Overview
Johnson's book The Parker Inheritance is filled with mystery, historical insights, and ideas on the power of friendship when faced with adversity.
In this book, a character named Candice comes face-to-face with many challenges (e.g. her parents divorce, her grandmother's mistake, and racism with the Lambert community) when she is forced to move to Lambert, South Carolina. However, she doesn't face these challenges alone as she quickly forms a friendship with the boy across the street named Brandon. Together, these two friends work together to uncover the details of Candice's grandmother's mistake and to solve the mystery of the hidden treasure buried in the small and historic town called Lambert.
While Johnson's (2018) book is meant to entice kids with mystery and adventures, it is also serves the purpose to help addresses people perceptions and to emphasize to readers how someone's own perceptions can impact others. In considering this theme of perception, the author address various types of perceptions such as boy books vs. girl books, racism, and #OwnVoice books in this text to further emphasize the power of perception.
The Perception of Boy books vs. Girl books
Early on in The Parker's Inheritance book, the author brings attention to his reader's about how we sometimes perceive books as being either boy books or girl books. The author highlights this misconception about books through Candice's response to Brandon saying he only likes reading novels by Stephen King and James Patterson.
"I don't think there's such thing as boy books or girl books. I think there are people books." - Candice, The Parker Inheritance
I think it so so important to address this perception of 'gender orientated' books because when we place labels on books we create limited opportunities for students to read from different perspectives on various issues. More importantly, we tell students that they can't read a book because it is meant for the other gender it serves to delimit the types of opportunities for which students are considered eligible (Palmer & Martinez 2013). In other words, by continuing to allow students to categorize books in relation to gender it further supports gender stereotypes in the classroom.
How teachers may try to disrupt these gender stereotypes and challenge students to face their preconceived perceptions about labeling books according to gender is by having them do a quick-write reflection using one of the following the prompts:
What books do you consider to be boy books vs. girl books? And why?
What makes a book a boy/girl book? Explain.
Do you think it is fair that we label books these way? If not, why?
By helping students to address and reflect these perceptions about books, they are disrupt their notions about 'why' we label books by gender and how this idea of boy verses girl books influences is influenced by what is considered the norm according to society's standards. Also, this writing reflection opportunity allows students to expand on their reading choices; in order to become more well-rounded readers themselves.
For more information about our perceptions on books check out Shannon Hale's article called What are we teaching boys when we discourage them from reading books about girls? -- which talks about how her newly published book "Friends" is often seen as a 'girls' book because of all of the lead characters are mostly girls, and how this goes against her purpose for writing (for this book to be enjoyed by EVERYONE).
The Perceptions of People of Color
Another perception that Johnson (2018) addresses in his book The Parker Inheritance is the perceptions of people of color. Given the setting (time & place) of the story, the author sets up the main character Candice to face people who are discriminatory against people of color. For instance, on page 131 Candice and Brandon are about to leave the high school when Brandon realizes that he leave his sister's phone inside of the memorial room. When trying to get back into the building with the doors locking them from the outside, their tactics to get back inside the building results in Mr.Rittenhauer's, the assistant principle of Perkins High School stepping outside of the building to face them and the greeting is anything but kind.
Mr.Rittenhauer ends up calling both Candice and Brandon thief's and liars. Then he tries to search their bookbags and ask for their I.Ds. Luckily before anything could progress further, Ms. McMillan steps outside to give Brandon his phone that he left behind, and Candice and Brandon are able to flee the scene. However, this experience shakes up both Candice and Brandon and on their ride home they try to process what just happened to them.
I believe the author's purpose for this scene is to explain how people's perception of people of color is that they are powerless, thief's, liars, and/or druggies. Johnson (2018) explains that this misguided viewpoint may very well be the difference between life and death for people of color.
The Perception of 'A Single Story' & the Importance of #OwnVoice Books
In continuing this theme of the power of perception, the article Cultural Diverse Literature: Enriching Variety in an Era of Common Core State Standards (2015) discusses the negative impact of students not perceiving themselves in books and how that encompasses the idea of telling a single-story in literature.
For instance Chimamanda Adichie, a MacArthur Award–winning Nigerian novelist, mentions in her TEDTalk: The Danger of a Single Story that in her own experiences growing up in Nigeria she only read books with characters who have blue eyes, blond hair, and loved to talk about the weather. This experience of growing only reading singles -stories led her to believe that people like here are not represented in text. In other words, Adichie perception was that her people, her culture, and her perspective were not significant enough to be represented in text.
