Month: January 2024

ALAN Picks: Helping Teens Explore the Topic of Identity

This month’s ALAN Picks features books that explore identity in teenage lives from several different angles. Messy Roots by Laura Gao is a graphic memoir that explores cultural identity. Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix by Anna-Marie McLemore reimagines Nick as a Trans Latine boy who is cousin to Daisy who is passing as white. Dear Martin by Nic Stone explores role models, racism and self-identity. 

Looking For Teen Reviewers: If you know students who are interested in writing book reviews of recently published young adult and middle grade books, let them know they can write for ALAN Picks too! 

ALAN Picks Book Selections: ALAN Picks accepts reviews of books published from spring 2020 to present-day, including soon-to-be-released books. This gives ALAN members who are interested in reviewing books more great titles to choose from, as well as accommodate some great books released during the beginning of the pandemic that still deserve highlighting. If you have some books in mind that you would like to review, please reach out to me!

Let Us Know How You Use ALAN Picks! If you read an ALAN Picks review and end up using the book with your students, let us know! We want to hear all of your great stories and engaging ways you are using young adult and middle grades literature in your classrooms. Remember, ALAN Picks are book reviews by educators for educators! Click on the archives to see previous editions.

Submit a Review: Would you like to submit a review? Check out ALAN Picks for submission guidelines and email ALAN Picks Editor, Richetta Tooley at richetta.tooley@gmail.com with the book title you are interested in reviewing. Rolling deadline.

–  Richetta Tooley, ALAN Picks Editor

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Synopsis: Messy Roots is a heartfelt graphic memoir that follows the story of Laura Gao, a Chinese American woman who grows up in a predominantly white community in the United States. Through a series of vividly rendered anecdotes, Gao recounts the challenges and joys of navigating a bicultural identity, and the ways in which our families, communities, and histories shape who we are. Gao’s struggles to reconcile her Chinese heritage with the expectations of her American peers, and the racism she experienced as a result of her Asian appearance. Despite these difficulties, Gao celebrates the richness and complexity of her heritage, weaving in stories of her family’s history and traditions throughout the book.

Review:

Gao’s story is both heart-warming and heart-wrenching, as she describes the challenges of reconciling her Chinese heritage with the expectations of her American peers. Her experiences of racism and discrimination are particularly moving, as she describes the pain of being judged based on her appearance and cultural background. Yet, despite these difficulties, Gao celebrates the richness and beauty of her heritage, weaving in stories of her family’s history and traditions throughout the book. One of the things that sets Messy Roots apart is Gao’s honesty and vulnerability in sharing her story. She does not shy away from the messy and difficult aspects of her experiences, but instead embraces them as an essential part of her identity. This authenticity makes the book both relatable and inspiring, as Gao’s journey towards self-discovery and self-acceptance serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of embracing our own messy roots. In addition to its emotional depth, Messy Roots is also visually stunning. Gao’s illustrations are both detailed and expressive, bringing her story to life in a way that words alone could not. From the subtle expressions on her characters’ faces to the intricate patterns on their clothing, every panel is a work of art that enhances the emotional impact of the story.

Suggestions for Curriculum & Classroom Use

Thematic Analysis: This book has many different ideas and themes. Many of these themes can hit home for many students and can help students become better people not only for themselves, but the other people around them. Teachers can discuss these themes in class and how to be better people. The themes that are most important are the following:

Essential Questions

• Why is family important, and how can your heritage/childhood help you as a person today?
• How can we feel more self-worth about ourselves?
• In understanding how we are as people, it is important to understand other perspectives (race, gender, sexual preference)?

Teaching Strategies:

Because Laura struggled to find who she is, the teachers could help students try and find out who they are, and for the students to learn about themselves. The following are a few examples of things teachers could do and how it can connect to the novel.

Check ins: Because Laura had to find her way on her own and figure out what she wanted in life, teachers can post mini-surveys with questions like “how are you doing?” or “if you’re comfortable, share something this week that was hard for you.” If students are open enough, the teacher can connect patterns of problems (bullying, family issues) into the book.

Dear Parents: Students can write a letter to their parents at the start of the book, and then write another letter towards the end, and students begin to learn from the book. From there, probably towards the end of the semester, students will get their letters back and reflect. Then, the students compare how their experiences are similar to Laura’s.

Respect: Students can learn proper pronoun usage for LGBTQ+ people and how certain words can come off as offensive or racist. Students can learn the impact of these hurtful words from comparing real life scenarios to the book.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: Students can be placed in different book groups that focus on the themes of the book, which are listed above (every theme listed does not have to be a group). These groups will see how these themes are relevant in the book and how they expand throughout the novel. Students then can make a presentation explaining these themes.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT: Students can create a short essay highlighting ideas in the book, and compare it to the book and the real world. Example: a student compares the bullying Laura experienced to bullying in high school/college. 

OR

Students can create a project based around the book. This can consist of: a comic book about something in the book that the student can relate to. For example, a student creates a comic book about their experience with bullying. Another project could be a video about their life following one of the themes in the book (these projects can be optional to show to the class, as some might be personal).

Reviewed by: Jack Durant, Student at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.

