I Rise

 

My Thoughts:

14-year old Ayo is raised by a strong, activist single parent who involves Ayo in her non-profit See Us. There is a large protest called "How Much?" against the rampant police violence towards African Americans in Harlem and although Ayo is the president of the youth branch, she really just wants to be a teenager and not have to carry the burden of carrying the injustices of a whole people on her young shoulders. She wants to hang out and laugh and maybe even fall in love.

But when her mother gets shot in the head during the protest, Ayo is looked at as the voice of the movement. Can she find the source of her motherʻs strength? Can she step forward in the role that she has been trained for and call forth the ancestors in order to be heard? This story is powerful and heart breaking. It is about sacrifice and love. Mostly it is about being heard.

This book could lead to or from books like The Hate U Give, and Dear Martin

From the Publisher:

Ayo's mother founded the biggest civil rights movement to hit New York City in decades. It’s called ‘See Us’ and it tackles police brutality and racial profiling in Harlem. Ayo has spent her entire life being an activist and now, she wants out. She wants to get her first real kiss, have a boyfriend, and just be a normal teen.

When her mom is put into a coma after a riot breaks out between protesters and police, protestors want Ayo to become the face of See Us and fight for justice for her mother who can no longer fight for herself. While she deals with her grief and anger, Ayo must also discover if she has the strength to take over where her mother left off.

This impactful and unforgettable novel takes on the important issues of inequality, systemic racism, police violence, and social justice.

Author: Marie Arnold

Publication date: August 2, 2022

Publisher: Versify

Girl on Fire (Graphic Novel)

 My Thoughts:

I admit I picked this graphic novel up because it's Alicia Keys and "Girl on Fire" is my anthem "she's living in a world and it's on fire/filled with catastrophe, but she knows she can fly away/ oh. . . She got both feet on the ground/and she's burning it down" When life gets chaotic, and I just have to dig in and hold steady rather than back down, this is the song I go to for inspiration. 

I thought maybe this was a memoir in graphic form on the artist Alicia Keys. Obviously I didn't look at the cover well, although I would love to read a graphic novel memoir of Alicia Keys (like March by John Lewis). This is a comic style superhero story about 14-year old Lolo. She is a good girl. Conscientious, skipped a grade smart, loving towards her family, including her dad, her maternal grandmother and her older brother. Her mother has been out of the picture since Lolo was a toddler, but although they live in the projects, Lolo's dad is doing his best to get them out. 

Seemingly out of the blue two things happen to her - she has some kind of physical connection with another boy from the projects and when her brother is mistaken for a robber at the bodega and smashed into the ground with a gun pointed at him, Lolo finds that she has superpowers. 

Although they try to keep it under wraps, Lolo is still connected to Mike and tries to keep him from going down a bad path as he deals with his frustration of being too short for football. In addition, the drug dealer that Mike ends up working for wants Lolo's to work with him and will hurt her family to get her. 

Lolo's bravery and kindness, characteristics that she had even before she had super powers help to ground her to the values she holds dear even in the face of bullies and criminals. That, I think is what makes Lolo the Girl on Fire. She stays grounded and she can burn it down. Great for middle grades but older teens and adults will also enjoy this. 

From the Publisher:

Lolo Wright always thought she was just a regular fourteen-year-old dealing with regular family drama: her brother, James, is struggling with his studies; her dad’s business constantly teeters on the edge of trouble; and her mother . . . she left long ago. But then Lolo’s world explodes when a cop pulls a gun on James in a dangerous case of mistaken identities. Staring down the barrel, with no one else to help, Lolo discovers powers she never knew she had. Using only her mind, she literally throws the cop out of the way.

Problem is that secrets like Lolo’s don’t stay a secret for long. Skin, a dangerous dealer with designs on taking over the neighborhood, hears of Lolo’s telekinetic abilities and decides that he needs her in his crew. Skin might not have Lolo’s powers, but he’s got nothing to lose and is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. And what he wants is Lolo.

