Pushout: the criminalization of Black girls in schools by
The "powerful" (Michelle Alexander) exploration--featured by The Atlantic, Essence, the Washington Post, New York magazine, NPR, and others--of the harsh and harmful experiences confronting Black girls in schools In a work that Lisa Delpit calls "imperative reading," Monique W. Morris (Black Stats, Too Beautiful for Words) chronicles the experiences of Black girls across the country whose intricate lives are misunderstood, highly judged--by teachers, administrators, and the justice system--and degraded by the very institutions charged with helping them flourish. Called "compelling" and "thought-provoking" by Kirkus Reviews, Pushout exposes a world of confined potential and supports the rising movement to challenge the policies, practices, and cultural illiteracy that push countless students out of school and into unhealthy, unstable, and often unsafe futures. Called a book "for everyone who cares about children" by the Washington Post, Morris's illumination of these critical issues is "timely and important" (Booklist) at a moment when Black girls are the fastest growing population in the juvenile justice system. Praised by voices as wide-ranging as Gloria Steinem and Roland Martin, and highlighted for the audiences of Elle and Jet right alongside those of EdWeek and the Leonard Lopate Show, Pushout is a book that "will stay with you long after you turn the final page" (Bookish).
One Book, One College - "Pushout: the criminalization of black girls in schools" Resource Guide
Event and Activities:
Spring Art Exhibit: Old Colony YMCA Girls Detention Unit
Senior and Adult Learner's Book Group Discussion
Book Discussions on Brockton and Canton Campus
Rep. Claire Cronin, on Massachusetts Criminal Justice Reform Legislation
Lee Nave, Citizens for Juvenile Justice - Brockton Community Agency Reception
Suffolk County D.A. Rachael Rollins
Old Colony YMCA Youth Justice Women's Panel - Old Colony YMCA Book Drive
Community Events
Breath, Eyes, Memory by One Book, One College - "Breath, Eyes, Memory: A Novel" Resource Guide
Style: This book is a novel broken into four parts. It is written in first person narration (i, me, my). It is a bildungsroman -- a novel dealing with one person's formative years.
Setting: The book moves between Haiti, Brooklyn, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island. It begins in the early 1980s.
Summary: Sophie immigrates from Haiti to Brooklyn when she is 12 years old, and
reconnects with her mother, who left when she was a baby. Martine begins to “test” her after she discovers that Sophie has a relationship with Joseph, a much older African American jazz musician. The test was a physical examination to see if Sophie was still a virgin. Sophie eventually elopes with Joseph, and after she has a baby girl, goes back to Haiti to visit Tante Atie and Grandmé Ifé. That visit helps to heal her broken relationship with her mother
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A Chance in the World by "Pemberton's beautifully told story is a rags to riches journey-beginning in a place and with a jarring set of experiences that could have destroyed his life. But Steve's refusal to give in to those forces, and his resolve to create a better life, shows a courage and resilience that is an example for many of us to follow." -Stedman Graham, Author, Educator.
Home is the place where our life stories begin. It is where we are understood, embraced, and accepted. It is a sanctuary of safety and security, a place to which we can always return. Down in the dank basement,amid my moldy, hoarded food and worm-eaten books, I dreamed that my real home,the place where my story had begun, was out there somewhere, and one day I was going to find it.
Taken from his mother at age three, Steve Klakowicz lives a terrifying existence. Caught in the clutches of a cruel foster family and subjected to constant abuse, Steve finds his only refuge in a box of books given to him by a kind stranger. In these books, he discovers new worlds he can only imagine and begins to hope that one day he might have a different life-that one day he will find his true home. A fair-complexioned boy with blue eyes, a curly Afro, and a Polish last name, he is determined to unravel the mystery of his origins and find his birth family. Armed with just a single clue, Steve embarks on an extraordinary quest for his identity, only to learn that nothing is as it appears. A Chance in the World is the unbelievably true story of a wounded and broken boy destined to become a man of resilience, determination, and vision. Through it all, Steve's story teaches us that no matter how broken our past, no matter how great our misfortunes, we have it in us to create a new beginning and to build a place where love awaits.
