Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson

Title:  Brown Girl Dreaming
Author:  Jacqueline Woodson
Publisher:  Nancy Paulsen Books
Year: 2014
Pages: 336
Genre:  Memoir, Told in Verse
Themes:  Black History, Family, Racism, Civil Rights
Age Range:  5th Grade and Above

Summary:  from Goodreads

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. 

Review:
I have loved all of Woodson's books, and this one is no exception.  Her prose always read more like poetry to me, so I was glad to see this book is told in verse.  Growing up in both the Jim Crow south and the Civil Rights era north, Woodson was in a unique position to witness racism and discrimination in both its over and covert incarnations.

While her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement and its affect on her daily life is central to the novel, at its heart this book is about a young girl with a complicated family, trying to figure out where she fits in the world.  Being of two worlds often made her feel like she never really belonged to either, being too country for the urban northerners and too city for her rural family.  Woodson points out the many ways she felt like the "other", and the subtle and not-so-subtle signifiers of her "otherness"-her speech patterns, her family configuration, her desire to write stories, despite not always being the best student in school.  Woodson speaks lovingly of her grandparents, who symbolize stability and permanence.  Her feelings about her mother and father are just as loving, but less grounded.  Her father is not a part of her life, her mother leaves to find work in the city, eventually pulling her and her siblings away from their grandparents' home.  And, of course, with aging grandparents come the sad reality of declining health and death, which deal a blow to the fragile ground upon which Woodson builds her sense of self.

I think that only the most mature, sophisticated fifth graders would be ready for this book, not because there is anything objectionable in it, but because I think the narrative structure and the sometimes oblique references to the events that shaped the Civil Rights movement would be lost on someone without sufficient experience to understand.  But this book, which won the National Book Award for Young Adult Fiction for 2014, is certainly accessible and appropriate for use in middle or high school, and is gorgeous and moving enough to speak to adult readers as well.

When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop, by Laban Carrick Hill

Title:  When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop
Author:  Laban Carrick Hill
Publisher: Roaring Book Press
Year: 2013
Genre:  Non-Fiction, Historical
Themes:  African American History, Music, Hip Hop
Age Range: 2nd-5th Grade

Summary:  from Goodreads

Before there was hip hop, there was DJ Kool Herc.

On a hot day at the end of summer in 1973 Cindy Campbell threw a back-to-school party at a park in the South Bronx. Her brother, Clive Campbell, spun the records. He had a new way of playing the music to make the breaks—the musical interludes between verses—longer for dancing. He called himself DJ Kool Herc and this is When the Beat Was Born. From his childhood in Jamaica to his youth in the Bronx, here's how Kool Herc came to be a DJ, how kids in gangs stopped fighting in order to breakdance, and how the music he invented went on to define a culture and transform the world.

Review:
One of the things that my fellow teachers and I lament about is the lack of quality books about people of color to use with our students.  While some children's publishers are making strides in offering more titles with protagonists of color, but there are still not nearly enough.  As someone who works with a student population that is majority African American, I often find myself spending hours online trying to find quality books that will allow my students to see themselves in the writing.

So imagine my delight at finding this picture book while I was preparing for a parent workshop in what's new in children's literature.  When the Beat was Born is the story of one of the founding fathers of hip-hop, Clive Campbell.  He brought a Jamaican style of dubbing music to his New York neighborhood, spinning records at parties and creating longer "breaks" in the music by using multiple turntables for dancers (also the origin of the term "break dancing").  The books shows how Clive, known as DJ Kool Herc, was connected to the other founders of hip-hop and rap through the New York music scene.

While this book is technically historical non-fiction, unlike many books about African American history it takes place after the civil rights era.  Considering the huge impact that hip-hop and rap have had on pop culture in our country, students should be able to understand and appreciate the story because they will have direct experience with the topic in a way they might not when reading about Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks.  Since it is a children's book, there is very little in the way of social critique of hip-hop and the some of the negative issues surrounding it, but as an introduction to modern musical history that is relevant to their lives and experiences, this book does the trick.

