What Zeesie Saw on Delancey Street

-by Elsa Okon Rael and Marjorie Priceman

This beautiful book is a story about a 7-year-old girl named Zeesie who is allowed to accompany her parents to a 'package party' in the early 1900s. Taking place on the famed Lower East Side of New York City, we are able to gather information about certain aspects of life some Jewish immigrants faced as they began their lives as citizens in this country.

This book has a unique approach to showing life as an immigrant in that it does not expressly call them immigrants, nor does it make obvious the point that the people in this story are struggling or poor. In fact, the setting is a party and for everyone else attending, it is just that.

The book leaves behind the simple 'Jewish people surviving' facade and takes on a more universal appeal when Zeesie sneaks into a room that only the men are allowed to go into. The Money Room is so named because all of the men go into it one at a time, and either leave spare money they have, or take any they need to help feed their families. The book does a beautiful job showing how this community, and others like it, come together to support one another and ensure success. It is an example of human beings reaching out to others in need, something all communities do, immigrant or not. When Zeesie realizes the power of the room, she leaves the dollar she has saved up, knowing that she is helping another person, even though they will not know she directly helped, and that she can no longer afford to go to the movie theater as she planned. She knows the dollar is better spent in that room.

This book would be great for units on immigration, because it tells a different side of immigrant life we don't often hear about. It could also help with a unit about New York's olden days, and also for a unit on friendship and/or tolerance.

As far as social justice education, this book achieves levels 2, 3, and 5. They can use Zeesie's selfless act to begin figuring out ways they too can better their own communities and the community at large. They can do this in many ways besides monetarily, striving to really fix the problems they see rather than just slapping a band-aid over.

**Posted by Emily, Valerie, and Amanda S.**

Peace Crane

Author: Sheila Hamanaka

Summary: A girl questions the world for a chance at peace, "for a world without borders, of a world without guns, of a world that loves its children". As crane's are a symbol of long life in Japan, the girl in the book sends her paper crane throughout the world and remembers the good she has seen in the world, along with the bad. This story is based on Sadako Sasaki's belief that if you fold a thousand paper cranes, you will be granted your wish for health. The story gives a brief history of the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan and Sadako's story.

Reflection: The book has beautiful illustrations that are coupled with poetic lines and verse that tell this story. We follow the journey of a peace crane throughout the book and see wherever it goes peace or health is restored. Yes, this sounds mythic and optimistic, but I think the book sends a message of hope for children who are constantly questioning their world. This book tries to inspire children to take initiative and make a change in their environment.

Lessons/Activities:

1. This would be a good book to couple learning about the history of war, such as WWII, or the history of Japan, or learning about unfairness and violence in the world.
2. Students can think about their injustices in their communities and make a list. A discussion can follow asking how students can make social change about these injustices. Students can write their idea for social change on a piece of paper and will make a paper crane out of it. The cranes will hang in the classroom to remind students of their ideas, and the teacher can facilitate helping children take action.
3. The book can be used to integrate social studies and poetry. The book has wonderful poetic lines, and is presented in poetic verse. It is a great example of description in writing.

Social Justice Curriculum: This book focuses on stages 1, 2, 3, and 5.

Korean Children's Day

Summary: Korean Children's Day is a story about how Mrs. Carnie's 4th-grade class became the Tae Kwon Do champions of Raymond Elementary School. Young Soo Newton, is an adopted boy from Korea who lives in America with his family. He takes Saturday classes at the Korean Institute because his adopted parents want to make sure he never forgets about Korea and his Korean heritage/traditions. He decides to bring his friend Jeremy along one Saturday, because they are celebrating Korean Children's Day. Jeremy, as well as the reader, learn about Korean Children's Day and Korean culture/traditions. In the end, Jeremy is so takenaway with Tae Kwon Do that he suggests to Young Soo Newton that their whole class at school should partake in this tradition. In the end, Mrs. Carnie's class becomes Tae Kwon Do champions of Raymond Elementary School.

