Readers Against Prejudice and Racism discussion

Hello everyone! Here you can list any kind of books that deals with prejudice that the group should read whether it's a children's book or an adult novel.

Here's some of the books I suggest we should read:

Mr. Lincoln's Way by Patricia Polacco

Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson

I just read and enjoyed The Divine Wind - WWII from the perspective of young adult Australians. Rec. for ages 15 up.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

Thanks Cheryl and Tammy!!! Those sound like interesting books! Once I read more books dealing with prejudice and racism, then we'll add them to the bookshelf! Oh and there's another book I wanted to mention:

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman

Follow the Drinking Gourd by Bernardine Connelly

i think this book sounds good..i didnt read it yet, just so u know...

Bone by Bone by Bone by Tony Johnston

Thanks Lolliepop! I'm adding it to the bookshelf right now!

Jingo
just wanted to add this based on the Everyday Chat topic.

we are getting enough ppl and book ideas. maybe we can vote on a book for February? Then a discussion....

Btw - I gave up on Jingo. It's probably pretty good, but I'm too old and tired to get even more war & politics from satirical books than I do from years of that nonsense in real life.

Cheryl wrote: "Btw - I gave up on Jingo. It's probably pretty good, but I'm too old and tired to get even more war & politics from satirical books than I do from years of that nonsense in real life."

Me too Cheryl. I usually rarely read war books because there's just so much war going on in real life and it's just so terrible dealing with such nonsense.

lol, let's scratch that one then. No reason to bore the heck outta everyone.

Take it off the list?

Yeah, we want people to enjoy it. I haven't read it so... It's up to you.

Ok, I'll take it off the list.

Alaa Al Aswany's Yacoubian Building provides insight into Egyptian culture while Hari Daoud's Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur gives a very definite flavor of life in Africa.

Thanks Kathy! I'll add those to the list!

Here's two more books I wanted to add to the bookshelf:

The Savior Is Born book with CD by Brian Gleeson

Rosa by Nikki Giovanni

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler and A Girl Called Boy by Belinda Hurmence are two excellent books that use a little bit of a time-travel gimmick to put a modern "Black" young woman or girl into the times of slavery in the US. Kindred is for adults, A Girl Called Boy is for ages 10+. They both vividly make us feel the horror of slavery, rather than think of it as just history.

Just finished reading Pip Granger's Trouble in Paradise which has a minor dip into racism and prejudice concerning white-black couples in WWII. It's interesting that such couples only appeared to be a problem in the US.

Thanks for the suggestions!! I will add these to the bookshelf right now!!

I don't know if this would fulfill requirements for a kid's book, but I just finished reading Halt's Peril by John Flanagan and this series, Ranger's Apprentice, has impressed me with its exposure to different cultures and the tolerance Flanagan's main characters practice. I like their acceptance of differences.

That sounds like a great book to read Kathy! I'll add it to the bookshelf!

Gotta another one fer ya...Fares Aoun's Jerusalem Spring. I just posted an review on his book and it certainly does have a lot of questions that need answers...

Thanks Kathy!! I also got another book to mention:

Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold: this book is about how African-Americans and Native-Americans were treated during the 1930s when the Union building was being constructed.

Oh, Faith RInggold is good!

Yeah!! I loved how she mentions her experiences in the 1930s!

Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London (optimized for Kindle) has the title story which is an interesting look at prejudice and its deleterious effects. I'm going to add it to the bookshelf.

Thanks Danielle!

You're welcome!

Another book which may be similar to Follow the Drinking Gourd was one I picked up years ago about the hidden meanings in quilts. Safe houses would have certain quilts hung outside to indicate they were safe or which way to go. I wish I could think of the title.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London (optimized for Kindle) has the title story which is an interesting look at prejudice and its deleterious effects. I'm going to add it to t..."

That was sure a shocking story Lady Danielle. Talk about hatred. I will probably never forget that story.

Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back Again is a fascinating non-fiction exploration of gender roles and sexism. The (female) journalist uses make-up, acting skills, etc, to pass as male (it has nothing to do with trans-gendered people).

(Two copies are in GR Swap right now, and it's available at my library, so should be easy for folks to get if we want to discuss it. Or we could just add it to the bookshelf as a resource.)

