning, and acting on those thoughts and plans to achieve desired outcomes. It is the driving force that keeps us moving despite the adversity and allows us to adapt and to be resilient in the midst of these circumstances. In reflecting on these themes, I decided that I wanted to tell these stories and to link the stories with theoretical frameworks that help illuminate why I believe hope is so important. Most of the theories and ideas I discuss are well known to those of us who study children and families. However, it occurred to me that practitioners and policymakers may not be so familiar with these ideas and may find them useful in planning their work with children and families. My goal is to foster understandings of hope and resilience in practical terms so that together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers alike can help more children and families manage their circumstances and chart pathways toward well-being.

I Hope You Dance. Photo by Lauren Hammond. CC BY 2.0 via sleepyjeanie Flickr.

So when I think about a response to the question “Why focus on hope?” — I respond “Why not?” Why not focus on strengths rather than deficits? Why not focus our interventions, legislative activities, and funding priorities on processes that will motivate individuals to strive for the best outcomes for themselves and their children? In so doing, we can formulate an action agenda on behalf of children and families that first assumes they can and will succeed in rising above their circumstances.

As I learned from the families I interviewed, success means different things to different families. For some, success is being able to keep their family together—have dinner together, talk with each other, and support each other. For other families, success means being able to be a good parent– to go to bed at night realizing that you’ve provided for your child emotionally, spiritually as well as materially, and that by doing so, your child might have an even better opportunity than you did to achieve success. These individuals are truly courageous. They have overcome many obstacles and are striving to continue along that path. There are countless other courageous individuals who may never have the opportunity to tell their stories or to have their experiences validated with concepts and theories I discuss from the psychological literature. I hope this volume will represent their lives too. I challenge those of us who work with children and families and who advocate for or legislate on their behalf, to have the courage to “ hope” and to allow that hope to be a motivating and unrelenting force in our efforts to foster resilience and well-being in these families.

Dr. Valerie Maholmes has devoted her career to studying factors that affect child developmental outcomes. Low-income minority children have been a particular focus of her research, practical, and civic work. She has been a faculty member at the Yale Child Study Center in the Yale School of Medicine where she held the Irving B. Harris Assistant Professorship of Child Psychiatry, an endowed professorial chair. She is the author of Fostering Resilience and Well-Being in Children and Families in Poverty.

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Weathford, Carol Boston. 2010. Oprah: The Little Speaker. Illustrated by London Ladd.  Tarrytown: NY.

in a run-down house off a Mississippi dirt road...No indoor plumbing, just an outhouse, not even a bed of her own. ... God only knew what would become of that child.

Ok,

So I’ve been living in Los Angeles for six years now! Wow! Time just flies when your having fun, or surviving is how I feel personally. How do I feel about Los Angeles? Hmmm… very love/hate relationship. There are aspects about Hollywood you can’t get anywhere else. There are also things about the city most people will never encounter. It’s a tough place period. People are struggling to make ends meet, pay the bills, and keep up in this never-ending rat race. As a young person growing up in Los Angeles, I know personally, it’s an easy place to loose yourself. People desperately want the answer and solution to all their problems, and are often willing to pay an arm and leg to do so. If you don’t know yourself, you can easily cash in to adopt someone’s belief system, praying it will work out for you as it did for them. It’s also a money-making city. “Well, besides you sending me out,  how can I get myself out there?” I ask my agent. “Casting Director workshops.” She answers. “But those cost money!” I naively protest. ” Honey, welcome to Los Angeles.” She answers kindly. Narcissism is emphasized, competition is fierce, and people constantly thrive on one-upping one another.

Now, to some, I may sound pessimistic, negative, and judgmental. I get it. I understand. But as a person, if you meant me, I’m known to others as friendly, kind, positive, talented, honest, with a big, warm heart. My heart has helped me in many ways, and led me to several lucky breaks. However, as a kid growing up here, it made me vulnerable, naive, and led me into some pretty crappy situations that I genuinely feel would not have happened had I lived somewhere else. It’s a cold city. I’ve had many moments when everything in my life went dark, I only had one or two people who stuck by me. When Everything in life was great, you bet your bottom I had everybody in my life and then some! When your exposed to that, being so young, yes it can make you very cynical and wary of people afterwards. 

