M.L.K.: Journey of a King

Title: M.L.K.: Journey of a King
2008 NCTE Orbis Pictus Winner
Author: Tonya Bolden
Published: 2007
Interesting Facts: (1) "...there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression...we are not wrong in what we are doing. If we are wrong, the Supreme Court of this nation is wrong. If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong. If we are wrong, God Almighty is wrong" (pg 22). (2) In 1957 during MLK's participation in the Montgomery bus boycott MLK received an anonymous phone call, "Nigger, we are tired of you and your mess...we're going to blow your brains out and blow up your house" (pg 26). Martin prayed, "I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid...I am at the end of my powers." Martin listened to his inner voice, " 'Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth, and God will be at your side forever' " (pg 26). (3) "That night, ML. was at a mass meeting when told that his home had been bombed...he was 'on the verge of corroding hate...' He dug deep for the strength to love...he understood well what the love Jesus preached really meant. He knew that it was neither the love that he felt for...his friends, nor...for Coretta, but rather agape...a higher, harder love: a love that has nothing to do with liking a person, a love worthy of people who do you no good and even do you wrong. Agape says to see past a person's sins to the soul God loves" (pg 28-29). (4) "Nothing could tear M.L. away from the movement. Not defeat in Albany. Not the lure of a guaranteed annual inome of $100,000...Not nonstop death threats. Not a pummeling from a burly neo-Nazi, Roy James, during an address. M.L. made no attempt at self-defense. At one point, he even lowered his hands from his face. 'I'm not interested in pressing charges,' he later said. ' I'm interested in changing the kind of system that produces this kind of man...' " (pg 67) (5) MLK's letter to clergymen who felt that blacks fighting for the promises of democracy were being too impatient, "We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights...Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, 'Wait...' when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous cloud of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people...when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of 'nobodiness--' then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait" (pg 74).
Curriculum/Pathfinder Suggestion:
US National History Standards, Grades K-4, Standard 4C: Describe how historical figures in the United States and other parts of the world have advanced the rights of individuals and promoted the common good, and identify character traits such as persistence, problem solving, moral responsibility, and respect for others that made them successful.

US National History Standards, Grades 5-12, Postwar United States, Standard 2C: Evaluate how Vietnamese and Americans experienced the war and how the war continued to affect postwar politics and culture.

Now Is Your Time: The African American Struggle for Freedom

Title: Now Is Your Time: The African American Struggle for Freedom
1992 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
Author: Walter Dean Myers
Published: 1991
Interesting Facts: (1) "Since no one had to hire a black person, whites...could refuse...jobs to young blacks; the law would declare them wards of the state and force them to apprentice for their former masters..." Black Codes "gave former owners of Africans the right to reclaim them as slaves" (pg. 197). (2) "...racism was not about white people liking or not liking black people. It was about controlling the economies of the country by keeping blacks dependent on whites." (3) As a writer for a newspaper called the New York Age, Ida Wells, "...delivered the message that black men and black women were as deserving of justice as whites" (pg. 213). Ida Wells, "did more to curtail the practice of lynching than any other person" (pg. 214). (4) Psychologist Dr. Kenneth B. Clark debunked the notion of separate but equal when he conducted a doll test which provided clear evidence that "African American children did not just feel separated from white children, they felt that the separation was based on their inferiority...Brown vs. Board of Education showed that children who felt inferior also performed poorly" (pg. 256-257). (5) The nature of the fight for democracy changed over time. Nat Turner organized revolts against his enslavers; the 54th fought in the Civil War; Ida B. Wells organized protest by publishing stories in newspapers; Lewis H. Latimer tried earn his way to equality by the works of his inventions; Brown vs. Board of Education ushered in a legal battle for equality (pg. 258).
Curriculum/Pathfinder Suggestion: National US History Standards, Grades 3-4, Standard 8C:
Explain the significance of the printing press, the computer, and electronic developments in communication, and describe their impact on the spread of ideas

Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement

Title: Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement
2007 Sibert Honor Book
Author: Ann Bausum
Published: 2006
Interesting Facts: (1) "The Freedom Rides did not begin in 1961. They did not even begin in 1947 with the first organized test of interstate bus segregation. As far back as the 19th century African Americans had challenged segregated seating on public transportation (pg. 35). (2) "Perhaps Southern racists thought that the Freedom Riders--so beaten and scattered--had been defeated at last, but they were wrong again" (pg. 51). Citizens from around the country watched a battered and bruised Jim Zwerg on the evening news issue a statement from his hospital bed, "Segregation must be stopped...We're going on to New Orleans no matter what. We're dedicated to this...We're willing to accept death" (pg 51). (3) "Jim Zwerg's hospital bed statement, broadcast over national television served as a clarion cry for action...Individuals...headed off to join the Freedom Rides. Black and white, young and old, students, professors, members of the clergy, rabbis, Quakers, Northerners and Southerners, males and females alike, boarded trains, buses, and even airplanes bound for the segregated South--from Arkansas to Florida, from Georgia to Louisiana" (pg. 53). (4) Jim Zwerg reflected on his participation in freedom rides and the media attention that he received, " 'I'm nothing special. I'm a dentist's kid from Wisconsin who happened to get on a bus with some friends who got the hell beat out of him. Think of the hundreds of kids...especially black students, that put it on the line and nobody knows their names.' By being white-skinned, notes Zwerg, he drew extra attention among news reporters" (pg. 66-67). (5) "In 1963, just two years after the Freedom Rides, hundreds of thousands of Americans--black and white, young and old...gathered as one to champion equality and human rights during the August 28 March on Washington" (pg. 68).
Curriculum/Pathfinder Suggestion:
National US History Standards, Grades 3-4, Standard 4E: Analyze songs, symbols, and slogans that demonstrate freedom of expression and the role of protest in a democracy.

Through My Eyes: The Autobiography of Ruby Bridges

Title: Through My Eyes: The Autobiography of Ruby Bridges
2000 NCTE Orbis Pictus Winner
Author: Ruby Bridges/ edited by Margo Lundell
Published: 1999
Interesting Facts: (1) Mrs. Henry talks about her time as Ruby's first grade teacher, " To help Ruby, I tried to explain integration more than once...I didn't want to allow hate to enter her life and in any way diminish her beautiful spirit...I told her that the other children would come back to school eventually. When she asked how soon that would be, I had no answer. Ruby never complained, but I knew she was lonely (2) Ruby talks about an incident that happened on the playground at the end of her first year of school, "...a little white boy refused to play with me. 'I can't play with you...My mama said not to because you're a nigger...' I would have done the same thing. If my mama said not to do something, I didn't do it" (50). (3) Ruby talks about the impact that 1960 had on her family life, " I think the pressure my family was under in 1960 caused serious problems in the marriage...After my parents separated, my mother moved us children out of our house on France Street and into a housing project. Over the next few years, my mother had a rough time financially" (pg 56). (4) Ruby talks about her educational opportunities after high school. "After graduating from high school, I remember wanting to go to college. I regret not having that experience. My mother thought doors would automatically open for me as a result of what I had accomplished in 1960, but there was no one around to help lead me through those doors as I was led through the doors of William Frantz" (pg 56-57). (5) Ruby talks about her feelings regarding 1960, " For a long time, I was tempted to feel bitter about the school integration experience, not understanding why I had to go through it and go through it alone. Now I know it was meant to be that way. People are touched by the story of the black child who was so alone (pg 60).
Curriculum Suggestion:
US National History Standards, Grades K-4, Standard 4B: Identify ordinary people who have believed in the fundamental democratic values such as justice, truth, equality, the rights of the individual, and responsibility for the common good, and explain their significance.

US National History Standards, Grades 5-12, Postwar United States, Standard 4A: Explain the resistance to civil rights in the South between 1954 and 1965

Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Title: Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
2007 Sibert Honor Book, 2oo7 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
Author: Russell Freedman
Published: 2006
Interesting Facts: (1) "...Women's Political Council...had been founded three years earlier when the local League of Women Voters refused to accept blacks...segregated seating on public buses became the group's most pressing issue..." (pg 10). (2) People said that Rosa Parks did not move from her seat on the bus because she was tired. Rosa Parks has said, " 'But that isn't true...I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day...No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.' She had made up her mind long before that if she was ever asked to give up her seat for a white person, she would refuse" (pg 27). (3) People that cared for Mrs. Parks warned her not to allow her case to be used in the courts to put an end to segregation laws, " '...the white folks will kill you, Rosa...Don't do anything to make trouble, Rosa.' Racially motivated killings were not uncommon in the Jim Crow South. Early that year, two black men had been shot dead in Mississippi while trying to register African Americans voters" (pg. 31). (4) ...two days after the boycott ended, a shotgun blast was fired into King's home...a car pulled up to a bust stop where a 15-year-old black girl was standing...men jumped out, beat her, and drove away...shotgun snipers began to fire at integrated buses,, sending a pregnant black woman to the hospital with bullet wounds..." (pg. 89-90). (5) "Rosa Parks never expected to make history. ' I had no idea when I refused to give up my seat on that Montgomery bus that my small action would help put an end to enforced segregation in the South...' the Montgomery bus boycott marked the beginning of what we now recognize as the modern civil rights movement" (pg 89).
Curriculum/Pathfinder Suggestion:
US National History Standards, Postwar, Grades 5-12, Standard 4c: Identify the major social, economic, and political issues affecting women and explain the conflicts these issues engendered.

Before We Were Free

Title: Before We Were Free
2004 Pura Belpre Winner
Author: Julia Alvarez
Published: 2002
Cultural Group Represented: Dominican
Examples of Dominican Republic culture: (1) During the 1960s a disenchanted segment of the Dominican Republican population ( the democratic Dominican Revolutionary party led by Bosch) grew disenchanted with what they perceived to be the oppressive regime of the conservative Social Christian Reform party led by authoritarian, General Trujillo. Before We Were Free is a historical novel based on a populist movement to overthrow General Trujillo which resulted in years of civil war and political unrest*. (2)With a tinge of resentment, Anita, the narrator of Before, comments on the dominance of American culture, "Although the Pilgrims never came to the Dominican Republic, we are attending the American school, so we have to celebrate American holidays." A picture of George Washington on the school walls and the Plymouth that Anita's dad drives are other examples of American influences. (3) Anita observes how identification of self as American is constructed by suppressing a non American's mother tongue, "`United Estates! United Estates!` somebody in the back row mimics. Lots of classmates snicker, even some Dominicans. I hate it when the American kids make fun of the way we speak English." (4) Anita's American teacher treats Anita and her Dominican classmates unfairly, "Mrs. Brown always gives the not-so-good parts to those of us in class who are Dominicans." (5) The environment at Anita's American school does not affirm her Dominican identity. At her American school Anita's personality is suppressed and she is withdrawn, "I feel lazy and bored...I talk too much, like a little parrot...But then at school, I'm the total opposite and Mrs Brown complains that i need to speak up more." (6) Dominican Republic celebrates its independence in February, Anita thinks back to the "...the recitation contest on Independence Day last February." (7) Ginger plants are widely grown in the Caribbeans. Outside Anita's home, "Porfirio is watering the ginger plants..." (8) In many cultures, an ancestor or elder is present and usually represents wisdom. Throughout the novel, Anita's family defer to her grandmother, Chucha, for wisdom: Chucha says, "No flies fly into a closed mouth" and "black moths are an omen of bad luck" and "Mundin discovered a carved stone Chucha said would bring rain." (9) The characters in this novel speak Spanish and English. Spanish is the official language in the Dominican Republic. (10) Anita's family includes her extended family. They all live together on a compound. "Mundin gets to drive the car up and down all the driveways that connect the houses in the compound." Extended families are characteristic of Caribbean families.
* http://kids.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry?id=DominicanR

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach

Title: Martina the Beautiful Cockroach
2008 Pura Belpre' Honor Book
Author: Carmen Agra Deedy
Published: 2007
Group: Cuban