Thanks Cheryl! I'll add it to the book list!

Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella is a picture book that weaves together lots of different versions of the tale from around the world. It's a lovely and fun way to point out that people are people, and whatever our cultural differences we have more in common than we might realize. In my library it was in the children's non-fiction fairy-tale section, 398.2.

I'm not thinking we'd necessarily want to discuss it, but I do think it belongs on the group bookshelf somewhere.

Thanks Cheryl!! I'm definitely putting this book in the bookshelf right now!

Here are some suggestions:

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Halinka

From Anna

Listen for the Singing

Freedom Summer

Viola Desmond Won't Be Budged

Last Days in Africville

Henry's Freedom Box

I Shall Not Hate

Hidden Roots

Wow! Awesome list Gundula!! I'll add these to the bookshelf right now!

Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella is a picture book that weaves together lots of different versions of the tale from around the world. It's a lovely and fun way to p..."
Oh, I do have a very soft spot in my heart for fairytales and this is such a terrific idea. A lovely way of comparing cultures...!

Here's an interesting book:

Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure

Ronyell, Thanks for suggesting Degranon! I'll add some suggestions soon.

Ronyell wrote: "Here's an interesting book:

Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure"

You're welcome Duane!

Great ideas for a reading list! Several titles come to mind. I haven’t read all of these.

The Drowning of Stephan Jones
Night
On Hitler’s Mountain
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Common Sons
Prayers for Bobby
The Shack

Obasan by Joy Kogawa (about the internment of Japanese Canadians in WWII)

Sweetgrass Basket by Marlene Carvell (about the residential school experience of two Native American girls, not an easy book to read, but eye-opening)

Tearing the Silence: On Being German in America by Ursula Hegi (very enlightening and very emotional)

Faith, Hope, and Ivy June by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (about two girls from very different lives in Kentucky on a student exchange, it will open your eyes to the fact that poverty and the constant threat of a mining disaster are still a part of live in coal mining towns in the United States)

Great suggestions!! I'll add these to the bookshelf!

Gundula wrote: "Obasan by Joy Kogawa (about the internment of Japanese Canadians in WWII)

Sweetgrass Basket by Marlene Carvell (about the residential school..."

I like the sound of these.

Here are a couple more books:

To Kill a Mockingbird - I can't believe I never mentioned this one

Music from a Place Called Half Moon

Squanto and the First Thanksgiving

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Gentleman's Agreement: A Novelby Laura Keane Zametkin Hobson

Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston,

The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison

The Maker of Saints by Thulani Davis

The Street, Ann Petry

I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, Maryse Condé

Men in Dark Times, Hannah Arendt

An Interrupted Life: The Diaries, 1941-1943; and Letters from Westerbork, Etty Hillesum

Becoming Abigail, Chris Abani

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda, Philip Gourevitch

Hope Against Hope: A Memoir, Nadezhda Mandelstam

Letters from Prison, Antonio Gramsci

The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by James Yin

Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Rights of Man by Thomas Paine

and,

by Jacob Lawrence

Ron's Big Mission

Vison of Beauty: The Story of Sarah Breedlove

Maple Moon

Alchemy and Meggy Swann

The Arrow Over the Door

Warrior Scarlet

The Contest

One Crazy Summer

Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two

Anything But Typical

Out of My Mind

Iggies House

Summer of the Swans

Raisin Wine: a Boyhood in a Different Muskoka

As Long as the Rivers Flow

My Name is Seepeetza

No Time to Say Goodbye: Children's Stories of Kuper Island Residential School

Traitor

The Final Journey

Incorrigible

A Sweet Smell of Roses

Freedom Summer

The Boy Who Dared

Sophie Scholl and the White Rose

Sophie Scholl: The Real Story Behind German's Resistance Heroine

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Shylock's Daughter

Malka

Thanks Ellie and Gundula!! I'll add these to the bookshelf!!

Sophie Scholl is one of top favorite heroines, up there with Bonhoeffer. She's the answer, for me, to Pope Benedict & the choices the young faced.

And I adore The Witch of Blackbird Pond-I couldn't begin to count how many times I've read it from when I was 10 or 11 to last year! (And I'm always ready to reread it-for me, it has withstood the test of time passing & my aging, :D )