Do you have a favorite genre of young adult books?
 
Fantasy?
 
Mystery?
 
Magical Realism?
 
Mine is Contemporary Realism.
 
Give me a young adult book that deals with real issues in real time – and I am in heaven.
 
Nothing better.
 
And I want to remind you of one – one that is recent and contemporary in content and tone – which caught the eyes and ears of teen and adult readers everywhere – when racial strife and national protests – became prominent in American life – with the mishandling and murdering of George Floyd in 2020.
 
The book is Why We Fly – by the authors of the best-selling YA novel – I’m Not Dying with You Tonight – by popular YA authors Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal. Together, they create believable heroines (something in short supply) – who do not fit the model of ever smiling, happy-go-lucky cheerleaders. Instead, the two – Leni and Nelly – become – unwittingly and unexpectedly – local and national teen social justice activists – as they lead a group of high school athletes and students in a protest for social justice and equality.
 
Who knew that two cheerleaders could cause so much trouble?
 
Working from the premise Colin Kaepernick’s infamous stance heard around the world – the pro-football player who in 2016 took a knee during the playing of the national anthem at the start of a NFL game in protest of police brutality and racial inequality in the United States –  our authors, Jones and Segal, present the story of how our cheerleaders, Lenni (who is white) and Nelly (who is Black), form a bond and together, lead the cheerleading squad to take a knee to draw attention to the unequal, hateful, and violent treatment of people of color in America.
 
Their inspiration?
 
One Cody Knight, Franklin High's previous all-star QB who went on to the big leagues — now in the news for taking a knee at games. Along the lines of Colin Kaepernick's activism, Cody's goal is to draw attention to the unequal treatment of Black people in America. But as happened with Kaepernick, many label Cody's actions a stunt that politicizes and pulls focus from the game of football – and just having a good time.
Inspired by Cody’s political stance, and at the suggestion of others, Leni and Nelly, our cheerleaders, lead the squad to take a knee during the national anthem at the first game of the season. Suddenly, an overwhelming positive response results, which morphs into student groups across the school rallying to her cause – and quite unexpectedly, some of the football players kneeling with them at the next game.
But their euphoria – at having started a social movement – soon turns sour. In retaliation for their ‘insubordination’ – the cheerleading squad is banned from the field before the next game – and only Nelly, our Black cheerleader, is punished. Nelly is suspended from school for over a week. And then, lo and behold – everything backfires. Hate speech – against the cheerleaders and the social protest – and Nelly, in particular – explodes on social media.

And Lenni feels responsible.

This was Lenni’s idea to demonstrate solidarity with her African American friend – and now her friend’s life is in jeopardy. Will colleges look upon her unfavorably because she is seen as a troublemaker? A rabble rouser? Or will they honor her because she is willing to speak to truth to power? And when the dust settles – who will be their true friends? And more importantly, will they, Lenni and Nelly, still have each other…?
What do you do when a moment of youthful protest turns into a viral sensation? Are you an ally or an accomplice? As a young person, how loudly are you willing to speak for your beliefs knowing your future might be in jeopardy? Is that even a future you want? And when the dust settles, will the same friends you've always counted on still be standing by your side?

What is most appealing about this terrific YA novel is this riveting tale of social protest and youthful optimism is told in alternating chapters.  Much like they did in their blockbuster I'm Not Dying with You Tonight, the two authors present the stories of the main characters in Why We Fly along the same timeline, but from different points of view. We experience their doubts, grievances, hopes and dreams – each in their own voice.
And for teachers and young people alike – the chance to grapple with a real social issue in real time with the real voices of teens they know – or hope to know – is the greatest social gift we can give our young people. For real change only occurs when we find our true voices – and ‘learn to fly….”

​Jeffrey S. Kaplan, PhD
Associate Professor Emeritus
School of Teacher Education
College of Community Innovation & Education
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida 32826
[email protected]

What can we talk about in school?
 
Being gay?
 
Being Black?
 
Being Jewish?
 
Or perhaps, just being different?
 
And how kids – often needing to feel superior – ostracize kids who they believe are different too.
 
This is not a new story – and sadly, will continue as long kids gather in groups and look for someone to ‘pick on…”
 
Just for ‘fun’….
 
But, often, what starts as ‘innocent fun’ in school or on the playground – morphs into deadly consequences later in life.
 
And such is the story retold in Freedom Summer by Don Mitchell
 
I choose this book – not new, not recent, but certainly, timely – in light of the recent mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York – where a white supremacist 18-year-old – bought a firearm – legally – and proceeded to mass murder ten individuals – mostly African Americans – who were simply living their lives on an ordinary Spring day.
 
Once again, we remember – Charlottesville, Virginia – Charleston, South Carolina, - and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – all sites of mass shootings – all sites where the gunmen was motivated by hate – and the victims were singled out for their race, creed, color – and for being ‘different’.
 
