(Week 5, Native/African American Literature) The Cost of Being Extreme

 

   

    Imagine your the son of a famous, Super Bowl Champion football player, and your father is everything you love and look up to. In Jacqueline Woodson's novel in verse, ZJ is a 12 year-old boy who experiences the heartache of watching his father go from being in his prime to suffering from a mysterious braid injury that no one can explain. This is a relatively short story outlining the confusing slow burning grief that comes from losing a loved one with them physically pass away. ZJ begin his telling of this journey by introducing the relationship he has with his father, “He’s not my hero, he’s my dad, which means he’s my every single thing.” On the other hand, ZJ had no interest in following in his father's footsteps by becoming a football player, his passion resides in music. He talks about his friends, and how they were almost always around. This is why it ZJ and his friends thought his dad was joking New Year's Eve Dec. 1999 and he began yelling asking who those kids were and why they were in his house. As a child, it can be unimaginable to see your father, a man who can take on the world and walk away without a scratch, suddenly seem like the most fragile being on the planet. Today we know that football players are highly susceptible to developing CTE, but at the time ZJ's father began showing symptoms of this degenerative neurological condition, the NFL adamantly denied the possibility of such a connection. Thankfully, in 2016 the facts could no longer be denied. Jacqueline Woodson, gave us this story as a heartbreaking look at the price of bein at the top of a highly aggressive sport. Because of the long term physical and neurological abuse his career put him through, ZJ lost his father long before he should have. The novel ends with ZJ playing his music for his father and getting a small precious glimpse of the man he used to be. 

Discussion and Classroom Application

    Along with studying this novel during a poetry unit, it would be a disservice to our students if we did not also offer this reading in a science and health/athletics class as well. There are far too many instances to educate our children of the risks that come from participating in professional football, boxing, UFC, and even bull riding. More measures must be taken to protect neurological health of our athletes and their families.   

(Week 5 Children's book, Native/African American Literature) Fry Bread Is You

   In Kevin Noble Maillard's children's book Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, we are given a precious illustration of how an entire nation of native peoples are connected by a simple yet profound image of fry bread. As a Choctaw descendent, I have grown up with Choctaw dishes: fry bread, Chahta Banaha (best with bacon grease), and Tanchi Labona to name a few). While reading this book, I was transported back to my maternal grandparents' home learning how to cook fry bread from scratch. This story walks its readers through making fry bread while also connecting it to specific concepts that is relevant to building a child's sensory skills such as "food, shape, sound, color, flavor, time, art, history, place, nation, everything". Kevin Noble Maillard also employs examples of figurative language to truly connect children to their own experiences with cooking with family. 

                  

Discussion and Classroom Application

        This book is an excellent resource for teaching figurative language such as metaphor and onomatopoeia. The language is also very simple wo this would be a great addition to classrooms ranging from kindergarten to possibly 3rd grade.  This would also be a great supplement resource for History as it discusses key historical events relevant specifically to the removal of the Native Tribes to Oklahoma.   

(Week 4 Young Adult Graphic Novel) Growing Up With The Weight Of Generations On Your Shoulders

    Have you ever felt like your life was nothing more than living up to other people's expectations? How did that pressure help you? How did it hurt you? Did you ever feel as if you never fit in anywhere? Malaka Gharib felt all these and more as she grew up as the daughter of immigrant parents in the US. Malaka recorded her experiences in this graphic memoir, I was Their American Dream. This memoir is just an interesting look into the life of a young girl caught between three different cultures none of which she can fully claim to be because so many people in the US, several aspects of each culture enriches their lives in unique and beautiful ways. 

Malaka begins with the story of how her parents made it to the US. Her father, an Egyptian Muslim, had always dreamed of coming to America. He loved everything about the culture and the fast pace of life. Her mother, on the other hand, did not want to leave her home in the Philippines. She was from a wealthy family and had a great job. It all came down to Malaka's grandfather having his family leave a few members at a time during the 70's due to political unrest in the country. From there, Malaka's mother worked hard and eventually met Malaka's father at a company where they both worked. They were from different cultures, with different attitudes about being in the US, and differing opinions for how to live their lives. Their marriage eventually ended in divorce when Malaka was young. This, however, did not affect the way her parents loved her. She mostly stayed with her mother and her Filipino family and culture. Malaka was sent to a private Catholic school during the week, spent every other weekend with her father until he moved back to Egypt to care for his ailing father and never moved back. From then on, Malaka spent the school year with her mother, half-sister, and other Filipino relatives. In the summer she would stay with her father, step-mother, and half siblings in Egypt. Her step-mother would help her to become a women, sharing some very important milestones with her while Malaka stayed with them. Malaka's father would try to make the best of the time he had with his daughter while she was there.  Malaka got to see the different ways her Egyptian family lived in comparison to the nearby fighting between Israel and Palestine. She also had to navigate the different ways she was expected to act with each branch of her identity (Filipino, Egyptian, American) while not crossing the wires in detrimental ways. 

