Libraries and Literacy

While there is a substantial body of literature for young adults and adults relating to life in the inner city, there are relatively less materials written for a younger audience. Partially this is because some of the language and situations popular in the works written in the genre are considered inappropriate for children. Perhaps there is a sad truth in this, that the real life experiences of children in the inner-city and the poorest areas contain sexuality, language, and violence that is generally considered inappropriate in literature for their ages. Regardless, there are some works that attempt to convey an image of the inner-city life for children. It may be a cleaned up world, slightly foreign to children there, but it does address some of the issues and themes they face. Walter Dean Myers is a very popular author of YA literature featuring the gritty reality of the inner city. In The Dream Bearer, Myers writes for a younger audience, but includes many of the same themes. Young David lives in the inner city, his father has serious mental health issues, and his older brother has started getting involved in drugs. For this summer, David faces these issues through the stories he hears from a strange homeless man Moses Littlejohn about dreams. The issues that David faces are typical of those of many children his age, and the account is written without graphic language or explicit violence, making this appropriate for 5-6 graders.

Shelley Pearsall’s All of the Above also features inner city children who experience typical struggles with poverty and their families. This book is set in Cleveland, in economically challenged middle school. This is not a book about the teacher who saves the day with his commitment to the children, rather it is about a regular teacher and regular students who do something amazing. The teacher proposes the project to create a tetrahedron out of frustration with his job, never thinking anyone will actually take him up on it. The students come for a variety of reasons: one wants to go to college, one comes so he wont fail, another has no where else to go, and another couple come to impress the ladies. But this unlikely group creates something amazing, in a truly inspiring tale, most of all because it is based on a true story. An inspiring tale, appropriate to 4th graders and up, though perhaps as a read-aloud.

G Neri’s Chess Rumble is a great book, not so much because of its originality, as because of its execution. The story is about an inner-city boy who is in trouble at school, and who finds a way to channel his anger and learn decision making skills through playing chess with an older mentor. Not anything earth shattering, but the text is easy to read, poetic, and realistic without being vulgar. AND it has some stunning illustrations that add to the ease of understanding the text and the message. Plus it is at a reading level and topic that would appeal to boys from 3rd grade through high school.

To see some more that I recommend in this area, visit my goodreads.com site to view my bibliography.

Over the last five days or so, I’ve been reading as much as I possibly can about the struggles and needs of at-risk youth in some of the nation’s poorest neighborhoods. My research has taken me in two directions–one has been to read scholarly and anecdotal articles and books about the specific educational and developmental crises the youth are facing, and the other has been to read juvenile fiction that recounts their tragedies and triumphs.

Some of what I read was not particularly new, coming together to paint a grim picture, but also a hopeful one. The stark reality is that poverty, according to the Children’s Defense Fund in 2001, is one of the largest factors for family stress and relates directly to failure at school. The stresses that children face at home are huge, as a result of economic status and of the consequences that result from that, such as poor nutrition, unstable family lives, less access to mental health care, and frequent absence of stable male role models. These factors are added to a culture that does not put a priority on education and particularly on school.

One of the saddest aspects of this situation is its self-perpetuating nature, both as parents who had poor experiences with school perpetuate this attitude, and as student’s failures or perceived failures leave them with strong negative feelings towards school as a whole. Students, who experience failures early on in their education, frequently do not feel that they are capable of succeeding. They may have negative perceptions of themselves, school, or both. Without the basic foundation of reading skills and mathematical skills, students find school increasingly challenging. In particular, students who fall behind in reading skills, may never be able to make up the reading practice that students who have been reading all along.

Furthermore, many of these children are left unsupervised in the after school hours, the period in which they are at the greatest risk of committing or falling victim to violent crime. A fair number of these children are in turn responsible for the care of even younger children during this time period, which means they have no motivation to work on school assignments.

While this is a grim picture, there is hope! Public libraries have long been locations for latchkey students to spend the after-school hours, frequently in undirected activities with friends. Now, however, libraries are starting Homework Help Centers (HHC) to provide a location dedicated to school work, with staff and volunteers trained to assist at-risk children. These centers provide many advantages beyond a few math pointers. HHC help participants develop self-confidence, connection with the community, ability to solve problems in their lives and in school, a greater ability to cope with the world, and an improved self-control through learning to make decisions and delaying gratification. Also, participants have models in volunteers and coordinators of adult behavior and academic success, that are frequently more acceptable then teachers and the school.