 Paige Watts | It's the final weekend of April and LSU instructor Paige Watts brings us the Weekend Pick to round out the month. To remind our readers, Paige Watts is an Instructor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where she teaches composition and Young Adult Literature. She is also one of the Faculty Advisors for NCTE at LSU. Her research interests include Young Adult Literature, multimodal literacy, and pedagogical approaches to teaching genre fiction. She is often seen carrying a tote full of craft supplies to her classes and loves a classroom full of student discussion. Our many thanks to Paige for her contributions to our Weekend Picks this month! |
I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina, John Jennings, and Stacey Robinson
 | I Am Alfonso Jones is a graphic novel written by Tony Medina and illustrated by Stacey Robinson and John Jennings. Alfonso Jones is just a student with a crush on his best friend, a school play around the corner, and an upcoming reunion with his dad who is coming home from prison after being exonerated for a crime he didn’t commit. When Alfonso is out shopping with his best friend, an off-duty police officer mistakes the hanger in his hand for a weapon and shoots him. Alfonso wakes up in the afterlife where he watches his family and friends as their grief becomes a larger public outcry against police brutality that spread across the country. In the afterlife, he meets ghosts who were also victims of racial violence, like Elanor Bumpurs and Henry Dumas. Together, they take the “ghost train” to help Alfonso understand his death and the larger social implications of what has happened to him and how the world around him is responding. |
| Alfonso’s journey shows him as situated within a devastating tradition of racism and violence in America, and his ancestral guides only have so much they can tell him. While balancing the hope of a better future, the many stories of violence in the novel show how truly bleak the reality is for boys like Alfonso. The story shows that communities are starting to push for change, but the emphasis of the novel really remains on what needs to change. The stories presented are heartbreaking and grounded in reality. Readers of today know just how accurate these stories are to the world around us. Alfonso’s story highlights the repetitive cycles of this violence and how important it is that we face the ugly reality of these issues, take action, and demand change. With difficult but necessary themes similar to Dear Martin by Nic Stone, All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, I Am Alfonso Jones shows the history, pain, and tragedy that is racial violence and police brutality that we see time and time again. |  Tony Medina |
 John Jennings | Told in illustrations, Alfonso’s story becomes that much more real and impactful to young readers. Early in the novel, Alfonso is seen in his class, navigating literary analysis of Hamlet, and the scene is such a real representation of the teens today. While Alfonso and his classmates consider how the language in Hamlet relates to the language of hip-hop, their constant discourse has the potential to relate to young readers and remind them that Alfonso is just like them. He is a young boy, having the same school day that they do, before he is involved in this horrific accident that ends his life. |
| www.leeandlow.com/books/i-am-alfonso-jones/ I Am Alfonso Jones is a beautiful and haunting addition to classroom libraries that prompts students to think more deeply about the tragic stories we often see in headlines today. Whether these are fears students are deeply familiar with or an opportunity for better understanding, this graphic novel presents Alfonso’s story as a way to understand the history of injustice and recognize the urgent need for change. You can order your copy of I Am Alfonso Jones here! |  Stacey Robinson |
RSS Feed