Reflections: This was a great book because it shows how people can appreciate, learn, and participate in the traditions of another culture. It shows cultural appreciation not only on the intercultural level, but also on the level of adoption and identity. The fact that Young Soo was an adopted child from Korea makes the story more real. His parents make an effort and show appreciation to their child's country of origin. Often when children are adopted they are forced to assimilate with the culture of their adopted parents and forget where they came from. The illustrations are done in what appears to be colored pencil, which is interesting and different.

How would I use the book/curriculum units: This book would work well with a discussion on appreciating cultures and traditions. It could be used along side a curriculum on cultures and traditions of students in the classroom. Having students listen to this story and then share their own cultures and traditions is one idea. In addition, encouraging students to actually perform some traditions, or wear traditional clothing, or eat traditional food from all the cultures of the students in the class could also be a good activity. In additon, if you type in "Korean Children's Day" on Yahoo or Google you will find a bunch of lesson plans and ideas for this Korean tradition.

Domains of Social Justice: 1) Domains of self-love and acceptance: Students learn to love themeselves for who they are. In this case, Young Soo appreciates his Korean heritage and continues to practice and learn about his country of origin. 2) Respect for Others: Students learn to appreciate and learn about the cultures and traditions of others. 4) Social Movements and Social Change: Students learn that they can take a proactive approach to learning about other people's cultures and appreciating those cultures. Taking Social Action: Students learn how they can encourage other people (ex. Mrs. Carnie's 4th-grade class) to appreciate and participate in learning about the cultures of others.

The Butterfly

Patricia Polacco creates this beautifuly story about a young girl in France during a time when Nazi soldiers occupy every inch of her home town. One night Monique, the main character, discovers a little girl in her room and soon unravels the mystery going on in the very basement of her own home. It seems that her mother, who is based on a real woman during the Holocaust, Patricia Polacco's aunt, has been hiding a Jewish family.
This book is an amazing way to get students thinking about heroism, racism, the Holocaust and the true meaning of freedom, which the butterfly is a symbol of throughout the book.
This book can be used for many different activities and can also be incorporated into many different units. A unit on the Holocaust would benefit greatly from this book not only because it takes place in that time period but also because it exemplifies the many brave people who fought against the Nazis in small but powerful ways. Monique's mother in the story is a wonderful example of social justice stage #4 because she takes social action and risks her life to save the lives of a Jewish family. The book also fits into stages, 2: Exploring issues of social justice, 3: social movements and social change and 4: Taking social action.

What I Like About Me!

Title: What I Like About Me!

Author: Allia Zobel-Nolan

Summary: This book is about children who each tell the reader something they like about themselves-they wear braces, they have curly hair, to even having big feet. The illustrations are great and there are all sorts of pop-outs, pull tabs, and touchy items in the pictures, that make the book so much fun to read.

Reflection: I love this book because it teaches students that everyone is different and special in our very own way. In addition, it helps with issues of self-esteem which is a very important topic and needs to be talked about.

Lessons/Curriculum: There is so much that can be done with this book. The last line of the book poses a question to the reader, “and what do you like about you?” with an actual aluminum mirror so you can look at yourself. Teachers can use this question to start teaching about self-esteem and have students do self-portraits, including writing about themselves and what makes them so special. In addition, another creative idea might be to instead of having students write about themselves, they write about someone else in their class and why they feel that person is special. This way self-esteem is not only taught about, but social skills (ex. classroom community) as well.

Social Justice Curriculum: Stages 1 and 2 are strongly addressed because students are learning to love and respect themselves while at the same time for others too.

Links: http://www.amazon.com/What-I-Like-About-Me/dp/0794407633

The People Could Fly

Title: The People Could Fly
Author: Virginia Hamilton
Illustrators: Leo and Diane Dillon

Summary: .
"The People Could Fly," is a fantasy tale that tells of how some enslaved Africans had wings and could fly. In order for them to escape the abuses of slavery, they began to sing some ancient African magic words. This allowed their bodies to lift into the sky and fly away to freedom.
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Activities:
This would be a great book to use for Social Studies. Lessons could be taught on how the Africans were taken from their homeland and put on slave ships and brought to new lands as slaves. I also think that this book could be used for a performance in Drama. I would have students create costumes with wings, and have them re-enact the story. .
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Social Justice Education:
This book covers all 5 areas of social justice. Students can learn to love and accept themselves and their roots, while others can respect their differences. Students will learn the forms of oppression of slavery and racism, and how they can use books like this to create non-violent social change. Additionally, students can take social action to protect people's rights.

