As recently as 2000, only ten percent of books for young people in the United States were about people of color, and only five percent were written by people of color. Angie Thomas, author of the groundbreaking The Hate U Give, openly chastises publishing companies for failing young readers for generations by not representing diverse stories and diverse characters in literature for teens. She asserts that the stereotypical notion that students of color are not readers is simply false. They want to read and they love to read, but they don’t want to read books without appeal or relevance to their lives. The popularity of books such as The Hate U Give and The Poet X is shining a light on this need.
My Project
Our library has founded a new book club focused on diverse characters and settings. This initiative hopes to attract students of color to books that appeal to them, but we also anticipate it will appeal to readers from all backgrounds. We will seek to select books that challenge readers to empathize with others by gaining an understanding of their experiences through stories.
Jason Reynolds, whose books have won national awards and whose voice is vital to this growing movement to engage minority readers, says that all he wants “kids to know is that I see them for who they are and not who everyone thinks they are.” We feel the same, and we hope to form deeper connections with students.
We want to help students across all subgroups see one another more clearly and with more understanding.
Each month, students will read and discuss a different title, but we need enough copies to maximize the number of students who can participate.
In October, students will be be reading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. Our reading of The Hate U Give will correspond with the premiere of the film. Our November title, The Poet X, is a stunning narrative in which a young Latina uses poetry to find her voice and her place.
We will select a new book for each month of the school year. These titles are for our first trimester.
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