Module 15: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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Book Summary: Young tomboy Scout Finch and her older brother, Jem, spend their summers playing pranks with their friend, Dill, dreading the educational stability of school, and spying on their mysterious neighbors in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. The children grow up facing the normal tribulations of childhood in the South as they are raised by their well-respected lawyer father, Atticus Finch, and their strict but motherly black housekeeper, Calpurnia. Scout and Jem begin to struggle with the views of their society and their inner morals when their father is assigned to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, for accused rape charges against a white teenager. Although the Finch family faces racism and the ugliness of human nature, they learn that compassion and humility can be found among the least likely suspects.

APA Reference of Book:  Lee, H. (1960). To kill a mockingbird. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott.

Impressions: This book is a classic that I never managed to read (somehow) during my journey from school to school as a child. While I did enjoy the book overall, I have to say that the first half of the book definitely dragged on with unnecessary detail. The everyday conflicts that Scout and Jem faced as young children just were not enough to keep me thoroughly engaged in reading, so it did take me a while to push through this novel. However, once Atticus received his case for defending Tom Robinson against raping a white girl, the story became interesting. I am very interested in Civil Rights type stories, so I was intrigued at how this case would be handled against the overwhelming odds of racism. Although I was disappointed that Tom was found guilty and later was murdered, I also realized that Lee wrote this story very realistically based on the time period in which these events took place. The ideas that Atticus instills in his children (and the ones that they learn through observation and experience) are very powerful and give me hope for the future. I can imagine the impact that this book had on people’s views on racism and human nature when the book was released during the Civil Rights Movement. Scout’s simple innocence in her declaration, “I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks,” just shows that humans should start viewing each other as humans and appreciate their differences.

Professional Review: To kill a mockingbird [Review]. (1960, July 1). Bulletin from Virginia Kirkus' Service.

A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy -- and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference -- but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.

Library Uses: Students will engage in a Socratic seminar based on discussion questions derived from the novel. Students will be respectful as they give their opinions and reasoning for their answers as they add onto conversation starters from other students.

Module 14: Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

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Book Summary: Having already lost her father to the darkness that is the war that plagues South Vietnam, ten-year-old Ha and her family sneak onto a ship toward the United States as the communists take over. She encounters many different people and situations while at sea, and she is nervous to be starting a new life in a new country. A mechanic from Alabama sponsors the family, and Ha’s three brothers quickly take on jobs to support the family as they are all encouraged to learn English as quickly as possible. Miss Washington, their new neighbor, helps Ha learn English and helps console her when necessary. While Ha gets bullied by some boys at school, friends at school, her brothers, and the adults in her life all stand up for her. More importantly, Ha learns to stand up for herself. As the family becomes comfortable in their new life, they come to accept that the father is truly gone, and they remember him fondly as they look forward to the new year and a better future.

APA Reference of Book Lai, T. (2011). Inside out & back again. New York, NY: Harper.

Impressions: I absolutely love reading novels in verse. The imagery, the emotions, and the connections provided are so strong. I have never been starved, lost my country, or lost an immediate family member, so it would seem that I have nothing in common with the young protagonist and her struggling family. However, it is books like this that help me build empathy for those of other cultures who have experienced different things from myself. It is very important for people to read because it creates open minds, and this book definitely did this for me. It helps me appreciate my life and the simple things that I do have.

Professional Review: Long, J. R. (2011). Inside out & back again. The Horn Book Magazine, 87(2), 120.

Recounting events that resemble her own family's 1975 flight from Saigon and first months in the United States, Lai pens a novel in vividly imagined verse. Each brief poem encapsulates a mood and experience of that year. As the Vietnam War nears its end in April, ten-year-old Has "Birthday Wishes" include "Wish Mother would stop / chiding me to stay calm / which makes it worse" and diat "Father [who's missing in action] would come home." Registering for school in Alabama in August, Ha encounters "a woman who / pats my head / while shaking her own. / I step back, / hating pity, / . . . the pity giver / feels better, / never the pity receiver." Such condescension is new to Ha and her brothers, all excellent students, as is being daunted by challenges like the urgent need to master idiosyncratic English. Meanwhile, Brother Vu takes odd jobs; Quang (who once said, "One cannot justify war / unless each side / flaunts its own / blind conviction") repairs cars. Many neighbors and classmates, with their own blind convictions, are cruelly antagonistic, but Ha soon finds allies at school and in English-tutor Ms. Washington. Lai's spare language captures the sensory disorientation of changing cultures as well as a refugee's complex emotions and kaleidoscopic loyalties. That Ms. Washington's son died in Vietnam underlines the disparity between nations' quarrels and their citizens' humanity, suggesting this as a provocative companion to Katherine Paterson's Park's Quest (rev. 7/88). JOANNA RUDGE LONG

Library Uses: An important reason for reading is to help people build empathy and learn more about others who may be different from themselves. Have students reflect on the things that Ha suffered and compare them to what their own problems are. There may be similarities, but there are sure to be many differences. Students will write their problems in an anonymous paper “shoe.” Another student will randomly choose that “shoe” and reflect on whether or not he/she could walk a mile in it.

