ALAN Picks (February 2024)

ALAN Picks: Celebrating and Exploring Black Experiences

This month’s ALAN Picks features books that explore the diversity of Black experiences in America. Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds and artwork by Jason Griffin is a three-sentence book accompanied by powerful images that reflects on the isolation many of us felt in 2020. Friday I’m In Love by Camryn Garrett tells the story of a Black queer teen who wants to host her own coming out party in place of the sweet sixteen she never received. This is My America by Kim Johnson follows a young girl who is fighting to get her brother cleared of a crime he has been falsely accused of while confronting the racism rooted in her community. In Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay by Kelly McWilliams, a teen fights back against the attempts of a new neighbor using social media to romanticize and glorify southern plantations despite their dark history.

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: Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds is an easy-to-read book set in 2020. The protagonist is a young person who feels the fear and confusion in his environment surrounding the events of 2020 including COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement surrounding George Floyd. The book is a poetic piece with a lot of artwork that allows readers to make their own connections to the events of 2020. 

Review:

I personally enjoyed this book as a short read. It captured a lot of the feelings I had during 2020 especially regarding the fear and confusion. 2020 was a very isolating time for everyone and Reynolds did an excellent job of capturing this. The use of cutout words and the artwork really helped to tie the central theme of 2020 together. There was a heavy reliance on the media during 2020 and the use of the author’s own media to tell his own story was reminiscent of that time period. Overall, this was a very captivating and easy to follow story. 

Suggestions for Curriculum & Classroom Use

Thematic Connections /Essential Questions:

• Strategy of using multimedia art with poetry:
  • Does it distract from the general theme?
    • To what extent is the art distracting?
    • In what ways can the art change the understanding of the theme?
    • Are there any points that the art may even challenge the theme?
  • Does it support the general theme?
    • To what extent does the art support the main point of the chapters?
    • In what ways does the art support the theme?
    • Are there any points when the theme is more easily understandable with the art?

Teaching Strategies:

• Using magazines or newspapers to collage a new form of this book relating to something the student feels strongly about to help understand the use of multiple forms of art (multimedia art combined with poetry in this case). Students will be given in-class time and optionally home time to complete the assignment. There should be a focus on creating formative poetry first with an easily identifiable theme or lesson. The students should not worry about the layout of the poem during this first period. Once the poem is constructed, then students can decorate a page or a few pages using multimedia art to support the main themes/messages of the stanzas or whole poem. 
• Writing small poems to try to convey a central point (like haikus) would also be a relevant teaching strategy for younger students. This would help younger students to be able to holistically focus on the poetry aspect without adding the complexity of multimedia art. If this is easily grasped by students, then the above strategy would be helpful for keeping engagement high.

Summative Assessments

• Understanding of central theme
  • Students can be asked to analyze the theme of Ain’t Burned All the Bright either through a class discussion or through personal essays for more advanced students. Students should be able to make the connection to Covid-19 and the BLM movement; any other minor themes should be addressed with evidence from the book. 
• Using context clues found in the art to support central theme
  • Students can be split into small groups and asked to analyze a few pages from the book and address the essential questions above. This will likely lead to a lot of discussion regarding interpretation of the art and the theme. Students should be careful not to focus too much on the artwork and should keep the general theme in mind. Evidence from the book should be used when addressing how the art affects the central themes. Alternatively, this could also be done individually in the form of an essay.

Reviewed by: Michaela, Student at Purdue University West Lafayette, IN.

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Synopsis: Mahalia’s sixteenth birthday has already passed and she never got the movie-esque sweet sixteen of which she had always dreamed. After her best friend’s sweet sixteen and an encounter with a new student from Ireland named Siobhan, Mahalia decides she is going to make her own party happen: a coming out party (and hopefully she will get to be there with the pretty new girl)! With attempting to plan and pay for her own party, working through strong emotions, on top of Junior year stressors like the SATs, college and scholarship applications, and ignorance of those around her, Mahalia experiences the hardships of finances, life balance, relationships, identity, and being in high school all at once.

Review

Garrett’s writing feels like reading scenes straight out of a modern teen dramedy, from the screen to the pages! Mahalia’s story explores the hardships of struggling financially and needing to help family, while still being true to the desires of what people want to do, especially when things seem unfeasible. Garrett shows readers the microaggressions Black students may face in school, from ignorant classmates to white savior teachers, yet she never makes the story feel like one of misery, but rather one of Black joy, queer joy, and self-love! With a deeply realistic feeling of youthful thought processes and the real struggles that come from the identities we hold, Garrett has written a novel readers can connect to instantly and read through before they know it’s done.