Lolo’s not willing to let Skin use her to hurt the people—and neighborhood—that she loves. But it’s going to take a whole different kind of bravery to stand-up for what’s right, especially after Lolo’s mom returns suddenly and turns Lolo’s whole world upside-down. For too long, it’s true, Lolo’s had her head in the clouds, but this time, it’s on her . . . and she’s not backing down.

Girl on Fire is a young adult graphic novel about a girl who’s a flame. It’s the first-ever graphic novel from beloved GRAMMY® Award-winning artist Alicia Keys, co-written by Andrew Weiner and illustrated by Brittney Williams.  

I'm Not Dying With You Tonight

 

From the Publisher:

Lena has her killer style, her awesome boyfriend, and a plan. She knows she's going to make it big. Campbell, on the other hand, is just trying to keep her head down and get through the year at her new school.

When both girls attend the Friday-night football game, what neither expects is for everything to descend into sudden mass chaos. Chaos born from violence and hate. Chaos that unexpectedly throws them together.

They aren't friends. They hardly understand the other's point of view. But none of that matters when the city is up in flames, and they only have each other to rely on if they're going to survive the night.

This book is perfect for:

• Sparking conversations about prejudice and the racial tension that exists in America
• Parents and educators looking for multicultural and African American books for teens
• Fans of Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, and Jason Reynolds

My Thoughts:

This YA book is a co-written product from two female authors: Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal. It is about one chaotic night and two girls from very different backgrounds trying to survive while also facing very in your face scenarios that bring forward race relations, privilege, stereotypes and trauma. 

I like that the two authors were able to switch characters from one chapter to another and therefore bring their individual voice to the characters, but just like the awkward first day in a new school, I found the beginning of the book until the booth fight a bit stilted and awkward for both characters. Perhaps Lena and Campbell needed to play into cultural stereotypes first so that the rest of the night could show their own growth and awakening. Although I was going to abandon this book, once the need to escape school started, the story sucked me in quickly. 

I think this is another option to sit on the classroom bookshelf along with The Hate U Give, Dear Martin, and Long Way Down (in order: Angie Thomas, Nic Stone, Jason Reynolds). Another urban African American experience writer: Nikki Grimes, Between the Lines.

Punching the Air

 

My Thoughts:

This novel in verse is powerful, the language and art are stunning. The story is heartbreaking. If you have a student that is caught up by this story, have them read Monster by Walter Dean Myers, in my opinion, the centripetal book for this book . Perhaps they want to watch When They See Us on the Netflix. There are so many books, movies, documentaries, memoirs that can spin out from this book for young, hungry readers. I think the power of this book is that it could be that one bite that makes reluctant readers hungry to read more. That, then, as a teacher, is the ultimate high stakes challenge. Do not let your students go back to empty.

I know I should talk more about this book, but there are thousands of reviews on Amazon for that. I just want to make one outrageous connection and that is to a 17 minute documentary on Netflix titled The Claudia Kishi Club playing now during AAPI month. It talks about how a book/series/character (The Babysitter's Club), for colored children, in this case Asian, can actually change the trajectory of your life, and that when you see yourself in literature (that mirror), it can make you feel visible and free. 

I connect it to this because it would have been so easy for Amal to fall into hopelessness and become another statistic of a black boy in jail. However, his creativity, his art, his mind (like what the atypical Asian Claudia Kishi did for the people in the documentary) was what actually helped to keep him free.  All I know is that this book has gotten a lot of love and it is well deserved. I will have to keep this in my stack of novels in verse that will keep them reading. Also, like a good Marvel movie, do NOT skip over the Note from the Authors and Acknowledgments.  It will be worth it. 

From the Publisher:

From award-winning, bestselling author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five comes a powerful YA novel in verse about a boy who is wrongfully incarcerated. One of the most acclaimed YA novels of the year, this New York Times and USA Today bestseller is a must-read for fans of Jason Reynolds, Walter Dean Myers, and Elizabeth Acevedo.