The community in which her school is located is an eclectic mix of other immigrant families, so she was pretty immersed in a society of kids who were from all different places. This, however, didn't make it much easier for her to be accepted by her peers. Anytime she wanted to hang out with the Filipino kids, she was too Egyptian, there were not may other Egyptian students at her school. Anytime she wanted to look like the kids on TV, she was "whitewashed" or a "poser". Eventually she was able to find a group of kids who would accept her as she is and together they made it through high school. 

The harsh reality that Malaka soon finds out is that things don't get much easier immediately after high school. Malaka goes to college at Syracuse, New York. After getting some financial help from her Filipino family, she is on her way. Again, she is smacked with the reality that she is different and that most representation goes to "white people". She is singled out at school and eventually her job as being ethnic, diverse, other. One thing she was not expecting was the "colorblindness" of her college classmates. She does not get a chance to talk about her culture(s) which is something she loved to do whenever anyone asked "What are you?" As she grows older she starts to realize that this is not a question that is well-received very often. She meets with other people who have varying different ethnic backgrounds and present this question to them and how they react to it.

 Through trial and error, life became a little simpler until she met Darren, a white Southern Baptist man from Nashville, Tennessee. Her Filipino family really liked him, but her Muslim father took some convincing. Thankfully, things were smoothed out, and Malaka and Darren got married. They, like Malaka's parents, had differing cultures and backgrounds, but they had a similar vision for their lives. They still squabble over things that can strain the cultural "norms" of one or the other, however, they overcome them as they arise. Malaka and Darren enjoy their version of their American dream, her mother enjoys travelling the world with her boyfriend Dan, and her father built his dream home in Egypt (his "Arab Dream"). She takes all her experiences and let them mold her into a strong woman who is proud of her many facets. She looks forward to bringing Darren and her children to Egypt one day. Even though they may not know the culture as they would if they were raised there, but she knows that, "They'll be able to feel the sun on their face, and the wind in their hair, and they'll know, someday, somehow, that all this is a part of them, too."  

Discussion and Classroom Application

    This, like Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match, can open up so many conversations about the power of genetics and the various aspects of how culture mash-ups can create/complicate identity. I would love to assign this book to my eighth grade students for exploring the theme of cultural identity, writer's purpose, and writing style. This could cross over to Science, History, Geography, and Humanities.

(Week 4, Children's Graphic Novel) An Afternoon On The Amazon

 

    This book is a graphic novel adaptation of the original version of Mary Pope Osborne's classic series. Through the books in the magic tree house, Bother and sister, Jack and Annie, must dive into the adventures that are provided to them through the books in a magic tree house that Morgan le Fay, half-sister to King Arthur, owns. She allows the children who find her tree house to experience the wonders of the world. history, and their own imaginations while searching for a way to free her from a spell. Afternoon on The Amazon follows the journey of Jack and Annie as they are swept away to the Rainforests of the Amazon where they encounter all kinds of insects, reptiles, animals, and a mysterious monkey that is persistent to follow them around. Through their journey along the Amazon River and Rainforest, Jack and Annie must find their way around the resident wildlife. The book that transported them there serves as a guide to the animals and terrain they must go through. Each animal and insect may seem scary at first, but the children finally realize that each animal, insect, and reptile is only doing what makes them what they are. Nothing is intentionally mean, they are all simply trying to survive the best that they can while facing habitat destruction from invasive human activities. Once they make it back to the tree house, they are approached by the monkey that has stalked them throughout the book. Turns out, the monkey was sent to help them find the next item that will aid Jack and Annie in releasing Morgan from the spell. 

Discussion and Classroom Application

    This would be a fun choice for a student who prefers graphic novel over traditional texts. They will be able to engage in the story while receiving a reading experience they enjoy. If they want, they can read the original full text version as a later time.

    

    Along with English, educators from Geography and Science can use this book while studying the geographical areas of the Amazon Rainforest, and the scientific aspects of habitats, food chains, different species of everything that resides in this environment, etc. The possibilities of this book are truly endless. 