Suggestions for Curriculum & Classroom Use

Thematic Elements: The novel features many themes throughout that students can analyze and discuss in various ways throughout the novel.

Essential Questions:

• What is a way you can celebrate your identities?
• How does intersectionality affect identities?
• How does socioeconomic standing affect goals and goal planning?
• In what ways can we attempt to understand perspectives different from our own?
• Why should we take varying perspectives into account when interacting with people, both those we are close to and not?

Teaching Strategies and Activities to Use:

• The story is blooming with identities and an honest perspective on experiences, which gives teachers the opportunity to have students participate in self reflection on their experiences with diverse views, perspectives, and identities and work on critical thinking skills when faced with new or even old challenges that arise.
• Positionality is also a large theme in the novel. Teachers can provide further information on the concepts of positionality and use activities like short prompt writing to have students think about ways in which positionality can affect reaction and action in various scenarios.
• Teachers can also ask students to create character summaries/maps as a way to develop deep reading skills. Focusing on one character, whether it be the protagonist or any side characters, teaches students to pay close attention to how characters change or interact throughout the course of the story and have dimension beyond their obvious traits.

Formative and Summative Assessments:

Formative Assessments:

• Students can make a creative assignment that has the student identify their identities and how those identities shape their perspective in challenges they have faced or may face in the future.
• Students can create a one page “plan” on how they intend to celebrate who they are, just as Mahalia creates her budget plan for her party. This can be done like Mahalia, with a budget for items one would desire for an event to celebrate themselves and their identities, with an attached plan of action on how they would achieve obtaining the items for said celebration, OR students can create their own “plan” on how to celebrate who they are in a way they propose and get approved by the teacher.

Summative Assessment:

• Students can write a literary analysis, stating how they feel the novel is representative of their actual modern youth experiences. This essay must include at least three different, direct moments in the story for their analysis and be compared to their real life experiences.

Reviewed by: Ian Horn, Undergraduate English Education student at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.

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Synopsis: This Is My America is centered on the Beaumont family, who is forever changed seven years prior when the father James Beaumont was wrongfully convicted and held on death row for a double homicide. Tracy Beaumont, a journalist for her school’s paper, dedicates her life to seeking justice for her father. While Tracy is fighting for the freedom of her father, her brother Jamal is accused of killing Angela Herron, head of the school paper and secret lover of Jamal. Tracy refuses to believe her brother could have had any involvement with the murder so she seeks to find the truth. In the midst of fighting for the fate of her family, she discovers the roots of white nationalism and racism in her community which has made her brother, Jamal, its latest target.

Review

This is My America is a compelling read that tackles the critical issues of our time. The author, Kim Johnson focuses on the protagonist, Tracy Beaumont who passionately fights to save the lives of her family. This novel is an emotional roller coaster that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Generational cycles of racism, the effects of systemic racism on justice, and incarceration are all prominent themes explored throughout the novel. From her first-person perspective, readers will go on a journey with Tracy and watch the effects of her father’s incarceration on her and her family.

Suggestions for Curriculum & Classroom Use

Thematic Connections:

• Incarceration and its effects on families 
• Systemic and Interpersonal racism 
• The generational cycle of racism

Essential Questions:

• Within the world of the text, what role do generational belief systems play in upholding racist ideologies?
• How do systemic and interpersonal forms of racism affect the execution of justice in the text?
• How does each family member cope with James’ incarceration? And how does this illustrate the effects incarceration has on families?

Engagement Activities:

• Have students create a mini art project depicting a main theme, or scene from the book
• Students must be creative and think outside the box 
• Example depictions: poem, song, diorama, video, choreography, drawing, painting, comic strip, etc.

Formative and Summative Assessments:

Formative: 

• Each student can have a weekly journal entry, answering questions that pertain to each week’s reading
  • Ex: How does author Kim Johnson use real-world events and injustices to shape the events and themes of This Is My America?

Summative: 

• Once students have finished reading the book, they choose a prominent theme expressed within the theme. Students then should construct an essay that supports the chosen theme.

Reviewed by: Alazah Goodloe, Student, West Lafayette, IN.