Module 13: Amulet-Book 1: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi

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Book Summary: After a tragic car accident kills their father, Emily, her younger brother, Navin, and their mother move to an old family house in the country. After solving a puzzle in the basement, Emily finds a mysterious amulet and has Navin put it on her. Everything seems okay until their mother goes to investigate noises in the house and is eaten by a creature. Chasing after her, Emily and Navin go through a door and end up in a world where terrifying creatures are trying to kill them. An assistant of their great-grandfather, Silas, leads them to safety, and Silas explains to Emily that she is the new amulet stonekeeper and must use the amulet to protect this land. Using the amulet, Emily, Navin, and their new guide, Miskit, journey to save their mother from death.

APA Reference of Book:  Kibuishi, K. (2008). Amulet: Book 1: The Stonekeeper. New York, NY: Graphix.

Impressions: While the story has very familiar fantasy tropes, this graphic novel was enjoyable. I like the artwork, especially the fact that no two characters look alike. Emily is a serious young teenager who yearns for power to protect her family and friends, and so she is a good heroine and role model for children and young teens. The characters are interesting so far, and I actually can’t wait to read the next graphic novel in the series to see if Emily and Navin are able to work together to save their mother from poison. Seeing what Emily ultimately does with the amulet and what it means for her to have inherited the stonekeeper gift is intriguing to me. I also hope that although Navin does not have a powerful amulet, he will be able to show his true strength in future installments. An older sister to a younger brother myself, I like the sibling dynamic, and I hope that the author continues to use their relationship as a driving force of the overall story.

Professional Review: Teale, W. H., Kim, J., & Boerman-Cornell, W. (2008, 05). Amulet: Book one-the stonekeeper. Book Links, 17, 7.

Grades 4-7. Kibuishi, the creator of the action-packed Daisy Kutter series, sets his sights on a slightly younger crowd here. This first volume in the new Amulet graphic novel series introduces Emily, who has relocated to a strange house in the woods, where she finds a magical amulet left behind by her great grandfather. Soon after, she and her brother engage in a wild adventure to learn the secrets of the amulet and save their mother. Emily is as high-spirited a heroine as you are likely to find, and, propelled by uncluttered visuals, her action-packed adventure sequences move at an exciting clip. However, there are also dark elements in the tale—the gut-wrenching opening in which Emily loses her father in a car accident. the autumnal tones of the animation-like art, and the ambiguous agenda of the amulet itself. Part fantasy (anthropomorphized animals, elves) and part manga (transforming robots, tentacled monsters), this volume has much to appeal to readers, though they may be in for a more emotionally complex read than expected.

Library Uses: Students will create their own comic strip, poster, or book trailer to promote this graphic novel. Include discussions on why graphic novels are important to read. 

Module 12: Rosa by Nikki Giovanni

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Book Summary: After a day of hard work as a seamstress, Rosa Parks was released from work early to enjoy her day and take care of her sickly mother. She entered the bus and sat in the “neutral” section, where blacks could sit if their seats in the back were full. When the bus driver demanded that Rosa and the few black people to move from their seats to make room for white arrivers, only Rosa refused. She was tired of being pushed around by white people. It was time to make her stand—by sitting down. She allowed the bus driver to call the police and arrest her. Encouraged by Rosa’s stand, a group of women in the Women’s Political Council created bus boycott posters, and they recruited Martin Luther King Jr. to be their peaceful bus boycott leader. A year later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was illegal, and we have Rosa Parks to thanks for changing what was unjust in the land.

APA Reference of Book: Giovanni, N., & Collier, B. (2005). Rosa. New York, NY: Henry Holt.

Impressions: I have heard Rosa Park’s story many times and have even read a lot of her autobiography, but I did learn new sides to the story on this read, especially regarding what the Women’s Political Council risked in order to promote the bus boycotts in Montgomery. The illustrations are beautiful, and they present the story’s seriousness. The colors used also are the ones I typically connect with a 1960s television show or music video, so the use of them to present this time period and its unrest is very smart. This is a great book for teaching students about the Civil Rights Movement and about standing up for what is right.

