Esperanza Rising

Written by Pam Manoz Ryan. Ryan was born and raised in California.  One of her earliest literary memories was of looking through her grandmother's encyclopedia set to find pages with color prints. Her interest in illustrated literature stayed with her throughout her life.  She has written over 30 children's books, complete with illustrations.  This book drew on the experiences of her first real job where she was a preschool coordinator at a relocation camp for displaced Vietnamese families after the Vietnam War. Click here for more information.

Genre: Historical Fiction
Theme: Cultural diversity and adaptation
Ages: 10+

Summary: Esperanza Rising follows the story of Esperanza and her Mama.  They are forced to move from their comfortable lives in Mexico into California during the Great Depression.  Esperanza is made to learn how to do hard work in the fields and has to learn to live with an entire camp of displaced Mexican workers.

Link to Picture

 This is a story that I would do in a book club or literature circle in my classroom.  I would assign readings and then group discussion and assignments to go along with different readings. We would have whole group instruction and discussion followed by small group work.   Students would also have individual work to do, reading, writing, and completing journal responses.

Reflection:  This is such a wonderful story.  The setting and story in a historic context gives more meaning and understanding to a culture and time period that children might not other wise feel a relation or interest to.

Baseball in April and Other Stories

Written by Gary Soto. Gary Soto is an educator, author, and poet of Mexican American decent.  He uses his own childhood and experiences growing up in a Latino community in California and clearly draws on stories of young people that have also grown up in his home town of Fresno. For more information click here.

Genre: Fiction
Theme: Hispanic/Latino Culture
Ages: 9-14

Summary: This text includes 11 short stories of Mexican American youth.  The stories are perfect for young adults because they include themes which are easily relatable.  Coming of age stories, growing up, trying to make the baseball team, first loves, friendship, loyalty and family, are all big themes which students of any ethnicity can relate to. Although the characters may act tough on the outside, readers are let in on their secret vulnerability, dreams, and desires.

Link to Picture

Pre-Reading Activity: I want all of you students to close your eyes and picture this situation.  You are 11 years old, and you are nervous.  What are you nervous about?  You and your brother are going to try out for the baseball team.  This is the only fun activity that you can do with other children in your neighborhood.  Think about the emotions and hopes you would have going into that activity.

Post-Reading Activity:  Have students talk in small groups about the overall themes of which small story they have have done for assigned readings.

Reflection: Something that I really liked about this text is that there are tiny cultural slang or Spanish words integrated within a story.  They are placed appropriately enough that young reader could understand the word meanings from the context clues.  If not though the text provides a glossary at the end of the book with the definitions of phrases, expressions, and Spanish words included.  The stories are short and sweet, but you quckly get a sense for the setting, characters, and theme of each individual story.  Each vignette is a snap show into a young person's life that the reader can quickly become acquainted with and develops a sense of connection to the character's situation.

Post-it Note Diaries

20 Stories of Youthful Abandon, Embarrassing Mishaps, and Everyday Adventure
Editor/Illustrator: Author Jones
Arthur Jones had a steady desk job in an advertising office and he would frequently be bored. To help kill time he would doodle on Post-it notes. His use of drawing on Post-it notes became popular and grew into a sensation known as the Post-it Note Reading Series. People submit their stories and Jones will illustrate them on Post-it notes. After several years of holding these series with many stories and hundreds of post-it note drawings, Jones has complied a novel of some new stories, as well as his all time favorites.

Genre: Biography
Theme: Humorous Stories
Ages: 13 +

Summary: There are 20 stories in all, and each one is vastly unique from the others. There are manly stories about significant life changing or coming of age events. Some of the stories include language or material that may be a little too mature for younger audiences. Discretion should be used when choosing which of these stories to introduce to classroom students. Regardless this text should only be considered for at the very youngest, mature middle school children.
Link for Picture

Pre-Reading Activity: Have class begin discussing their prior knowledge of comics and graphic novels.  Compare different forms of comic art styles.

Post-Reading Activity: Have students create their own short story or comic using post-it notes.  This should be a small group activity with collaboration and some time, maybe a week long amount of time to work together and edit.  Each group should present their post it note comic strip to their peers.

Reflection:  What I enjoy the most is the interesting new art form of using 'doodles' on post-it notes to show one step of the story at a time. There is often only one or two short sentences used for each block of the story and one simple drawing describes the context very animatedly The language is simple and relatable and has amusing text to match, but the stories are rich and deep.  I like the idea of mixing in graphic novels with other forms of text to raise interest, promote higher levels of confidence and security in approaching text, and comparing and contrasting to learn about different forms of telling stories.  

Yasmin's Hammer

Written by Ann Malaspina and illustrated by Doug Ghayka. Malaspina writes historical nonfiction and multicultural literature for both children and young adults. She is a New Jersey native, where she lives with her family and is vocal proponent for the importance of literature. Ghayka grew up in Upstate New York, and graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with his degree in illustration. Today, he lives and works as a freelance artist in Savannah, Georgia.

Link to Picture for Yasmin's Hammer

Genre: Multicultural                                                              

Themes: Literacy/diversity 

Age: 6+

Summary: Yasmin and her sister work in the brickyards of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The stoy opens with the two riding in a rickshaw to thebrickyard and seeing th ecity on their way there. in order to make money to keep their family fed and the roof of their family's house repaired. Yasmin dreams of being able to read, and the opportunities it would open for her.        

Pre-Reading Activity:  Bring in a hammer and have the students each have a turn holding it.  Give them a chance to feel the weight.  If possible to establish a safe setting for them to swing the hammer offer them that opportunity   This should give them a small idea of the work the girl in this story has to do. 

Post-Reading Activity: Have student take on the role of Yasmin.  Do a free write journal entry or write a letter from Yasmin's perspective.  Write about what their living arrangements would be like, and how you would feel if you had to work so hard instead of going to school.  

Reflection: This is a moving story about the disparities that children have to face all around the world.  It is moving how hard a poor child and family would have to work and preserver just to purchase a book to read, and to be able to afford going to school instead of working.  This is a great story to read to children to help give them perspective on how fortunate their lives really are. 

Tan to Tamarind

Poems about the color brown
Poems written by Malathi Michelle Iyengar with Illustrations by Jamel Akib. Iyengar grew up in North Carolina. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Music, and her Master's in Education.  Today, she lives in the Los Angeles area, where she is an elementary teacher at a public school.  Akib was born in England, but raised in Malaysia. He has illustrated for many award-winning books, magazines, and advertisements. He now lives in England withhis wife and children.

Genre: Poetry
Themes: Diversity/multicultural
Ages: 6 and up

Summary: The book explores the beauty and variety of the color brown through poetry. The many shades of brown are compared and set against one another to demonstrate their brilliance. The poems encourage readers experience the reading through all the senses, from the smell of Hot Chocolate, to color of the desert of the Southwest United States.



Link to Picture of Tan to Tamarind

Pre-Reading Activity:

Post-Reading Activity: Have students compose a poem about their own perceived skin color.

Reflection: I love this book so much.  It is vibrant in its use of language to describe different tones of skin color.