Hope Nation

 

Bibliography

Thomas, A., Reynolds, J., Yoon, N., & Lu, M. (2018). Hope nation: YA authors share personal moments of inspiration (R. Brock, Ed.). Penguin Books.

Plot Summary

This collection of short stories, personal narratives, and essays from acclaimed young adult authors share themes of hope, resilience, and bravery when facing challenges. 

Critical Analysis

Author’s from all walks of life come together to share their own personal stories that relate to hope. Published after the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, the world was in the midst of upheaval. Nic Stone shared her reaction in her narrative Always, “What the results of the 2016 presidential election said to me personally was You are not safe” (pg 230). The end of her narrative revealed a shared love of Harry Potter and the idea that there are connections we can have with people that are not like ourselves. 

The representation within this collection of stories is vast from LGBTQ+, Black, Latinx, Asian, Muslim, etc. Each person shares an experience where their background has helped shaped who they are or their reactions to an event in their life. Atia Abawi, for example, dreamed of becoming a foreign correspondent but was deterred when her AP Journalism teacher stomped on her dream. She adjusted her major in college for a new dream but eventually found her way to  becoming the foreign correspondent she always dreamed of.    

Nicole Yoon, a Jamaican American (black), writes about her marriage to a Korean American man. She notes the racism they face from his family because of the color of his skin. “Aside from his parents, there are some other challenges to being an interracial couple… When I put a jar of kimchi into my grocery cart at our favorite Korean grocery store, Korean people stare. When he picks up a can of ackee at the Jamaican store, Jamaican people stare. We get the occasional snide remark from both sides. When we have oysters at our favorite date-night spot, white people stare. One of our white friends jokingly says that this is because my husband and I are two different kinds of nonwhite” (100-101).  

Each story is uniquely told in the author’s voice. The stories can be read individually or the reader can binge on the hope conveyed in each experience. 

Hope Nation emphasizes the idea that we have a diverse nation with a plethora of cultures and experiences. When the world looms undaunting, we can come together to provide hope and courage with the power of words and stories. 

Review Excerpt(s)

A 2019 Texas Topaz Reading List Selection

A Junior Library Guild Selection

"This amazing outpouring of strength and honesty offers inspirational personal accounts for every reader who wonders what to do when everything seems impossible." --Booklist

Connections 

-Activities

• Use the novel as a mentor text for students to develop their own stories of hope, resilience, or acceptance.

• Many of the stories reference the election of the forty-fifth president of the United States. How did the election and some of the events that happened after his election influence some of the selections provided? 

• We by David Levithan 

• Nobody Remembers the Names of People Who Build Walls by Jeff Zentner

• Always by Nic Stone

• Research different rebellions - Tiananmen Square, May 1968 student revolt in France, Kent State, etc. - and how they affected history. 

• Before starting the book, have students write their own definitions of the term “hope”. After reading the book, students can look at their initial definition and revise as needed. Display the definitions in the hallway or library. 

• Using Always by Nic Stone, have students track the bolded words. What significance do the bolded words have? 

• Watch some of Atai Abawi’s television reports before reading her story. Have students discuss their thoughts on her reporting skills. Share some of her accolades. Then share her narrative. 

• How did Mr. W impact Abawi’s life plan? 

• Explain the importance of family for Atai Abawi. 

• Choose two selections from the novel. Have students make connections across texts. 

Pair with Fresh Ink: An Anthology edited by Lamar Giles.

Hurricane Child

 

Bibliography

Callender, K. (2018). Hurricane child. Scholastic. 

Plot Summary

One year and three months ago, Caroline’s mother left her and her father. Bullied at school and hated by her teacher, Caroline has made it her mission to find her mother. Then a new girl arrives at school and Caroline thinks that maybe she has found a friend and someone new to confide in. 