Ninth Ward, by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Title:  Ninth Ward
Author:  Jewell Parker Rhodes
Publisher:  Little Brown and Company
Year:  2010
Pages:  217
Genre:  Magical Realism
Themes:  family, natural disasters, strength, survival, friendship
Age Range:  4th-7th Grade

Summary: 
Twelve-year-old Lanesha lives in a tight-knit community in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. She doesn't have a fancy house like her uptown family or lots of friends like the other kids on her street. But what she does have is Mama Ya-Ya, her fiercely loving caretaker, wise in the ways of the world and able to predict the future. So when Mama Ya-Ya's visions show a powerful hurricane—Katrina—fast approaching, it's up to Lanesha to call upon the hope and strength Mama Ya-Ya has given her to help them both survive the storm. (From Goodreads)


Review: 
When a humanitarian tragedy as large as Hurricane Katrina occurs, often adults struggle to find ways to discuss the horrors of the situation in a way that is at once truthful and comforting.  As the sixth anniversary of the hurricane that devoured New Orleans approaches, Jewell Parker Rhodes gives us a stunning example of how we as adults can harness the fear and sadness and turn it into something that kids can not only understand, but learn and grow from.

Lanesha is about as self-assured a character as you'll find in children's literature.  Despite her unusual birth, living situation, and gifts, Lanesha is almost completely comfortable with who she is.  Much of this can be chalked up to Mama YaYa, the midwife who raised her after her mother died in childbirth.  Lanesha's "Uptown" family wants nothing to do with her, and leaves her in the Ninth Ward with Mama YaYa.  In fact, the only thing that seems to bring sadness to her life is the desertion of her Uptown family-the wealthy family that never gave her a chance because of her mother's indiscretion with a low-class Ninth Ward boy.  Lonely as she is, it isn't until she makes friends with a girl named Ginia, a boy named TaShon, and a dog named Spot that she realizes what she's been missing-friends.  

Having lived through the lead up to and aftermath of Katrina, even from a distance, I didn't need much help imagining what the Ninth Ward was like during the hurricane.  But Parker Rhodes' descriptions bring home the chaos and fear caused by the storm, and the desperation as the water flooded in afterwards.  As an adult reader, I had a context for the references to the Superdome, but I can see how building background knowledge before reading this aloud or having your students read it would be important.  I am thinking of using it as a read aloud during a unit in natural disasters.  Sadly, what happened in New Orleans may be America's equivalent to the sinking of the Titanic (certainly, as many people died), or the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.  Unlike those events, however, this one is still unfolding, as New Orleans continues to try and rebuild.

Teacher Resources:  
Curriculum Connections-TeachingBooks.net 
Author Interview 
Education World Hurricane Watch Lesson Plans 
Jewell Parker Rhodes Webpage for Ninth Ward 

The House Your Pass On The Way, Jacqueline Woodson

Title:  The House You Pass On The Way
Author:  Jacqueline Woodson
Publisher:  Laurel Leaf
Year:  1999
Pages:  114
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Coming of Age, Sexual Orientation, Identity, Friendship
Age Level:  6th through 9th Grade

Summary:
In this understated story set in a small, mostly African-American community in the South, Staggerlee Canan is shunned by her peers because her mother is white. This is not the sole cause of her isolation, however. She has a secret. In sixth grade, she had kissed another girl. Rejected by that friend, Staggerlee has no one to talk to about her sexual feelings until her adopted cousin, Trout, visits for the summer when both girls are 14. Both wonder if they are gay, but sexual identity is really only one of the things that troubles them. Their platonic intimacy is the intense kind shared by friends who see themselves as different from the crowd. Asked by Trout to say whether she's black or white, Staggerlee replies, "I'm me. That's all." (From School Library Journal)

Review:
Despite the slim nature of this book, it carries a surprising amount of weight.   Staggerlee is an interesting character-the grandchild of famous grandparents, unable to take advantage of the freedom from oppression that they fought for.  She struggles to understand what it means to be bi-racial in a mostly black community, where the other kids assume she thinks she is better than they are.  The fact that she has a secret about her feelings towards other girls contributes to her isolation.  When Trout comes into the picture, she has finally found someone "like her".  But when Trout leaves, and the intensity of their frienship starts to lessen, Staggerlee is left wondering if and when she will truly be able to just be herself.  This book would be great for teaching about multi-racial identity or sexual orientation specifically, or tryiing to find your place in the world in general.

