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.

Inside Out and Back Again, by Thanhha Lai

Title:  Inside Out and Back Again

Author:  Thanhha Lai
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Year:  2011
Pages:  272
Genre:  Poetry
Themes:  War, Family, Immigration
Age Range:  3rd-6th Grade

Summary:  from Goodreads

For all the ten years of her life, Hà has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, the warmth of her friends close by . . . and the beauty of her very own papaya tree.
But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. Hà and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, Hà discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food, the strange shape of its landscape . . . and the strength of her very own family.

Review:
The story of Ha and her family is told through a series of free verse poems.  The story moves from Saigon at the end of the Vietnam war, to Guam, to Alabama, where Ha and her family are sponsored by an American man and his reluctant, cold wife.  Lai does a beautiful job evoking what life in Saigon was like right after the Americans left, creating a sense of foreboding an uncertainty that is unsettling.  Things don't really improve when Ha and her family finally board the ship for Guam...it is overcrowded, with no privacy and very little food.  When they finally reach the safety of the American naval base, their relief is quickly replaced by more uncertainty about their future.  Only families that are sponsored by an American are allowed to relocate in the US, and Ha's family has to wait until someone comes forward.

Ha's family reacts in different ways to their leaving Vietnam.  One brother is angry and hostile towards the move, one is looking forward to going to living in Bruce Lee's homeland.  One takes a very Zen approach, not really appearing to care.  Ha's biggest worry, one shared with her mother, is that their father, who has been missing in action for three years, will never be able to find them if he tries to come home.  But Lai makes it pretty obvious that the family really had no choice-if they wanted to survive, and not just survive but have a chance to thrive, they had to leave Vietnam.

Lai also does not shy away from showing us just how ugly the American attitude was towards Vietnamese refugees was in the weeks and months following America's exit from Southeast Asia.  People in the small town where Ha and her family land were indifferent and best, and downright mean at worst.  Ha's frustration over feeling dumb in American schools is palpable, and for good reason.  Her inability to speak English gets in the way of even the most basic human transactions, and as a result people can take advantage of her and her family.  Luckily one of her brother's speaks English, and the family is able to communicate their basic needs to their sponsor, but that doesn't help Ha make friends, or her mother find work.  Even when people think they are being kind, Ha and her family have such a different perspective on life that they don't always take the gestures in the way people intend.  Fortunately for Ha, their sponsor introduces them to a former teacher who tutors Ha in English, despite the fact that her son was killed in Vietnam.  This book provides a great opportunity to teach poetry as a narrative form, and there are lots of chances for cross-curricular connections in social studies.

Feathers, by Jacqueline Woodson

Title:  Feathers
Author:  Jacqueline Woodson
Publisher:  Putnam Juvenile
Year:  2007
Pages:  116
Genre:  Realistic Fiction, Multicultural
Themes:  Acceptance, Disabilities, Multiculturalism
Age Level:  6th Grade and Up

Summary: (from Goodreads)
"Hope is the thing with feathers," starts the poem Frannie is reading in school. Frannie hasn't thought much about hope. There are so many other things to think about. Each day, her friend Samantha seems a bit more holy.”There is a new boy in class everyone is calling the Jesus Boy. And although the new boy looks like a white kid, he says he’is not white. Who is he?

During a winter full of surprises, good and bad, Frannie starts seeing a lot of things in a new light:—her brother Sean's deafness, her mother's fear, the class bully's anger, her best friend's faith and her own desire for the thing with feathers.”

Review:

Woodson's books are like small jewels, each one getting right to the heart of the matter in lyric prose that is sparingly beautiful.  In Feathers, Frannie is living in the early 1970s, a time when we as a culture were still struggling to come to terms with the many changes brought about by the turbulent 60s.  Woodson does a wonderful job portraying that particular time, especially the racial divisions that persisted despite the civil rights movement's many battles for equality.  The arrival of Jesus Boy throws everyone's beliefs about racial identity and where they "belong" into question.  His peacefulness and obvious unconcern for how he is perceived by others makes no sense to a group of children who are constantly monitoring themselves and each other for "coolness".   Her brother Sean's deafness, and the way that he carries himself with confidence despite it, plays a large part in her realizations about courage and hope.  Frannie is also deeply affected by the death of her sister as a baby, and her mother's subsequent miscarriages and depression.  When her mother becomes pregnant again, Frannnie is upset that she will no longer be the "baby" of the family, and worries about whether this baby will make it.  Through the course of the book she goes from a self-centered child only concerned about losing her mother's attention, to a compassionate young woman full of hope for her mother to be healthy and happy with her new sibling.  This short book is ripe with topics for discussion, and could be used as part of a unit on family or multiculturalism very easily.


