Freedom in Congo Square Booktalk

I want you to imagine a world in which all you did was work. You might work in the fields. You might chop logs. You might feed livestock all day. You were a slave.

Point out the overseer to your readers.

You took care of other people's things. You took care of other people's children. You were almost always watched. If you misbehaved, you'd be whipped with a lash. Do you see the overseer in this picture here? He was watching the slaves, and he's not their friend. They often lived in fear.

But there was one time when you could relax a little. On Sunday afternoons, you could meet up with other slaves in Congo Square. You could sing or dance or play music. For just a moment in time, you could forget your troubles. And this is what you lived for. Come join this amazing world of our past in Freedom in Congo Square.

Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford and R. Gregory Christie. 2016: Little Bee Books. Unpaged. Booktalk to grades 1-4. Good read-aloud.

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander (Booktalk)

What if your twin brother was your best friend in the whole world? And what if he stopped being your best friend?

Josh and Jordan (called JB) are twins who both love basketball. And they love each other, until things start going downhill in their friendship. Josh lost a bet with JB and JB cut off a lot of Josh's beloved dreadlocks. The results were freaking looking.

They used to eat lunch together -- actually, they ate all their meals together -- until JB got a girlfriend named Alexis. Now he eats lunch with her. Josh saw JB kissing Alexis in the school library. Fun. JB barely speaks to Josh. Josh is feeling increasingly isolated and alone.

The anger is growing. Josh messes up in a big game, sees JB wink at Alexis, and feels a surge of resentment - so much so that he hurls the ball unreasonably hard at JB who then starts bleeding and has to go to the hospital. Bad drama. Josh's mom is furious and chews Josh out. She asks Josh: you going to get mad at your brother every time he has a girlfriend? "You're twins, not the same person."

Will Josh ever get his best friend back?

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. 237 p. HMH Books for Young Readers. Newbery Medal, 2015. Booktalk to grades 5-9.

The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steven Sheinkin (Booktalk)

Imagine you are in the Navy, and it is your job to handle explosives: big explosives, lots of them, and quickly. You load them onto the Navy's ships, and you have had no real training in safety measures. Scary job, huh? If those explosives and munitions explode, you are dead. There is zero room for error.

Page 35 in The Port Chicago 50.

That was the job of some African-American Navy men in World War II. They got the lousy jobs in segregated units, and this had been a sad, ongoing fact in our country's history. It was unfair and prejudiced, yet many black men still wanted to serve their country, even if meant digging ditches, carrying explosives, working in the kitchen, and cleaning bathrooms and kitchens. They did not get the more "glamorous" jobs given to white men, and the only factor was their skin color.

But let's get back to the explosives at the Port Chicago base. I have some bad news: want to guess what it is? The explosives did blow up, killing 320 men, injuring almost 400 men, destroying the pier and the ships in the area.

The devastation was unbelievable and tragic. Lives were lost and ruined. Obviously, many of the men killed were the African Americans who handled the explosives. All the witnesses died.

Have you heard the expression "to add insult to injury"? What does it mean? {Let a student explain.} The surviving men were being asked to do exactly the same work in a different location: handling and loading ammunition - highly explosive - onto ships. I don't blame them for not wanting to do it, but the Navy did, and it accused them of mutiny, a deeply serious charge. Read all about their fight in The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steven Sheinkin. Booktalk to grades 5-12. National Book Award finalist.

Book talk: These Hands by Margaret H. Mason (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2013-2014)

Everyone take a look at your hands for a moment. Your hands are amazing. There are so many things they can do: tie your shoe, write a story, swing from a tree branch. Your hands give you so many opportunities and so much freedom. But what if your hands were not allowed to do things they could naturally do? Can you imagine living that way?

[Turn to the opening pages of the story.] This young boy is Joseph, and this is grandfather who is helping Joseph to tie his shoes.

[Turn to pp. {3-4}] Joseph’s grandfather is so cool: his hands can play the piano, do incredible card tricks, and throw a great curveball in a baseball game. Joseph’s  grandfather’s got some smart, skilled hands.

But you know what’s really sad?

When Joseph’s grandfather was a young man, he worked in a bread factory, and he wasn’t allowed to touch the bread dough. [Show pp. {9-10}]. Because he was African-American, he was only allowed to sweep the floor and load the trucks. His bosses told him that white people wouldn’t want bread touched by his hands. It’s so sad and unfair.

Luckily Joseph does not live in his grandfather’s world, and his hands will be allowed to do much, much more.

These Hands by Margaret H. Mason, ill. Floyd Cooper. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010. Unpaged. Virginia Readers Choice, 2013-2014. Booktalk to primary grades. Includes an author’s historical background note.

These Hands

Book talk: The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis (Newbery contender)

[Show cover.] Like all of us, Deza Malone was born with advantages and setbacks. I’m going to get the bad stuff out of the way first, so here it is:

Deza and her family are living during the Great Depression, a time in the United States when many people were poor, many children went hungry, and many men and women could not find jobs.

