Back to School List: History Books

With so many teens entering a school year predicated upon an incomplete curriculum, it’s more important than ever that we remember our responsibility to our young people and their education. Parents, guardians, librarians, and community leaders all have a role in preparing this next generation, and that means making sure they develop a complete perspective of the world around them.

I’m going to provide you with 5 book lists over the next two weeks.

You’re going to

• look for them in your library, and request them to purchase if they’re missing.
• check each book out and read it.
• gift one or two of the books to young people in your life.
• place the books in free little libraries; leave them on trains or bus stops; or strategically place them in coffee shops.
• hold a book group with the young people in your life. If you’re not comfortable discussing the books, barter with a teacher, professor or librarian to do it for you.
• give books as presents.
• ad some of these books to your back to school shopping list.

Most important, you’re going to purchase the books through a local, independent bookstore.

It won’t take much to realize my bias in creating these lists. To provide a bit of balance, most of the lists end with a resource to help teen readers consider, build, or strengthen their critical literacy skills.

We’re starting today with a list of history books, a most appropriate place to start, don’t you think? I’m keeping my lists short and tight so no one is overwhelmed. They’re all good, necessary reads. I’ve only included one biographic book. It reminds us of the personal ways major events, particularly war, impact individuals and their future generations.

• Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi. Little, Brown Books

The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. Racist ideas are woven into the fabric of this country, and the first step to building an antiracist America is acknowledging America’s racist past and present. This book takes you on that journey, showing how racist ideas started and were spread, and how they can be discredited. 

• The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee (Young Readers Adaptation): Life in Native America adapted by Sheila Keenan from the hardcover by David Treuer. Viking

Since the late 1800s, it has been believed that Native American civilization has been wiped from the United States. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee argues that Native American culture is far from defeated–if anything, it is thriving as much today as it was one hundred years ago. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee looks at Native American culture as it exists today–and the fight to preserve language and traditions. Adapted for young readers, this important young adult nonfiction book is perfect educational material for children and adults alike.

• From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo. Norton Young Readers

Paula Yoo has crafted a searing examination of the killing and the trial and verdicts that followed. When Ebens and Nitz pled guilty to manslaughter and received only a $3,000 fine and three years’ probation, the lenient sentence sparked outrage. The protests that followed led to a federal civil rights trial—the first involving a crime against an Asian American—and galvanized what came to be known as the Asian American movement.

• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent (adapted for young readers) by Isabelle Wilkerson. Penguin Random House

Readers will be fascinated by this young adult adaptation of the New York Times bestselling nonfiction work as they follow masterful narratives about real people that reveal an insidious phenomenon in the United States: a hidden caste system. Caste is not only about race or class; it is about power—which groups have it and which do not. Isabel Wilkerson explores historical social hierarchies, including those in India and Nazi Germany, and explains how perpetuating these rankings dehumanizes vast sections of society. Once we learn the reasons behind caste and see the often heartbreaking effects, Wilkerson says, we can bridge the divides and make way for an inclusive future where we are all equal.

• Tasting the Sky, a Palestinian Childhood by Ibtisam Barakat. Square Fish

In this groundbreaking memoir set in Ramallah during the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, Ibtisam Barakat captures what it is like to be a child whose world is shattered by war. With candor and courage, she stitches together memories of her childhood: fear and confusion as bombs explode near her home and she is separated from her family; the harshness of life in the Middle East as a Palestinian refugee; her unexpected joy when she discovers Alef, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet. This is the beginning of her passionate connection to words, and as language becomes her refuge, allowing her to piece together the fragments of her world, it becomes her true home.

• Thinking Like A Historian: The Historians Toolkit. Khan Academy

Be well and do good

Filed under: Book List