Reading Culturally Diverse Literature and Multimodal Texts

You will be on the edge of your seat as you read this captivating novel by Varian Johnson, telling about how Candice and Brandon work together to solve a mystery that could bring them a great fortune. Although Candice was not too happy about staying in Lambert, South Carolina in the beginning, she very quickly begins having fun once she meets a great friend who also loves to read and a puzzle that has been waiting years to be solved. These two friends work together throughout the entire book to solve a mystery that Candice's grandmother tried solving many years before. As they tediously worked towards solving this mystery, discovering clue after clue, they had to keep it a secret because of the history behind this mystery. You will learn more and more about the history of Lambert and several of its previous residents as you progress through this story, but you will have to read to find out if they solve the mystery!

I appreciated that the author incorporated information throughout the book where the reader could see how African Americans were discriminated against or treated unfairly in history. On the author's website he says that a lot of the story was inspired by an experience he and his brother had in high school, showing that he used authentic information from his real-life when writing this book. He shared an experience where he and his brother were accused of smuggling drugs because of the color of their skin, not because of their awkward interaction which was the reasoning the police officer gave when questioning them. The officer tried stating that the two seemed to have never met each other before, thus assuming that they must have been smuggling drugs. The interesting thing is that they are identical twins, which would make it hard for them to be recognized as strangers to one another. As Johnson shared this story he discussed how he and his brother were taught to act a certain way around police because they were black. This allowed the author to then discuss police brutality and instances where people were accused of crimes or even harmed because of the color of their skin, such as Trayvon Martin. Johnson took this into account as he was writing The Parker Inheritance, and you can see several instances throughout the book where this is mentioned. One example is when Candice and Brandon were at a school working on "research" to help them solve the mystery. When they were leaving, the assistant principal stopped them and accused them of lying when they told him why they were at the school and asked to search their backpacks. Although the assistant principal tried to provide other reasons for why he stopped and questioned them, Candice and Brandon both realized that it was ultimately the color of their skin that caused this interaction. Similar to the real life experience Johnson described, the two children felt hurt and violated after this experience.

Students rarely have the opportunity to learn about this challenging time in history, especially at a young age, but when you introduce these issues using different children's books you can begin a conversation with students that needs to happen. It is important for students of all ages to understand the history behind where they live, the good the bad and the ugly, if you want them to be a part of the better change. If they do not understand how much work has been done in order to bring about change they may not see the importance in changing more. If they are not taught that everyone is equal and shown how this idea has been challenged in history they will not understand what it is that people are still fighting for. You may need to wait until certain grades to introduce more violent topics, such as lynching or the KKK, but you can modify these conversations to be appropriate for students at any grade level, and you should because students deserve to learn about history in an accurate, authentic way. Before sharing books on different cultural topics with students it is important that you analyze them to determine if they are culturally authentic or not. In "Culturally Diverse Literature" by Boyd et al, I read a bit about how to determine if a book is culturally authentic. This article states that when authors are a member of the community or culture being discussed, the text is more likely to be culturally authentic because they are speaking from their past experiences, sharing stories about events that either stuck with them or represent some aspect of their culture. Since Varian Johnson is a member of the African American community and it was shared that he used real-life experiences to help him when writing this book, I would say that the information in this book is culturally authentic. Another way to determine if a book is culturally authentic or not that was mentioned in the article is looking at the awards the book has received. For example, The Parker Inheritance won the Coretta Scott King Honor Book Award in 2019. Since this award recognizes authors whose work accurately portrays the experiences of African Americans, this is another clue that this book is culturally authentic, making it appropriate to share with students to discuss the social justice issues mentioned throughout the book.

I am including a poem that was referenced on page 184 of this book because I thought this would be a good resource to share with students. This poem was shared on the final page of chapter 29, which is a chapter providing the reader with background information about Siobhan Washington. She was sitting with Reggie discussing the future, which was daunting for them to think about during a time where African Americans had very little rights and finding success in a career was incredibly challenging. After their stressful conversation about what their future could bring, Reggie asks Siobhan to recite this poem. This poem would be very applicable during a unit centered around African American history as it speaks about how one day things will be different, seeming to hint at Juneteenth where all enslaved people were declared free on June 19, 1865.

I also wanted to include a song that I thought was fitting in relation to this topic. African Americans and other minorities are still experiencing unfair treatment in our country and we are still fighting for a change. With the recent Black Lives Matter movement these issues have been brought to the surface again with striking force and students are going to hear about it. Although this would not be an appropriate song to share with students because of some of the language used, it is one that speaks very critically of this issue and can provide us with an opportunity to reflect on what is happening today in our country.

Here is a song that touches on similar issues but would be more appropriate to share with students in a unit centered around this issue. This song will allow students to hear about these issues in a different context to increase their overall understanding. Use songs like this or other children's books to start an important conversation with students, not only about history but also what they can do to make a difference.