10 Things You Can Do To Save The Rainforest

(Week 3, Young Adult: Boys and Books) Who Do YOU Want By Your Side After The World Ends?

 

This is an imaginative story of a young boy who lives with his family after the world has come to an end. The world's population rapidly decreasing as only 1% are still able to conceive and bare children. Stranger still, dogs seem to be just as scarce as humans at this point with each liter born having less and less females to birth the next generations of puppies. Griz, the young man telling this tale, lives on a secluded island off the coast of what we know today as Scotland. With Griz are his parents, sister and brother, one sister having died in an accident a few years before the story takes place. His father is a tinker of old world machines and utilizes an old windmill for electricity. Griz's mother is a women who used to be lively and a lover of book, but when their daughter died, she fell and hit her head on a rock while being struck with immeasurable grief and can no longer speak or perform her usual daily tasks. Griz and his family often "go a'viking" to several of the surrounding islands that have long been abandoned to scavenge and collect materials that they need to survive. Along with them go their faithful companions, their dogs. Griz's two dogs are named Jess and Jip, and they are terrier mixed breeds who love Griz fiercely.  One day, Griz's family is visited by a stranger named Brand, who trick them with intriguing tales of his life at sea and ends up drugging them to the point where he can take what he wants which just happens to include Griz's female dog, Jess. At the moment of realization of what just happened, Griz follows after Brand in the heat of seeking revenge and taking back what belongs to him. On his journey to reclaim his beloved dog, Griz and Jip travel after this stranger who seems to be just as dangerous as he is charming. Along the way Griz comes to realize just how removed his life has been from the rest of the world up to this point. He wonders if humans deserved to survive at all and just how much the cost of losing something/one you truly love can affect the rest of your life. I would love to go into all the details that this wonderful book has to offer, but at the request of the author, I shall let you find out the rest for yourself!

"It'd be a kindness to other readers -- not to say this author -- if the discoveries made as you follow Griz's journey into the ruins of our world remained a bit of a secret between us . . ."

--C. A. Fletcher, Author

Discussion and Classroom Applications

This book would be a great way to get any of my reluctant male students to get lost in reading. Along with teaching this in my English class, this would also translate well into history and science as well. I cannot wait to start recommending this book to my students!

(Week 3, Children's Book: Boys and Books) "Without The Gift Of Words, This World's A Crazy Place" Getting Boys Interested In Reading

 

    In Denise Walter McConduit's charming book The Boy Who Wouldn't Read we see a typical boy hates books scenario. Little Robbie can't stand to read and only wants to play. His teacher tries to get him interested by checking out numerous books, but it doesn't work. He makes it a point to let everyone know wherever he goes that "I hate reading, I hate reading!" One night after he gets in trouble for swinging on the chandelier at his house, he revolts and destroys any book that he can get his hands on.

 

  Just then, a sorcerer, Sileas, swoops into his room and decides to grant Robbie's wish of never having to read ever again by taking every word in the world and storing it in fish bowls. Robbie goes outside and sees that it worked. There are no more words ANYWHERE!

    His enthusiasm quickly wears thin after he realizes that the world no longer works the way it should anymore. People are not able to read the newspaper, money is now worthless green paper, and no one can drive without getting into wrecks. The final straw came when poor Robbie went home to have a snack. To his dismay, he could not figure out what kind of food was in each container. He popped popcorn that turned out to be garden rocks, animals crackers turned out to be a pencil box, and his tuna smelled like cat food!

    This is when Sileas returns to point out to Robbie just how important the world of words is important to everyone everyday. He restores words to their rightful places, and Robbie becomes an avid reader from that day on. He is also engaged in classroom reading, and he gladly reads whenever he is called on to do so.

Discussion and Classroom Applications

    This is such a cute story of a young boy becoming a reader. This would be great for classes that range from pre-k (as a read-aloud) well into upper elementary. If I were to teach this to a classroom of reluctant readers, I would plan ahead by removing any and all labels, and visible writing from being seen. Mind, I would not warn the students ahead of time, so when they come into the room they will have the same experience as Robbie does when he first realizes that he cannot read to identify everyday items. Then, I would gather everyone for the reading of the book to see if/when the students start making the connections between the feelings of confusion, exasperation, and relief that Robbie feels and how they felt when they entered the "wordless" room. Of course, this is not going to make every student an enthusiastic reader in an instant, but it will plant the seed of thinking about words and books in a different context. Which is a win in and of itself. For a video of the reading of this book or a list of films that have a similar premise to promote a joy for reading, see the information below, and enjoy!

