Kudos to Tavis Smiley for addressing the grossly overlooked education crisis facing Black boys in this country. The prime time special, “Tavis Smiley Reports: Too Important to Fail”, aired on PBS Tuesday, September 13. (There is an eBook companion to the documentary that is available at Amazon.com. We encourage you to purchase it. The volume picks up where the special leaves off.) http://www.amazon.com/Too-Important-Fail-Americas-ebook/dp/B005LVNLOA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1316008272&sr=1-1.
“Too Important to Fail” highlighted many of the problems that cause Black boys to become high school dropouts, populate the nation’s penal system and develop life styles that render them so-called“menaces to society.” Juwanza Kunjufu, one of the guests on the program, sees the lack of adequate reading skills at the core of many of the problems. Kunjufu is an author and educational consultant who has, for more than several decades, written and spoken extensively about the plight of Black boys.
He said in a recent interview, “My major concern is with males and reading. It’s the precursor for special education and prison. 80% of the children in Special Ed are there because of a reading deficiency. 82% of inmates are illiterate, so if we simply teach black boys how to read we have a chance to keep them out of Special Education and jail.”
Why aren’t Black boys developing the reading skills necessary for them to navigate successful and meaningful lives in our society? One of the reasons often cited is that boys don’t see themselves, their experiences, or the contributions of their ancestors in the books that are available.
Award-winning writer Walter Dean Myers, who has penned a body of work that projects and explores the lives and experiences of “real young black men”, recalled during a National Public Radio interview, “I didn’t see myself represented in any of the reading material. And I understand, as other kids do, that when they go to school, books transmit values. And if I’m not in those books, what are we saying about my values?”
In the eBook companion to “Too Important to Fail”, Myers shares that “Teachers and educational institutions need to understand that they can reach Black boys with literature if that material reflects their lives and experience.”
Fortunately, more books that meet the demand are being published, though not nearly in the number that is needed. But another problem rears its ugly head. How can the public find out about those books that are being published? Most of them are not properly marketed.
To help address that problem, Just Us Books has developed a list that we believe will provide an option. Every week, we will post 30 recommended titles on our website, categorized in three age groups: 4-8; 9-12 and YA that we feel will attract the attention of Black boys. The first list appears at the bottom of this post. If you have suggestions, please let us know. http://justusbooks.com.
BOOKS FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN BOYS
Ages 4-8
Collier, Bryan, Uptown, NY, Henry Holt, 2004
Curtis, Gavin and Lewis, E.B., The Bat Boy and His Violin, NY,
Aladdin, 2001
Evans, Shane W., Olu’s Dream, Katherin Tegen Books,
an Imprint of Harper Collins, 2009
Hudson, Wade and Ford, George, Jamal’s Busy Day, NJ, Just Us
Books, 1991
Nelson, Kadir, He’s Got the Whole World in His
Hands, NY, Puffin, 2005
Pinkney, Brian, Max Found Two Sticks, NY, Aladdin,
1997
Steptoe, Javaka, The Jones Family Express, NY, Lee
& Low, 2003
Steptoe, John, Stevie, NY, Harper Collins,
1986
Tarpley, Natasha and Lewis, E. B., Bippity Bop Barbershop, NY, Little
Brown, 2009
Winans, Carvin and Harrington, Leslie, Conrad Saves Pinger Park, NJ,
Marimba Books, 2010
Ages 9-12
CLE, Troy, The Marvelous Effect, NY, Simon& Schuster, 2008
Curtis, Christopher Paul, The Watsons Go To Birmingham –1963, NY, Laurel Leaf, 2000
Elliott, Zetta and Strickland, Shadra, Bird,NY, Lee & Low, 2008
Ferguson, Dwayne, Kid Caramel: The Case of the Missing Ankh, NY, Just Us Books, 1997
Haskins, James, Freedom Rides, Journey to Justice, NJ, Sankofa Books, an imprint of Just Us Books, 2005
Medina, Tony and Watson, Jesse J., I and I: Bob Marley, NY, Lee & Low, 2009
Nelson, Kadir, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, NY,
Jump at the Sun, 2008
Tyree, Omar, 12 Brown Boys, NJ, Just Us Books, 2008
Walters, Mildred Pitts, Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World, NY,
Amistad, Reprint Edition, 2010
Woodson, Jacqueline, Locomotion, NY, Speak, a Puffin Imprint (PB), 2010
YA
Curtis, Christopher Paul, Bucking the Sarge,NY, Laurel Leaf, 2003
Draper, Sharon, Forged by Fire, NY, Simon-Pulse, 1998
Draper, Sharon, Tears of a Tiger, NY Simon-Pulse, 1996
Lester, Julius, Guardian, NY, Amistad, 2008
McDonald, Janet, Brotherhood, NY Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002
Myers, Walter Dean, Handbook for Boys, NY, Amistad, 2003
Myers, Walter Dean, Slam, NY, Scholastic Paperback, 2008
Nerie, G, Ghetto Cowboy, MA, Candlewick, 2011
Woodson, Jacqueline, Behind You, NY, Puffin, Reprint Edition, 2010
Yep, Lawrence, The Star Maker, NY, Harper Collins, 2010
“Too Important to Fail” highlighted many of the problems that cause Black boys to become high school dropouts, populate the nation’s penal system and develop life styles that render them so-called“menaces to society.” Juwanza Kunjufu, one of the guests on the program, sees the lack of adequate reading skills at the core of many of the problems. Kunjufu is an author and educational consultant who has, for more than several decades, written and spoken extensively about the plight of Black boys.
