Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What novels have you read that include a character of color as the protagonist? What do you recall about characters and conflict in these works?

Teaching Suggestion: Jewell Parker Rhodes’s novels have consistently focused on a young person of color as the protagonist. She has worked to fill a gap in children’s literature which has not historically highlighted people of color across genres. Asking students this question can help them to think about and discuss imbalance in literary representation—for example, how white characters have dominated traditional markets and why.

• The Carnegie Library has put together a list of young adult books starring Black and Indigenous individuals.
• This Book Riot article has compiled a list of middle grade novels by Black writers.

2. What might it mean if students of color are disproportionately punished in schools?

Teaching Suggestion: This is a difficult topic, and it could be useful to first help younger students to understand what “disproportionately” means. Introducing this idea now will help provide useful context for the novel.