YA Poetry; YA Historical Fiction: Inside Out and Back Again

Lai, T., & Lai, T. (2011). Inside out & back again. New York: Harper.

Reading level: Not levelable

Interest level: Grades 6 - 9

            

Poetry; historical fiction

I used to like making the girl

who shared my desk cry.

She tilts her head.

I know, Mother, I know, very bad.

She nods.

Now they make me cry.

Will I be punished forever?”

Written in verse in the perspective of a young Vietnamese girl, “Inside Out and Back Again” describes the trials of Mii, who must move to Alabama after Saigon falls. Like many immigrant children, Mii resents America, which is so foreign from her vibrant, beautiful home country. Mii also has a secret – she’s worried she caused the bad luck that forced them from their home country, because she touched her toe to the floor on the Vietnamese New Year, spreading her girl luck (bad) across their home before her brother’s lucky feet could bless the home. Reading this book, immediately thought of the immigrant students I’d taught in a Pasadena ISD ESL class. Most of them didn’t want to leave their home country, which was filled with their friends and the familiar. “Just wait, you’ll see.” Mii’s mother says, but waiting is unbearable for a teenager, when the days stretch on forever. “I don’t want to wait. It’s awful now.” I would recommend this book to a level 3 ESL student about to transition to general English classes – at a high level language wise, but maybe still needs some help acclimating to their new reality.

YA Historical Fiction: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Kelly, J. (2009). The evolution of Calpurnia Tate. New York: Henry Holt.

Reading level: 830L

Interest level: Grades 6 - 9

 

Calpurnia’s brothers are all named after great men, but her family's expectations for her are not so elevated - after all, this is the 19^th century, and Texas no less. She spends her days observing the world around her, trying to make sense of the things she notices. For example, during this particularly hot summer, she notices a huge increase in large, yellow grasshoppers. At first, Calpurnia believes she’s discovered a new species, but eventually she figures out that the yellow grasshoppers are a more successful variation of the same species. Determined to learn more, she requests and eventually receives a copy of “The Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin.

UT Austin Lesson Plan on "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate"

YA Historical Fiction; YA Poetry: Out of the Dust

Hesse, K. (1997). Out of the dust. New York: Scholastic Press.

Reading level: Lexile not available; DRA: 60
Interest level: Grades 3 - 8

In her sparse, straightforward verse, Hesse channels Billie Jo, a young girl living a life of constant sorrow. At the start of the book, things aren’t so bad; the crops have been failing, but Billie Jo’s family is strongly knit and her education is going well. However, a series of misfortunes make everything broken: Billie Jo’s family, her spirit, and her piano-playing hands. As we continue alongside Billie Jo as she attempts to make sense of things, we encounter people in even more desperate situations: for example, a transient family must temporarily take shelter inside Billie Jo’s school while they await the birth of another child; after the birth, they head off towards California, and the reader knows there’s no work out there for them. Throughout all these events, the dust permeates everything, becoming the antagonist in this story. This book is good enough to merit its own unit; students could also use this work to study related historical events.






PBS's Dust Bowl Informational Page
Scholastic "Out of the Dust" Lesson Plan

YA Historical Fiction: Sylvia & Aki

Conkling, W. (2011). Sylvia & Aki. Berkeley: Tricycle Press.

Reading Level: 760L

Interest Level: Grades 5 - 7

  
This book follows the lives of two girls during World War II who are outsiders in their communities. In post-Pearl Harbol California, Aki must leave her family’s farm to stay in an internment camp, because politicians declare Japanese-Americans a threat. A family leases the furnished farm, and daughter Sylvia longs to attend the gleaming public school instead of the rundown school the district has designated for all Mexicans or students of Mexican descent. Both girls struggle to find their place in a country that punishes them just for their country of ancestry. I read “Sylvia & Aki” alongside companion texts “The Japanese American Internment” and “Hiroshima No Pika.” I recommend using these girls’ story as a research jumping off point for Japanese interment camps and/or school integration.

Interactive "Choose Your Own Adventure" Activity for School Segregation

An Arrival Story: Ariana Delawari: Somewhere Between Kabul and Los Angeles

The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia