Middle grade is especially challenging as youth make the passage from childhood to young adulthood. My own middle years were difficult. (Sometimes I think I’m “rewriting” my own history through characters inspired by today’s amazing youth.) Most importantly, I’m providing diverse mirrors and a “safe place” for students to discuss critical issues about identity, social injustice, family, and friendship. Words are powerful; books open hearts and minds.
We live in tense, unsettling, and disruptive times. Social equity issues, climate change, and the current spread of the coronavirus, in particular, affects us all. Youth are desperate to discuss conflicts and for opportunities to develop critical thinking skills and empathy. Characters become a conduit for them to explore ideas, feelings and, perhaps, more importantly, to discuss with classmates, teachers, and parents, ways to become empowered and make their future better and brighter.
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Donte and his brother have recently started at a new mostly white, wealthy school... read more
36 Total Resources 4 Awards View Text Complexity
Discover Like Books Year Published 2020 Word Count 29,257
- Curricular Area
- English Language Arts
- Subject Headings
- Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction
- Schools--Fiction
- Juvenile Fiction | School & Education
- Juvenile Fiction | Sports & Recreation | General
- Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - African-American
- Family life--Massachusetts--Fiction
- Racism--Fiction
- Massachusetts
- Fencing--Fiction
- Schools
- Juvenile Fiction | Family | Siblings
- Juvenile Fiction | Boys & Men
- Racism
- Family life
- Massachusetts--Fiction
- Preparatory schools--Fiction
- Fencing
- Preparatory schools
- African Americans--Fiction
- Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Prejudice & Racism
- African Americans
- Lists With This Book
- This List is Anti-Racist
- Understanding Race and Anti-Racism
- Conversations through Literacy
- Sample: EL Education, Grades K-8
Our Original Resources 4
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About the Author 4
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Author Interviews 16
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Book Guides, Activities & Lessons 6
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Study from Jewell Parker Rhodes
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Lit Lessons Teaching Ideas from Lit Lessons
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Book Readings 2
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narrated by Barrie Buckner
Book Trailers 3
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Vocabulary Lists 1
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Awards & Distinctions 4
Selection, 2021CCBC Choices
Commended, 2021ALSC Notable Children's Books, 1995-2022
Selection, 2021El día de los niños / El día de los libros, 2013-2022
Selection, 2021Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts Award, 1997-2022
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