When Marian Sang, The True Recital of Marian Anderson
By: Pam Muñoz Ryan, Brian Selznick

Summary:
This book tells the story of Marian Anderson, a very talented singer. The story begins when she is a gifted child, travels with her as she is faced with racism and concludes as she makes history by being the first black person ever to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House.

How I would use this:
I would use this book in TWO ways. THE FIRST is to have a discussion about racism and prejudice. Marian is not allowed to enter music school because of the color of her skin. Is that fair? Also, she is only recognized as being ‘worthy’ later because of her beautiful singing voice. Shouldn’t every one be equal, not only if they have special talents, but just because they are human beings? THE SECOND is to discuss ways in which people fight what they believe to be unfair. In the book it seems as if Marian quietly waits until the world accepts her. Other people, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, campaign for her. What are they ways in which people fight for social justice, and what are the pros and cons of each method?

Websites:
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=105
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9801E4DC1738F93AA35751C0A9659C8B63
http://www.learningtogive.org/lessons/unit292/lesson1.html

Social Justice Education:
This book deals with all steps of social justice education and can lend itself to the fifth stage. Students can select a social justice issue that they would like to combat and also select a method that they have studied that they would like to use to fight it.

*Posted for: Valerie Bracco*

Weslandia

Title: Weslandia
By: Paul Fleischman

Summary:
This is a very funny story about a very creative boy who just doesn't quite fit in at school or at home. Wesley, the main character, is an outcast from the civilization around him so he decides to devote his summer to a wonderful project- creating a new civilization. He starts his project by planting his own staple food crop. Soon his seeds turn into a magical world. Wesley moves into this beautiful new civilization and survives on the fruits and veggies produced by the seeds that he planted. Using all natural products from his garden Wesley is able to weave himself new clothes, ones that are much cooler and more comfortable then the jeans and t-shirts everyone else is wearing. Soon all the children that used to make fun of him are curious about Wesley's "summer project" and want to see what his civilization is all about. Wesley realizes that his civilization would benefit from the help of others and he invites his schoolmates in. The other students also gain an appreciation for Wesley and admire and praise him for his talent and creativeness.

Lesson Ideas:
There are many topics that could be taught as a follow up to this read aloud. This could be the start of a fiction writing unit where students can create there own "civilizations". The unit could be _____landia and the students names would go on the line. They could use this book to help them get idea's about a creating a land where they can chose what clothes they wear, what language they speak, what food they eat, etc. This book could also be used in a unit about planting. For younger grades studying the life cycle of plants they could talk about the stages that the plants in the book went through and all the different purposes that the plants served. This book could also be used on a unit about the importance of being yourself, and how it's okay to be different. Students learn from Wesley that it's okay to embrace your differences and not follow what everyone else is doing. This book can also be used for a lesson where you want students to notice change in a character over time. In the beginning of the book Wesley is sad, and depressed because he has no friends and doesn't fit in, and by the end of the book Wesley comes out of his shell and has a much improved morale.

Links:
www.ginnyhoover.com/5thGradeSixTraitsLessons.doc
http://web.syr.edu/~jjvizthu/weslandia.htm

Social Justice:
1. Self love and acceptance
2. Respect for others
Touches on #3. Issues of Social Justice- bullying

I Love Saturdays y Domingos

I Love Saturdays y domingos, by Alma Flor Ada, is about a young girl who spends the weekends with her grandparents. Saturdays are spent with her English-speaking paternal grandparents, and Sundays are spent with her Spanish-speaking maternal grandparents. She explains how she celebrates both English and Spanish culture by engaging in various activities with each set of grandparents. The girl uses Spanish words when talking about what she does with her Spanish-speaking grandparents, but the words are easily identified in context.

This book can be used to teach several lessons. It can be used to teach students basic Spanish words or to teach them about Spanish culture. Teachers can also use the book to show students how it is possible to celebrate different cultures and traditions. Students can then explain the different ways in which they celebrate different cultures.

