Listen to the episode by clicking the link to your preferred podcast platform below:
In this episode, I’m sharing the K-12 book list from one of my favorite podcasts, Pod Save the People. Each year, they share their book recommendations for their Blackest Book Club on the podcast. This list is fantastic and they also have a dedicated section to books written for K-12 audiences. I’m talking about those today, but I highly recommend getting the full list here (and of course, subscribing to their amazing podcast).
Why? Here’s an image from the Cooperative Children's Book Center summarizing statistics about the racial diversity of the authors, characters, and contents of childrens’ books in 2022. (Note that there are fewer books with BIPOC main characters than with main characters who are animals.) 
Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop explains, “When children cannot find themselves reflected in the books they read, or when the images they see are distorted, negative, or laughable, they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society of which they are a part.” A lack of racial representation in books also harms white children as it distorts their understanding of the world and impairs their ability to learn from and be in community with racially diverse people.
What are the books? Books for Grades K-2:
Books for Grades 3-5:
Books for Grades 6-8:
Books for Grades 9-12:
Final Tip Once you fall in love with one (or more!) of these books, brainstorm ways to put it into your curriculum. If you need help structuring your ideas into a unit, check out the resource linked below. To help you jump start your thinking on how to design a unit around one of these books, I’m sharing my Unit Dreaming Outline Template with you for free. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 169 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript below. TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Educational justice coach Lindsay Lyons, and here on the time for Teacher podcast, we learn how to inspire educational innovation for racial and gender justice design curricula grounded in student voice and build capacity for shared leadership. I'm a former teacher leader turned instructional coach. I'm striving to live a life full of learning, running, baking, traveling, and parenting because we can be rockstar educators and be full human beings if you're a principal assistant superintendent, curriculum director, instructional coach or teacher who enjoys nering out about core curriculum of students. I made this show for you. Here we go. Hello, everyone and welcome to another episode of the Time for Teachers podcast. This is episode 169 and we are talking about book recommendations from the host of my favorite podcast or one of my favorites. I have a few, but this is definitely a weekly lesson pod. Save the people. Look at that. You got a podcast recommendation and you're gonna get a bunch of book recommendations. Here we go. In this episode, I am sharing the K 12 book list. So it's a section of a larger book list from the podcast pod. 00:01:05Edit Save the people each year they share book recommendations for their Blackest Book club on the podcast. I'm gonna link to this in the show notes as well because you're gonna want to subscribe to the podcast. You're gonna want to get the full blackest book club list. The list is absolutely fantastic. And they have a dedicated section to books written for K 12 audiences, which I'll talk about today. I also may weave in some others because it was really good. But I highly recommend doing all the things to get directly to those resources. So why are we talking about this specifically? Why are we bringing in the Black As Blackest Book Club list? It is because you may already be aware. But if you're not, let me tell you the lack of racial diversity and representation in particularly children's books is abysmal. Um It has gotten slightly better over the years. The co-operative Children's Book Center summarizes their statistics of books they publish each year. Their most recent one is based on 2022. That's what's accessible online. I will share one of their visual representations and their graphics on the pod, the podcast episode blog post. 00:02:08Edit That's gonna be at Lindsay, Beth lions.com/blog/one 69. If you're interested in following along or accessing that later. One of the things that we want to be aware of um the things that they track when we're looking at books and thinking about the publishing industry and whose books and whose voices are represented. There are all sorts of data points on here. One of which being the racial diversity and ethnic diversity of the authors, also the characters, the main characters, particularly as well as the content areas that relate to race and ethnicity. So one of the big things that has been highlighted as stuff like this has been published in wider media spaces and shared online is that for example, there are fewer books with bi apo main characters than with main characters who are animals. The representation racially and ethnically is abysmal and it needs to be better. And so the voices and the stories that exist have been published should be more centralized in our curricula. 00:03:13Edit And I've talked about this a lot on the podcast. So we are censoring these recommendations and I'm really excited to help you build units and lessons and instruction around these recommendations. So feel free to peruse all of that data online. Another piece of this, like the kind of the why of why we're doing this, Doctor Rine Sims Bishop, who I've referenced before on the podcast talks a lot about windows, mirrors and sliding glass doors. And she says, quote, when Children cannot find themselves reflected in the books they read or when the images they see are distorted, negative or laughable, they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society of which they are a part end quote. And so we need diverse books censors this quote from Doctor Sims in their website because that's, that's all of what they do. I'd love to get those books on the podcast as well working on it. Uh But they also talk about how, you know, a lack of racial representation in books, really does harm white Children as well. It distorts their understanding of the world. It impairs their ability to learn from and be in community with racially diverse people. 