Teacher Resources:
The Best Children's Books.org
Penguin Reading Group Guide

Extra Credit, by Andrew Clements

Title:  Extra Credit
Author:  Andrew Clements
Publisher:  Antheum
Year:  2009
Pages:  192
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Acceptance, Self-Confidence, Multiculturalism
Age Range:  4th through 7th Grade

Summary: (from Amazon)
It isn’t that Abby Carson can’t do her schoolwork. She just doesn’t like doing it. And in February a warning letter arrives at her home. Abby will have to repeat sixth grade—unless she meets some specific conditions, including taking on an extra-credit project to find a pen pal in a distant country. Seems simple enough. But when Abby’s first letter arrives at a small school in Afghanistan, the village elders agree that any letters going back to America must be written well. In English. And the only qualified student is a boy, Sadeed Bayat. Except in this village, it is not proper for a boy to correspond with a girl. So Sadeed’s younger sister will write the letters. Except she knows hardly any English. So Sadeed must write the letters. For his sister to sign. But what about the villagers who believe that girls should not be anywhere near a school? And what about those who believe that any contact with Americans is . . . unhealthy? Not so simple. But as letters flow back and forth—between the prairies of Illinois and the mountains of central Asia, across cultural and religious divides, through the minefields of different lifestyles and traditions—a small group of children begin to speak and listen to one another. And in just a few short weeks, they make important discoveries about their communities, about their world, and most of all, about themselves.

Review:
 As children's authors go, Andrew Clements is about as consistently good as they get.  His books are always well-written, well-paced, and well suited to the age level of the kids he is writing for.  And that is why I was disappointed in Extra Credit.  Don't get me wrong, the writing is still first rate and the characters are well-developed.  In the first part of the book, Clements does a great job setting up the relationship between Abby and Sadeed.  And given the fact that Sadeed is from such an alien culture, that is no small feat.  The problems for me start after Sadeed is confronted by the Talib near his village.  Once that happens, the story suddenly speed up, but not in an exciting, things are really happenin' sort of way.  The last third of the book feels incomplete.  It felt like Clements was suddenly unsure how to write a story about why Abby and Sadeed had to stop corresponding in a way that would make it accessible for younger readers.  And I suppose that is not really surprising-I know adults who have a hard time comprehending the very different culture of Afghanistan.  There are some decent discussion points in the novel-culture clash, racism, stereotypes-but I felt a bit let down by Mr. Clements when I finished this one.

Teacher Resources:
Author Website 
Simon and Schuster Reading Group Guide  

Heather's Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Issues

This week's Top Ten list from The Broke and the Bookish gives me a chance to make two lists.  The topic of the week is books that deal with societal issues, and I've already posted my list of adult books at my other blog, Book Addict Reviews.  But because so much good children's literature also has social justice themes, I'm going to make a second list right here at Second Childhood Reviews. 

1.  The Friendship, Mildred Taylor:  This short novella tell the story of two men, one black and one white, and how the racism of the south in the middle of the 20th century led them from being friends to violence.  Great book-every class I've ever read this with has literally gasped at what happens.

2.  The Misfits, James Howe:  With all of the recent news about bullying, this book is a must read for the 5th through 8th grade set.  Includes bullying based on weight, gender, intelligence, and sexual orientation.

3.  Keeping Corner, Kasmira Sheth:  A historical fiction tale of a child-bride in India during the rise of Ghandi.  When her betrothed dies of a snake bite, 12 year old Leela is forced to live as a widow, which means never wearing bright colors or bangles again, never being able to marry or have children, and being considered bad luck by the others in her town.  Really interesting look at Indian culture.

4.  Monster, Walter Dean Myers:  Really thought provoking book about a teenager on trial for murder.

5.  Bait, by Alex Sanchez:  Deals with childhood sexual abuse with a male protagonist.  Sanchez's books are so good I have to list two, the other one being...

6.  The God Box, Alex Sanchez:  Reinterprets the Christian arguments against homosexuality through the story of a closeted Christian teen and his new out and proud Christian friend.

7.  The Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins:  OK, I know that it is cool and trendy to love these books (and I did, love these books that is), but I also happen to think that they can be read and discussed as social commentary.  Classism, the value of democracy, the voyeurism of "reality" television, the power of perception and the media-all really topical stuff!

8.  Number the Stars, Lois Lowry; The Book Thief, Markus Zusak; The Devil's Arithmetic, Jane Yolen; The Boy Who Dared, Susan Campbell Bartoletti; The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, John Boyne:  All books about the holocaust, all really well done.

9.  19 Minutes, Jodi Picoult:  I know that she's usually considered an author of adult fiction, but this novel about a school shooting is perfect reading for teens.

