Jane over at Education & Class has posted an item about kids' books that highlight the issue of social class. A few folks post recommendations, but she also links to another blogger that has a full list.
I haven't read these books *yet* but I hope to sometime. If you are responsible for a First Day School program (or are responsible for a library at a Friends school), you might want to consider reviewing the selections.
Do you all have any recommendations about kids' books that highlight social class and also Quaker values?
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5 comments:
I've done a FDS lesson based on The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Baylor, and I've seen one using A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams, which are both picture books. Patricia Polacco's stories aren't really about social class, but they mostly feature her working class immigrant family.
The Fourth World Movement publishes a series of pamphlets, called Tapori minibooks, that are all illustrated stories about children who live in poverty.
For chapter books, I'd recommend Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski and most of the books by S.E. Hinton. They're not specifically Quaker, but they are good stories, where class figures prominently.
There is a Quaker themed historical romance where class is an issue, No Shame, No Fear by Ann Turnbull, and the sequel, Forged in the Fire,but I haven't read them.
Thanks for your additions to the list. I knew you'd be a good resource. :-)
I really like books like the ones by Vera Williams (A Chair For My Mother, Something Special For Me) and the old Corduroy books that aren't about class, but that are just about working class families going about the business of being people so that working class life can be represented normally in literature. I also like a book called The Big Enough Helper, about a trip to the laundry mat and Night Shift Daddy.
hi, i have a book to suggest, called "Daughter of Earth" by Agnes Smedley. It's an autobiographical novel describing, in vivid and accessible prose, her life journey from dirt-poor country girl in the late-ish 1800s to college and then to the long march.
younger readers might not be up to reading it on their own, but i think they'd appreciate hearing it read.
Thanks Lonestar Ma.
And thanks for stopping by Muriel! Welcome to my blog.
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