00:04:18Edit Um Doctor Shree Bridges Patrick often talks about like the racial injustice and white supremacy being like a, a kind of a, a soul harm. And I think we, we initially, I think of doctor um Patrick like as, as thinking about this work because that's what we collaborate on together. But I believe initially that comes from res meum. So when we think about, you know, the value and the fact that a lot of the books in our traditional curricula probably follow the publishing industry data, they underrepresent um by authors, characters, content areas. And so we're looking at these books today, these are referenced by grade band. So initially, uh we're gonna start with K two and then we're gonna move on up from there. So books for K 280 twist Scientist, I just recently read this upon this recommendation. It is by Andrew Beatty. It is also a Netflix series I learned in my research for this episode. Incredible. It is short. It is sweet. I liked it, even for my two year old, I think it's really good. 00:05:23Edit It is perfect for Children. Right. It's about curiosity and asking questions and investigating and just like all sorts of beautiful kid energy. Right? Um Such a good one. The next one in this great band of K two I have not read. I'm gonna assume that it's more for like maybe your 1st, 2nd grade, like slightly older. Um, I, but I don't know because I haven't read it. So this is called sit in how four friends stood up by sitting down by Andrea Davis Pinkney. And mhm. I can imagine so many instructional units, um particularly on social studies, but also anything related to sel related to um the act of supporting community and being a community member, which is really popular. KP two. I think this would be huge books for grades three through five. I am smart. I am blessed. I can do anything by Alyssa Holder and Zika Holder Young who I learned in my research are sisters, which is super cool. 00:06:30Edit Um This is about Ian and Ian has woken up on the wrong side of the bed where nothing quite feels right. Um What if he doesn't know an answer at school? We messed this up. But it just takes a few reminders from his mom and some friends that day to remind him that a new day is a good day because he's smart. He's lost and he can do anything. So a really nice positive message can situate itself in sel context. It can I think be, be something that integrates into any content area could also be used for like an el a course um or classroom. The next one is the 1619 project born on the water. So we have this book, uh this is by Nicole Hannah Jones and Renee Watson. You may already know as well as a podcast series and a hulu mini documentary series. So I think there's a lot of content there for the like educator. So you can do a lot of learning. And then this is like the student accessible book, I will say for Massachusetts, for example, fifth grade is a US history content focus. 00:07:35Edit Um I believe that's the same for New York State as well. Those are the states that I'm most familiar with. So I do think that it fits nicely in fifth grade. It also is hard content. So I do think you wanna prepare our students for it and it's important to talk with students about it. I think it's, it's um a wonderful companion to either a social studies unit or an el a unit that is happening simultaneously. If you are not the teacher of both that happened simultaneously and in conjunction with uh a unit on um enslavement on the founding of the United States of kind of that time period um that genre of, of conversations. So really the 1619 project just in case anyone's unfamiliar with it. Um It chronicles the consequences of slavery in the history of Black resistance in the United States. So I think that span again of thinking of investigating history, which is uh Massachusetts state recommended curriculum now for fifth grade, uh social studies. 00:08:39Edit And there is a unit that is about slavery and resistance. And then there's also uh like that's like unit two, I think of the year. So like quarter two and then quarter four is civil rights movement and resistance in that lens. So it would be a nice uh thread of resistance throughout. Um to kind of like if you, if your curriculum is following the arc of um oppression resistance. Now, I I also want to just like just add a thought in here. Um that a lot of the work I've been doing in the work with social studies. Teachers in particular has been to kind of problem size, the oppression resistance dynamic. Um And really thinking about those things certainly because we need to talk about them, right? We need to learn a factual history, but also thinking about centering healing and the healing piece being the piece that even as adults, we haven't found yet. And so thinking about this is an important component of perhaps designing a unit around. 00:09:43Edit This is like, where do we go from here? With this information? It is challenging to sit with, I think for all audiences nuanced, of course, for different audiences of students based on their racial identities and experiences. But I think that it also is from an instructional lens helpful to think about what do we do in the last and after or in the discussion following reading this book. So just kind of some consideration there. Uh I don't have time to go into an entire piece in one episode. Maybe that will be a separate episode. But I think that is something I would be aware of as I'm planning unit. Hello, this is Leah coming in to talk about today's freebie. And if you listen to the show, you know, a lot about unit dreaming, so be sure to get the unit dreaming outline template at www dot Lindsay, Beth lines.com/one 69, enjoy. Ok. The next grade band is grades six through eight. So we have the Harlem Hell Fighters by Max Brooks. I have not read this book. Um But this is a term that the Germans called um uh US Army unit, um that was fighting to make America what was safe for democracy in the description. 