Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes. 2018

BOOK BREAK #3

Inspiration Book:

Ghost boys by Rhodes, Jewell Parker — Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage Company, 2018: -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 3.0. After seventh-grader Jerome is shot by a white police officer, he observes the aftermath of his death and meets the ghosts of other fallen black boys including historical figure Emmett Till. NSSTB List 2019

Rationale: I had planned to write about book selection as a connection with the latest School Library Connection (May/June 2020, pp. 38-40) article “Turn Students into Collection Developers” by Courtney Pentland, and then connect those comments and ideas with the Inspiration Book Ghost Boys. I will save my thought on book selection for a future post.

I did not intend to do three weeks of BOOK BREAK entries, but several events happened in this country that provided the impetus for another BOOK BREAK. What were those events? A police an abusive arrest of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis and a shooting of a black man in Georgia by a group of whites. Why and how could these events connect with a BOOK BREAK? The Inspiration Book is about a police shooting in Chicago and the connection with other black youths like Emmett Till who have been killed.

Police shootings are a tough topic. Police arrest abuse is a tough topic. Vigilante shooting is a tough topic. Featuring tough topics is how My Books Alive began about a decade ago. When I read Ghost Boys I wondered how I could use the book or introduce it to a class or a student, not because of the seriousness of the topic, but because of the ghosting business. In my small private school ghosts aren’t always welcome. But I knew that this book was too good and too vital to not add it to the collection. In fact, I wondered how I’d handle the books aloud to a friend. She wanted to read it from my description. We talked and I still didn’t have a resolution in my mind. You see, in a school, where our budgets are so tight, I don’t like to have a book sit on the shelf--I want kids and teachers reading books on tough topics and doing research. Here I had a good book that needed the opportunity to share.

And, those recent police arrest and vigilante shootings provided the need and reason to have Ghost Boys in the collection. And, I also had the reason to do a BOOK BREAK. Serendipitous things do happen just when they’re needed. Check out the last two week’s entries about where I get ideas for BOOK BREAK. https://www.mybooksalive.com and https://www.mybooksalive.com/2020/05/night-diary-by-veera-hiranandani-2018.html

 Current events are another source of ideas, and probably the most relevant and timely.

Outline for a BOOK BREAK for the Inspiration Book, Ghost Boys:

1. Preparation: gather newspaper headlines and/or news clip of the Georgia vigilante shooting and police arrest abuse in Minneapolis. (Or,if these are no longer in the news: Trevon Martin, East St. Louis, Illinois, etc.) Projection capability for Book Trailer

1. A library needs to have books on many topics and many points of view. Sometimes the point of view presented, may not be one you like. Sometimes the topic is one that makes you squirm. On TV news reports and in newspapers recently there have been information about an abusive arrest and a shooting..
2. (Hold up newspaper headline or show a news clip.) The topics represented in these headlines are tough to talk about. They’re tough to understand. There are always two sides to the story. We need to get to the facts.
3. View Book Trailer.  https://www.teachingbooks.net/booktrailer.cgi?id=4630

Author Jewell Parker Rhodes tells us the story of Ghost Boys.

4. Ms. Rhodes says that only the living can make things better. What can you do to improve race relations in our school? Our town? Our country?
5. My idea, for you, read Ghost Boys, pass it around among your friends to read. Then I’d like all the readers to come to the library and we’ll do some taking about a tough topic.

Teaching Books, the resource I frequently turn to for ideas, has gathered four outstanding teaching tools to use if you plan a student study of Ghost Boys. Check out each resource, and pick and choose what you would like to use.

