Quiet Voices with a BIG Message
2006; Volume: 33; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.21061/alan.v33i2.a.6
ISSN1547-741X
Autores Resumohat if youthful wisdom brought into focus one of the prime absurdities of our humanity-that through our history, certain groups of people have dominated, persecuted, and made subservient other groups, simply using color, beliefs, or other reasons as justification?We don't have to look far to find these human inequities right within our own society, and right within young adult literature.There are a number of thought-provoking historical novels set in the not-too-distant past for middle and high school age readers with characters that appear to have quiet voices, but who speak up and act in a way that makes the world take notice about issues of discrimination.Their messages are worth hearing, and young adult readers can learn a great deal from these characters' quiet yet powerful challenges to situations that are inherently wrong.The following books would make good choices for classroom reading, discussing, and studying about societal inequalities that have helped shape our history.Paired up with factual titles and informational articles, these middle readers and young adult novels can paint a portrait of unjust conditions more intently than a history text.They can help teen readers see parallels and contrasts in their own lives and in today's world.These books would also make excellent selections for teen book discussion groups and booktalks. Voices from the Tumultuous SixtiesOne well-known title that fits the above criteria is The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis, which won a Newbery Honor.With humor and poignancy, Kenny, the young main character, relays how he and the rest of his African American family, the "Weird Watsons," head to Alabama to visit Grandma during the time of the civil rights movement.There they encounter the horrific 16th Street Baptist Church bombings that killed four young-teenage girls and seriously injured two more.Kenny's first-person voice clearly conveys the fear, anxiety, and turmoil of an innocent young boy who has faced such a challenging ordeal, and brings the heartbreaking injustices he has seen to life.Another character who witnesses and expresses her feelings about related injustices is Celli Jenkins, in Black Angels by Rita Murphy.Celli is quite embar rassed by her greatly admired black housekeeper's involvement in the civil rights movement.Set in Georgia in 1961, the story is told in Celli's first-person voice.Through it, she shares the details of her mystical belief in beautiful black angels she sees around her home while relaying the stark reality of prejudice in her community, and ultimately unveils her own true heritage.Flying South by Laura Malone Elliott (see the interview with Ms. Elliott following this article) deals with the same basic time period, and is told from the perspective of Alice, a pre-teen white girl who doesn't acknowledge or understand the existence of segrega tion in her town.Through her quiet and innocent voice, Alice teaches those around her a lesson or two they don't want or are not ready to hear.She even addresses another societal change that surfaced during that time period, when she says "But change is going to come whether they like it or not.The whole world is getting evened up.Even for girls."
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