00:10:58Edit So thinking, I think I'm I'm assuming here that this book goes into a lot of this idea of fighting for democracy and freedom across the water right across the Atlantic in Europe and the treatment of black soldiers as they come back to the United States following service. And that kind of like, um disparity of like, hey, we're supposed to be fighting for this thing and we're supposed to be fighting for freedom and like, look at it not represented here. Like I literally put my leg up on the line for this country and this country is treating me in this way. So I think there's uh a lot of interesting racial justice components to explore here. Um But again, I haven't read the full book, so I'm thinking that this could live in again, a social studies unit, an el A unit, um an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary space. For sure. The next one I read upon recommendation of, of getting this book list. So it's called My Life As An Ice Cream Sandwich by the boy. I actually listen to this audio book which is read by the author. It was absolutely fantastic. 00:12:03Edit I just want to experience all the things that s boy has to offer. It was so good. Um So this is a 12 year old black girl, Ebony Grace Norfleet, that's her name. And so she actually grew up with her grandfather and her mom in Huntsville, Alabama. But then she moved for a summer to spend time with her dad because something was going on with her grandfather. And so her grandfather is actually one of the first black engineers to integrate NASA. So her and her grandfather have had this dynamic of kind of like thinking about space and kind of pretending or at least the grandfather, you know, thinks that pretending, um, he calls it her imagination location, uh, which is kind of this pretend space of imagining that she is, um, you know, I, I person who is in space and, uh, cadet starkly I believe is what she calls herself. 00:13:10Edit Um, and so she, she brings that into a lot of spaces. This is kind of used as a, um, a, a mechanism for coping when things get really hard she's picked on in Harlem. Um She's, the book does not say this or address this pointedly, but it's kind of, I think it, there's kind of an inference being made that socially, she is probably not um on interacting socially in the same way that her peers are. And so one could imagine she is like on the autism spectrum or exhibiting behavior that someone on the spectrum maybe exhibit. So there's kind of like that dimension as well and it's, it's, it's such a good book like it is, it's really good, it is longer. So I, I definitely see why it's in the middle grades um and not, you know, an earlier elementary um grade which the content might be OK for. But I think the uh length is definitely, you know, this might be like an el a book that you, that you would explore. 00:14:13Edit Um I do think that there are opportunities for an interdisciplinary thing here with science. There is a lot of space exploration and they kind of talk a little bit about that there. But I, I actually envision this as like a transdisciplinary thing um where maybe they're reading the book in EL A but there are definitely components and extensions that you could use as different points in the books, could jump off into science lessons and then different points in the book, jump off into social studies lessons. I think that could be really, really cool. Um Maybe even math, there were a couple like potentially math adjacent things or things that you could certainly pull in if you wanted to do a full transdisciplinary thing um as well as like some design or engineering things, for sure, for sure. Ok, let's get to the grades nine through 12 books. So in these books, I have read both of them, I read Just Mercy. I've read the adult version. This is an adapted for young adults version. They're recommending phenomenal book by Bryan Stevenson. It's also a movie I think currently as of this recording, it's only accessible on Amazon Prime or other like paid options, but I have not seen the movie. 00:15:16Edit Um It is really good. It is a glimpse into the justice system. So Bryan Stevenson is an acclaimed lawyer and social justice advocate and really talks about, you know, folks who have been wrongfully imprisoned, um what his efforts have been to kind of get justice and fight for the release. Um Just I think a really good commentary on our our justice system or injustice system. And I think the fact that it, there's a movie with that as well, I think could be a really nice pairing and el a social studies potentially. Uh But I also think there's a lot of opportunity here for digging into like the mathematical statistics of justice and uh things that maybe wouldn't be immediately recognizable, the subjects you'd want to bring in, but definitely potential for with, of course, a lot of thought and planning um an opportunity to dig into that. And then finally, uh 12th, ninth through 12th grade book, which I know my, our 12th graders when I was teaching in the last school, I taught that they read this in 12th grade as part of their 12th grade portfolio project in their el A class. 00:16:22Edit But as a social studies teacher I was invited to or a person with social studies background and literacy background was invited to um give feedback on. It is Kindred by Octavia E Butler. It is also currently or was I think last year um A Hulu series. So this I think also works like I said, I've seen it done in El A in Multiple El A Spaces. I think it could also be a nice transdisciplinary opportunity um particularly with social studies being uh an opportunity to work in. Um so a little bit of time travel, I do love Octavia Butler so much. There's so much you could do a whole Octavia butler units on um you know, like Black Futures and Space and sci fi and like all the things, right. So there's some time travel, if you're not familiar with the story. Um in this book, sorry, I'm getting, I'm getting all Octavia butler enough. So in this book, there is time travel. It follows Dina who lives in 1976 as a black woman who is through some sort of magic or something. 