Identity

Books about where a character questions or explores their identity

Antiracism

Continental Drifter

Continental Drifter, by Kathy MacLeod, is a graphic novel memoir about the author's childhood where she navigates two different worlds. With a Thai mother and an American father, Kathy feels like she doesn't quite fit in with the other kids in her Bangkok neighbourhood. She dreams

LGBTQ

Homebody

Homebody is a graphic novel memoir about Theo Parish's life as a nonbinary person. This coming of age book shows how they navigated their own identity and came out as a transgender and nonbinary. They called this process "coming home to myself wherever that may be"

Graphic Novel

Dungeon Club

It is a pleasure to find books that connect with students' interests, so I was delighted with the Dungeon Club series by Molly Knox Ostertag and Xanthe Bouma. This graphic novel series initially focuses on main characters Olivia and Jess, two friends who enjoy the role playing game Dungeons

Antiracism

Graphic Novels by Asian Authors - Improving Representation in my Classroom Library

I have the feeling that students are looking for mirror books that reflect their own experiences as Asian Canadians. As a result, below are four new graphic novels that reflect in different ways the experiences of Asian students at my school.

Courage

I Am Not Starfire

There are a lot of reasons to love I Am Not Starfire [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56120074-i-am-not-starfire?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=2xSshJEVzN&rank=1] , written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Yoshi Yoshitani. The art is fantastic, the characters are sharp, and

Canadian

Black Water, On the Trapline, and Kīwew

One amazing thing about the writer David A. Robertson is his ability to write compelling literature for any age group. Some of his most recent work demonstrates his versatility as he focuses on his relationship with his father and connecting with his Cree identity in Black Water [https://www.goodreads.

LGBTQ

Felix Ever After

Warning: Minor Spoilers Ahead Felix Ever After [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51931067-felix-ever-after?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=cT2bWwtkJg&rank=1] , by Kacen Callender, tells the story of Felix, a seventeen year old student going to art school in New York. At the outset

Antiracism

New Kid and Not Talking About Race

This year, I was able to teach my identity literature circle [https://teacherbees.ca/identity-literature-circle/] for the first time. Having put together the text sets before going on parental leave, I was excited to finally dive into a unit that explored identity in a variety of ways. As a final

Canadian

Surviving the City: From the Roots Up

Surviving the City Vol. 2: From the Roots Up, written by Tasha Spillett and illustrated by Natasha Donovan, is a graphic novel that explores the intersections of Indigenous culture and gender identity. It builds on the previous volume [https://teacherbees.ca/surviving-the-city/] to show the struggles of an Indigenous teen

LGBTQ

Rick

Rick [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44660928-rick?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=xjv28dLm5m&rank=1] , by Alex Gino, is the sequel to the award winning middle grade novel George. In Rick, characters from the first book have moved onto middle school, which brings new

Literature Circle

Piecing Me Together

Piecing Me Together [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25566675-piecing-me-together?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=T5AcnMoIGn&rank=1] , by Renée Watson, is a young adult novel that examines issues of race, privilege and identity for a teen girl from a poor neighbourhood. Jade, the book'

Human Rights

On the Come Up

On the Come Up is Angie Thomas's follow up to the hugely successful The Hate U Give. It tells the story of sixteen-year old Bri, an aspiring rapper who aims to make it big and solve her family's financial troubles. Early in the story, Bri is

Human Rights

Other Words for Home

Stories are important tools for promoting empathy and understanding of others. It is harder to divide the world into "Them" versus "Us," to dehumanize the other, when we understand another group's struggles. For this reason, books like Other Words for Home [https://www.goodreads.

LGBTQ

Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World

As a middle school teacher, I have tried to fill my classroom library with books that are representative of LGBTQ students' experiences. I have collected a variety of books [https://teacherbees.ca/lgbtq-books-in-middle-school/] relating to trans youth, kids with gay and lesbian parents, and LGBTQ teens facing discrimination, but

Identity

Islandborn

Islandborn [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35631757-islandborn], written by Junot Díaz and illustrated by Leo Espinosa, is a gorgeous book that explores the difficulty in negotiating identity for immigrants. Islandborn tells the story of Lola, a girl who can no longer remember The Island where she was born. When

LGBTQ

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12000020-aristotle-and-dante-discover-the-secrets-of-the-universe?ac=1&from_search=true] is the coming of age story of two teenage boys as they embark on a friendship that gradually becomes a deeper relationship. With beautiful prose, the title is

Identity

Identity Literature Circle

Earlier this year, I decided to develop another literature circle for my grade seven classroom. I currently teach two literature circles that focus on the themes of human rights and heroic journeys respectively. Inspired by Kelly Gallagher, I decided to condense these two units and create a third in order

LGBTQ

The 57 Bus: A Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives

Summer is an excellent time to catch up on reading, so stay tuned for book reviews of texts that belong in the classroom and beyond. Today's review is on The 57 Bus [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33155325-the-57-bus?ac=1&from_search=true], by Dashka Slater.

Identity

Posted by John David Anderson

Over the last two months, I have been toying with the idea of building a new literature circle for my class based on the theme of identity. As I investigated texts, a second theme of bullying began to emerge in many of the books I have been previewing. Both themes

Identity

One for the Murphys Book Review

Every once in a while, I pick up a book that makes me view students differently. One for the Murphys [https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0142426520/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=15121&creative=330641&creativeASIN=0142426520&linkCode=as2&tag=ebees-20&linkId=

Human Rights

Sadia Book Review

My hometown of Winnipeg is an increasingly diverse place, and every day in the classroom this fact is becoming more and more evident. Students come from many parts of the world, practice different religions, and bring a variety of cultural backgrounds with them when they come to school everyday. Learning

Indigenous

He Who Dreams - The Importance of High Interest Books

For years, when I taught whole class novels I often felt stuck when it came to supporting struggling readers. Asking them to independently read a text that was beyond their current abilities clearly didn't work. Reading chapters aloud was an option, but relying on this strategy robbed them

LGBTQ

Lily and Dunkin

Recently, I started hunting for novels for an identity themed literature circle. Lily and Dunkin [https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/055353677X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=15121&creative=330641&creativeASIN=055353677X&linkCode=as2&tag=ebees-20&linkId=0dc9da4c9980840c06102e34a20c6079] , by Donna Gephart, was

Identity

Pashmina Book Review

This week I was delighted to discover Nidhi Chanani's debut graphic novel Pashmina [https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1626720886/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=15121&creative=330641&creativeASIN=1626720886&linkCode=as2&tag=ebees-20&linkId=c2a3b5ead6e367079a7a529fb6841387] . The book is the

Peace

Stories to Counter Islamophobia

Books to counter Islamophobia