He said in a recent interview, “My major concern is with males and reading. It’s the precursor for special education and prison. 80% of the children in Special Ed are there because of a reading deficiency. 82% of inmates are illiterate, so if we simply teach black boys how to read we have a chance to keep them out of Special Education and jail.”
Why aren’t Black boys developing the reading skills necessary for them to navigate successful and meaningful lives in our society? One of the reasons often cited is that boys don’t see themselves, their experiences, or the contributions of their ancestors in the books that are available.
Award-winning writer Walter Dean Myers, who has penned a body of work that projects and explores the lives and experiences of “real young black men”, recalled during a National Public Radio interview, “I didn’t see myself represented in any of the reading material. And I understand, as other kids do, that when they go to school, books transmit values. And if I’m not in those books, what are we saying about my values?”
In the eBook companion to “Too Important to Fail”, Myers shares that “Teachers and educational institutions need to understand that they can reach Black boys with literature if that material reflects their lives and experience.”
Fortunately, more books that meet the demand are being published, though not nearly in the number that is needed. But another problem rears its ugly head. How can the public find out about those books that are being published? Most of them are not properly marketed.
To help address that problem, Just Us Books has developed a list that we believe will provide an option. Every week, we will post 30 recommended titles on our website, categorized in three age groups: 4-8; 9-12 and YA that we feel will attract the attention of Black boys. The first list appears at the bottom of this post. If you have suggestions, please let us know. http://justusbooks.com.
BOOKS FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN BOYS
Ages 4-8
Collier, Bryan, Uptown, NY, Henry Holt, 2004
Curtis, Gavin and Lewis, E.B., The Bat Boy and His Violin, NY,
Aladdin, 2001
Evans, Shane W., Olu’s Dream, Katherin Tegen Books,
an Imprint of Harper Collins, 2009
Hudson, Wade and Ford, George, Jamal’s Busy Day, NJ, Just Us
Books, 1991
Nelson, Kadir, He’s Got the Whole World in His
Hands, NY, Puffin, 2005
Pinkney, Brian, Max Found Two Sticks, NY, Aladdin,
1997
Steptoe, Javaka, The Jones Family Express, NY, Lee
& Low, 2003
Steptoe, John, Stevie, NY, Harper Collins,
1986
Tarpley, Natasha and Lewis, E. B., Bippity Bop Barbershop, NY, Little
Brown, 2009
Winans, Carvin and Harrington, Leslie, Conrad Saves Pinger Park, NJ,
Marimba Books, 2010
Ages 9-12
CLE, Troy, The Marvelous Effect, NY, Simon& Schuster, 2008
Curtis, Christopher Paul, The Watsons Go To Birmingham –1963, NY, Laurel Leaf, 2000
Elliott, Zetta and Strickland, Shadra, Bird,NY, Lee & Low, 2008
Ferguson, Dwayne, Kid Caramel: The Case of the Missing Ankh, NY, Just Us Books, 1997
Haskins, James, Freedom Rides, Journey to Justice, NJ, Sankofa Books, an imprint of Just Us Books, 2005
Medina, Tony and Watson, Jesse J., I and I: Bob Marley, NY, Lee & Low, 2009
Nelson, Kadir, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, NY,
Jump at the Sun, 2008
Tyree, Omar, 12 Brown Boys, NJ, Just Us Books, 2008
Walters, Mildred Pitts, Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World, NY,
Amistad, Reprint Edition, 2010
Woodson, Jacqueline, Locomotion, NY, Speak, a Puffin Imprint (PB), 2010
YA
Curtis, Christopher Paul, Bucking the Sarge,NY, Laurel Leaf, 2003
Draper, Sharon, Forged by Fire, NY, Simon-Pulse, 1998
Draper, Sharon, Tears of a Tiger, NY Simon-Pulse, 1996
Lester, Julius, Guardian, NY, Amistad, 2008
McDonald, Janet, Brotherhood, NY Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002
Myers, Walter Dean, Handbook for Boys, NY, Amistad, 2003
Myers, Walter Dean, Slam, NY, Scholastic Paperback, 2008
Nerie, G, Ghetto Cowboy, MA, Candlewick, 2011
Woodson, Jacqueline, Behind You, NY, Puffin, Reprint Edition, 2010
Yep, Lawrence, The Star Maker, NY, Harper Collins, 2010
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