Critical Analysis

Hurricane Child follows Caroline who was born during a hurricane and whose mother has left her. She is bullied incessantly at school not only by other students but by her teacher as well. “Seeing that I’m the littlest girl with the darkest skin and the thickest hair in the whole Catholic school, Missus Wilhelmina doesn’t like me- no, not at all. I get a smacking on my bum for everything…” (pg 10) 

The setting is unique as it takes place within the Virgin Islands. “Water Island is supposed to be a part of the United States Virgin Islands, but we were never sainted like Saint Thomas or Saint John or Saint Croix, and so everyone forgets we exist.” (pg 45) In order to go to school, Caroline has to take a water or safari taxi. Her father often forgets to give her money.

Colorism is addressed in this book, particularly with Missus Wilhelmina. “Missus Wilhelmina had a white great-great-great-grandpa from Saint Martin that she likes to talk about all the time because he made her clear-skinned. Missus Wilhelmina says that Saint Thomas and Saint John and Saint Croix...and all the other islands in the Caribbean are no good, seeing they’re filled with so many black people. In class, she says that the Caribbean is almost as bad as Africa itself” (pg 9). Wilhelmina goes as far as to tell Caroline that it will be hard for her to find someone to marry because of how dark her skin is. The character of Missus Wilhelmina establishes the idea that the lighter color skin you have, the more superior or sought out you are. This is an antiquated idea and harms children like Caroline. 

When a new girl appears at her school, everyone flocks to her. It’s not often that there is a new schoolmate. Kalinda is from Barbados. They moved to the island because her deaf father was having trouble finding work. Encouraged by the belief that Kalinda can see the spirits that she can, Caroline gets the courage to speak with Kalinda. The two develop a deep friendship. They’re together so much they get a blended name like Carolinda. When Caroline finally asks Kalinda if she sees the spirits, the two discuss sending Caroline to the spirit world in three months, but Kalinda is upset at the idea of helping Caroline with this. Guilty, Caroline writes the other girl a note confessing her true feelings. “I love you, Kalinda, and I wish that we could one day be married and live together for the rest of our lives. I would love to wake up and see you in the morning, and lie down for bed at night and have you be the last thing I see before I close my eyes” (pg 119). But the note is intercepted at school by the bullies, and Kalinda’s reaction is not what Caroline was expecting. There was foreshadowing to Kalinda’s reaction when she first brought Caroline home and they saw two female tourists. Eventually, Kalinda admits to having the same feelings but has to move back to Barbados. 

Throughout the novel, Caroline is processing her grief over losing her mother. For a while, they received postcards from her mother’s travels, but they slowly stopped. She has a plan to find her mother. At some point, with Kalinda’s help and the help of her school administrator, she finds her mother...on the same island she’s been attending school on. After learning of her husband’s affair that resulted in a child, she attempted  taking her own life. When her stay at the hospital was done, her mother chose not to return. “‘I’ve thought of coming to see you countless time,’ she says, ‘but I worried for myself - for my own health, worried that coming back would trigger something - and I worried about you too.’” (pg 184). 

Callender has provided readers with a dense middle grade novel that opens up the conversation about skin tone, mental health, abandonment, and LGBTQ+ representation within what some readers may consider an exotic setting. 

Review Excerpt(s)

Stonewall Book Award - Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s Young Adult Literature Award 2019

Lambda Literary Award LGBTQ Children’s/Young Adult 2019

Whippoorwill Award 2019

 "Lush descriptions bring the Caribbean environment to vivid life...An excellent and nuanced coming-of-age tale." -- School Library Journal

Connections 

-Activities

• Show a map of the Virgin Islands to students and ask which region they believe it belongs to. 

• Math can compare the distances between the five islands or of the land. 

• Social study the different aspects that make up the islands such as the history, government, people, etc. 

• Research Topic: Colorism in Film 

• Read the picture book or share the Netflix read aloud provided by the Netflix Jr. channel on YouTube of Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o. A comparison can be made with Sulwe and Caroline as they both have such dark skin and experience something magical. 