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A Mighty Long Way by When fourteen-year-old Carlotta Walls walked up the stairs of Little Rock Central High School on September 25, 1957, she and eight other black students only wanted to make it to class. But the journey of the "Little Rock Nine," as they came to be known, would lead the nation on an even longer and much more turbulent path, one that would challenge prevailing attitudes, break down barriers, and forever change the landscape of America.
For Carlotta and the eight other children, simply getting through the door of this admired academic institution involved angry mobs, racist elected officials, and intervention by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was forced to send in the 101st Airborne to escort the Nine into the building. But entry was simply the first of many trials. Breaking her silence at last and sharing her story for the first time, Carlotta Walls has written an engrossing memoir that is a testament not only to the power of a single person to make a difference but also to the sacrifices made by families and communities that found themselves a part of history.
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One Amazing Thing by One Book, One College - "One Amazing Thing" Resource Guide
When an earthquake rips through the afternoon lull, trapping these nine characters together, their focus first jolts to their collective struggle to survive. There's little food. The office begins to flood. Then, at a moment when the psychological and emotional stress seems nearly too much for them to bear, the young graduate student suggests that each tell a personal tale, "one amazing thing" from their lives, which they have never told anyone before. And as their surprising stories of romance, marriage, family, political upheaval, and self-discovery unfold against the urgency of their life-or-death circumstances, the novel proves the transcendent power of stories and the meaningfulness of human expression itself.
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The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by One Book, One College - "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" Resource Guide
Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimore neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on street corners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police. How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence? Wes Moore, the author of this fascinating book, sets out to answer this profound question. In alternating narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.
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Greasy Rider: Two Dudes, One Fry-Oil-Powered Car, and A Cross-Country Search for A Greener Future by Is it possible to drive coast-to-coast without stopping at a single gas pump? Journalist Greg Melville is determined to try. With his college buddy Iggy riding shotgun, this green-thinking guy—who's in love with the idea of free fuel—sets out on an enlightening road trip. The quest: to be the first people to drive cross-country in a french-fry car. Will they make it from Vermont to California in a beat-up 1985 Mercedes diesel station wagon powered on vegetable oil collected from restaurant grease Dumpsters along the way? More important, can two guys survive 192 consecutive hours together?
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Under A Papery Roof: A Memoir About Life in Post-Revolutionary Iran and Exile by The Iranian revolution of 1979 propelled Iran back in time both in terms of economic growth and civil liberties. The new theocracy condemned, pursued, and destroyed individuals who had any ties to the previous government, or practiced any religion other than Islam. Almost overnight, Iran morphed both physically and ideologically as the traces of secularism faded beneath the harsh Islamic edicts. Thousands of Iranians fled the country in fear of political and religious persecution, many under the most deplorable conditions. For the Iranian émigrés, exile was something temporary at first, an interim existence that kept them living with the bare minimum, yet, hopeful that one day, they would return to Iran. As time passed, the hope to regain Iran became a habit for ex-patriots, then a promise to future generations, and later a distant dream for all.
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One Book, One College - "The Glass Castle: A Memoir" Resource Guide
What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.
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Mountains Beyond Mountains by
In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Kidder’s magnificent account takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity.” At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb “Beyond mountains there are mountains”–as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.
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Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by
In Mayflower, Philbrick casts his spell once again, giving us a fresh and extraordinarily vivid account of our most sacred national myth: the voyage of the Mayflower and the settlement of Plymouth Colony. From the Mayflower’s arduous Atlantic crossing to the eruption of King Philip’s War between colonists and natives decades later, Philbrick reveals in this electrifying history of the Pilgrims a fifty-five-year epic, at once tragic and heroic, that still resonates with us today.
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. This improbable story of Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.
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Devil in The White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at The fair That Changed America by Erik Larson intertwines the true tale of the 1893 World's Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.
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