Professional Review: Rochman, H. (2005). Rosa. The Booklist, 101(19), 1797.

Gr. 3-5. Far from the cliché of Rosa Parks as the tired little seamstress, this beautiful picture-book biography shows her as a strong woman, happy at home and at work, and politically aware ("not tired from work, but tired of . . . eating at separate lunch counters and learning at separate schools"). Her refusal to give up her seat on a bus inspires her friend Jo Ann Robinson, president of the Women's Political Council, and the 25 council members to make posters calling for the bus boycott, and they organize a mass meeting where the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. speaks for them. Paired very effectively with Giovanni's passionate, direct words, Colliers large watercolor-and-collage illustrations depict Parks as an inspiring force that radiates golden light, and also as part of a dynamic activist community. In the unforgettable close-up that was used for the cover, Parks sits quietly waiting for the police as a white bus driver demands that she give up her seat. In contrast, the final picture opens out to four pages showing women, men, and children marching for equal rights at the bus boycott and in the years of struggle yet to come. The history comes clear in the astonishing combination of the personal and the political. -Hazel Rochman

Library Uses: This book can be used to begin a thematic reading unit on the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Park’s actions on the bus created a ripple effect in the movement toward African-American rights in the United States. Students will discuss "What ifs?" and analyze the effects of character actions, such as what would happen if Rosa had not done each of these actions or had not said what she had said? 

Module 11: Sit-In-How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney

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Book Summary: Four college students took a seat at Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960. Martin Luther King Jr.’s peaceful words of “We must meet hate with love” echoed in their heads as they sat in a restaurant and ordered food that they knew would not be served to them because of the prejudice against their skin color in a “Whites only” restaurant. However, no matter how badly they were treated, they refused to give up politely requesting their right to be served food. Soon, many other people, whites included, joined in on this peaceful protest during the restaurant sit-in. By working together for what was right, these students would soon pave the way for integration and rights for all.

APA Reference of Book: Pinkney, A. D., & Pinkney, J. B. (2010). Sit-in: How four friends stood up by sitting down. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.

Impressions: The style in which this book was written was interesting to me. Important quotations from Martin Luther King Jr. or important ideals that the students fought for were in a much larger, colored text to emphasize the importance of the changes that these students were making for society. The book was written almost like a “food recipe” for creating freedom, peace and equality for all. It is a great book for teaching about the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement, and the timeline presented in the book is helpful to readers in understanding the background information and setting for the historical story.

Professional Review: Rochman, H. (2010). Sit-in: How four friends stood up by sitting down. The Booklist, 106(11), 60.

Grades 2-4. This compelling picture book is based on the historic sit-in 50 years ago by four college students who tried to integrate a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. Food-related wordplay adds layers to the free verse, as in the lines about the protesters’ recipe for integration: “Combine black with white / to make sweet justice.” The double-page spreads in watercolor and thick ink lines show both the scene in Woolworth’s and across America as blacks and whites organize sit-ins and watch coverage of protests on TV. Finally, the young people at the counter get what they order, “served to them exactly the way they wanted it––well done.” The recipe metaphors are repetitive, but at the core of the exciting narrative are scenes that show the difficulty of facing hatred: “tougher than any school test.” Closing pages discuss the role of adults, including Ella Baker and then presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and include a detailed civil rights time line, “a final helping” about the historic struggle, and a bibliography. Even young children will grasp the powerful, elemental, and historic story of those who stood up to oppressive authority and changed the world.

Library Uses: This book can be used to continue in a thematic reading unit on the Civil Rights Movement. Students can focus on the character motivations for the sit-ins in the 1960s and create their own reader's theater enactment of civil rights moments.

Module 10: The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson

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Book Summary: Clover has always been told to never cross the fence into the other side, the “white side,” because it is not safe for her. When she begins to become friends with Annie, the little white girl on the other side of the fence, she struggles with maintaining her friendship when society tells them that they cannot play together. Finding a loophole with the rules to not go to the other side of the fence, Clover and Annie decide to sit on it and enjoy their friendship. They note that one day the fence will finally be knocked down.

APA Reference of Book: Woodson, J., & Lewis, E. B. (2001). The other side. New York, NY: Putnam's.

Impressions: Leave it to two young girls to prove to society that people are taught to be racist. Clover and Annie may notice each other’s skin color, but they don’t care. They just see another girl to play with by the fence. The time period influences about race and skin color don’t affect the girls, and they never quite understand why they are never allowed on the other side of the fence. I love how the fence is both a literal barrier between the white family and the black family as well as a metaphor for the barrier that society has placed between those who are white and black. The fact that the girls say that someday the fence will be knocked down is a reference to the day where kids and adults can co-exist and enjoy each other’s company regardless of their skin color.