10.  Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson:  Great story about finding your voice after a sexual assault.  And a pretty good movie with Kristin Stewart, before she became enamored of sparkly vampires.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, By Sherman Alexie

Title:  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Author:  Sherman Alexie
Publisher:  Little, Brown for Young Readers
Year:  2007
Pages:  230
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Age Level:  9th Grade and Up

Summary: 
Arnold Spirit, a goofy-looking dork with a decent jumpshot, spends his time lamenting life on the "poor-ass" Spokane Indian reservation, drawing cartoons (which accompany, and often provide more insight than, the narrative), and, along with his aptly named pal Rowdy, laughing those laughs over anything and nothing that affix best friends so intricately together. When a teacher pleads with Arnold to want more, to escape the hopelessness of the rez, Arnold switches to a rich white school and immediately becomes as much an outcast in his own community as he is a curiosity in his new one. He weathers the typical teenage indignations and triumphs like a champ but soon faces far more trying ordeals as his home life begins to crumble and decay amidst the suffocating mire of alcoholism on the reservation. (from Booklist)

Review:
Alexie does not pull any punches in this young adult novel about race, culture,  and individuality.  Arnold Spirit, known as Junior on the reservation where he lives, is conflicted.  His family and culture encourage him to stay with the tribe, to stay on the reservation, to not look to the white man's world for hope.  But Junior feels trapped on the reservation.  He watches his family and friends deal with poverty, alcoholism, and violence, and he knows that if he does not leave the reservation he will succumb the the same hopelessness that is slowly killing the very culture of their Spokane tribe.  But leaving opens him up to a whole different set of challenges.  The other students at the small-town high school he attends treat him with suspicion, and he never truly feels like he belongs.  At home, the members of his tribe treat him as a race traitor-someone who thinks he is better than the rest f them, and is betraying them by trying to "be white".  Caught between these two worlds, Junior feels like a part-time Indian.  When he is at school, he is always part-Indian, and on the rez he is always considered part-white.  This duality of his existence begins to help him understand that identity is more than simply the race or tribe you are born into.  It is also about what you do with your gifts, and about coming to terms with the fact that all of us have to make our own way, regardless of the challenges that stand in front of us.  On the reservation he sees Indians who have given up, who have refused to face their challenges and try to cover them up with alcohol and violence.  Despite his feeling that he is leaving something important behind, he knows what he needs to do to be a whole person.

Teacher Resources:  
Sherman Alexie @ Web English Teacher 
eNotes Study Guide 
Oak Park River Forest High School Summer Reading Packet 

Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters

Title:  Of Thee I Sing:  A Letter to My Daugters
Author:  Barack Obama
Publisher:  Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Date:  November 2010
Pages:  40
Genre:  Non-Fiction
Age Range:  Ages 4-8 (I would use it in 4th and 5th grade as well)


Summary:
Of Thee I Sing is a loving tribute to President Obama's daughters, Malia and Sasha.  Mr. Obama uses the personal stories of 13 famous Americans of all races and backgrounds to highlight the traits he believes each of his daughters possesses- creativity, intelligence, bravery, compassion, strength, humility, and kindness.  With beautiful illustrations by Loren Long, this book makes an inspiring story to read with your own children.

Review:
I will admit to some bias in my reasons for buying this book.  I happen to love this particular president, and have read his other books as well.  What makes this book special is two things for me-the multicultural figures Obama uses to highlight each character trait, and the gorgeous illustrations that accompany each person's story.  As a teacher I am routinely frustrated by the token multiculturalism we have in American schools.  Too many people seem to think that if we teach about Martin Luther King Jr. in January and Harriet Tubman and George Washington Carver in February we are somehow being progressive.  This dichotomous view of "diversity" in our schools, the myth that by teaching about a few African-American heroes we are somehow making up for the lack of representation in our history and literature series, leaves out the many children who belong to neither group, or to more than one.  Mr. Obama includes Native Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, women, men, rich, and poor in his description to his daughters about what makes America the amazing place that it is-and what it takes to make it the more amazing place it can be.  Despite the political rhetoric in Washington, I can feel his continued idealism, and that in itself is a source of hope for me.  For his daughters, this book holds all of the love and hope that their father has for them-and I dare say, for all of our children.

Teacher Resources:
I was unable to find any online teaching resources for this book yet, though I imagine that's at least in part because it only came out a couple of months ago.  I am planning on using it to frame a biography unit, where we will do research on each of the Americans highlighted in the book.   You can also use it to discuss begin a conversation about immigration, since a few of the people named were naturalized citizens.  

