Book #3: I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley

I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley

Illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Published by Little, Brown, and Company 1998

I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley is a charming book about a young girl’s experiences with her hair. The book opens with the narrator sitting in between the legs of her mother getting her hair brushed. As she thinks about various hairstyles she has had, she begins to discover what it means to really begin to accept oneself. As she talks about the various hair styles she has worn, and the meaning behind them. She mentions the history of wearing hair in an afro, cornrows, or a weaved bun. I think it was especially powerful when the author mentioned why some people might choose to wear an afro.

This book seems to be one of the most relatable of the books in my text set. Often, young girls of all races struggle with learning to accept themselves for things which make them different from others. This book is one which girls can not only relate to, but it also puts a positive spin onto something which many young girls dread: getting the tangles out of their hair.

The illustrations by E.B. Lewis are done in watercolor. They are vivid, and the backgrounds are perhaps the most intriguing. The illustrations tell the story behind the text. They greatly enhance the story and would be great for struggling readers to use to help to tell a fuller version of the story.

The author of this book, Natasha Anastasia Tarpley, has also written other books relating to adult African American identity. It is clear that she is aware of her audience in her writing of this book. In the note from the author at the beginning of the book, Tarpley mentions her own struggle with choosing a hairstyle that represents her history and her identity (she has felt most comfortable wearing her hair in dreads). Tarpley relates herself to this story, which gives her credibility as an author in this book.

Book #2: No Bad News by Kenneth Cole

No Bad News by Kenneth Cole
Photographer: John Ruebartsch
Publisher: Albert Whitman and Company 2001

This book follows a young boy on his first trip to the barbershop without his mom. As he is walking to the barbershop, he notices all the bad things which surround him: graffiti, unemployment, alcoholism, crime, etc. He frets over all the sad and disappointing things he witnesses as he walks to his 'local' barbershop. The author brings up how the young boy sees everything he has heard mentioned that is negative on the news. Once he gets to the barbershop, he is down because he believes he is surrounded by such 'bad news'. However, the community, lead by his barber, comes together to help this young boy to realize that he is actually surrounded by many good things, it just takes time to notice them because good news is not what our culture is taught to focus upon all that is bad which surrounds us. They talk about family, community, and other aspects of city life that are often not focused upon. This book is really an uplifting book which could be used in nearly any classroom.

The "illustrations" of this book are photographs in black and white rather than actual illustrations. The lighting in all of the pictures help to shed light on many different aspects of life in the city. The choice of using photography make this book seem much like a personal story, a glimpse of everything that is real in life.

According to I am Good News, Dr. Kenneth Cole is an African American psychologist, author, and motivational speaker who focuses much of his work on the American tendencies to focus on bad news, rather than good news. Because of this book, he has gotten a lot of publicity relating to this cause.

Book #1: Uncle Jed's Barbershop by Margaree King Mitchell

Uncle Jed's Barbershop by Margaree King Mitchell.
Illustrator: James Ransome
Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks 1993

Uncle Jed's Barbershop by Margaree King Mitchell is a novel set in Southern America from Depression Era to the 50s. It follows the story of a young girl who admires her Uncle Jed and the hardships they as a family face because of sickness, Depression, and other social issues. Issues of segregation are brought into light through the sickness of a young girl who must wait until all the white patients are seen before she can be. Further, this book sheds a bit of light into what it was like to live in the south during the Great Depression. Perhaps one of the most poignant lines in the book was when Mitchell writes, "nobody had much money then." During the Depression, Uncle Jed is the sole barber in their southern county, and he shows humanitarian tendencies by accepting food as payment. The family shows strength and makes it though tough times as a large group. This book is a story of inspiration and love.

The only issue I question in this book is the lack of elaboration after hard times hit Uncle Jed and his family. At various times, Uncle Jed lost all the money he had saved, and each time, he just seemed to 'let it go' and move on from it. I feel as though this is an unrealistic portrayal of what anyone would do at a point like this. It made the various situations seem as though they were 'ok', when in actuality, it is not acceptable for any child is denied heath services if they are sick; it is not right for someone lose all of their money they have saved because of a bank failure. The narrator merely indicates that at the end that Uncle Jed taught her how to dream and strive to realize those dreams.


The illustrations in this book are by James Ransome. The oil paints are colorful and vivid. They shed a bit of light into the beauty of Southern America. These pictures add to, rather than take away from, the story of Uncle Jed.

