IRL: Resources for Teaching YA Nonfiction

Almost American Girl By: Robin Ha By: Julia Krasko, Ashley Kowalewski, Savanna Lai, Dillon Malner Book Review: Robin Ha's Almost American Girl is an illustrated memoir chronicling a fourteen-year-old Korean girl and her mother's journey as they navigate life in translation. The story begins in Seoul before the two flies to Alabama for their yearly vacation. While in Alabama, we quickly learn that Ha Chuna's mother is getting married, ending their life in Korea and beginning a new one in America. Before traversing the minefield that is the American public school system, Chuna chooses her new American name—Robin Ha. After navigating her way through two schools, two states, and two cultures, we see Robin return to Korea for the 2002 World Cup as a college student. Robin sees her former home as a place now foreign to her after many years of difficult transitions, confusion, alienation, cultural and language barriers. Reconnecting with her middle school friends from Seoul, she s...

By Tammy Nguyen, Adriana Palacios, Megan Pham, Nicholas Ramirez, & Isaac Rico   Review: Flowers in the Gutter by K.R. Gaddy focuses on the hardships that youth had to face in Germany during World War II as they try to survive day by day under the Nazi regime. The fear that threatens them everyday is highlighted through descriptions of the bombings that happened nearly everyday and the poor conditions of the jail cells and concentration camps. The Night of Broken Glass, Kristallnacht, marked the night where civilians and SA officers destroyed store windows and businesses in retaliation to the Nazi regime. This caused a mass destruction to take place and changed the Germany that people had once known right in front of their eyes. The book also includes some snippets of how the youth attempted to lead a normal life by gathering with friends and singing songs accompanied by the guitar. However, the main focus of the book is on the Edelweiss Pirates’ opposition to the Nazi regi...

  Between the World and Me  by Ta-Nehisi Coates Book Review Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me takes the form of a letter addressed to his son. This letter is filled with symbolism, sentiments, and realities that are representative of being Black in America. Through his letter, Coates educates his son on the racial violence that is embedded in the American culture which can undoubtedly cause harm to him and his future as African American. “Between the World and Me” is a novel solely based on the perspective of Coates as an African American man trying to make sense of the world around him. Besides being the best selling novel, HBO transforming this novel into a film has brought even greater attention to the understanding of what it is like being a Black individual in the United States. Coates introduces in his novel how the history and the heritage of the United States is formed or prone to the destruction of Black bodies. For instance, when the author speaks about Pr...