ENGAGING PERSPECTIVES: THE YOUNG ADULT READER Sue Christian Parsons, Ph.D. Fall 2019: Finding Hope in the Hard Stuff Wordsworth writes, “The world is too much with us.” Many of us feel the weight of the world quite tangibly lately. Teachers may feel that weight more fully in our hope to bear it for our students. Perhaps you, like me, seek escape in light stories that offer a giggle or a nice tidy resolution. Our students do need to laugh when they read. They need to relish solving a good mystery, marvel at nature, and settle in cozily with families and communities that resonate with love. But they also need to read the hard stuff. We—adult readers and the young people we care for—need to read about the wrong in history. We need books that challenge oversimplified and inaccurate societal narratives often passed down in schools. We need to know war and injustice, loss and struggle. We need to read these stories because, collectively, they hold the hopeful truth that we are capable of great courage, creativity, resilience, that we can speak up and fight against wrong, that hope is stubborn and joy resides in the most marvelously unlikely places. The books featured in this article show individuals finding voice, facing adversity, identifying solutions, fostering community, and furthering justice. The stories they tell span time, space, and culture. They re-infuse the stories we think we know well with truths and voices that have been silenced or pushed aside. They invite readers to revisit and re-envision persistent narratives that shape the way we view our lives and the world around us. Each book holds power but exploring common themes across texts brings readers to consider more deeply. These books, together, highlight persistence in society—the dread persistence of harm and hate, the dependable buoyancy of joy and hope, and the ever-present possibility of transformation though imagination, strength of conviction, and determined action. They also offer insights into what it takes to change the world for the better. Note that the books offered here include picture books appropriate for a wide range of readers as well as books aimed more directly at middle to young adult readers. All the books foster discussion about what is and what might be. They Called Us Enemy by George Takai, Justin Eisinger, Stephen Scott, and Harmony Becker (2019, Top Shelf Productions) In this graphic novel memoir, well-known actor (Star Trek) and activist George Takai recalls his childhood imprisoned along with his family in an American internment camp. While the horror of losing everything is evident in the portrayal of his parents’ experiences, the reader views the experience through George’s child-view. His innocent acceptance (It’s cool to sleep where the horses slept and tags identifying prisoners are like train tickets) makes the cruel injustice stand out even more starkly. The memoir continues to follow the family’s return to Los Angeles upon release, having lost everything they’d worked for, forced to live on the street, and dealing with pointed racism and the related shame. Takai points to current contexts that frame ethnic groups as enemies, urging us to learn from the past and do better.
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