We Are Big Time - graphic novel

 

From the Publisher:

Aliya is new to Wisconsin, and everything feels different than Florida. The Islamic school is bigger, the city is colder, and her new basketball team is…well, they stink.

Aliya’s still excited to have teammates (although the team's captain, Noura, isn't really Aliya's biggest fan), and their new coach really understands basketball (even if she doesn't know much about being Muslim). This season should be a blast...if they could just start to win. As they strengthen their skills on the court, Aliya and the Peace Academy team discover that it takes more than talent to be great--it's teamwork and self-confidence that defines true success.

For fans of The Crossover and Roller Girl, this graphic novel goes big with humor and heart as it explores culture and perceptions, fitting in and standing out, and finding yourself, both on and off the court.

My Thoughts:

The Olympics are happening this summer and I have fond memories of being glued to the television to watch the Olympics, not necessarily for the sports, but for the stories of individual and team triumphs. It is in the stories that I learned more about the sport itself, especially the ones I was not aware of as a girl from the middle of the Pacific. These stories from the athletes are not really about the sport. They are about grit, teamwork, mental health, a parentʻs love, even overcoming racism and sexism. 

This book, written by Hena Khan and illustrated by Safiya Zerrougui  is about a hijab-wearing girls basketball team finding success on the court. However, more importantly, it is a story of individuals who are able to triumph and grow in their own self-worth too. The cheesy adage that teamwork makes the dream work, actually fits well in this feel good story based on true events.  Sports, like music, is able to bridge diverse groups of people. That is what this graphic novel does too.

Suggestions for Curriculum and Classroom Use:

Themes:

• Racism
• Sexism
• Identity
• Heritage
• Self-Worth

Essential Questions:

• What do we learn from being on a team?
• How does your heritage/values shape the kind of person you want to be in your community?
• How does sports shape the kind of person you want to be in your own community?

Teaching Strategies/Activities:

Mentor Text for Student-Written Graphic Novels - I cannot go over all the resources available for scaffolding this for your students, nor the large library of research-based reasons for bringing in graphic novels in your classroom. Suffice it to say, this has the potential to be a trauma informed healing practice. Here is a link to a blog episode by Cult of Pedagogy founder Jennifer Gonzalez and classroom teacher Shveta Miller on "Student-Written Graphic Novels."   One of the most transformational "ahas" I got from the transcripted podcast is when Ms. Miler writes, 

My students have often used their graphic novel projects to explore a private aspect of their identity. . . The genre allows our young writers a language they can use to describe complex emotions and concepts before they have the skills to do so in narrative form alone.

 Reading Ladders the late Teri Lesesne wrote a book titled Making the Match: The right book  for the right reader at the right time, grades 4-12. Simply, a reading ladder is a strategy to gradually guide students from their current reading level to a higher level. By higher level, I mean higher level of complexity, not higher lexile. I know by practice that students can read above their lexile level is you scaffold, differentiate, bridge, etc. This concept is for teachers that allow their readers to self select books for the important job in middle school of nurturing a love of reading that will sustain them throughout their life. So understanding a reading ladder as a teacher is not about looking up lexile scores or age markers on Amazon. It is about being an avid, wide-ranging reader of books so that you have the right book for the right reader at the right time. I then like to do drive by book talks or elevator speech book talks that are fast ladder rungs when students are returning a book and looking for the new one to read. 

• If you like this book, try Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang. This is also about a real basketball season, but the complexity is upped when the author's own wife becomes his conscience. The fourth wall of the comic panels are broken and we get to see inside the many artistic and writing decisions that Mr. Yang makes to tell this story. This could also be a mentor text for older students using activity 1.
• Switch the genre, go even more complex and follow up with Crossover by Kwame Alexander. We are still in upper elementary and middle school, but as a novel in verse pacing matches the dribbling on the court. If this kind of voice is unfamiliar to your students, get the audiobook narrated by Jalyn Hall and use that for "re-reading for meaning making." 

Assessment

I live in Hawaiʻi but I am taking a class out of the University of Nebraska - Lincoln this summer. It is about difficult conversations in a divisive community and it runs for me at 4 am to 7 am and then I start my day with two of my grandkids, 3 and 7. I talked about why we need to teach diverse literature and found that in Nebraska, they are still teaching Catcher in the Rye, TKAM and The Great Gatsby. This graphic novel would be a great diversity lit piece. They can use it to do some diversity research. For example, one of the teachers talked about not knowing if there were Muslims in Nebraska. I looked it up. There are about 10,000 Muslims in Nebraska. It is not a lot. Nebraska is predominantly white, but I Googled Muslims in Nebraska and found 3 mosques in the city. 

So assessment: Research diverse communities hidden (from you, not from the rest of the world)in your "backyard."

Use the microaggressions bingo to provide a lens for their research Have them come up with their own "won't you be my neighbor" project. Assess on empathy.

Publication Information:

Author: Hena Khan

Illustrator: Safiya Zerrougui

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (August 6, 2024)

Paperback: 240 pages

ISBN-13: 978-0593430477

Grade level: 3-7