With that in mind, it is time for teachers to share with their students - the true story of murder and the fight for civil rights and social justice in 1960s Mississippi. For there, on June 21, 1964, three young men – two white, one black - were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan for trying to help black Americans vote as part of the 1964 Freedom Summer registration effort in the South.
 
Sound familiar?
 
There – three young men – James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner – were murdered in cold blood – on a summer trip to register Mississippi voters – and their murderers - or rather murderer - was not convicted until forty-one years later. Told in crisp, clear and accessible language, this straightforward non-fiction account of this inspiring, yet horrifying tale of idealistic and courageous young people who wanted to change their country for the better – is a book that can be read in sections – or in its entirety – providing young readers – with a glimpse of an event that not only was one of the most significant events of the civil rights movement – but resonates just as soundly and profoundly today – as it did when it first occurred – nearly 60 years ago.
The murder of these three young men gained intense national attention and led to decades of investigations and newspaper accounts. Distilling court records, printed sources, and original interviews with surviving family members, the author, Don Mitchell, sets the ugly scene, recounting in detail the ensuing efforts to bring the killers to justice (or at least, as he puts it, "a measure of justice"), and offers biographical sketches of the victims and of four associated heroes who played important roles in the case.
For not until January 6, 2005, did a Mississippi Neshoba County grand jury indict one Edgar Ray Killen on three counts of murder. When the Mississippi Attorney General prosecuted the case, it was the first time the state acted against the perpetrators of the murders. Rita Bender, Michael Schwerner's widow, testified in the trial. On June 21, 2005, a jury convicted Killen on three counts of manslaughter; he was described as the man who planned and directed the killing of the civil rights workers. Killen, then 80 years old, was sentenced to three consecutive terms of 20 years in prison. His appeal, in which he claimed that no jury of his peers would have convicted him in 1964 based on the evidence presented, was rejected by the Mississippi Supreme Court.
On June 20, 2016, both the Mississippi Attorney General and a top prosecutor for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice, announced that there would be no further investigation into the murders. "The evidence has been degraded by memory over time, and so there are no individuals that are living now that we can make a case on at this point,” said the Mississippi Attorney General.
Complete with photos, endnotes and a bibliography, this smart piece of historical nonfiction should grace the shelf of any teacher – of every discipline – for easy reference – as a poignant reminder of what matters most in our lives – no matter the era, no matter the social milieu….
 
That every life matters
 
That every vote counts
 
And that the dignity and courage of one individual – can change the world – in matters large and small.
 
Young people should know – that the cruelty and brutality and killings – that they see today – in real time – is sadly, nothing new.
 
That inhumanity – no matter how ugly, how cruel, and how unfathomable – has always been real to life in America – and to understand its root causes, historical events – such as the fight for civil rights in the summer of 1964 in Mississippi – need revisiting and retelling.
 
And that hope – however, fragile – still endures.
 
This is a good read. I urge you to share with your students. 
 
Jeffrey S. Kaplan, PhD
Associate Professor Emeritus
School of Teacher Education
College of Community Innovation & Education
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida
[email protected]

Looking for a good read?
 
This is an ‘oldy but goldy’ from the pen of acclaimed author Joan Bauer.
 
Do you know her? You should.
 
Joan Bauer is a Newbery Honor Medal best-selling author, screenwriter, songwriter, and inspirational speaker whose novel Rules of the Road was chosen as one of the top young adult novels of the quarter century by the American Library Association.
 
In the sequel to the Rules of the Road, Best Foot Forward, we meet up again with our intrepid teenage shoe saleswoman, 16-year-old Jenna Boller, who comes of age learning to manage a shoe store, run by her employer and role model Madeline Gladstone, the matriarch of Gladstone Shoes. Complicating matters is Jenna’s absent alcoholic father and her need to be supportive of both her mother and younger sister – while learning to navigate the ever-present chaos at her seemingly normal and idyllic summer shoe store job.
 
What could go wrong? Everything.
 
Gladstone’s recent merger with a larger company – think corporate buy-out – leads Jenna to untangling an unpleasant web of corporate corruption – as the new company challenges Gladstone’s time-honored way of serving its customers with honesty and distinction. Further complications ensue when Jenna learns that the merger with a discount shoe chain – has been orchestrated by Mrs. Gladstone’s less than scrupulous son, Elden.
 
And as if that weren’t enough, Jenna must also micromanage – and eventually role model – a new hire - Tanner Cobb, a guy with a past, a police record, and dangerously good looks – and to top it off – he once shoplifted from the store. Couple this with a budding teenage romance – one with a winsome looking Charlie from the local donut shop – and suddenly, you have a summer Jenna will always remember.
 
And so will young (and adult) readers.
 