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Synopsis: In 1920s New York, seventeen-year-old Latino trans boy Nicolás “Nick Carraway” Carraveo has just moved from rural Wisconsin to the opulent neighborhood of West Egg to pursue a job and help his family. When he arrives, he’s shocked to find that his cousin, Daisy Fabrega, is living as white debutante Daisy Fay; and her fiance, Tom Buchanan, believes Nicolás and Daisy to be unrelated. As Nicolás comes to terms with the double life his sister has been living, he becomes increasingly entwined with his neighbor–and, he will later learn, fellow ‘self-made boy’–Jay Gatsby, whose extravagant parties and interest in Nicolás’ cousin both intrigue and bewilder him.

Review

Anna-Marie McLemore’s Self-Made Boys brings new life into F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic, The Great Gatsby, by adding new dimensions of race, gender, and sexuality. McLemore’s novel complicates the idea of the American Dream by showing how holding marginalized identity affects people’s ability to achieve it. And though it addresses heavy topics such as queerphobia, classism, racism, and colorism–and does so well–at its core, Self-Made Boys is a beautiful expression of queer joy and a lens into queer culture in the 1920s. Tender, funny, and heartbreaking in turns, McLemore’s novel both brings The Great Gatsby to a new generation of readers and offers a recontextualization that lovers of the classic Fitzgerald novel can still enjoy.

Suggestions for Curriculum & Classroom Use

Themes for Analysis:

Essential Questions:

• What does it mean to ‘perform’ an identity like race, class, sexuality or gender?
• What is the American Dream? Who is it meant to be ‘for’?
• What does it mean to be ‘self-made’?
• How can marginalized authors use literary retellings to disrupt dominant narratives? 

Teaching Strategies and Activities to Use:

• Discussion and research into the Jazz Age, the American Dream, queer history, and Latine history
• Reading The Great Gatsby (in part or in full) either before or in conjunction with Self-Made Boys; discussion of the similarities and differences in the two works.
• Discussions of colorism, microaggressions, and ‘passing’
• Engagement with the tradition of literary retellings and literary revisionism

Formative assessments:

• Students write questions they have about the text on index cards which are redistributed randomly to other students, who discuss these questions. Instructors can pull index cards randomly and pose questions to the whole class or ask for students to volunteer their questions.
• Weekly response to the reading where students provide key passages they thought important and explain them–these can be kept in a journal, discussed in class, or submitted on an online form.
• Use a website like poll everywhere to create a word cloud of major themes with the class and discuss the most prominent ones that come up.

Summative assessments:

• Jigsaw activity where students are split into groups and asked to focus on one of the previously mentioned themes, highlighting quotes/passages that they believe relate to these themes and explaining their reasoning. 
• Students choose one character from the novel whose identities to examine (class, gender, race, sexuality, age) and create a project (presentation, essay, etc) that explores how these identities impact them in the book
• Students can participate in literary retelling by reimagining a character or plot point in Self-Made Boys and either writing an essay or creating their own scene exploring how this would impact the story.

Complementary texts:

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Any text in Feiwel and Friends’ Remixed Classics series, for further discussions on literary revisionism

Reviewed by: Andy Parker, student at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado.

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Synopsis: Dear Martin is a powerful young adolescent novel that explores the power of writing and having strong role models and relationships through the hardships the main character, Justyce McAllister encounters. As Justyce enters his senior year at a prestigious high school, he encounters racial profiling and microaggressions. Through these experiences Justyce turns to a historical figure, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for guidance on navigating racially charged incidents. Through his letters to King, Justyce self-reflects and finds strength to face challenges by critically thinking about many of the hardships King encountered during the Civil Rights Movement. 

Review

Through powerful reflections in his letter writing, the main character grapples with self identity and sense of purpose despite uncontrollable outside influences. Stone skillfully draws upon historical events, while depicting realistic current events to highlight the struggles that many Black youth still face in America today. The highlighting of parallel experiences between Justyce and King urges readers to critically examine the world around them and explore how to make social change possible.

Suggestions for Curriculum & Classroom Use

Themes:

• Themes:
• Systemic Racism
• Police Brutality
• Justice/Injustice
• Identity 
• Implicit Bias

Essential Questions:

• What is the true meaning of justice, and how do we achieve justice?
• What are the effects of implicit biases and how do we address them?
• How do outside influences such as community, friends and family, and culture intersect and potentially influence our personal identity development?
• How can we look to the past to help better understand and potentially resolve current issues?

Teaching Strategies:

This text provides rich opportunities to engage in reflective practices and writing opportunities, while cultivating a greater understanding of identity and overall being. As Muhammad (2020), encourages, this unit is grounded in identity exploration. While reading the text, students can engage in their own critical self-reflection through engaging in journaling practices. Through journaling exercises that are connected to the reading, students can be encouraged to reflect on their own experiences as they relate or contrast with those of the main character, encouraged to identify a positive role model in their life, and explore social justice issues present in their everyday lives. 

Formative and Summative Assessments:

• Reader response journaling
• “I am From” Poem writing 
• Role model identification and letter writing
• Social justice issue research project

Reviewed by: Shaylyn Marks, an Assistant Professor in Teacher Education at California State University, Bakersfield.