Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Justyce McAllister, the main character of this novel, experiences the discrimination one can face based on their race, when he finds himself in handcuffs. Even though he's a good student who's on the road to an Ivy-League school, he still finds himself the victim of racial profiling. As a reader, you get to see the story Justyce goes through, and his realization and understanding of what it means to be an African American child in America, as he experiences further micro-agressions and discrimination and navigates his life at his predominantly White school.

The African Burial Ground by Yusef Komunyakaa

In October of 1991, the United States government announced a discovery of terrible and moving import in New York City. While digging the foundation of what would eventually become a Federal building in Manhattan, workers discovered—or rather, rediscovered—an intact burial site that proved to be an African American slave burial ground from the earliest days of New York’s history. Over 400 souls were buried on the site, which was later built over and forgotten. In response to community protests and organizing, the site has become a National Monument and can be visited. Yusef Komunyakaa’s provocative poem chronicles this site, imagining the forgotten dead below the hustle and bustle of modern New York. It reckons with America’s ghosts, and with their legacy.

Imagine what history and mysteries lie beneath your feet in your hometown. What about the past your community’s past might turn up if you started digging?

Mixed: A Colorful Story by Arree Chung

Arree Chung’s book Mixed: A Colorful Story shows how beautiful it is when different colours mix together instead of staying apart. It reminds us how our world is happier and healthier when people from many different cultures can mix together in friendship.

Arree Chung is a Chinese-American author and artist. He has written many picture books and runs a company called Storyteller Academy, which helps other people become authors too!

Write a story about two very different people, animals, or objects who become friends in the end.

I Am Enough by Grace Byers

The poem I Am Enough uses rhythm and rhyme to make us feel joyful and strong, no matter our skin colour, language, or body type. It was written by Grace Byers, an actress and author who lives in Los Angeles. As a kid, Grace was often bullied because both of her parents were deaf. I Am Enough reminds us that no matter what bullies say, we are wonderful and powerful--we are enough!

Write a poem, story, or letter to lift the spirits of someone who has been bullied.

One and Half of You by Leanne Dunic

Leanne Dunic is a BC-based poet and winner of the Alice Munro Short Story Contest in 2015. She is both a songwriter and a poet, and her most recent collection, “One and a Half of You,” was published by Talonbooks in 2021. It is a poetic memoir chronicling a child of biracial origin growing up in British Columbia.

Dunic’s work is deeply connected to the place she grew up. What part of your and your personality are a result of the place you’ve grown up?

Lucy and Linh by Alice Pung

Lucy and Linh tells the story of Lucy, a Vietnamese-Australian high school student on scholarship at a fancy new private school that offers her an escape from the poverty of her home neighbourhood. The three most popular girls at her new school, The Cabinet, welcome her in and soon Lucy is at risk of losing her connection to Linh, the only remaining link Lucy has to her past self and life. [Content Warning: Mature themes and mature language]

A former teacher, Alice Pung is also a solicitor and a former Artist in Residence at the University of Melbourne. Lucy and Linh is the western adaption of her original novel, Laurinda, published in 2014. Lucy and Linh was selected as an NPR Best Book of the Year as well as a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection.

Have you ever experienced a time where you did not like the person you were becoming?

This Morning I Pray for My Enemies Joy Harjo

What changes our mind? Our hearts?

Starfish by Akemi-Dawn Bowman

Starfish tells the story of Kiko Himura, a half-Japanese high school student in Grade 12 who struggles with self image and self worth while growing up in a town without many other Asian people. When she is rejected by her dream art school, Prism, she is crushed, but decides to spend her summer touring art schools on the West Coast with her friend in order to escape a traumatic family incident from her past. [Content Warning: Mature language throughout and mature themes including abuse and attempted suicide]

Starfish is Akemi Dawn-Bowman's first novel and has garnered numerous accolades and praiseworthy reviews, including being a 2018 William C. Morris Award finalist and the 2020 Winner of the MeMo Award for Best Teen Novel. It reminds the reader of the importance of accepting yourself for who you are, despite what others are thinking

Have you ever had trouble accepting yourself for who you are?

Magnificent Homespun Brown by Samara Cole Doyon

Samara Cole Doyon hails from Maine, descended from Haitian migrants to the United States. This beautiful poem articulates the author's hope that "all children [can] embrace and celebrate the many vibrant pieces of themselves". The poem is made even more moving through lovely, exuberant illustrations by Kaylani Juanita.
Prompt: With what colour do you most identify? Why? What does your favourite colour say about you?

American Born Chinese by Gene Yang

American Born Chinese is a graphic novel that does a great job of showing three different perspectives of what it's like to be Chinese. Following the only Chinese-American in a new school, the renowned Monkey King - subject of many Chinese fables, and a character who represents all of the classic negative Chinese stereotypes, Gene Yang shows three different stories that ultimately lead to each other at the end of the novel.

