I started the school year with my fourth graders reading Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. It is a story about learning differences and the impact of a caring and seeing adult. My choice was initially driven by a desire to motivate my students that were not learning traditionally or that held negative mindset about their own school experience. One day I asked one of my students, who has not yet experienced a day in his school life when learning did not come easy to him, if he had ever felt like Ally the protagonist. He thought for a moment and said no. But now he does.
Books are magic that way. They not only let you walk in someone else's shoes, they allow you to get in someone else's head and live their lives along with them. And we all need to learn more about each other.
Here are some titles from my 2018 reading list that can help build empathy, not just in kids but in all of us, especially those of us who are teachers or parents:
1. Ghost by Jason Reynolds - A story about a boy who literally runs from everything, having had to escape with his mother when his abusive father tries to kill them. Although a novel written for upper elementary and middle school readers, I am recommending it more to the adults that work with kids that may be going through similar life circumstances, to understand them and see the world through their eyes.
2. Refugee by Alan Gratz - Another book written for a younger audience but eye opening for anyone who wonders why people leave their homes under harrowing and unwelcome conditions. This is the story of three refugee families, from three different parts of the world and living during three different time periods. Written simply but realistically it is a timely book for all of us.
3. Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini is not a novel but a small poetic picture book answering the same question: How can a parent risk the life of his children in order to find peace and safety?
4. Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver - "A mother can only be as happy as her unhappiest child.“ Isn't that the truth? You'd agree if you were a mother. Do you want to know what's it like to parent adult children? Do you wonder what it feels like to live during times of world upheavals, when new ideas are challenging the old? Do you want to travel in time, back and forth between the present and the past and wonder about how far we have come and how we continue to struggle with the same human weaknesses? Barbara Kingsolver never fails to take me on a long and rewarding journey.
5. Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras - another book with multiple narrators and hence multiple perspectives that can expand your mind, your soul and your heart. The upstairs/downstairs dynamics of class, the dichotomy of right and left wing politics, and the hard to define boundaries of family loyalty - all themes in this book, given to me as a gift.
and a bonus: Good Dog, Stay by Anna Quindlan - I read this very short book by one of my favorite authors in the time it took me to get from home to my summer class on the commuter train. And I am not embarrassed to admit that I cried in public over a book about a family saying good bye to their beloved dog. I have never owned a dog. But Quindlan made me want to get one. Of course, it is more about the lessons one learns about being a better human when owning and caring for an animal that touch the heart.
I met my goal of 52 books in 52 weeks. Most of them were books meant for children but great wisdom and adult lessons are hidden in a lot of children's books. Two of my favorites were Gifts from the Enemy by Trudy Ludwig and One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul . Both based on truth, the first is a story of basic human goodness and the second one of empowerment and how one community became protagonists of their own transformation.
Happy reading in 2019!
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