Cultural Indicators: (1) The species of cockroach called the Panclora nivea or the Cuban cockroach is thought to be beautiful by some for its iridescent green color. In this story, Martina is hailed as the beautiful cockroach. (2)Spanish is the official language of Cuba. Spanish words are diffused throughout the story: abuela, muchacha, senorita, cafe' cubano. (3) Black beans are a staple of the Cuban diet. The story features an illustration of a can of black beans being raided by cockroaches. (4) The tocororo is the Cuba's national bird. In the story, a parrot is the messenger. (5) The butterfly jasmine and mariposa are recognized as Cuba's national flowers. Illustrations of these flowers are intertwined throughout the book. (6) Coffee is the unofficial beverage of Cuba. Much of Cuban social activity is centered around enjoying a cup of coffee. In the story, Martina's suitors must undergo The Coffee Test. (7) The rooster and the pig represent the proud and chauvinistic male archetype. In the story the rooster and pig suitors represent the machismo type. The rooster condescendingly shouts at Martina, "Clumsy cockroach! I will teach you better manners when you are my wife." The pig boorishly shouts at Martina, "When you are my wife, there'll be no end to cleaning up after me." (8) Jose Marti is celebrated as a Cuban martyr during Cuba's fight against Spain for independence. There is photograph of Jose Marti in Martina's home. (9) El Morro castle is a fortress that originally guarded the entrance into Havana, Cuba. In the story, news of Martina's plans to marry was spread, "from the busy sidewalks of El Prado to El Morro castle." (10) Cuban families are traditionally extended and typically include the presence of a grandmother who is the voice of wisdom. The driving voice in this story is Martina's abuela.

The Friends

Title: The Friends
1997 Batchelder Honor Award
Author: Kazumi Yumoto (translated by: Cathy Hirano)
Published: 1992
Group: Japanese
Cultural Indicators: (1) In a traditional Buddhist Japanese funeral procession, the body is cremated. The Buddhist priest and/or family members chant a sacred mantra in unison. Family members pick the bones in unison from ashes of the cremated body and place them in an urn. In the novel, Yamashita explains the rituals that he witnessed at his grandmother's funeral, "Everyone wore black and the chanting was boring..." "When someone dies, they burn them. They take the body to what they call a crematorium, and the coffin is slipped into this great big oven..." "Everybody picks the bones out with chopsticks and puts them in an urn..." (2) Buddhism is a major religion in Japan. Yamashita is a Buddhist as evident by the rituals performed at his grandmother's funeral. (3) Japanese educational system is generally characterized by Juku or cram schools. The young boys in "The Friends" attend cram school. (4) Sushi is a staple of the Japanese diet. In the novel, references to sushi are made. (5) The characters in the story have traditional Japanese names: Yamashita, Kawabe, Kiyama (6) Stress induced incidents of suicide and work related deaths are cultural phenomena in Japan. The three young boys in this story are preoccupied with death. Kiyama's father works incessantly. (7) A kotatsu, a low table, is a traditional part of Japanese culture. Everyday the three young boys watch " the old man..sitting at the kotatsu watching TV." (8) Tatami mats are a type of traditional Japanese flooring. Kiyama observes, "The sound of footsteps moving across tatami floor mats." (9) Typhoons are specific to the Northwest Pacific Ocean. Kiyama learns a lesson in resilience when he discovers that "Despite the raging typhoon, our cosmos survived." (10) Originally relegated to Japanese warriors, suicide was a form of honor as opposed to falling in the hands of ones enemies. The old man that the boys befriend tells them a story about a warrior who was thought to have killed himself but had actually fled to another country. "

Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali

Title: Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali
2008 Corretta Scott King Honor Book
Author: Charles R. Smith, Jr.
Published: 2007
Group: African American