• Share information about pronouns and representation. The author, Kacen Callender, is a demiboy and uses the pronouns they/them. Express the importance of identity. 

• The multiple themes and topics touched upon within this book offer up an opportunity for a Socratic seminar. 

• Caroline and Kalinda both witnessed something traumatic in their youth and believe that is when they lost their childhood. When do you believe childhood is left behind?  

• Kalinda’s father had a dream that he couldn’t follow after a disease took his hearing. “‘That seems like a most difficult thing to do. Finding a dream alone is hard. I’ve spent many days wondering what my dream should be. But I’m not sure I have any dreams yet. Maybe my dream is to find a dream. Find something to live for. Can you imagine, doing all that work to find something to live for, and then being forced to find another dream at the end of it all?’” (pg. 85) What is your dream for your life? If you had to change dreams, how do you imagine you would do that? 

• Share this novel in a presentation or display of LGBTQ+ reads

• Have students respond with their thoughts after Caroline sees her mother. The scene is an emotional one and students may have strong opinions ore emotions of their own.

Stargazing

Bibliography

Wang, J. (2019). Stargazing. First Second. 

Plot Summary

Christine makes an unexpected friend in Moon who is her complete opposite. Moon is carefree and shares a lot of Christine’s interest. But Moon also has visions of celestial beings? 

Critical Analysis

Christine was not expecting to find a friendship with Moon. Moon is loud and expressive and loves music which is almost the opposite of Christine. The two bond over music and decide to do a dance routine at the school talent show. 

Both girls are Chinese, but Christine feels the pressure to be the “perfect” Chinese daughter. She plays the violin, takes Chinese class to learn the language, and takes an after school math class when she gets a 73 on a math test. Moon joins in on one Chinese class and leaves midway through, wears nail polish, and is a vegan Buddhist. She loves Moon for how she embraces herself. And it’s obvious that the friendship isn’t one-sided. Moon cherishes her friendship with Christine just as much, if not more, which is shown when she waits to watch a music video with Christine and looks towards Christine’s house on the morning of her surgery.

When Christine gets so busy with the after-school math tutoring and Chinese school, Moon seems to get close to another girl and Christine gets jealous. She lets her emotions get the better of her and leaves Moon’s sketchbook out for everyone to see at a birthday party. Ashamed of what she has done, Christine cannot face Moon when it’s revealed that Moon has a brain tumor. The brain tumor has caused seizures that Moon told no one about because she thought she was seeing celestial beings. 

The two girls make up, and even though Moon cannot perform at the school talent show, Christine has a jacket made for her and performs the song with other friends in tribute to Moon. This is a cute story about how opposites attract in friendship and that you don’t have to be perfect. 

The afterward is an interesting read because Jen Wang was diagnosed with a brain tumor when she was six. Instead of having the main character experience seizures and the surgery, Wang chose for Christine to be the main character in this graphic novel, the friend of the character who experiences the diagnosis. This book was a way for the author to express how lonely she felt - it seems that the character of Moon was based on the author more than the main character of Christine. This is a good author’s craft move to analyze. 

Some Chinese, and possibly Korean, characters are inserted in areas where the music is being played. This helps reflect the girls background and their love of k-pop (Korean pop) music. At the beginning of the book, Christine seems to be performing at their Chinese church since all of the characters that appear seem to be Chinese. When they’re waiting for news of Moon’s surgery, her father takes her for desert, his favorite dessert when he lived in Taiwan, shaved ice with cream, fruit, and syrup.  

Review Excerpt(s)

Asian/Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature 2020

“Relying on a muted palette and careful linework, Eisner Award winner Wang has crafted an understated, poignant tale of the joy and turmoil of budding friendship.” - School Library Journal

“It is so very rare and refreshing to see diversity within the Asian American community authentically portrayed; Wang allows each character complete ownership of their identity, freeing their truths, and in the process, allowing readers to do the same.” - Kirkus Reviews

Connections 

-Activities

• The first four pages have no text to them. Use the first four pages in a lesson on reading graphic novels. Cut up the panels on the page for students to arrange how they think it might be in the book. 