Educator Guide from author Jewell Parker Rhodes (far ranging excellent resources) http://jewellparkerrhodes.com/children/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/GHOST-BOYS-Educator-Guide-FINAL.pdf

Curriculum Connections from Vermont Department of Libraries https://libraries.vermont.gov/sites/libraries/files/DCFBookReviewsQuestions19-20.pdf#page=54

Teaching Ideas from Texas Bluebonnet Award 2019-2020 (extensive resource ideas) https://texasbluebonnetaward2020.wordpress.com/ghost-boys/

Reader’s Theater Script from Texas Bluebonnet Award 2019-2020 (could use this script as part of BOOK BREAK) https://texasbluebonnetaward2020.wordpress.com/ghost-boys/

RELATED TITLES

Fire in the streets by Magoon, Kekla  — Aladdin, 2013-Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8. Sequel to: The rock and the river. In the aftermath of Dr. King's assassination in 1968, Chicago fourteen-year-old Maxie longs to join the Black Panthers, whether or not her brother Raheem, ex-boyfriend Sam, or her friends like it, and is soon caught up in the violence of anti-war and civil rights demonstrations.

Night on fire by Kidd, Ronald  — Albert Whitman & Company, 2015 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 4.0. When Billie hears about a group calling themselves the Freedom Riders passing through Anniston to protest segregation on buses, she thinks change could be coming. But instead of embracing change, Billie's town responds with violence, and she finds herself at Forsyth & Sons Grocery watching a bus burn. Shocked by the actions of people she thought she knew, she realizes that freedom has a cost. But is she brave enough to stand up and fight for it?

Genesis begins again by Williams, Alicia  — Atheneum, 2019 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 4.5. Genesis tries again and again to lighten her black skin, thinking it is the root of her family's troubles, before discovering reasons to love herself as is. This deeply sensitive and powerful debut novel tells the story of a thirteen-year-old who must overcome internalized racism and a verbally abusive family to finally learn to love herself.

With the might of angels (Dear America) by Pinkney, Andrea Davis — Scholastic Inc., 2019 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 4.8. In 1955 Hadley, Virginia, twelve-year-old Dawnie Rae Johnson, a tomboy who excels at baseball and at her studies, becomes the first African American student to attend the all-white Prettyman Coburn school, turning her world upside down. Includes historical notes about the period. FREE Teaching Resources available for download at www.titlewave.com

Midnight without a moon by Jackson, Linda Williams  — Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 5.6. Rose Lee Carter, a thirteen-year-old African-American girl, dreams of life beyond the Mississippi cotton fields during the summer of 1955, but when Emmett Till is murdered and his killers are unjustly acquitted, Rose is torn between seeking her destiny outside of Mississippi or staying and being a part of an important movement. 

Miles to go for freedom : segregation & civil rights in the Jim Crow years by Osborne, Linda Barrett Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 5.7. Introduction -- The South -- The North -- The nation -- Time line. Describes the lives of African Americans during the Jim Crow years, a period of legal segregation and discrimination from the 1890s through the 1950s, including photographs and interviews with African Americans who were young during this time and other primary resources.

Roll of thunder, hear my cry by Taylor, Mildred D  — Dial Books for Young Readers, 2016 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 5.7. An African-American family living in the South during the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which its children do not understand. FREE Teaching Resources available for download at www.titlewave.com

A sky full of stars by Jackson, Linda Williams — Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 7.6. Sequel to: Midnight without a moon. In Stillwater, Missippi, in 1955, thirteen-year-old African American Rose Lee Carter looks to her family and friends to understand her place in the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement.

Secrets of the Cicada Summer by Andrea Beaty. 2008.

Death and Grief

Secrets of the cicada summer by Beaty, Andrea  — Amulet Books, c2008 p2010--Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.4 Twelve-year-old Lily, believing she could have prevented the accident that caused her brother's death, has quit speaking leaving everyone to think that she is brain damaged, but in her silence she sees everything, and when sly newcomer Tinny comes to town, Lily suddenly has a lot to talk about--if only she can make herself speak the words.

