Reach & Teach

     My poetry anthology of choice was The Rose Who Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur. This book consists of 72 poem written by the lyrical genius before his untimely death. He shared stories of life's hardships such as experiencing miscarriages. living in poverty, growing up fatherless, etc. Tupac's original handwritten poems are on the left of the book while the typed version is on the right. The book allows us to take a closer look at who Tupac was and the deep sense of compassion he felt through his first 19 years old life. One of my favorites from the book is "I Cry:. In this poem, Tupac shares with us how he cry sometimes and wish his feelings can be heard/understand, but at the same time feels no one has time to listen to your problem. I think this is very important because it touches on an emotion many men are afraid to deal with. The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander/Illustrated by Kadir Nelson was a pleasure reading. It was one of those books that make me wish I ha...

My chapter book of choice for contemporary realistic fiction was The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas. I chose this book because I wanted to see how closely the book matched the movie. A young girl names Starr struggles with her identify and sense of belonging. She attends a mostly white school while staying in a predominantly poor black neighborhood. This is sometimes the harsh reality Black people face often- being torn between who they think they are and who they think they should be in order to fit in. When Starr witnessed her longtime friend killed at the hands of police, she battles with finding her voice to stand up for what is right. Her friend being murdered at the hands of police is another tough reality Black people face. It shines light on racism in the world, police brutality against minorities, and activism.  My picture book of choice for contemporary fiction was Each Kindness written by Jacqueline Woodson & illustrated by E.B. White. This book has won both the Coret...

 After reading Chapter 6 about folklore, I chose to read The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales authored by Virginia Hamilton and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon . This folklore was intriguing to read, especially from the perspective of being an African American woman. It told the story of how people in Africa were magical and prideful before they were captured and forced to become slaves. After becoming slaves, many of them had to conform to a different way of living, resulting in them being less prideful and confident in themselves. Instead, they had to obey the commands of a "master" while working and suffering in deplorable conditions, such as a baby being hit with a whip for crying while being held on his mother's back as she works tirelessly in a field.  The images in this book were well thought out and depicted the story well, in my opinion. There were images of women and children in chains with facial expressions that scream sorrow. The illustration sh...