• Since the first four pages don’t have text, have the students make inferences about the main character based on what we see in those pages 

• Christine judges Moon before actually getting to know her. How does this end up backfiring on Christine? 

• Introduce students to K-pop! Popular K-pop bands students may know are BTS and Blackpink. Or have students that are familiar with that genre of music explain what it is and share their favorite k-pop artists. 

• Include this novel as an option in a realistic fiction book club study or graphic novel study. 

Compare Stargazing to Raina Telgemeier’s Smile. Both are graphic novels about the author’s real life experiences, but Wang’s novel is semi-autobiographical while Telegemeir’s graphic novel is considered a memoir or autobiography.

The Boy in the Garden

 Bibliography

Say, A. (2010). The boy in the garden. Houghton Mifflin. 

Plot Summary

A young boy has a realistic dream based on a bronze crane statue and a story his mother read to him. 

Critical Analysis

In order to give the reader background knowledge, author and illustrator Allen Say provides the story of The Grateful Crane. It is a Japanese fairy tale that inspires Jiro’s dream later on in the story. 

Say is a talented illustrator. The images done in watercolor provide lots of detail, and each character from the father to Jiro to the mysterious Crane Woman have original facial features. Mr. Ozu can barely be seen on the page when Jiro is woken up, interestingly enough. Japanese architecture is expressed when Jiro gazes out the window at the intricate garden, when Mr. Ozu and Jiro’s father watch him try to sneak up on the crane, and with the cottage Jiro finds. 

When Jiro stumbles upon the cottage, he is convinced it is the same one from the story his mother has told him. There he finds a small kimono that fits him perfectly, and he is able to tie the “obi” behind his back on his own. 

The fantastical dream he has revolves around trying to take care of the Crane Woman so that she doesn’t have to weave. It seems that Jiro wants to be older than what he is as he likens himself to his father going out to work in the morning to find the firewood to keep them warm and then knowing that he has to feed the woman. He is insistent that she not weave because he doesn’t want her to turn back into a crane and pluck her feathers. He wants to take care of her the way the woodcutter from the original story did not. 

The end of the story makes it seem as though the bronze crane was the real crane woman with the father saying, “‘You know, son, for a moment that crane looked real.’” And Jiro smiles after his father states that it is a fine statue. 

This was a beautiful story that weaved Japanese fairy tales and a little boy's imagination together with detailed watercolor illustrations as visual support. 

Review Excerpt(s)

"Say is at the height of his artistic achievement in this tale of a little boy named Jiro and the powerful impact that a story has on him....This is a beautiful, moving, quietly mysterious read, ripe with possibilities for interpretation and contemplation."—Kirkus Reviews 

Carefully chosen words mesh seamlessly with dramatic and effective paintings, bringing both energy and tranquility to carry the story to its thought-provoking ending. - School Library Journal 

Connections 

-Activities

• Journal Entry Idea: Describe a fairy tale or story that a grown up in your life used to tell you that you believed in. Why did you believe in it? 

• Compare the story of The Grateful Crane to that of Rumpelstiltskin. What similarities and differences do they have with one another? 

• The left pages have text and the right pages have the watercolor drawing. Block out the text and have students come up with their own story based on the illustrations. 

• Students can debate on whether what Jiro experienced was a dream or real. 

• Journal Entry: Why do you think Jiro was insistent that the Crane Woman not go into the other room to weave? 

• Journal Entry: Why do you think the author pointed out the specific date - January 3rd - at the beginning of the story? How is the New Year significant? 

• Cause and Effect: Jiro was caught trying to sneak up after the crane but was caught by his father and Mr. Ozu. After that, he found the woodcutter’s cottage. How are the two events related?