Rationale: Bibliotherapy has a place in the library as part of reader’s advisory service. The topics of death, grief, and emotional problems can be touchy. I don’t usually do a whole class lesson about those topics. Rather, I maintain online book lists that students can easily retrieve for personal reading. In the old days, I kept print lists, but the online lists can be easily updated. On tough touchy subjects, I make sure I know the circumstances AND know the books that are appropriate. I have a chat with the student(s) and the teacher,  and direct them to the online booklists. If I know the student and the situation very well, I may recommend a specific title. In this bibliography, there are books about grieving, feeling guilty, coping, abandonment, and loss of friends, parents, grandparents, and siblings. I zeroed in on titles suitable for the middle grader, from third through sixth. Another time, I’ll make a list appropriate for my middle school students, grades five through eight.

Teacher Resources:

Bookcast Excerpt from Reading in Action  Secrets of the Cicada Summer by Andrea Beaty 1:36 minutes http://readinginaction.org/bookcast/secrets-cicada-summer

Related Titles:

Making scents by Yorinks, Arthur — First Second, 2017. 741.5; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 3.1. Mickey isn't quite like his brothers and sisters. They're all stronger, faster, and have a much better sense of smell. That's because his "brothers and sisters" are dogs--bloodhounds, to be exact. Mickey's mom and dad are crazy about canines. Their dogs are the loves of their lives and their livelihood. So, naturally, they're raising their son as if he was a dog, and Mickey wants nothing more than to make his parents proud. Just as Mickey is mastering the art of sniffing, a tragic accident forever changes his happy family. Mickey is sent to live with relatives he's never met--relatives who are not fond of kids...and who hate dogs.

Finding perfect by Swartz, Elly D  — Farrar Straus Giroux, 2016 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 3.5. With some help from her siblings and friends, Molly is able to face her OCD and be strong enough to get help for it.

Be light like a bird by Schroder, Monika — Capstone Young Readers, a Capstone imprint, 2016 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 3.6. When her father is killed in an accident, twelve-year-old Wren is grief stricken, but what upsets her even more is that her mother seems to be filled with anger, rather than sadness. As they move from place to place, Wren is forced to cope with her mother's strange behavior, her own grief, and all the problems that come with being the new girl in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where they finally end up.

Caterpillar summer by McDunn, Gillian — Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2019 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 3.6. Since her father's death, Cat has taken care of her brother, Chicken, for their hardworking mother but while spending time with grandparents they never knew, Cat has the chance to be a child again.

Love, Aubrey by LaFleur, Suzanne M — Yearling, 2009--Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 3.9 While living with her Gram in Vermont, eleven-year-old Aubrey writes letters as a way of dealing with losing her father and sister in a car accident, and then being abandoned by her grief-stricken mother.

Penny from heaven by Holm, Jennifer L  — Yearling, c2006 p2007--Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.0 As she turns twelve during the summer of 1953, Penny gains new insights into herself and her family while also learning a secret about her father's death.

Season of secrets by Nicholls, Sally — Arthur A. Levine Books, c2009 p20110-Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.0 Sent by their father to live in the country with their grandparents after the sudden death of their mother, Molly's older sister Hannah expresses her grief in a raging rebellion while imaginative Molly finds herself increasingly distracted by visions, that seemingly only she can see, of a strange hunt in the nearby forest.

The Thing About Jellyfish --a novel by Benjamin, Ali — Little, Brown and Company, 2015--Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.3 Twelve-year-old Suzy Swanson wades through her intense grief over the loss of her best friend by investigating the rare jellyfish she is convinced was responsible for her friend's death.

Summer of the gypsy moths by Pennypacker, Sara — Balzer + Bray, 2013--Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.4 A foster child named Angel and twelve-year-old Stella, who are living with Stella's great-aunt Louise at the Linger Longer Cottage Colony on Cape Cod, secretly assume responsibility for the vacation rentals when Louise unexpectedly dies and the girls are afraid of being returned to the foster care system.

Skeleton tree by Ventrella, Kim r — Scholastic Press, 2017. 813; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.5. The day twelve-year-old Stanly finds a finger bone growing into a skeleton in his yard everything changes--his seven-year-old sister Miren adopts the skeleton, which only children can see, as a friend and playmate, and as her health continues to deteriorate Stanly blames the skeleton and tries to drive it away, although it is the only thing that seems to give Miren any joy.

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