Am I reading diversly enough? Am I bringing books into the classroom that reflect the lives my students are living? Are my students reading books where the heroes are people who look like them instead of someone needing saving? Am I reading books about, and written by, people who look and live differently than me?
The answer, for the most part, is no.
This has been part of a larger journey for me that I will reflect on in a later blog. But, this small reflection has led to me a decision about my reading choices moving forward. I will not read any book written by white men in 2019.
I am calling it: The Year of No White Men.
When I told Tommy about this decision his very serious response was something like: "but how are the children going to learn about white men if you don't teach them." I'm still not done laughing about this, but it did make me more sure that this is an important thing to do.
I teach in a school with no library. Which means that 99% of the books in my student's hands are there because I put them there. It is my duty to read as widely as possible so I can make responsible choices every school day. This is just the first step of many I plan on taking next year on my journey to not be a terrible white person.
If you want to help me build my classroom library and put books into the hands of children I have a Donor's Choose project posted Here. You can use the code LIFTOFF and your donation will be doubled up to $50 for the next seven days.
My top recommendations from 2018:
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell.
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
When Breathe Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
The full list of books I read this year:
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