Bone by Bone by Bone

Bone by Bone by Bone, written by Tony Johnston, is a tale exploring the horrors of racism in the South during the 1950s. The young boy who narrates the book, David, lives with an oppressively racist father who wants nothing more than for his son to follow in his ideological footsteps. When befriends a black boy, Malcolm, his father forbids the boys from ever coming near the house, and puts a rule in place that Malcolm is specifically not allowed to enter their house. A rifle sits by the door of David's house so his father can shoot homeless cats that take refuge under the porch, and his father announces that if Malcolm enters the house he will be shot as well. The boys find ways to work around these rules, however, but with the constant fear that David's father will hurt Malcolm. Johnston specifically says in an introduction that her own father was the inspiration for this novel, and that his racism "haunts her." Although there are several points that allude to the possibility that something horrific is about to happen, this book remains appropriate for middle school students, and would ignite interesting and engaging moral discussions.

After Tupac and D-Foster

After Tupac and D-Foster, written by Jacqueline Woodson, is about three middle school girls and their adventures together as they struggle through the unexpected events of life. Neeka and her best friend - the cleverly unnamed narrator - have lived across the street from each other and been best friends their entire lives, and when an elusive and unique girl who refers to herself as "D" appears one day on their street, she becomes and instant and revolutionary member of their clique. D is a foster child and has already experienced things that the other two girls never imagined were possible from their sheltered and protected life in their neighborhood. As the story progresses, the girls all learn from each others' vastly different perspectives and form incredible friendships. A unique and fun side-story that brilliantly parallels the girls' story is that of Tupac, the popular rapper and his tumultuous and controversial life. The plot is engaging and unique and the characters are endearing and easily relateable; I highly recommend this book for middle school instruction.

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down

I found this book as part of a project I did for a class last semester. I went to Barnes and Noble looking for a different book (Freedom Summer, written by Deborah Wiles, which is excellent and I highly recommend it) but when it wasn't available in the store, I had to improvise and found this one instead. Sit-In describes the large-scale boycott of certain lunch counters during the Civil Rights Movement. One of my favorite things about this book, even though it's pretty trivial, is the unique style of illustrations. Another extremely valuable aspect of this book is the two-page factual timeline of events in the Civil Rights Movement, which is a great supplement to the historical fiction feel of the story itself.

Hello!

I am currently a graduate student at James Madison University, completing my Masters in Teaching. This time next year, I will be a certified teacher of both Middle School Social Studies and Language Arts. The purpose of this blog is to explore and find literature that I can use in my classroom someday. As I find and read this literature, I'll provide short reviews and my thoughts on the books as they prove to be either helpful or not helpful for me.

Specifically, I'm going to be looking for Young Adult fiction, related to all concentrations. I don't feel as though I really have a firm grasp of the Young Adult realm of literature, so I want this to be a way for me to really dig deep into it and find helpful resources I can pull from in the future. I would love any suggestions that people may have! Share!