Ten Things I Hate About Me, by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Title: Ten Things I Hate About Me
Author:  Randa Abdel-Fattah
Publisher:  Orchard Books
Pages:  304
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Age Level:  7th-10th Grade




Plot Summary:
Jamie is a 10th grader at a high school in Sydney, Australia.  Like most high schoolers, she has the usual worries about boys and grades and being popular.  Unlike most teenagers, she is also hiding a secret.  For as long as she can remember, Jamie has hidden the fact that she is a Lebanese Muslim. Her real name is Jamilah, and she is afraid that if everyone at school knows that she is really a "leb" or "wog", as they call the Muslims in their community, her friendships and relationship prospects will be over.  In the years following 9-11, it seems to Jamie that everywhere she goes she hears negative stereotypes about Muslims, and she experiences racism herself.  Thing is, she loves being a Muslim, and is proud of her cultural heritage, even if it causes her father to be overprotective to the point of paranoia!  When she makes an online friend named John, she unburdens herself, and shares all of her worries about her friends finding out her embarrassing truth.  In the end, she has to make a choice-is it Jamie or Jamilah that she wants to be?

Review:
This book intrigued me because I could not remember reading anything like it before-the story of a Muslim dealing with the aftermath of the racial backlash after 9-11.  I didn't realize at the time that the story was set in Australia, but that just made it more interesting to me.  The fact that 9-11 had such a global impact was not news to me, but this was the first time I felt like I got a glimpse into how people in other countries reacted  not just immediately after the event, but even years later.  

I think that the story of Jamie/Jamilah is one that is at once uniquely Muslim and at the same time universal.  I mean, we all deal with identity issues throughout our lives, but especially during adolescence.     Each of us has something that makes us different, or at least that's how we feel.  What makes the story uniquely Muslim is the fact that it is Jamilah's ethnic, cultural, and religious identity that is what makes her different.  Most of us don't have to deal with being a religious/ethnic minority in addition to the other trials of adolescence, and most of us do not have to carry the baggage of Islamic fundamentalism as we move through life.  Even with this fairly weighty subject matter, the book is easy to read, and the story is not preachy or too angsty.  Jamie/Jamilah is an engaging character with a good sense of humor.  The insights into her life as a Lebanese-Muslim are interesting, and show a culture rich in family tradition and love.  Jamilah's over-protective dad is not portrayed as some woman-hating fundamentalist, but his character does provide insight into the clash of cultures that are inevitable when people emigrate to places with such different values.  All in all, I think that the writing is excellent, and I would recommend this book to anyone looking to understand Muslim culture, or any teen working through their own identity issues.

Keeping Corner, by Kashmira Sheth

Title:  Keeping Corner
Author:  Kashmira Sheth
Publisher: Hyperion
Pages:  279
Genre:  Historical Fiction, South Asian
Age Level: 7-10



Plot Summary:
Keeping Corner is the story of Leela, a 12 year-old Indian girl living with her family in the rural village of Jameel, in the Indian state of Gujarat in 1918.  Leela's family is Brahman, the highest caste in India's strict class system.  At 2 she was engaged to Ramanlal, a young boy from another Brahman family.  At nine they were married, though Leela would continue to live with her family on their estate until her anu, a ceremony officially welcoming the girl into her new family.  Just months before her anu, Ramanlal is bitten by a poisonous snake and dies.  This makes Leela a child widow.  According to her caste, she must shave her head, wear only the widow's chidri, and stay in the house for a year, keeping corner for her dead husband.  Leela, who had been a happy, rather spoiled young girl with a love for fashion and jewelry, quickly falls into despair, wondering how she can live the rest of her life being shunned by her community for being bad luck.  She finds help and solace in her brother, Kanubhai, her teacher Saviben, a lower caste woman named Shani, and ultimately in Gandhi's non-violent movement to overthrow the English occupying their country.

Review:
Sheth's story is really a coming of age novel, albeit an unconventional one by Western standards.  Her writing is beautiful-her characters speak in a kind of lyrical, poetic style that suits the overall mood of the piece.  She draws us into Leela's world, even as that world shrinks to only those things inside the walls of her own house.  You feel her frustration at the inherent unfairness of her situation.  Lower caste widows are allowed to remarry, and so are men even of her own caste.  No one sees these people as bad luck.  She feels trapped by tradition, as do many of the people who love her most and grieve for what has befallen her.  Sheth's descriptions of the small town of Jameel, the acitivities of the community, the small world of Leela's house, and ultimately the historic period in which the novel are set gave me a deeper understanding of a part of the world that I am only beginning to understand.

This novel is well-suited for classroom use, if for no other reason than the insight it gives about a culture foreign to many of us.  Additionally, it could be used in a social justice context, with it's themes of feminism, classism, civil disobedience, and standing up for what is right despite hundreds of years of tradition.  Listed below are teaching resources I've found for this book.

Intermediate Lesson Plans: The Rights of the Child

Wild Geese Guides: Keeping Corner