Deza’s family is especially poor and cannot afford medical care. Although Deza is basically healthy, her teeth are rotting are she is often in pain because of this. She’s only 12, and that shouldn’t be happening to someone that young. Deza overhears her father privately talking about how upset he is over her teeth and how frustrated he is that he can’t do anything about them.

Racism is still alive and well during the Great Depression, and many whites still look down on African-Africans. Deza and her family have experienced racism and prejudice first hand.

Okay, I got some of the bad stuff out of the way. Now for the cool stuff about Deza.

Deza is an awesome friend and sister. She’s funny, loyal, and kind. She and her best friend, Clarice, look out for each other. They have a secret sign that means, “two girls, one heart.”

Deza is super smart and never brags or has an attitude about it. She’s a great reader and a brilliant writer. The only time she got a low grade on an essay was when she had a teacher who didn’t believe in giving good grades to African-Americans. Ever.

Deza is tough (she can hold her own in a fist fight) and surprisingly sneaky (in a good way). I can’t tell you what she did that was sneaky, but it really took me by surprise, and that’s part of the reason her father calls her The Mighty Miss Malone.

The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis. 2012: Wendy Lamb Books. 307 pages. Booktalk to intermediate grades and middle school. Newbery 2013 contender.

Booktalk: The Orange Houses (Virginia Readers' Choice for 2011-2012)

There are 7 things I want you to know about Mik, also known as Tamika.

1). When Mik was five, she got meningitis and lost a lot of her hearing. She’s 15 now, and she’s not completely deaf, but deaf enough that she really needs hearing aids.

2). She turns off her hearing aids, which she hates, an awful lot. Especially in school.

3). Mik lives in public housing for the poor, called ‘the orange houses.’ They are jail-like towers. It goes without saying that you have to be tough to live in the orange houses.

4). Mik’s sworn enemy, Shanelle, is a vicious gang leader who’d like to beat the living daylights out of Mik. Shanelle can do it, too, no problem. She’s crazy bad and hates Mik’s guts.

5). Mik has no close friends.

6). Until one day Mik sees a girl wearing a headscarf signing to Mik in sign language. The girl signs, “Hello. Goodbye. I love you.” She hands Mik a paper angel which she has made. Mik is stunned.

7). This girl is just as unique as Mik as.

I’ve given you a little character study on Mik, but there are some other surprising things about her and the other characters which I’ve had to leave out. The Orange Houses by Paul Griffin.

The Orange Houses by Paul Griffin. 147 p. Dial Books, 2009. Booktalk to high school. Virginia Readers’ Choice (h.s.) for 2011-2012.

Booktalk: Yummy, The Last Days of a Southside Shorty (Virginia Readers' Choice)

Yummy is a young boy, only four feet tall and eleven years old. He lives with his grandma, loves candy and sweets, and even has a teddy bear. His real name is Robert Sandifer but everyone knows him as “Yummy.” He sounds pretty sweet, doesn’t he? Unfortunately, Yummy is mixed up with a gang, is from a broken home, lives in a tough part of town in Chicago, and wants to prove himself. Those are four factors which are going to work hard against him.

One way to move up in a gang’s hierarchy is to beat up or kill an enemy of the gang. Yummy tried to do this, but he shot and killed an innocent young girl instead. She died near her house with her parents inside: a complete tragedy. Yummy immediately went on the run, followed by a manhunt. When you’re 11, and you’re running from the cops, where do you go? What goes through your mind?

Before you feel too angry at Yummy, consider this. From the age of 3, Yummy had a bunch of scars and burns on his body: a sign that he was abused. One of the burns came from when he was whipped with an electrical cord. As much as he was a killer, Yummy was also a victim. Just like the girl he killed, his situation was also a tragedy. Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri.

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri. Graphic novel: 94 p. 2010: Lee & Low Books. Booktalk to high school. Virginia Readers’ Choice 2011-2012. Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri.

Booktalk: The Rock and the River (Virginia Readers' Choice)

It is really, really tough to be an African-American teenager in 1968. Sam’s father is a personal friend of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Sam is used to life as a Civil Rights Movement child. He’s marched in civil rights marches, listened to passionate speeches, and protested for equal treatment of blacks and whites. Sam’s older brother, Stick, has joined an organization called the Black Panthers, and Sam’s father is not happy about this. You know, it’s awful when people in your family are fighting about something. Ironically, Sam’s father and Sam’s brother are both firm believers in equal civil rights for blacks and whites, but they disagree on how this equality should be achieved. Guess who’s caught in the middle of this family dispute? Right, Sam. But what do you do when, like Sam, you repeatedly witness white police officers unfairly beating and charging blacks with crimes they didn’t commit? Do you side with your dad, who says deal with it nonviolently? Or do you side with your brother’s Black Panther friends, who say to fight back? In this case, the wrong choice could cost you your life. The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon.

The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon. 290 p. Aladdin: 2009. Booktalk to middle school, high school. Personal recommendation: while I enjoyed this book, it does have some traumatic scenes, especially the ending. I would not recommend this to middle schoolers whom I felt were not emotionally read for it.