Resources 25.3

Children’s Books

The Fair Housing Five and the Haunted House
By the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, illustrated by Sharika Mahdi (Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, 2010)
31 pp. $27.95
www.fairhousingfive.org

The “Fair Housing Five” is a group of kids who gradually realize that a landlord in their neighborhood treats prospec- tive renters unfairly. This picture book aimed at the early elementary grades is a thought- provoking introduction to different types of housing discrimination. It includes a glossary and discussion ques- tions.

Curriculum

Screen-Free Week: 2011 Organizer’s Kit
Campaign for a Commercial- Free Childhood www.screenfree.org
69 pp. $17.95

According to the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Child- hood, preschoolers spend an average of 32 hours a week watching one kind of screen or another. That’s practically a full-time job—a harmful one. And it’s even worse for older kids. As Susan Linn, director of CCFC, points out in this valuable guide, this screen obsession deprives children “of hands-on creative play—the foundation of learning, creativity, construc- tive problem-solving, and the capacity to wrestle with life to make it meaningful.” And it gives children an early induction into a consumer culture that with each passing day is becoming more and more ecologically ruinous. The Organizer’s Kitoffers step-by- step guidance for organizing screen-free weeks. It includes rationales, research and fact sheets, children’s testimonials, alternatives to spending time in front of screens, frequently asked questions and ways to respond to skeptics, organiz- ing tips, sample outreach ma- terials, curriculum ideas and student handouts for teachers, and ways to extend screen-  free week into daily life. This is a wonderful resource—for organizing a screen-free week or as a year-round educational guide.

Following the Threads: Bringing Inquiry Research into the Classroom
By Doug Selwyn (Peter Lang, 2010)
232 pp. $33.95

In Following the Threads, former K-12 teacher and cur- rent teacher educator Doug Selwyn explores how research- ers use inquiry to guide their work. Selwyn interviews artists like Roger Shimomura, historians like Howard Zinn, classroom teachers, and oth- ers to illustrate the power of inquiry to connect learners with the world around them. Although at first glance Fol- lowing the Threads may look like a research methods book, in reality this well-written and accessible volume is about inquiry as effective pedagogy.

The Black History of the White House By Clarence Lusane (City Lights, 2011)
575 pp. $19.95

When Barack Obama was elected president, there was much talk about how the Obamas would be the first African Americans to live in the White House. This was just one more example of the invisibility of people who were enslaved by 25 percent of our country’s presidents. The Obamas were the first African American first family, but not the first residents. This thor- oughly researched and gripping book shares the untold stories of some of the people who were enslaved by U.S. presidents, including stories of resistance and escape. Lusane describes the myriad ways that the White House and the lives of African Americans have been intertwined throughout U.S. history. This is the only book to document this essential story in our country’s history.

Websites

Waging Nonviolence
www.wagingnonviolence.org

Established by three young journalists, this website is a re- source for the often overlooked stories of current nonviolent responses to local and global conflict. Visual, readable, and ably edited, www.wagingnon violence.org is a daily reminder that methods employed by successful civil rights and peace movements of the past are being used and built upon in justice struggles today—wit- ness the thrilling recent events in Egypt. The site features a regular listing of Experiments with Truth, brief descriptions that link to accounts of labor strikes, boycotts, demonstrations, and other acts of creative resistance in the United States and abroad. The editors post thoughtful commentary, interviews, and analysis of cur- rent events, and invite readers, especially students, to com- ment and discuss. Teachers, students, and readers every- where can learn from this site that, even in the most difficult circumstances, courageous nonviolence is people’s history being made today.

Freedom Riders
Website and film
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/ americanexperience/ freedomriders

Scheduled to air on PBS stations across the country in May 2011, this film documents the courageous story of the 400 freedom riders who challenged the Jim Crow laws on inter- state travel in 1961. Produced by veteran filmmaker Stanley Nelson, the film demonstrates the resolve of the freedom riders and the brutality of the repression they faced. Based in part on the book Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, by Raymond Arsenault, the film includes many first-person interviews.

The pace of the film and drama of the story should capture the attention of high school stu- dents and above. Freedom Riders demonstrates beyond doubt that change came not from the federal government, but from the determined actions and keen strategy of hundreds of young people.

Young Adult Books

Riot
By Walter Dean Myers (Egmont, 2009; 2011)
164 pp. $16.99 hardcover;
$8.99 paperback

Walter Dean Myers’ new history book for young people is in the form of a screenplay about the 1863 draft riots in New York. So many points of view are introduced, it is clear why he chose the format of a play with more than two dozen characters. Through these many voices, readers learn how working people were pitted against each other based on race, class, and national origin. The police and the military, who were brought in to quell the riots against the Civil War draft, are introduced as char- acters in the drama as well.

Myers is a collector of histori- cal photos and documents, and Riot includes prints from his collection, adding to the book’s value for teaching history.

Ideal for grades 7 and above.

DVDs

Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case That Made History
Southern Poverty Law Center, 2010.
40 min. Free for schools (one copy per school)

This is an unforgettable film about bullying in schools told through the story of Jamie Nabozny, a gay student who was tormented mentally and physically from grade school to high school. School adminis- trators consistently ignored pleas for help from Nabozny and his parents. He finally found a legal advocate who took his case to court and won a precedent-setting case. The film weaves scenes of Nabozny speaking to a high school assembly and dramatizations of his own experiences. Bullied includes interviews with his mother, who describes the anguish of not being able to keep her son safe; as a working-class family, they could not afford an alternative school setting for Jamie. This film raises awareness about the realities of bullying of all children and the particular impact of homophobic harassment and violence. It takes the commitment of everyone in a school community to create a safe and respectful environment for all students; this film and the accompanying viewers guide are major contributions to that effort. Grade 7 to adult.