The book addresses social justice levels 1 and 2. It teaches students to appreciate their own cultures, as well as diversity and the cultures of others.

Poetry for Young People, Langston Hughes

I was originally going to post for "The Little Prince" but I couldn't once I found this book in the school library. This is a collection of poems that addresses every level of the social justice curriculum. Self love and acceptance is addressed in "My People", acceptance of others is addressed in "Harlem", social movements is addressed in "Words Like Freedom" and "I Dream A World". There are poems of African history, about slave drums and jazz beats, about Jim Crow laws and segregation. Students who read these poems, will be exposed to language that is beautiful and descriptive as well as being exposed to African American History. Their are so many wonderful experiences students can have as a result to reading this poetry. They can create their own poetry and illustrations to create a class book of their own, students may also be inspiried to learn more about the actual history to go a long with the history that is described in the poems. As New York City school teachers, we may feel pressure to teach the "Teachers College" version of literacy, this will be a great resourse to teach poetry and all the levels of social justice at the same time.

Angel Child, Dragon Child

Angel Child, Dragon Child
By: Michele Maria Surat

This story is about a Vietnamese child, Nguyen Hoa, who was trying to adjust to life in the USA. Nguyen was also called “Ut”. When Ut first started school she was ridiculed by the other kids because she was different than them. She wore traditional clothing, which the students thought looked like pajamas and she did not speak much English. Ut carried a box around with her which had a picture of her mother. Ut missed her mother very much but her family did not have money to bring her to the U.S when they came so she was still in Vietnam. Ut made a friend at school and he helped her raise money by holding a school Vietnamese fair. Her mother was able to migrate to the U.S.

I would definitely recommend this book because I feel many people could relate to it. So many families migrate to the U.S in hopes of a better life for themselves and their children and adjusting to this new lifestyle can be so difficult. Their children can experience a rough time getting through school because of factors like a language barrier. This book does a great job of showing that it is not okay to judge someone by their appearance. People should accept or embrace one another’s culture and learn from one another. It’s a great read aloud and a great book to use in a social studies unit about the Vietnam War. You can integrate Social Studies, Geography, and Writing. Furthermore, this book touches on all five domains of social justice: self love and acceptance, respect for others, taking action, social issues, etc.

A New Barker in the House

Author: Tomie DePaola

Summary: This is the story of an English speaking family that adopts a Spanish speaking child. At first, the English children have a difficult time understanding their new brother and try to force their ways upon him. Eventually, the English family members begin to learn Spanish and the baby learns English.

Social Justice Education: This book deals with self-love and acceptance, and respect and tolerance for others.

Lessons and activities: I chose this book because it could encourage children to embrace languages in addition to English. Whether this meant that children would retain and be proud of their native language or encourage them to learn a different language it would be meaningful. I think this book could be a good introduction of the benefits of learning and speaking another language. The book is best suited for younger grades.

http://www.amazon.com/New-Barker-House-Twins/dp/B000C4SVGO/ref=sr_1_1/002-5355486-0658426?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174425170&sr=8-1

Multicultural Fables and Fairy Tales: Stories and Activities to Promote Literacy and Cultural Awareness

Title: “Multicultural Fables and Fairy Tales: Stories and Activities to Promote Literacy and Cultural Awareness”
Author: Tara McCarthy

Summary: This book includes many fables and tales from around the world/different cultures. The book is separated by four categories of tales:
Section 1 – Trickster Tales
Section 2 - Fables
Section 3 – “Why” Stories and Legends
Section 4 - Fairy Tales
Some stories that are included are “Tortoise Ticks Leopard” (Liberian), How the Beetle Got Her Colors” (Brazilian), “The Fox and the Drum” (Indian), and “The Tongue-Cut Sparrow” (Japanese). There are some lesson plan ideas that accompany each lesson as well as some suggested activities. For example, the objective of the “Coyote Places the Stars” tale is to predict what will happen in a trickster tale. The children will practice making predictions in the story using evidence.