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Synopsis: Set in the present-day southern United States, protagonist Harriet Douglas educates her characters and readers on the atrocity of romanticizing the Antebellum South. As a tour guide at Westwood, an enslaved museum on former plantation grounds, she is passionate in educating the guests on the inhumane and unjust realities that have been lost, distorted, or obscured. Sometimes purposefully through the narratives written by predominantly White historians. Harriet soon discovers that the neighboring Belle Grove plantation has been purchased by an actress with a teenage influencer daughter. The purpose for which is to rent out the ‘big house’ for high profile and luxurious celebratory events such as weddings and proms. It becomes Harriett’s mission to educate people on the violent, horrifying history of plantations, and advocating that they instead be turned into enslavement museums through her social media posts. Throughout her activism, Harriett also has to grapple with the grief of her mother’s death, her father’s respectability politics, and the betrayal of friends. 

Review

Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay is a compelling novel that provides a tight, engrossing storyline on America’s distorted, messy, and ugly history of enslaved people and how relics of the past-not just in the South, are open wounds that must be addressed for healing to begin. This is a must-read for continued learning and discussion in order to further grow empathy and understanding, and to encourage a better, more cohesive civil society. Systemic racism is addressed through the negligent medical treatment her mother received while battling cancer. Microaggressions are also woven throughout, especially in the instance of Harriet’s treatment by a thoughtless White male teacher. She also has to navigate in a world where the beliefs and ideals of the older generation often clash with those of the younger generation. Her father’s respectability politics and pacifist behavior, especially for the sake of Harriet getting into a prestigious university, is a point of contention woven throughout. His way of dealing with pivotal situations grates against her activist approaches. From the onset of the text, the reader witnesses (and often feels) Harriet’s righteous energy and visceral emotions due to America’s past as well as what still needs to be addressed. She is an advocate whose drive and advocacy strengthens as the story unfolds, helping to bring awareness and a call for change.

Suggestions for Curriculum & Classroom Use

Thematic Analysis Topics:

Essential Questions:

• How do our parents or guardians impact how we interact with the world? How do our parents or guardians impact our future? 
• How do our parents or guardians impact how we see ourselves? 
• How does our culture impact one of the aforementioned questions? 
• In texts, it is common for characters to have a desire to escape. They believe that by moving away from where they are living, their life will suddenly change for the better. What are your thoughts on this? 
• After reading the text, what information, knowledge, and insight did you gain? What factual information did you find to be the most compelling? 
• What would you like to know more about? 
• In Wes Moore’s book, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates (2011), he states that “Fighting for your convictions is important, but finding peace is paramount. Knowing when to fight and when to seek peace is wisdom” (168). Thinking about his statement and applying this to Harriet, what thoughts do you have? 

Teaching Activities:

• Prior to reading the book, alert students that they will be creating a blackout poem. While annotating they need to also mark any page(s) for the blackout poem assignment. Students will find and take virtual tours of enslaved museums and plantations, comparing and contrasting the information that is shared-specifically when it comes to enslaved people and the enslavers. What information overlapped from the text and what information was new? 
• As an extension of the factual information shared in the text, students will select an area to research for further understanding, while also bringing awareness to the continued use of systems of oppression. *Suggested topics: forced labor including picking cotton in Angola prison, America’s prison system, plantation tours and events, how enslaved people built and contributed to America and if and how they are credited. 

Formative Assessment Suggestions:

• Literature Groups. In preparation of discussion, annotate the text. When annotating, also include factual information Harriett shares, Harriett’s character evolution, and Harriett’s desire to move up North where she believes she will be mentally healthier once she leaves the South.
• Based on current issues and events, discuss how Harriett’s dad handled the altercation between Harriett and her teacher and argue for or against his approach. 

Summative Assessment Suggestions:

• Analyze and discuss the differences between Harriett’s relationship and Layla’s relationship with their mothers. 
• Harriett was asked to write an apology letter to her teacher. Instead of writing an apology letter, write an informational letter to her teacher, educating and informing him of how he was insensitive to the situation. Or write a letter to the editor of Harriett’s local paper on why holding a prom at a plantation is not okay. 
• Argue for or against Harriet’s final decision on what she chose to do after her senior year of high school. 

Compatible Texts:

• Kindred by Octavia E. Butler 
• “at the cemetery, walnut grove plantation, south carolina, 1989” by Lucille Clifton

Reviewed by: Natalie Zook is an 8th grade English Language Arts teacher at Ladue Middle School in Ladue, Missouri. She is a certified reading specialist (K-12) who earned her M.S. Ed. in Reading from Illinois State University, and she is currently earning her M.Ed. in English Education from the University of Missouri-Columbia.