“we’re all made impressionable and vulnerable by the stories we read, especially (italics added for emphasis) young children.” -- Chimamanda Adichie
Considering the danger's of a single story, it is important for teachers to avoid these texts because of the stereotypes and assumptions it creations about people. Books that teacher should aim to include in their classroom libraries instead are #OwnVoice texts and texts that include a diverse set of characters. A perfect example of this kind of book is Johnson's(2018) book The Parker Inheritance because it includes diverse characters and the author's #OwnVoice (as he is consider to be a member of the colored community) which the author uses to explain the struggles of people of color both in the past and in today's world.
Interdisciplinary Text: “Glory” by Selma f.t John Legend
Click here to Watch & Listen to Glory by Common ft. John Legend.
Description: This is song created and sung by artists Selma and John Legend. The inspiration of this song comes from the intersection of civil rights and the current 21st century movement #BlackLivesMatter.
“The movement is a rhythm to us
Freedom is like religion to us
Justice is juxtaposition in' us”
Affordances: This video is meant to empower communities who have faced racial oppression (or in this case people of the African American community). This video also allows students insight into the challenges that many black people face back then and continue to face today with acts of hatred and violence because of the color of their skin. More importantly, this video invites students to open up the discussion about how they came stop acts of violence against minority communities? And what they can do when they see someone getting bullied or picked on because of the color of their skin.
Challenges: This video has a lot of historical events and people either mentioned or featured in it, which would require students to have extensive background knowledge about the civil rights movement and the #BlackLivesMatter Movement.
Instructional Potential: I would introduce this music video after having read The Parkers Inheritance because it opens up the discussion for students to compare both texts and how they connect to one another. In addition, I would have students use this both of these text to fill the first part of the KWL chart to address their current knowledge about the Civil Rights Movement, their wonders, and what they will eventually learn about this movement. To help students to better understand this ‘in-way’ text is by chucking the lyrics and putting students into groups to research the historical events or people mention. Once the groups have gather enough research, they will share with the class on what they have found thus facilitating a shared learning experience.
“Justice for all just ain't specific enough
One son died, his spirit is revisitin' us
Truant livin' livin' in us, resistance is us
That's why Rosa [Parks] sat on the bus”
- Glory ft. John Legend & Common
How it Connects (A Cluster Text): This music lyric video called “Glory” connects to the The Parkers Inheritance because part of the book is set in the 1950-60’s, a time when the Civil Right Movement was happening. Part of that movement began a series of court cases like “Briggs vs. Elliot” which challenged school segregation. However, it wasn’t until 1954 when the the Supreme Court rules in Board vs. Brown to end segregation in schools forever, thus was considered to be a major victory in the Civil Rights Movement. Furthermore, in relation to the book the music video acts as a cluster text or a ‘way-in text’ because it helps to support and provide a deeper meaning to the events mentioned in The Parker Inheritance. In other words, this music video emphasizes the impact of those historic events on the African American communities living in American during that time period through to the 21st century today.
Author(s) Perspective/Influences: The song was produced and sung by two well-known African American artists: John Legend & Common. Both of these artists identify as African Americans which brings a sense of power and meaning behind the words that they are singing in this video. Because in a way, this song is giving them #TheirOwnVoice by sharing their struggles as people who are part of the African American community and how they have overcome those challenges by standing up for their rights and beliefs as a people. As a result, this video shows how people can invoke change through their courage to take action; in order to, support want they believe in.
References
Boyd, F. B., Causey, L. L., & Galda, L. (2015). "Culturally Diverse Literature: Enriching Variety in an Era of Common Core State Standards." The Reading Teacher, 68(5), 378–387. doi: 10.1002/trtr.1326
Johnson, V. (2018). The Parker inheritance. Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy006.nclive.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat04042a&AN=app.b8675101&site=eds-live&scope=site
Palmer, D., & Martínez, R. A. (2013). Teacher Agency in Bilingual Spaces: A Fresh Look at Preparing Teachers to Educate Latina/o Bilingual Children. Review of Research Education, 37, 269–297. doi: 10.3102/0091732X12463556