African American cultural examples in 12 Rounds: (1)12 Rounds is written in rhyme in the tradition of African American linguistic styles--a style that Muhammad Ali is renown for aptly delivering. Employing rhyme and rhythm when conversing is a unique African American linguistic style that can be traced backed to the oral storytelling traditions of West African griots . (2) Muhammad Ali is known for his verbal sparring and verbal agility. He makes herculean claims about his abilities "...I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick, I'm so mean I make medicine sick" This traditional African American linguistic style is known as rapping. (3) Ali verbally taunted his opponents "So deal with these fists smacking your ugly face; I'm taking you down for the crown to represent my black race." . In the African American oral tradition this is called playing the dozens and/or signifyin'. (4) Muhammad Ali won a 1960 Olympic gold medal, "To make America the greatest is my goal, so I beat the Russian and I beat the Pole, and for the USA won the medal of gold." During Jim Crow, in spite of their national and international cultural influences, Black athletes and entertainers were still subject to segregation and discrimination in America. After being embraced and hailed as a hero by the international community, Ali returned home from the 1960 Olympics and was dismissed by jeers such as "I don't care who you are boy; get out of here!" In 12 Rounds Smith writes, "...the country you fought for still put people, like laundry, in two separate piles..." (5) In 1967 Ali was drafted into the Vietnam War but Ali refused to report to duty. In 12 rounds Smith writes, "...you said no to the army refusing to fight an unknown enemy for a country that treated you with anger and hostility..." and "...eyes across the globe witnessed you take a stand when you said no to war for religious beliefs and defied your government by standing for peace." (6) Smith writes about Ali, "You shed your slave name of Cassius Clay, giving birth to a new belief in Islamic religion, reflected in your name when reborn as Muhammad Ali." As a testament to the positive affirmation of Black identity, self -expression, and African roots, some African Americans changed their names. Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali. (7) The political climate of the 1960s marked an increase in African American engagement in black nationalist movements that promoted political, social, and economic empowerment and spiritual growth for Black Americans. Malcolm X, was a friend and spiritual counselor to Ali. (8) In 12 rounds Smith writes about the leader of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad, "Elijah the messenger fed the teachings of the Nation to hungry black souls filled with years of frustration, souls stung by hate since the days of the plantation, souls beaten like animals in savage humiliation." Liberation from social oppression is often a part of African American theology. (9) The struggle for equality was given a platform and momentum through the careers of popular African American athletes and entertainers. In 12 rounds Smith writes of Ali, "The time is now to not think about you, but what the power of winning the title belt can do: uplift black people." (10) In the 1960s people that did not conform to mainstream American in terms of religion, support for the war, etc were dubbed anti American. The fight between Ali and Joe Frazier was coined "the fight of the century." Joe Frazier was coined the patriot, the baptist. Ali was dubbed the draft dodger, the Muslim.

A Wreath for Emmett Till

Title: A Wreath for Emmet Till
2006 Coretta Scott King Honor Book
Author/Illustrator: Marilyn Nelson/ Philippe Lardy
Published: 2005
Group: African Americans
Examples of African American culture in A Wreath: (1) A Wreath is a heroic crown of sonnets about the lynching of a 14 year old black boy named Emmett Till in 1955. Photos of Emmett's mutilated body catalyzed the civil rights movement. From the 1880s to the late 1960s (some isolated incidences of lynchings occurred as late as 1998) lynching was an act of terror used to control the political, social and economic behaviors of African Americans (2) In A Wreath Nelson writes, "If trees could speak, it could describe...the strange fruit that still ghosts its reverie..." Jazz is a music art form created by African Americans. Jazz has been used by African Americans as a medium to protest social injustices. In 1939 Jazz and Blues singer Billie Holiday recorded a rendition of "Strange Fruit" in response to the lynchings of Black Americans during Jim Crow. (3) Poetry has been used by African Americans as a medium to protest social injustices. African American poet, Paul Dunbar, wrote "The Haunted Oak" in response to the lynchings of Black Americans. In A Wreath Nelson signifies Dunbar's "Haunted Oak," " Though if I could, I would forget...No: I remember, like a haunted tree..." (4)Looking beyond the violence and brutality of lynchings, Nelson speaks of healing, "In my house, there is still something called grace, which melts ice shards of hate and makes hearts whole."Acts of forgiveness and reconciliation are persistent themes in the relationship between African Americans and the United States. (5) "I cling to the faith that innocence lives on...That miracles do exist." The tradition of African American struggles has been sustained by an unwavering faith that things will get better in spite of dire circumstances. (6) The sacredness of memory as a testament to the past is part of African American identity. A Wreath is largely about collective memory and forgetfulness, "...we must bear witness to atrocity." (7) Memory as a burden is part of African American identity, Nelson writes, "Though if I could, I would forget much of that racial memory." (8) Nelson writes that Emmett's mother had sent him to "the South to visit relatives and to be taught the family's ways." Modern day African American culture originated in the deep South. (9) The hypocrisy of America's democracy has been persistently critiqued and exposed through the African American experience. Nelson writes about the hypocrisy of American democracy, "One mouth speaks with forked tongue, the other reads the Constitution...(10) Nelson echoes Malcolm X when relating the ambivalent experiences of Blacks in America, "My country, 'tis of both thy nightmare history and thy grand dream..."