The two books for this week, Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed and Malala, a Brave Girl from Pakistan/Iqbal, a Brave Boy from Pakistan: Two Stories of Bravery by Jeanette Winter, focused on activism and pushing for the change you want to see, no matter how scary it can be.
Malala, a Brave Girl from Pakistan/Iqbal, a Brave Boy from Pakistan: Two Stories of Bravery by Jeanette Winter were about two individuals who were shot for advocating what they believed in. Both of these characters were real human beings, so the reality of this could be shocking for some students. Realizing that not everyone receives a free education as they do and people all over the world do not have the freedom of speech. I feel like some people get accustomed to the privileges and freedom we have here and take it for granted. We have so much more power here than many others have around the world.
I really enjoyed the book Amal Unbound. Amal was forced into working for the powerful Khan family after her family being in debt to them and disrespecting them at the market. This was such a powerful book. Amal had been going to school and dreaming of being a teacher but that all quickly changed after her mother gave birth. Her mother took longer to recover than they had anticipated and Amal had to stay home from school to help around the house. Later in the book, Amal had gone to the market and met some of the powerful Khan family. She didn't realize that's who it was but ended up disrespecting them. The Khan family reached out to the Amal family the next day to assign their punishment. Amal was to go work on the family estate until the debt was paid off. Little did they know how hard the debt would be to pay off. Later, Amal worked with others to help bring down the Khan family and is given back to her own family.
There were several things in the book that really resonated with me. The fact that the father's words kept getting repeated, about how life isn't fair. And the tweet I posted,
"I thought Jawad Sahib's arrest would be good for everyone, but it turned out change, no matter how good and necessary, came for a price".
I agree with the father in saying that life isn't fair, and sometimes that's life. I agree advocating for certain things, but other things people just need to sit down and let it be. It's life. There are so many others who would die to have a piece of the freedom we have here and instead of being grateful for it here, people are still out causing a scene trying to push for completely irrational things.
And in reference to the quote, I love this quote. Just because it is better for you and makes you happy, does not mean that it is best for everyone. Amal thought that everyone would be happy for Jawad's arrest but soon she realizes that people work at the estate as a real job, and they like their job. That they need this job to adequately support their families. While pushing for change may be significant for you, before you cause a ruckus, thing about who all it is going to affect rather than being self-centered and focusing on your benefits.
In Reading to Make a Difference, Alyssa focuses on making strategic book selections, building connections, reflecting, taking actions, and then the next steps. Children are not born with hatred that many have acquired over their lifetime, they cannot understand the injustices and they are a lot quicker at seeing them than adults. This may be because adults do not want to take action because it is not directly affecting them or it may be because they can't understand or see the others' perspectives.
When reading and exposing students to these controversial topics and ideas, it is important that students understand and be able to relate. Alyssa does a good job at this by finding connections around the school, such as bullying on the playground. She also tied in Separate is never Equal, which was a reading from a couple of weeks ago.
Some ideas for getting students "involved" would be to have the students write a letter, create a powerpoint presentation, and create a readers theater script.
Laminack, L. and Kelly, K. (2019). Reading to make a difference: Using literature to help students speak freely, think deeply, and take action. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Saeed, A. (2018). Amal Unbound. New York, NY: Nancy Paulsen Books.
Winter, J. (2015). Malala, a brave girl from Pakistan ; Iqbal, a brave boy from Pakistan. London: Simon & Schuster Childrens.