Not that I wasn’t fair-warned. My best friend at the time took a special trip with me down to Los Angles, really showing me how it is, to warn me about moving to this city. I almost didn’t come. But something in me had to discover this big bad place. And I did it. Oh boy! Was I thrown around or what! But, at the same token, by encountering so many rough obstacles and seemingly impossible situations, I was challenged to hold onto myself. Only my spirit and goodness could have enabled me to survive. Los Angeles, in all of its badness and falsities gave me the greatest gift in the world. It forced me to discover who I truly am in the face of adversity. A friend of mine once referred to Los Angles as the wild wild west. And he was right. It truly is. 

Ok,

So I’ve been living in Los Angeles for six years now! Wow! Time just flies when your having fun, or surviving is how I feel personally. How do I feel about Los Angeles? Hmmm… very love/hate relationship. There are aspects about Hollywood you can’t get anywhere else. There are also things about the city most people will never encounter. It’s a tough place period. People are struggling to make ends meet, pay the bills, and keep up in this never-ending rat race. As a young person growing up in Los Angeles, I know personally, it’s an easy place to loose yourself. People desperately want the answer and solution to all their problems, and are often willing to pay an arm and leg to do so. If you don’t know yourself, you can easily cash in to adopt someone’s belief system, praying it will work out for you as it did for them. It’s also a money-making city. “Well, besides you sending me out,  how can I get myself out there?” I ask my agent. “Casting Director workshops.” She answers. “But those cost money!” I naively protest. ” Honey, welcome to Los Angeles.” She answers kindly. Narcissism is emphasized, competition is fierce, and people constantly thrive on one-upping one another.

Now, to some, I may sound pessimistic, negative, and judgmental. I get it. I understand. But as a person, if you meant me, I’m known to others as friendly, kind, positive, talented, honest, with a big, warm heart. My heart has helped me in many ways, and led me to several lucky breaks. However, as a kid growing up here, it made me vulnerable, naive, and led me into some pretty crappy situations that I genuinely feel would not have happened had I lived somewhere else. It’s a cold city. I’ve had many moments when everything in my life went dark, I only had one or two people who stuck by me. When Everything in life was great, you bet your bottom I had everybody in my life and then some! When your exposed to that, being so young, yes it can make you very cynical and wary of people afterwards. 

Not that I wasn’t fair-warned. My best friend at the time took a special trip with me down to Los Angles, really showing me how it is, to warn me about moving to this city. I almost didn’t come. But something in me had to discover this big bad place. And I did it. Oh boy! Was I thrown around or what! But, at the same token, by encountering so many rough obstacles and seemingly impossible situations, I was challenged to hold onto myself. Only my spirit and goodness could have enabled me to survive. Los Angeles, in all of its badness and falsities gave me the greatest gift in the world. It forced me to discover who I truly am in the face of adversity. A friend of mine once referred to Los Angles as the wild wild west. And he was right. It truly is. 

Adversity does not build character.
Adversity reveals it.

The Beginning of a memoir or work of fiction (1/4 of the entire project) for any age group serves -- among other things like the setting, the dramatic question, the mystery - if there is one, the love interest- if there is one, and the like -- to introduce the character's emotional development. This is where the character strengths and flaws, loves and hates, dreams and goals are introduced.

The Middle (1/2 of the entire project) serves to reveal the deeper nuances of the character's emotional development. This is the part of the story where the writer thrusts the protagonist into as much adversity as possible in order to reveal to the reader or movie goer who the character really is. (Plot tip: make a list of all possible antagonists-- other people, nature, society, belief system, and/or machines -- that can help to create conflict, tension and suspense or curiosity and thus reveal who the character is under pressure -- the more pressure the better)

The End (1/4 of the project) is that portion of the project that actually shows how the character's emotional development has been affected by the adversity in the Middle and reveals how the character has been transformed.

These steps in the overall character emotional transformation can be plotted out on a Plot Planner for ease in developing your project.

What is the most revealing adversity you have experienced either through your character or in your own life?

My blog's been quiet for the past week because I was in San Diego on a family vacation.  It was an incredible week in so many ways, but this was the highlight...


I was lucky enough to spend last Monday, the night of the total lunar eclipse, camping in the middle of Anzo-Borrego Desert State Park.  Before we left, we found California Overland online and learned that they were offering an overnight desert trip with astronomer Dennis Mammana on the night of the eclipse.   I took this picture just as the moon was rising over the mountains on our way to the campsite.

This is Joe from California Overland.



Joe is every bit as cool as he looks and is one of my family's new favorite people.  He organized our trip, cooked our meals, set up our tents, and was an amazing tour guide for the stunning alien landscape he calls home.  Our tour started with a drive in a refurbished military vehicle to a spectacular spot called Font's Point, overlooking the Anzo Borrego Badlands.  Joe walked us partway up a hill, then said, "Look down at your feet now, and keep walking toward my voice.  Don't look up until I tell you to."  We trusted Joe by then, so we did this.   When he told us to look up, we were at the edge of a cliff looking out at this view.



As the sun went down and the moon came up, we headed to our campsite, near an old homestead that's been swallowed up by sand dunes and tamarack trees.  The tents were already set up, and Joe started cooking dinner.  Joe, it turns out, is a better cook in the middle of the desert than I am in my own fully-equipped kitchen.  Without running water or electricity or anything but an open fire, he whipped up grilled steak, herb-rubbed salmon, roasted corn on the cob, and a beautiful salad with greens and goat cheese.  I like food a lot, so Joe was especially my hero then.

Astronomer Dennis Mammana joined us for dinner and then went off to set up his telescope away from the light of the fire.  When the lunar eclipse started in the early hours of the morning, we dozed in a circle of camp chairs around the telescope and took turns snapping pictures through its lens.

The full moon lit the desert so completely that we didn't need flashlights when it first came up, but as the eclipse began, that light faded into a darkness blacker than any sky I've ever seen. 

And then there were stars.  Stars like I've never even imagined.  Anzo Borrego has been named one of the best star-watching spots in the country, and now I know why.  Dennis turned his telescope every few minutes to point out something new.  Jupiter with four moons clearly visible.  The Andromeda Galaxy.  And my favorite... The Orion Nebula, where new stars are born.  And of course, all the while, there was the moon...
























This was my last eclipse photo...taken after a 4am hike through the sand with Joe and my son, looking for scorpions and sidewinders.  We didn't find any but enjoyed the quiet  and the stars all the same.  At about 5:30 the need for a little sleep won out over my desire to see the rest of the moon appear. 

When the sun came up, I took a walk away from the campsite a bit to check out the desert plants and see if I could find that elusive scorpion.  Here's a shot looking back at our tents. 



After a breakfast of toast, turkey bacon, and omelets with fresh vegetables, it was time to take down the tents.   And guess who scuttled out from underneath our tent when we started folding it up...



My 11-year-old has wanted to see a scorpion ever since he read about desert animals when he was four or five, so this guy's appearance made his trip complete.



The kids were still itching to do some hiking, so the amazing Joe was kind enough to take us on a bonus trip to one of Anzo Borrego's incredible slot canyons. 



The sandstone walls were just a couple feet apart in places, so this was like no other trail I've ever hiked.  The temperature had crept up to 113 by the time we made it into the canyon, so we stopped often to find shade and drink water.  It gave me a dramatic appreciation for how extreme the desert can be and a true respect for the wildlife and plants that survive in this climate.

As I type this, I'm back home at my desk, getting ready for the start of school in a couple days. 

Fall comes early to the Champlain Valley.  We woke up to a crisp 42-degrees today, so the desert dust and heat are miles and memories away. 

But last night, when I realized I'd forgotten to get the mail, I stepped out into the dark.  I looked up at the stars, fighting with our streetlights, and a part of me slipped away, back to my camp chair in Anzo-Borrego, home of the sky and the scorpions, and the stars.