00:17:26Edit I can't remember exactly how she gets there, but she is transported to the Anti South. Uh Rufus is the white son of a plantation owner who is drowning, Dana, save him. And so it is like processing a lot about race, about um time, about a lot of these like very intense themes. Um And there is, there are, there is trauma in there as there I think are in a lot of these books. So just to be really reflective of that and intentionally design instructional experiences and discussions around that to be mindful of, of your students. OK. Those are all of the books they recommended for K 12. They also recommended some amazing other books that I think were geared for adults but are great as well. So I'm just gonna like drop a couple of these in. So like sister outsider by a Lord. Oh my goodness, what a beautiful transdisciplinary thing, but also Audrey Lord's writing for sure uh can house itself in an el a class I think. 00:18:29Edit Um but exploring so many social justice issues in there that I think could also fit really nicely in a social studies unit. Uh There's a book by Stacy Abram. They talk about our time is now really thinking about like voter suppression, economic inequality education. And I think a lot of these things fit nicely in a social studies classroom legacy. A black physician reckons with racism and medicine by Chip Blackstock. Doctor Blackstock was on the podcast, they interviewed about the book and this is the fascinating conversation. So if you listen to that podcast episode, it'll give you a little bit more. But I'm thinking there um you know, deep dive into science um particularly also a nice transitionary with perhaps um a health class with perhaps a math class would be super cool. I absolutely adore the Children of Virtue and Vengeance book and the series, Children of Blood and Bone was the first one. This is the second one. This is one of Jm Cason's picks and it is so good to ami is brilliant as described by the in the in the podcast. 00:19:31Edit She intentionally designs this black universe, right? Like this intentionally black universe and it is just one of the coolest books I've ever read. The third book comes out soon. I wanna say like this year or next year or something, I'm very excited about it. Miles recommended Trisha Hersey's Resistance, which I think on the podcast they were having a conversation relating it to like the Nap Ministry. And I just think, oh, there would be so many cool things there. I uh Henderson recommended a bunch of them including cultivating genius by Goldie Muhammad, which I absolutely love um pleasure activism by Adrian Mary Brown, which is recommended to me uh Hunger by Roxanne Gay, which is on my list. Oh Miles also recommends Bell Hooks all the time. I absolutely love about Hooks as well. This one that Miles recommended was the will to change, which I have not read, which I definitely want to. Those are the ones that I really wanted to shout out as just being awesome. Oh, Dr Allinger was the one who recommended Sister Outsider and the Stacy E rooms book. Our time is now. 00:20:33Edit So I wanted to shout out to Darra, my final call to you is that once you fall in love with one or more of these amazing books, feel free to reach out if you wanna help brainstorm some ways to put it into your curriculum, to really structure these ideas into a concrete unit. I'm going to link in the blog post for this episode. My unit dreaming outline template. This is when I did that unit dreaming series with guest. This is the outline tablet that we would use to core units in like 30 minutes live on the podcast, quote unquote live. So if you were interested, grab that for free in the blog post for this episode. That's at Lindsay, Beth lion.com/blog/one 69 and I'll catch you next time if you like this episode. I bet you'll be just as jazz as I am about my coaching program for increasing student led discussions in your school, Shane Sapper and Jamila Dugan talk about a pedagogy of student voice in their book Street Data. They say students should be talking for 75% of class time. Do students in your school talk for 75% of each class period? I would love for you to walk into any classroom in your community and see this in action. 00:21:37Edit If you're smiling to yourself as you listen right now, grab 20 minutes on my calendar. It's a brainstorm how I can help you make this big dream a reality. I'll help you build a comprehensive plan from full day trainings and discussion protocols like circle and Socratic seminar to follow up classroom visits where I can plan witness and debrief discussion based lessons with your teachers. Sign up for a nerdy no strings attached to brainstorm. Call at Lindsay, Beth lions.com/contact. Until next time, leaders think big act brave and be your best self. This podcast is a proud member of the Teach Better Podcast Network better today, better tomorrow and the podcast to get you there. Explore more podcasts at teach better.com/podcasts and we'll see you at the next episode
If you enjoyed this episode, check out my YouTube channel where you can learn about more tips and resources like this one below:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
For transcripts of episodes (and the option to search for terms in transcripts), click here!
Time for Teachership is now a proud member of the...
AuthorLindsay Lyons (she/her) is an educational justice coach who works with teachers and school leaders to inspire educational innovation for racial and gender justice, design curricula grounded in student voice, and build capacity for shared leadership. Lindsay taught in NYC public schools, holds a PhD in Leadership and Change, and is the founder of the educational blog and podcast, Time for Teachership. Archives
August 2024
Categories |
RSS Feed