Professional Review:  The other side [Review]. (2001). Kirkus Reviews, (1).

Race relations, a complex issue, is addressed in a simple manner through the eyes of two young girls, one black and one white, on either side of a fence that divides their yards and, in fact, the town. Both girls have been instructed not to go on the other side of the fence because it's not safe. Each stares at the other, yearning to know more, but they don't communicate. When Annie, the white girl, climbs on the fence and asks to jump rope, she is told no by the leader of the black group. The narrator, Clover, has mixed feelings and is unsure whether she would have said yes or no. Later, the girls, with their mothers, meet on the sidewalk in town, looking very much the same, except for the color of their skin. When asked why the mothers don't talk, the explanation is, "because that's the way things have always been." During the heavy summer rains, Annie is outside in her raincoat and boots, having fun splashing in puddles--but Clover must stay inside. When the rains stop, Clover is set free, emerging as a brave soul and approaching Annie in the spirit of her freedom. Eventually, the story finds both girls and all of Clover's friends sitting on the fence together, kindred spirits in the end. "Someday somebody's going to come along and knock this old fence down," Annie says. What a great metaphor Woodson has created for knocking down old beliefs and barriers that keep people apart. Children learn that change can happen little by little, one child at a time. Award-winning Lewis's lovely realistic watercolor paintings allow readers to be quiet observers viewing the issue from both sides. (Picture book. 5+)

Library Uses: Librarians can use this book to bring up the ideas of prejudice. Have students discuss what prejudice is and if it is learned or born within a person. Look at symbolism and metaphors. Have the students answer the following question: What does the fence symbolize? Have the students create a fence and research two sides of an issue, placing differing viewpoints on each side of the fence. Discuss findings.

Module 9: Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

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Book Summary: The small town of Cryer’s Cross is terrified when two teenagers suddenly vanish within months of each other. One of them was Kendall’s best friend (and semi-boyfriend), Nico, and she doesn’t know how to move on without him. As she becomes friends with a neighboring brother and sister, she begins to question what happened to Nico. Mysterious messages begin to appear on Nico’s old desk, and only she notices because of her OCD. Kendall crosses a line between ghosts and reality as she is compelled by the mystery of deaths in Cryer’s Cross.

APA Reference of Book: McMann, L. (2011). Cryer's Cross. New York, NY: Simon Pulse.

Impressions: It is refreshing to read books that use the present tense since I feel that it is so rarely used as a story-telling device. This narration style really leads to readers feeling what Kendall is feeling at every moment. I was with her during her doubts and fears, and I was rooting for her to overcome them and finally discover the mystery behind Nico and Tiffany’s deaths. While everyone else wanted her to move on, I think that it was important for Kendall to almost be drawn into death’s grip. She had to face the danger and find the truth about her friend’s death before she could move on with her life. I really like how it is Kendall’s “disability” of OCD that actually ends up saving her from being driven to suicide by the ghost boys. The supernatural element was a great touch, although I feel like it all was wrapped up a little too quickly in the ending. Have the ghosts been put at rest? I don’t think so. It definitely leaves a bit to the imagination.

Professional Review: Yusko, S. (2011). Cryer's cross. The Booklist, 107(12), 70. 

Grades 8-12. Kendall is a senior in a one-room high school where last spring Tiffany, a freshman, disappeared. Now it is the start of a new year, and Kendall’s boyfriend, Nico—the only one who truly understood Kendall’s OCD— has gone missing, too. While compelled to straighten the desks before class one morning, Kendall discovers that Nico’s desk was also Tiffany’s desk. This seems like more than a coincidence, but Kendall is afraid that people will think she is crazy. The town’s dark past is a well-kept secret, and though she doesn’t want to admit it, Kendall will need the help of brooding newcomer Jacian if she is going to find Nico. Kendall is a unique character, and the details of her OCD compulsions are well drawn. Haunting passages from another world, which provide just enough detail to intrigue and disturb readers, are intertwined with Kendall’s story. Part mystery, part ghost story, and part romance, this book has enough to satisfy a variety of readers and will find popularity with McMann’s established fan base and new readers alike.

Library Uses: This novel would be a fun addition to a reading unit right before Halloween. Murder mysteries are always a great way to practice making predictions and noticing foreshadowing clues. During a read aloud, stop and have students discuss their thoughts and make predictions as you read. At any point, if students notice something is being hinted at or foreshadowed, they should share it and make more predictions for what will happen next. Provide a scavenger hunt throughout the library using QR codes as clues for students to solve a mystery and analyze plot structure.