Reflection:
I think this is a very good book to use in the classroom. It contains many different stories from around the world, which will expose students to other cultures and beliefs. Additionally, the book offers suggestions on how each story can be used according to different objectives (identifying values in trickster tales, relating fables to real life, etc.).

Ideas:
This book can be used when doing a unit study on fables/legends. Children can write and act out their own fable/fairytale after reading through a few of the tales in the book and examining the traits of fables/fairytales (setting, types of characters, values, etc.).

Levels of Social Justice Education:
I, II

Links:
B&N
Amazon

Updated: November 15, 2010

Boys and Girls of the World: From One End….. To the Other By Nuria Roca

“Boys and Girls of the World: From One End….. To the Other”, explores the lives of children all over the world. Readers will learn about different cultures, languages, holidays, schooling, climate, and environmental situations in places such as, China, North Alaska, Japan, Yugoslavia, Africa, Australia, and Egypt. Readers will meet a little boy named Pall from North Alaska who receives home schooling during the coldest months with the assistance of a computer and books on the internet, and another little boy named Draco from Yugoslavia, who was injured during a recent war. In addition, this book includes activities and guidelines for parents and teachers. This book will encourage students to learn about other children’s cultures all over the world and appreciate their diversity.

This book could be used to expand student’s knowledge and appreciation about diversity, and motivate them to become familiar with their peers culture, language, religion, and environment. Students will develop self-love and acceptance, respect and tolerance for oneself and others, and exploring issues of social justice in the classroom.

This book is a wonderful resource to use when teaching a lesson appreciating diversity and motivating students to acknowledge the differences and similarities between their peers. I would begin my lesson reading this book then have the students turn and talk sharing their ideas on what they noticed was different and the same between the children in the story. This will be followed by a class discussion. After the class discussion, I would pose an open-ended question such as, how do you celebrate your birthday? Independently, the students will write their response and draw a detailed depiction showing the traditional foods, games, and dances. When the students are finished they will post their writing near their drawing on the wall. The students will have 5-10 min. to walk around and observe their peers traditional way of celebrating their birthday. During the class discussion, I will motivate the students to share their ideas, opinions, and questions about their differences and similarities with their peers in a positive manner.

Chi- Hoon

Chi- Hoon by Patricia McMahon is the photo/ diary compilation of a young girl growing up in Seoul, South Korea. This beautifully glossy portfolio follows Chi- Hoon through a week of her life, giving the reader rich insight into cultural customs and traditions. Since my students were very excited that I was going to Korea, I promised to bring back something that we could learn about as a class. This book is the perfect instructional jump- off point: The reader can select virtually anything from the book and delve into a cultural study of it.

Josephine's 'magination by Arnold Dobrin

Couldn't find a picture for this one, and it was first published in 1973 so this may be due to an elderly book. not sure. Regardless, this is a great book for teaching multi cultural education. I chose this book for a couple reasons. One thing i really liked about this book is that it doesn't hit you over the head with the multi cultural content. What i mean by this is there is no racism or injustice really in the book. Instead the author chooses to tell a story of a young Haitian girl who accompanies her mother to the market one day to sell brooms, where she meets an older man who explains to her that she can make new things out of old stuff using her imagination. The illustrations are vivid, alternating between color and black and white, and the book would be appropriate for K-3rd grade, however it is not a short book, with about half text/half pictures for every 2 page spread.

The multi-cultural content comes from the book taking place in a poor neighborhood on Haiti, a country i assume most young urban students are not familiar with. Students learn about different cultures and people and there is also a bit of self love and acceptance in regards to the character of Josephine. (she learns she can have fun and make toys even though she has no money to buy anything, accepting her situation and making the best of it) I would use this book as an opportunity to introduce Haiti and Haitians to students. Where is Haiti? What continent is it located on? What is the weather like there? Can we determine any of this from the illustrations or how the people dress? What language do they speak in Haiti? (French) Why do they speak French? (Haiti was a French colony as well as many other North African states)What's a colony? etc. you get the idea. Any number of engaging and enlightening questions could be asked. For more advanced or older students you could have them do their own research and investigations into the Haitian people, culture, and history. One must keep in mind however to prepare students with adequate research skills and strategies before assigning such an activity.