Resources:
 Jacqueline Woodson's Website

The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County, by Janice N. Harrington

Title:  The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County
Author:  Janice N. Harrington
Publisher: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux
Pages: 40
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Age Level:  K-4

Plot Summary: 
The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County tell the story of Janice Harrington's life growing up in Alabama.  There was nothing she loved to do more than chase the chickens her grandmother kept.  Despite her grandmother telling her not to tease the animals, every day she would race outside, and run and chase until she was able to get every chicken in the yard.  Every chicken, that is, except for Miss Hen.  The girl made it her life's ambition to catch that chicken.  One day, she sees her chance-Miss Hen is just sitting in the tall grass, almost asking to be caught.  When the girl goes in for the catch, however, she discovers that Miss Hen has a reason for standing still-a new family.  The girl makes it her new life's work to help Miss Hen take care of her chicks, and to teach them to run so fast they will never be caught by any chicken chaser!

Review:
This book is charming!  The author has been a teacher, librarian, and professional storyteller, all of which contribute to her ability to paint a picture with words.  This book is full descriptive language, with rich vocabulary and sayings that show the true creative and flexible nature of language.  The characters are engaging-I wanted a Big Mama when I read this book for the first time!  The illustrations are a good match for the writing style.  Using a collage technique, the illustrator blends elements and mediums to create pictures that have texture and depth.  The art makes the characters come alive. The story has a good message, about respecting all living things, that most children can relate to. 

This book makes a great read aloud, what with all the chicken sounds that the kids can make as the teacher reads.  It is also good for teaching figurative language forms, such as simile and metaphor.  It could also be used for teaching writing, especially the trait of word choice and voice if you are using a 6 Traits writing model.  Because the story is told from the first person, you could do a mini-lesson on point of view as well.  There are lots of cross-curricular connections that can be made-young children love learning about chicks, and there are plenty of chicken themed books and activities you could use to add depth to a unit on chickens.  Below are some teacher resources I've found for this book.  Have fun-and don't tease the chickens!

Leslie Preddy.com-Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County

Reading to Kids.org

Keister Elementary School Teacher Resources

Monster, by Walter Dean Myers

I heard a disturbing statistic today-the United States has the fastest growing prison population in the world.  Not just in the western world, but the world-period!  That means that totalitarian governments like North Korea and Iran put fewer people in jail than we do.  Much of this can be traced back to mandatory sentencing for drug crimes-and while I have many opinions on that, it doesn't have much to do with the review I am about to write.  What does is another disturbing trend-more and more states are allowing youth as young as 15 to be tried as adults for violent or drug-related crimes.

Walter Dean Myers takes this issue on in his book, Monster.  Monster is the story of Steve Harmon, a 16 year-old black teenager living in Harlem.  At the opening of the book Steve is incarcerated, about to stand trial for felony murder, a charge that could carry the death penalty.  We quickly learn a few things about Steve-he's smart, he's creative, and he's terrified.  The only way he can deal with the emotions brought on by his incarceration and trial are to treat them as a screenplay.  This budding film maker may or may not have been involved in a drugstore robbery, a robbery that went horribly wrong when the store owner was shot and killed.  Steve's supposed part in the robbery-look out.  The book follows his trial, and the effect that it has on him and his family.

Most of Myers' books take on issues of race, racism, and growing up black and male in our society.  One of his strengths is that he does not make excuses for poor choices.  What he does is paint a pretty stark picture of what it can be like to grow up black, male, and poor in America.  You may not always like his characters, but you can understand their lives and their choices based on the circumstances in which they live.  Monster is no different.  It would be easy to make this story about racist police and racist judges sending another black boy to prison, but the story is more nuanced than that.  Not that there aren't elements of race and racism woven into the narrative-it is impossible to separate that strand of American culture from the rest when talking about issues of poverty, crime, and justice in America's urban centers.  But the book is not about racism, per se.  It is about one boy, coming to terms with what it would mean if he spent the rest of this life behind bars.

To me, that is the real issue that this book raises.  How can we, as a society, support sending teenagers as young as 15 and 16 to jail for the rest of their lives?  We must believe that teenagers have not yet reached the age of responsibility, seeing as we don't let children that young vote, drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, or make their own medical decisions.  How then can we expect them to pay for the rest of their lives for a decision made before rationality, reason, and responsibility have truly taken hold of their minds?   I don't have the answer for how to rehabilitate young offenders, so I won't pretend that I do, but it seems to me that before we start locking children up for what could amount to 60 or 70 years (provided the violence in prison doesn't kill them sooner, but that is another post for another blog), we should at least make sure that we have exhausted every other possibility.