The story that I thought

was my life

didn’t start on the day

I was born 

Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, because of a biased system he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated. Then, one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white. 

The story that I think

will be my life 

starts today

Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it? 

With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth in a system designed to strip him of both.

On the Come Up

On the Come Up is the sophomore novel from New York Times best selling author of The Hate U Give.  

Description:

Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri’s got massive shoes to fill.

But it’s hard to get your come up when you’re labeled a hoodlum at school, and your fridge at home is empty after your mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral…for all the wrong reasons.

Bri soon finds herself at the center of a controversy, portrayed by the media as more menace than MC. But with an eviction notice staring her family down, Bri doesn’t just want to make it—she hasto. Even if it means becoming the very thing the public has made her out to be.  

Insightful, unflinching, and full of heart, On the Come Up is an ode to hip hop from one of the most influential literary voices of a generation. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; and about how, especially for young black people, freedom of speech isn’t always free.

My Thoughts:

This is an homage to the author's love of hip hop, but it is also a reminder that as a society, we are quick to label, name, assume about "the other." Ms. Thomas allows Bri to be sixteen, make mistakes, falter badly, and get caught up in unwise moves. Although this was frustrating at times, it made the reckoning much sweeter. 

It feels like a sophomore book in that there is not as much thought and care put into the characterization and complexity of relationships, however, this one will be scooped up by young adults interested in hip hop and urban culture. 

The Hate U Give

My Thoughts: 

This has been on the must read list all year and for good reason. Although it starts off  like an imitation of the television show Lincoln Heights, this story is a crucial literary piece to capture the frustration, mourning and rage that we see on television as "blips" and 10 second news stories of police shootings and the Black Lives Matter reaction. 

I wish I were back in my 8th grade classroom. I would definitely work with my social studies partner to create a paired unit. 

From the Publisher:

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

A Few:

I look at the stars again. Daddy says he named me Starr because I was his light in the darkness. I need some light in my own darkness right about now.

How It Went Down

My Thoughts:

A young black man/boy, Tariq, is shot down on Peach Street in an inner city neighborhood by a white man passing by in his car. Was Tariq in an altercation with another white man? Did he steal from the local store? Was he a gang member? Was he carrying a gun? How does it affect these witnesses, this neighborhood? Why are the stories different from each other? If the police let the shooter go because of self defense, where is the gun? Was it really a Snickers bar Tariq was holding?

Told from the point of view of the different witnesses who all see things a little differently, this is a maddening and frustrating look at racism in America. 

Last Words:

I'm just being me, bro. Tina whispers the rest. "You just be you."

Between the Lines

My Thoughts:

In the development of readers, there is a term called "transitional readers." Students who will become lifelong readers or "fluent readers," hit this stage at different times in their life from upper elementary to middle school. Think back to the time when you were into books in a series because the characters became friends of yours. Think back to those authors that you trusted because their voice was comfortable, and their style engaged you. That is the transitional stage and YA books cater to that stage which is why there are so many trilogies. 

Ms. Grimes is a voice I trust for transitional readers. If readers like Jacqueline Woodson's Locomotive but want an older high school character, Grimes is a great portal to a PG version of the urban (NY), minority (mostly African American, Puerto Rican, Hispanic) experience. 

Like Grimes' Bronx Masquerade, this story highlights multiple characters, all with their own obstacles and strengths. What holds them all together is a poetry class in school and an upcoming poetry slam competition. 

Through their backstory told in prose and their resulting poem, Ms. Grimes is perfect for the reluctant male readers. As a teacher, she also seems to model her own writing process (free write/share/poem) or at least offers up some specific ideas on how to run a writing workshop in the classroom. 

Between the Lines is Grimes doing what she does best. She allows her characters to tell their own stories in their own way and opens up the neighborhood a little to let hope radiate outwards. 

Update:

Teacher guide for Bronx Masquerade and Between the Lines