Somewhere Today... A Book of Peace

Somewhere Today..A Book of Peace by Shelley Moore Thomas
At first I felt as though this book did not really have much to do with peace at all because it only presented alot of positve scenarios, but after observing the literary specialist in my school do a read aloud with this book I realized that there is alot of potential to discuss what peace is and contrast the postive imags with other negative aspects as well. This book goes through different activities that children are doing throughout the world that help make the world a better place. I love that the book has actual photographs rather than illustrations as well. More than that this book presents taking social action in a way that children can relate to and dispels the idea that social action has to be some grandiose display, that way children can see it is possible to be a social activists no matter how old and how little a taks may seem.

Social Justice
4.Social Movements and Social Change
5. Taking Social Action

Lesson Plan Ideas.
I think this book would be a great book for a writing unit where children are making their own books, as well as a poetry unit.

"I Love My Hair" by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley

Title: "I Love My Hair"

Author: Natasha Anastasia Tarpley

Summary: "I Love My Hair" deals with a young African American girl who describes her hair in many unique ways and the different ways she can wear it as well. This book is definitely empowering and brings an excellent message about appreciating who we are and where we come from. In addition, it encourages kids to feel proud of their heritage and appreciate each individuals uniqueness.

Reflections: I strongly recommend this book for any grade level. Its illustrations and colors make images vivid and immerses readers into a realistic flight of heritage celebration. Overall, it is a beautiful story about self-love and acceptance.

Social Justice Education: This book could be used in lessons that deal with self-love and acceptance, respect and tolerance for oneself and others, and exploring issues of social justice in the classroom. Also, it is great to read to students when introducing appreciation of diversity in the classroom.

Lessons and activities: This book is an excellent resource to use when teaching a lesson on the Appreciation of Diversity. First, I would read this book to my students and after ask them to draw self-portraits. When finished, I would allow students to comment about their differences in a positive way while they travel around the room viewing their drawings.

You may also want to visit this interesting link: A unit on "Celebrate your Heritage"
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/unitplan.jsp?id=50

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon

This book is a "heart-warmer" about a little girl named Molly Lou who is smaller than all the other children her age. Her character is developed after she moves to a different town. She always remembers what her grandmother told her and is able to battle the bullies.

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon would be useful in the younger grades as it has very simple language and bold pictures. This would be good for character development lessons and the theme of being proud of who you are. It also is a good example of how we need to to accept people who are different than us. Some possible lesson ideas would be to have children compare the situations from the book to things that have happened to them. Another idea would be to use this as one book in a character study unit. Students could record aspects of Molly Lou and what makes her who she is.

This book does not reach all of the levels of social justice education. It clearly touches on self-love and acceptance as she is constantly reminded that she can do what everyone else can do. It is also able to be incorporated into the "respect for others" category because the bully Ronald learns to accept Molly Lou for who she is.

Some useful links:
http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=10582
http://www.meac.org/Resources/LessonPlans/pdf/Primary_stand.pdf
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonplans/bookfairs/currconnection/like_myself.htm

People

Written and Illustrated by Peter Spier

People is an excellent book to use in the classroom to expose students to the differences in people from around the world. Spier's book sends the message that everyone has the right to be different and that people should be proud of their differences. Spier examines an array of characteristics that make human beings unique. His words and illustrations show the differences in physical traits (body size, skin color, eye color, hair style), clothing styles, interests, dwellings, holidays, foods, religions, and languages of individuals from many cultures. At the end of the book, Spier asks the reader to imagine how dull the world would be if everybody looked, thought, ate, dressed, and acted the same. This book makes you think about how wonderful it is that each one of us is unlike any other.

Anne Marie and Bree pointed out one area to watch out for: towards the end of the book, Spier writes about the different kinds of leaders. We noticed that the illustrations for this page are all of white males. When using this book in the classroom, it might be beneficial to discuss this or to skip the page entirely.

I think this book touches on the first three levels of social justice. When reading this book, children and adults consider their own cultures. They also learn about cultures that are different than their own. Spier helps his readers realize the importance of differences in the world.