READING IS KEY TO ADDRESSING CRISIS FACING BLACK BOYS

          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