The Boy Who Wouldn't Read

Films:

The Pagemaster (1994)

The Princess Bride (1987)

Inkheart (2008)

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

The Book of Life (2014)

Nightbook (2021) *May be for older children*

**While there are an innumerable number of movies that are based on wonderful works of children's literature that I do recommend showing to children, the movies listed above specifically show who book are directly connected to the characters' stories. 

(Week 2, Young Adult: Diversity) "For Those Who Cannot Out" Escaping the Bonds of Poverty and Cultural Stereotype

 

        Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street is written in a series of vignettes that follows the struggles and triumphs of a strong-will girl named Esperanza. Esperanza and her family of 6 have finally moved to "a real house". Until this point, she and her family have had to move each year from one low-rent apartment to another. Esperanza hoped that this house would be everything that her parents had described from their times of dreaming and hoping year after year. Unfortunately, she finds herself in the same disappointing situation as before, only this time they no longer have to pay rent; this house is theirs. Still reeling from this, Esperanza remembers the time that a nun from her school saw her outside her last apartment and asked where she lived. Once Esperanza showed her, the nun asked, "You live there?!" It seems like a simple question, but the way she asked it made Esperanza immediately ashamed. This is what ignites Esperanza's desire to one day own a home that she can be "proud" of. In the vignette titled "My Name", Esperanza discusses the reasons why she is not happy with her name. The first reason is that is "has too many letters". She talks about how the kids from school mispronounce it all the time. She also talks about the great grandmother from whom she inherited her name. They were both born in the Chinese year of the horse; "this is said to be bad luck if you are a woman." She doesn't agree with this, however, because she feels that much like men in her culture, they "don't like their women strong." Just like her great grandmother who was "a wild horse of a woman" was forced to marry. Esperanza paints a picture of a woman who sits looking out the window with her head resting on her elbow. She makes it clear that she has already inherited her great grandmother's name, she does not want to inherit her place by the window! Through the rest of Esperanza's story, this is the trait that carries her through every new event in her life: her strength. She begins her story as being ashamed, hesitant, and naïve, but she holds tight to her dream of one day leaving and never coming back. She befriends other children from the neighborhood, and together they each see, hear, and experience very different things from many of the same events. In one vignette, "Louie, His Cousin & His Other Cousin", Esperanza meets with her friends and Louie. Louie's cousin drives up in a yellow Cadillac with a scarf tied to the review mirror. They go on joy rides until the cops show up, and Louie's cousin tells the kids to get out of the car. He speeds off until he wrecks the car and is taken into custody for stealing the car. At this point in their lives, Esperanza and the other children do not understand what all has take place, but as they grow, these moments of adult realization come crashing into view. 

    The difference expectations for the boys and girls start to become glaringly obvious as Esperanza really observes her surroundings. It is accepted that the boys will work, and the girls will marry. Esperanza shows us in several vignettes the many ways in which she does not accept this fate for herself. She sees far too many of the women in her family and too many of her female friends who are trapped by their husbands and children once they marry, and she wants no part of it.  Unfortunately, the moment she loses her view of the world through the innocence of childhood comes when she is SA at a carnival while waiting for a friend to meet her after a date. She vaguely describes the assault committed by a group of boys. Sadly, like for so many girls and women that this happen to, she deals with it the best she can on her own and never mentions it again. Esperanza becomes more and more determined that she will leave Mango Street and own her own home. She declares that she will not forget what it is like to be poor and will help those who don't have much. When she is finally on her way out, she meets with a friends who tells her that she must leave to come back. Esperanza is the hope of the neighborhood because if she can leave, maybe they can too.

Discussion and Classroom Application

    I teach this novel to my Juniors simply because of the SA scene later in the book. I am sure to be very careful to prepare my students to determine the classroom climate concerning such events. If it proves to be too rough for some, I work with them individually through this vignette to help with any pre-existing trauma, or have them skip reading that part all together. 

    The big assignment that we work on through this unit is for students to create their own memoir project. They compile a collection of 10 or more vignettes that they can use to describe their life, special experiences, future hopes and dreams, and their overall perception of the world around them.

    I try to present this novel as the complete opposite to what they know to be the Cinderella story. Esperanza is not a blonde white girl who has been raised to believe that marriage will save her from the hardships of home, rather Esperanza takes control of saving herself from everything that she sees as binding and suffocating.