According to the Mississippi Writers Page, Margaree King Mitchell is an African American female who was born and raised in Mississippi. According to Mitchell, his book was written in response to a belief that many young black children lacked the confidence they needed and couldn't find that confidence through history in their school libraries.

This book won the Coretta Scott King Award and was featured on Reading Rainbow.

Boy Meets Boy

i am incredibly glad that this book was chosen to read.
on thanksgiving, i realized that i left my copy at school, and started to freak out. i thought it would be pretty impossible to find this book around my house, much less on black friday while i was out shopping. i was quite excited to find that there were TWO copies of it at the FIRST book store i went to. i thought it was really nice that this book, for me at least, was easy to find while at home. it gave me hope.
while reading this book, i felt like i was reading a book similar to the perks of being a wallflower, which was (and still is) my favorite book. I felt like it was written in similar style, and had an overarching similar theme. the town seemed similar, specifically when the I SCREAM was mentioned.
This was one of the few books that i really enjoyed. I felt like it was relatable, and it really gave me a lot of hope that this is what communities will be like one day: accepting, tolerant, non-judgemental about sexual orientation. i struggle with understanding people who are "against" the GLBTQ community, who think it is "wrong". i don't think it is OK for anyone to assume someone is less of a person just because they do not live up to what one person deems as "normal". perhaps this is because of the way my parents chose to raise me in an evironment in which people from all walks of life were present.
it fit reading this book this weekend for me because my parents 25th wedding anniversary is next saturday, and we were doing seating. we, as a family, were laughing because we thought it would be fun (for all parties) to do a completely random seating arrangement (prompted by one of my mom's friends who was joking about 'freaking people out'). and while reading this book, all i coudl think was, wow, i wish our community was like this now.
my focus during my QTT paper was on parental influence, and i think that this was an important topic. all i can hope is that our generation, as parents, are as accepting as we can be to all walks of life (like my parents, my mom especially, were). i think that is the only way that we all will be able to live in a community in which everyone feels safe.

confessions group meeting

Last night, my group met to discuss "Confessions of a Closet Classic". I really enjoyed meeting outside of class because i felt like our discussion wasn't quite as forced. we were able to discuss more of what we got out of the book without specific guiding questions which we felt we had to answer.
I really liked being able to discuss to stereotypes in the book, both of Jewish people and of Catholics. Like another group, we talked more about the Catholic stereotypes and how it made us react. I know I was quite surprised at the stereotypes in this book, and i think i picked up on them because I am Catholic. In this book, the Catholic family went to a very old-school style church, they were a big family, etc etc.
I was glad we were able to talk about this because it is something i noticed especially at the beginning of hte book. Throughout hte book, it got better, but still, i am glad that i got to talk about this from my group.

"FLK"

yesterday in class, we talked a little bit about the term "flk", or "funny lookin' kid".
in our discussion, i was a bit confused, and i think that i mislead a few people in how this term might be used.
last night, i discussed this book, and, in specific, this part of the book with my my mom, a speech and language pathologist who works with children birth-3.
In talking about the term FLK, it is a term that is used ear-to-ear. If it is ever written it is on a SOAP, which is a form that most special educators will use in their own filing.
A SOAP form consists of four parts of the evaluation:

• S: Subjective: this is what the person conducting the evaluation SAW, it is subjective (based on opinion), this could include various things including "FLK" or "ASD?" (ASD indicates autism spectrum disorder - a question mark would indicate that it isn't a guarentee, but it is possible), how the child was, the general feelings, etc.... I asked my mom why "FLK" might be used, and she indicated that quite often if something is wrong on the outside, then something might be wrong on the inside. It's not a negative term, persay, its something that you can look back on so that the next time you see a child, you can remember more about them. My mom also indicated that this is something that even on SOAPs is written very small and light.
  
• O: Objective: goals of measurable and observable behavior : should relate to IEP goals. This would be where you would put what you want to see.
  
• A: Assessment: observable behavior that you can measure. This would be where you would put the things that the child did that was measurable. Examples could include mimicked the "ou" sound, walked, stood up, signed the ASL sign for "bubbles"
  
• P: Plan: this is what your plan is to do at either the next meeting or how you are going to reach your goals.
  

Further, in doing evals, many districts take pictures of the kids to put in the file. This allows for the next group that works with any given student knows who they are going to be working with. SOAPs are used, like i said, for personal records. they are something to look back on and refer to when you are planning days, working on IEPs, and talking to other people who work with the child.
I hope this helps to clear this up a little bit more.
Sorry for any confusion i caused.