This novel features a black protagonist and focuses on her normal life, hobbies, and challenges. It was written by a black author and truly communicates the message that all aspects of black lives matter, whether it is an interest in baking, family life (wanting to know more about her dad, her relationship with her grandma, etc.), preteen emotions, hurdles in friendship, or dealing with racism.

I recommend that you read this novel with your child because there are rich conversations to be had about safe choices, trust, mistakes, forgiveness, unfairness, systematic racism, etc. We will also discuss these topics in our literature circles as themes. Furthermore, we will examine the main character's choices with a new role: the Adviser!

So, what is a literature circle?

A literature circle is fun and lively. There is a discussion leader (the teacher, in this case), but each student will take an active part in preparing for and leading each literature circle (class). A literature circle is when a group of students (or anyone) pre-reads the selected chapters and then discusses the literature deeply and passionately. Our classes will be filled with discussion and creativity! Each student will have a specific role to fill each class (and it will change each week). The discussion leader (the teacher) will invite you to lead the discussion when it is your turn. Before that, you should also participate actively as others lead the discussion. As you are reading before the class, you should pay attention to what you will be doing in class (your role - see below). 

*Choose your first role as soon as possible. As long as no one else has chosen the same one, it's yours! Be quick!

STUDENT ROLES
*The students will use our class site to share their writing, quotations, and pictures to help them guide the discussion, but they can also prepare a small PowerPoint presentation to share each week (optional). LibreOffice is free and has a great Presentation program. The students can upload their presentation files to the class site or have them open on their screens for screen-sharing. (Tip: I recommend saving files as PDFs so the slides will look the same when they are opened on other computers.)

Writer:
Write a short riddle or poem about an character OR write a brief letter or journal entry from a character’s point-of-view based on their experiences in the chapters. You must share your riddle, poem, letter, or journal entry BEFORE the class on our class site to help everyone recall the chapters and move into literature mode! Your job is very important because your riddle or letter will become a summary and will set the tone of the class!

Illustrator:
Draw your favourite scene from the chapters and explain why you like that part. Share your picture on our class site BEFORE the class.

Designer:
Design some new clothes or a useful object/invention for a character. Explain why it is suitable for the character. What do they like? What do they need? Which colour would they love? Will it help them to solve a problem? Share your creation on our class site BEFORE the class.

Adviser:
Your job is to notice when the character makes a choice and to brainstorm the consequences of her actions. Then, you will give advice to the character based on the dangers and possibilities of their actions. Think of it as giving advice to a friend!

Reporter:
Prepare some well-thought-out questions to ask the characters about what they felt, thought, or experienced in this week’s chapters. Imagine that the characters will actually be in the class and that you will have the opportunity to interview them. When it is your turn, your classmates will imagine that they are the characters and try to answer from their point-of-view!

Magnifier:
Your job is to narrow in on one or two short, well-written sections of the reading and to explain what makes the writing powerful. You should focus on diction (word choice), syntax (sentence style: length, punctuation, grammar, word order, etc.), and creativity (imagery, personification, simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, alliteration, allusion, etc.). Share the quotations on our class site BEFORE the class. Try to get your classmates talking about what they notice about the quotation. Then, add your thoughts about why it is special and powerful.

Word Master:
Your job is to list the most powerful words from the passage and explain how they strengthen the passage. Why did the author choose that word and not another one? What’s the word’s connotation (negative/positive)? How does it change the feeling of the passage? Which other words could the author have used instead? Why are these ones better? Share your quotations on our class site BEFORE the class.

Theme Tracker:
Your job is to connect the chapters to previous chapters. Consider the subjects of friendship, family, love, passion, music, emotions, goals, determination, persistence, choices, secrets, lying/deception, truth, language, versions, innocence, forgiveness, punishment, justice, injustice, appearance, belonging, and life. Choose one subject that stands out to you as being important in the novel. What are the author’s big ideas (opinions)? Add some quotations that show the theme on our class site BEFORE the class. Support your choice by explaining how the quotations and plot reveal the themes. Then, ask your classmates if they noticed any other big ideas in the novel.

Librarian:
Can you think of another story or movie that is similar to this one? How? What is similar? What is different? 

Connector:
Your job is to find connections between the chapters and the real world (your own life, current events, the news, or history). Have you ever felt like the character? When and why? Has a similar event happened in your country? What about in another country?
Could the same thing happen in the world today? Why? When? Where? How? What are the similarities? Be ready to share your story during our class.

Predictor:
Your job is to spot the author’s clues (foreshadowing) and guess what will happen in the story. If you already know the story, do not give the ending away! Add some quotations to our class site BEFORE the class. Then, during the class, explain some probable directions the story could take. Remember that great stories are full of new conflicts and plot twists! You can also ask your classmates what they think will happen and why.

SCHEDULE

*Please read the chapters before class because this is a literature circle where we discuss the book in a creative way (with different roles). There will definitely be no time to do the reading in class, including the first class. That is your time to present your conclusions and creations based on your reading. So, sign up early and get started! Then, we can have plenty of fun!

Lesson 1: Read chapters 1 to 6
Lesson 2: Read chapters 7 to 12
Lesson 3: Read chapters 13 to 18
Lesson 4: Read chapters 19 to 24
Lesson 5: Read chapters 25 to 30
Lesson 6: Read chapters 31 to 36 and the epilogue