Rani Patel in Full Effect

 

Bibliography

Patel, S. (2016). Rani Patel in full effect. Cinco Puntos Press.

Plot Summary

After 16-year-old Rani catches her father cheating on her mom with a younger woman, Rani shaves her head and pours her soul into her rhymes. She must learn how to love herself after the one man she loved and trusted betrayed their family. 

Critical Analysis

Set in the 1990s, Rani Patel in Full Effect focuses on a Gujarati Indian girl living on a remote Hawaiian island with her mother and father, both Gujarati immigrants to the U.S. At the beginning of the novel, Rani has shaved off her long dark locks after learning that her father has been unfaithful to her mother. But she doesn’t feel betrayed on her mother’s behalf. Shaving her head allows her to have control over her feelings of her father finding another woman to love and shower with attention. 

Throughout the book, Rani is trying to process her father’s past sexual abuse and current abandonment. She begins a relationship with a 31-year-old customer, Mark, who has substance abuse problems. The relationship is toxic. As he continuously falls off the wagon, he talks her into drinking more, something she was never comfortable with, tries to take advantage of her body, offers her meth, and cheats on her. Because of the way her father treated her, she allows this treatment and forgives him easily. “In a weird way all I could do up until now was reflect whatever Dad and Mark wanted. I couldn’t work on figuring out my wants. My needs. My identity. They forced me into a corner where I was convinced I needed them. So I let them do whatever they wanted. I existed for Dad. Then for Mark.” If not for her mother and friends, Pono and Omar, and Mark admitting to impregnating a girl at the end of the book, she may still be with him. There was an interesting parallel to what was happening with Rani’s father and Wendy when Mark claimed to want Rani and said they could all live together. 

Gujarati Indian heritage is prevalent mostly through food and when Rani’s mother speaks to her, both in the language and in English with her thick accent. The author does not easily translate some of phrases Rani’s mother uses, but a glossary of terms in several languages used in the book is provided. Her mother also celebrates Thakorji - “Lord of the House and the honorific name given to a form of the deity Krishna”. “She’s been more dedicated to Him recently. For me that’s like winning the lottery. The lottery of prasad, that is. Because more service time for her means more sumptuous Indian treats for Thakorji. And me. I bite into the penda. ‘Umm.’ I chew the milky-sweet-cardamomy-nutmegy goodness slowly.” A lot of other dishes are described or mentioned throughout the book. 

Not only does this novel focus on Rani’s Gujarati Indian heritage, but it also takes a look at life on a small Hawaiian island. One day several years prior, her father announced that he bought the general store and cafe the family runs in Moloka’i, Hawaii. Now she helps run both family businesses. “Ever since then, the three of us have been living in cultural isolation on Moloka’i. No other Indians here, let alone Gujaratis.” Hawaiian pidgin is used in the novel and there is a description of the area they live in. 

One way Rani processes everything that happens to her is writing rap. She listens to rap music and dresses in a way to reflect hip-hop culture. At least, the one description provided of her outfit reflects that. Her alter-ego is MC Sutra and her verses focus a lot on female empowerment and her culture as Gujarati Indian. 

The author’s note is important to pay attention to because the author reflects on her motivation for creating Rani. She wanted “to give readers a realistic view of how one form of sexual abuse, incest, can affect the lives and interpersonal relationships of girls who suffer through it.” The novel begins after the abuse has ended, but Rani still feels the effects of losing the attention her father once gave her and doesn’t know how to process her feelings. In her eyes, her mother has always been weak and felt like her mother never acknowledged her much. But her mother ends up kicking her husband out and barring him from entering their family businesses, and eventually, with time, Rani opens up to her mother about her abuse and their relationship begins to grow. Only time will help heal what Rani has been through, but now that Mark and her father is out of her life, hopefully she will be able to find that female empowerment she writes about and can love herself. 

