Sunday, January 20, 2008

Autobiography of My Dead Brother



Autobiography of My Dead Brother

by Walter Dean Myers (2005)

National Book Award Finalist

Inner city boys, struggling to stay out of gang/crime life, unsure of how to stand up and act like a man, and unsure how art and music and childhood friendship meshes with the violent world they're faced with. Contains drawings and cartoons by narrator/1st person lead, a graphic novel feel. Music of gospel & jazz.

Worldview/Teaching Philosophy I need to work out: I think kids (and adults) of all race/culture/socio-economic backgrounds should read a wide variety of points of view, but not just to say "see, black people write books too..." or "some kids grow up this way..." -- I want to remind kids of the common bond they shared in kindergarten, the commonality of daily life that goes under skin color...

I'll have to come back to this...

1 comment:

alisonwonderland said...

i think you are right that the focus of multi-cultural reading needs to be the underlying human-ness of us all. i'd love to hear more of your thoughts in that regard as you work through them.