What do you think it would be like to be the new kid at a school where you didn't know anyone?

Ellie in the Canoe by Cecily Nicholson

Cecily Nicholson is the recipient of the 2018 Governor General's Award for poetry.

Write about your favourite activity, with a focus on sensory details and imagery.

Bullet Points by Jericho Brown

Brown earned a PhD from the University of Houston, an MFA from the University of New Orleans, and a BA from Dillard University. He is the recipient of the Whiting Writers’ Award and fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Brown is an associate professor and the director of the Creative Writing program at Emory University in Atlanta. Historical context: The current movement fighting police brutality against Black American citizens.

Write a poem about a social, cultural, or legal issue that you think needs addressing.

Praise Song for the Day by Elizabeth Alexander

Elizabeth Alexander’s careful, precise poetry and her awareness of history, especially African American history, as well as her personal friendship with the Obamas, made her a natural choice as President Obama’s inaugural poet. Alexander became only the fourth poet ever asked to read at a presidential inauguration, and her poem, “Praise Song for the Day” was heard and watched by billions worldwide. Based on traditional African praise songs, which commemorate the life of an individual in an incantatory call-and-response, Alexander’s poem focused less on President Obama and more on ordinary Americans, attempting to describe the details, languages and encounters that shape their lives. Alexander gestured toward the history of the Civil Rights Movement and its importance to the occasion—“Say it plain, that many have died for this day”—but also attempted to summarize a national journey. The poem helped make Alexander one of the most publically-known and respected poets writing today.

Following the form and purpose of Alexander, compose a praise poem.

Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama

This book, written by Barack Obama, former president of the United States, recognizes significant Americans and their contributions to America's history. He speaks on how he sees their traits in his daughters and in the rest of the children of America as well.

What is a trait of a noteworthy person that you feel you have within yourself.

Soul Make a Path Through Shouting by Cyrus Cassells

Warning: racist language.

Historical context: The desegregation of the American school system and specifically The Little Rock Nine which was a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas.

Write about an injustice you would like to see addressed from the point of view of the victim(s).

You Too Can Fly By Zetta Elliot

With imagery that evokes the bravery of African-Americans in the face of slavery and discrimination, You Too Can Fly by Zetta Elliot is a powerful reminder to find hope in the darkest of moments.

Zetta Elliot is a black, feminist writer who was born and raised in Canada, and now lives in the United States. You Too Can Fly is featured in the powerful anthology, We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices.

Write a poem that will give others hope when they are frightened or about to give up.

Plenty People Chasing One Ball by DK Osei-Yaw

DK Osei‐Yaw is an artist who romanticizes everyday life experiences and extrapolates their melodies into a multiplicity of art forms including poetry, theatre and music. He is a Ghanaian who uses his artistic self expression in a variety of ways to project everyday African life, especially taking inspiration from childhood influences of his upbringing and education in Ghana.

Write a poem about your favourite sport!

The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes

The critic Donald B. Gibson noted in the introduction to Modern Black Poets: A Collection of Critical Essays (Prentice Hall, 1973) that Hughes “differed from most of his predecessors among black poets… in that he addressed his poetry to the people, specifically to black people. During the twenties when most American poets were turning inward, writing obscure and esoteric poetry to an ever decreasing audience of readers, Hughes was turning outward, using language and themes, attitudes and ideas familiar to anyone who had the ability simply to read... Until the time of his death, he spread his message humorously—though always seriously—to audiences throughout the country, having read his poetry to more people (possibly) than any other American poet.”

Write a response to this poem that includes a central metaphor.

Prophecy by Pauli Murray

Pauli Murray was a civil rights activist, a pioneering feminist, a labor organizer, a lawyer, an Episcopal priest, and a writer of nonfiction, memoir, and poetry. Born Anna Pauline Murray in Baltimore, she was raised by aunts and maternal grandparents. Her grandmother was born into slavery, the product of rape between her enslaved mother and her owner. Murray’s mother died when Murray was just three years old; her father, committed to an asylum “for the Negro insane” for his symptoms of long-term typhoid fever, also died during Murray’s childhood, beaten to death by a guard.

Write about yourself, your values, your future.

Of Bullies and Monsters (from Just Like Me) By Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats was the first time she saw herself in a children’s book. It was a defining moment in her life, and has made her into the artist she is today. As an illustrator, Vanessa includes children of all ethnic backgrounds in her stories and artwork. She wants all children to see their unique experiences reflected in the books they read, so they can feel the same sense of empowerment and recognition she experienced as a young reader. The children she draws can be seen dancing, wiggling, and moving freely across the page in an expression of happiness. Music is a constant celebration, no matter the occasion, and Vanessa hopes her illustrations bring joy to others, with the same magic of a beautiful melody.

Can you write about things that scare you and how you will overcome this fear? Can you draw a picture of you taming scary things?