Review Excerpt(s)

William C. Morris Award Finalist 2017

Texas Library Association’s Top 10 Teen Books 2016

“[Rani’s] story will appeal to readers who prefer gritty, darker fiction without a pat, happy ending, and characters who don’t always overcome their challenges but must face them repeatedly. A strong, unique choice for YA collections.” —School Library Journal

Connections 

-Activities

• A glossary is provided at the end of the novel. Divide students up by the language - Gujarati, Hindu, Hawaiian, Hawaiian pidgin, Japanese, Tongan and Sanskrit - and have them create a brochure or dictionary of the terms. 

• Rani and her father got into “water activism” - “He knew that many people on Moloka’i didn’t want the island’s limited water supply to be wasted on tourist development projects. Especially when many Hawaiian homesteaders didn’t yet have access to water for their agriculture.” Research water activism in Hawaii and Flint, MIchigan and other countries. What can students or people do to help support clean water.

• Show the following video about Hawaiian Pidgin https://youtu.be/zRB2QXMREmk
  
  Associated Press. (2016, February 16). Hawaiian Pidgin brings sense of pride to locals. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/zRB2QXMREmk  

• This novel was challenged in Loudoun County in Virginia in 2019. Have students read the following article written by the author that argues why the novel should not be erased from libraries.
  Patel, S. (2019, October 13). RANI PATEL IN FULL EFFECT Part of Controversy Over Diverse Library in Virginia. Sonia Patel, M.D. https://soniapatel.net/blog/2019/10/12/rani-patel-in-full-effect-part-of-controversy-over-diverse-library-in-virginia 

• Moloka’i is an island in Hawaii. Group students and have them research the different islands in Hawaii.

Apple Pie 4th of July

 

Bibliography

Wong, J. S., & Chodos-Irvine, M. (2006). Apple Pie Fourth of July. HMH Books for Young Readers. 

Plot Summary

A young Chinese-American girl attempts to convince her parents that no one wants to eat Chinese food on the fourth of July. 

Critical Analysis

This picture book describes the experience of a first Chinese-American girl trying to teach her immigrant parents the ways of American culture. “My parents do not understand all American things. They were not born here. Even though my father has lived here since he was twelve, even though my mother loves apple pie, I cannot expect them to know Americans do not eat Chinese food on the Fourth of July”. Her father insists that fireworks are Chinese as a way of explanation for why they continue to make and sell Chinese dishes. 

As the day goes on, it appears that the young girl is correct. “Two o’clock. The egg rolls are getting hard” and “Four o'clock and the noodles feel like shoelaces.” But as the evening arrives, she learns that she was wrong. People do want Chinese food on the Fourth of July! And when everything is said and done, the main character gets to enjoy her apple pie on the roof while watching the fireworks show. 

The illustrations (or pictures as indicated by the cover) are simplistic but offer a diverse cast of characters from the main character to her parents to the customers that visit the store - most notably the customers that visit at noon for soda and potato chips. 

The author offers up so much within this simple picture book - a young girl struggling with identity as a young Chinese-American with immigrant parents, popular Chinese dishes (sweet-and-sour pork, chow mein, etc.), and the traditions celebrated in her family (being closed only one day a year, for Christmas). This book serves as a window to the Chinese-American experience and provides necessary diversity in school libraries. 

Review Excerpt(s)

Charlotte Zolotow Award Nominee for Highly Commended Title (2003) 

Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature for Children's Illustrator (2003)

"Vibrant, colorful . . . [An] excellent read-aloud."--Booklist 

Connections 

-Activities

• When you think of the 4th of July, what do you think of? Have students list what the 4th of July reminds them of. 

• Ask students how they celebrate the 4th of July, if they celebrate it. Maybe have them convey this information in their own picture book. 

• This would be an excellent novel to teach the theme with as the main character learns that she doesn’t know as much as she thinks she does. 

• This would also be a good book to teach plot with as it has an obvious turning point (when people start to come in and buy Chinese food).