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Children's Companion Books for Silicon Valley Reads 2009
The Liberation of Gabriel King
By K.L. Going
For grades 4-7, this is the story of two friends who overcome their fears - one of going to fifth grade and one of racial prejudice.
"Full of humanity and humor, this well-paced novel offers a dollop of history with its setting in rural Georgia at the moment local boy Jimmy Carter's presidential bid is gaining momentum. The villains' credibility makes them scary, and both Gabe and Frita's refreshingly functional families are exquisitely drawn..."
- Publisher's Weekly
Gabriel King believes he was born chicken. He's afraid of spiders, corpses, loose cows, and just about everything related to the fifth grade. If it's a choice between graduating or staying in the fourth grade forever, he's going to stay put - only his best friend Frita Wilson won't hear of it.
"Gabe," says Frita, "we gotta do something about you." When Frita makes up her mind she's like a locomotive - there's no stopping her. "First you're going to make a list. Write down everything you're afraid of."
Gabe's list is a lot longer than he'd like Frita to know. Plus, he can't quite figure out how tackling his fears will make him brave. Surely jumping off the rope swing over the catfish pond can only lead to certain death...But maybe Frita knows what she's doing. It turns out she's got her own list, and while she's watching Gabe tackle each of his fears, she's avoiding the fear that scares her the most.
With wisdom and clarity, K. L. Going explores the nature of fear in what should be an idyllic summer for two friends from different backgrounds. For them, living in a small town in Georgia with an active Ku Klux Klan, the summer of 1976 is a momentous one.
K.L. Going has written five novels for young adults and a nonfiction book titled Writing & Selling the YA Novel. www.klgoing.com
Lessons and Discussion Questions
Nancy Keane's Booktalks -- Quick and Simple
Literature Circle to "The Liberation of Gabriel King" (pdf)
Written by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by E.B. Lewis
This beautifully illustrated picture book for grades K-3 tells a story of a friendship across race.
"I wanted to write about how powerful kids can be. Clover and Annie fight against segregation by becoming friends. They don't believe in the ideas adults have about things so they do what they can to change the world. We all have this power."
- Jacqueline Woodson
From School Library Journal: Clover, the young African-American narrator, lives beside a fence that segregates her town. Her mother instructs her never to climb over to the other side because it isn't safe. But one summer morning, Clover notices a girl on the other side. Both children are curious about one another, and as the summer stretches on, Clover and Annie work up the nerve to introduce themselves. They dodge the injunction against crossing the fence by sitting on top of it together, and Clover pretends not to care when her friends react strangely at the sight of her sitting side by side with a white girl. Eventually, it's the fence that's out of place, not the friendship. Woodson's spare text is easy and unencumbered.
Jacqueline Woodson is the author of more than 25 books for children and young adults. www.jacquelinewoodson.com
Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: Critical Discussion of Social Issues
Literature as a Catalyst for Social Action: Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges
Learning To Give: Curriculum Division of The LEAGUE
Other books your children may enjoy
Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman by Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney
A picture book that introduces Harriet Tubman and the injustice of slavery to young audiences.
Freedom Rides: Campaign for Equality by Dale Anderson
Chronicles the 1961 freedom rides on buses from the south to Washington D.C. to test the U.S. Supreme Court decision against segregation in bus stations.
Adaline Falling Star by Mary Pope Osborne
A novel about an 11-year-old biracial daughter of an Arapaho Indian woman and a white man in the days of the old west.
The River Between Us by Richard Peck
At the start of the Civil War two mysterious young women get off a boat in a small town in southern Illinois. Is the darker-complexioned woman the other woman's slave?
Jazmin's Notebook by Nikki Grimes
Grades 6-Young Adult
A novel about a 14-year-old girl living in Brooklyn who wants to be a writer.
Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes
What happens when a high school teacher hosts open-mike poetry in his classroom on Fridays.
Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patillo Beals
Grades 7 and up
The personal story of the author, one of nine black students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.
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