I like Joan Bauer. In her sure hands, young readers are introduced to the realities of coming age through the eyes of emerging teen Jenna’s undying compassion and burgeoning confidence. Her deep and steadfast demeanor - always growing, always becoming – determined to put her ‘best foot forward’ – accompanied by vivid characterizations, crisp, believable dialogue, and true-to-life scenarios – pays off for not only for this earnest teen heroine, but also for her readers.
 
The beauty of young adult books is that there is something for everyone – from horror to reality, from science fiction to nonfiction, - there is a young adult book that will meet the needs and desires of adolescents everywhere – no matter their age, skills, and desires. For finding the right book for the right kid – is the job of any teacher, librarian, parent, and/or adult who cares about kids and reading.
 
All too often, though, well-meaning adults care more about ‘what’ kids read – than ‘that’ kids read. Yet, it is ‘that they read’ which is most important. For ‘that they read’ is what turns them into lifelong readers - who will, in-turn, nurture future young generations to do the same.
 
Joan Bauer is the perfect fit for kids who are looking for a good read about kids they know – summer jobs, they do – and less than perfect parents, they hope to change.
 
Jeffrey Kaplan, PhD
Associate Professor Emeritus
School of Teacher Education
College of Community Innovation and Education
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida
[email protected]
 
Senior Adjunct Professor
Dissertation Chair/Methodologist
College of Doctoral Studies
Grand Canyon University
Phoenix, Arizona 

​Jeffrey Kaplan is Associate Professor Emeritus, School of Teacher Education, College of Community Innovation & Education, University of Central Florida, Orlando and Senior Doctoral Dissertation Chair and Methodologist, Grand Canyon University. Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Kaplan is Past-President of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (2012-2013) and former Chair of the NCTE Committee on Censorship (2013-2015).

​If I could select one book – just one book – to place in the hands of teachers – and parents – and world leaders – I would pick this one – Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish’s  How To Talk So Kids Can Learn at Home and in School (Scribner). This is not a new book (originally published in 1995) – by any stretch of the imagination – but it is a valuable book – and one that my education majors and minors – student teachers and graduate interns – simply, love.
 
Why? The answer is simple. The advice is pragmatic; the reading engaging, and the layout – fun!

Each chapter presents a different skill – on how to talk to kids so they will listen and learn – or at least, pretend – followed by a user-friendly narrative, edifying cartoon illustrations, and an easy to digest question and answer section. All designed and unified by one major principle – “kids don’t care how much you know – until they know how much you care.”
 
True, this is not a young adult novel. True, this is book that speaks directly to issues of diversity, racism, morality, sexuality, or any other ‘ism’ that teachers and parents and caregivers – and teens of all ages – must ‘wrestle’ with daily.
 
No, this books steps back from those issues – in leaps forward to demonstrate – in plain-spoken, friendly, yet informative language – how anyone – can establish a respectful environment for children and adolescents of all ages. This good, good read demonstrates how to precisely to create a world of equanimity and inclusiveness – by exploring the difference between words that demoralize and words that exemplify respect – between words that trigger hostility and argument and those that invite cooperation and compassion. For as the authors believe, ‘it is impossible for a child to think, to concentrate, to believe – without feeling respect, empathy, and desire.”
 
With specific illustrative instructions and clear-eyed examples, Faber and Mazlish walk us through the small changes we can make – as teachers, as leaders, as adults, - in the way we talk to students of all ages. One of my favorite chapters, “Seven Skills That Invite Kids to Cooperate,” presents alternatives to the ways we typically try to get students to follow instructions. Usually, teachers, in desperation, demand attention – and decry the child and the behavior – all at once. “Your essay is a mess – and so are you!” Instead, Faber and Mazlish recommend, “I really like what you wrote – can you think of one thing you can do to make it better?”  Simple, quiet and direct.

The authors’ easy-to-read style and realistic approach makes for an easy, absorbing whose principles can be applied immediately. With fun illustrations, concepts come to life in a way that written description often fails. In fact, I sometimes recall a piece of their advice because I saw it in cartoon form.
​
As a teacher educator, I have handed my students many things to read – articles, textbooks, young adult novels – and all have been received politely, respectively, and with a nod to the syllabus. None though has received the attention that this book always gets. “I love this book.” “This book is terrific.” “This book taught me so much!” “I wish my teacher had read this book when I was in school.”
 
That is why Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish’s How To Talk So Kids Can Learn at Home and in School (Scribner) is my Weekend Pick. Every teacher should have this on their shelf. Every teacher should read this book at the start of every school year. And every teacher should aspire to be the teacher who best exemplifies the principles espoused in this book – so they too can bring out the best in children and adolescents everywhere.

​Jeffrey Kaplan, PhD
Associate Professor Emeritus
School of Teacher Education
College of Community Innovation and Education
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida 32817
[email protected]
 
Senior Adjunct Professor
Dissertation Chair/Methodologist
College of Doctoral Studies
Grand Canyon University
Phoenix, Arizona