The true story of racial inequality—and resistance to it—is the prologue to our present. You can see it in where we live, where we go to school, where we work, in our laws and in our leadership. Unequal presents a gripping account of the struggles that shaped America and the insidiousness of racism, and demonstrates how inequality persists. As readers meet some of the many African American people who dared to fight for a more equal future, they will also discover a framework for addressing racial injustice in their own lives.
This book is banned in Texas. And Florida. And wherever else school boards think kids are too fragile to learn the truth. Are they right?
Slavery ended a long time ago, they say. And Martin Luther King Jr. took care of any racism left over, they say. Let’s move on, they say.
And then they’ll ban this book, and books like it, which tell you the truth: that the effects of slavery, Jim Crow, red-lining, voter suppression, mass incarceration, environmental racism and unconscious biases have created a United States that is, in fact, Unequal.
Thirteen-year-old Dale Melnyk finds himself stuck in an iron lung, desperately fighting for breath — and wishing he could die. It is the worst outbreak of polio in the history of Winnipeg, and Dale is one of the many young victims being treated in the early 1950s.
Second Chances follows Dale's slow and often agonizing struggle to regain his life, first of all to breathe on his own and then to regain the use of his limbs. Will he ever be able to play hockey again, he wonders? Dale comes to realize that he is doing better than a number of the other patients including Charlene, a young Métis girl confined to a wheelchair but always trying to help their fellow patients.
When Dale discovers his younger brother Brent is also in the polio ward because their father rejected the school program vaccine, a confrontation with his father becomes inevitable. Brent is not getting better and will be dealing with paralysis indefinitely.
When Dale finally emerges from his recovery he must reassess what is most important in life — a life that has been changed forever.
Tae has moved twice in his life. First, from South Korea to the United States when he was adopted as a baby, and then to a new town before he starts high school.
In Tae’s new school, he’s one of the youngest players, and the only person of color, trying out for the Varsity soccer team―a team known for its violent hazing practices. Tae wants more than anything to be part of the team, but worries about fitting in. Then, he sees a familiar face.
Luke is a soccer star on his way to scoring a role as the team captain and a full ride to college, but no one knows his secret―that he was adopted too. Tae and Luke met in an adoption group years before, and Luke’s first instinct is to help Tae fit in. But tradition is tradition, and Luke might not be able to save Tae from being hurt in the hazing rituals without risking his own reputation.
From the Stonewall Honor-winning author of Like a Love Story comes a revelatory novel about the enclosed world of privilege and silence at an elite boarding school and the unlikely group of friends who dare to challenge the status quo through their writing. Perfect for fans of E. Lockhart, Kathleen Glasgow and Jandy Nelson, with crossover appeal for readers of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep.
Beth Kramer is a “townie” who returns to her sophomore year after having endured a year of tension with her roommate, Sarah. But Sarah Brunson knows there’s more to that story. Amanda Priya “Spence” Spencer is the privileged daughter of NYC elites, who is reeling from the realization that her family name shielded her from the same fate as Sarah. Ramin Golafshar arrives at Chandler as a transfer student to escape the dangers of being gay in Iran, only to suffer brutal hazing under the guise of tradition in the boys’ dorms. And Freddy Bello is the senior who’s no longer sure of his future but knows he has to stand up to his friends after what happened to Ramin.
At Chandler, the elite boarding school, these five teens are brought together in the Circle, a coveted writing group where life-changing friendships are born—and secrets are revealed. Their professor tells them to write their truths. But is the truth enough to change the long-standing culture of abuse at Chandler? And can their friendship survive the fallout?
For some kids, ways they can help eliminate racial injustice might be hard to see. After all, they are taught that people in society are all equal under the law. So why then does racial conflict still exist? And what can they as individuals do about it right now? One way is for white children to understand the unearned advantages they were born with based solely on the colour of their skin. This concept is called white privilege and this book will help children of all races understand it, see how it affects them and find ways to speak out and take real action against it.
White Privilege: Deal with It in All Fairness provides scenarios, quizzes and Q&As that develop readers’ understanding of the subject using situations that are realistic and that easily relate to their everyday lives. The topic is approached from three points of view: those who are “privileged,” those who identify as “racialized” and those who want to be allies.
Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, highest, driest and most remote part of the world. It’s the world’s largest polar desert. Antarctica is a true wilderness.
Author Leilani Raashida Henry, daughter of George W. Gibbs, Jr., the first person of African descent to go to Antarctica, recounts her father’s expedition while educating readers on the incredible geography, biodiversity and history of the continent. Using diary entries from Gibbs' expedition, The Call of Antarctica takes readers on a journey to the rugged Antarctic landscape to learn its history, its present and the importance of protecting its future.
The photography and layout of this book are stunning, and the broad array of facts and stories—involving everything from penguins to the Northern Lights—is enough to entertain an armchair adventurer and science lover for days.
But what makes this tome on Antarctica really special are the interspersed diary entries from the first Black Antarctica explorer, George W. Gibbs. It puts you right there, on the ships, on the ice and in the bitter cold. The wonder, the challenges, the seafaring knowledge and yes, the racism, are a door to another era in Gibbs’ own words.
It’s hard to think of anyone who wouldn’t be drawn in by the photos, maps, sidebars, history and science, especially with that personal touch of Gibbs’ first-person observations tying it all together.