Sponsored by In the Neighborhood of True by Susan Kaplan Carlton
After her father dies, Ruth Robb and her family move in the summer of 1958 from New York City to Atlanta —the land of debutantes, sweet tea, and the Ku Klux Klan. In her new hometown, Ruth quickly figures out she can be Jewish or she can be popular, but not both, so Ruth decides to hide her religion to fit in. But when a violent hate crime brings the different parts of Ruth’s life into sharp conflict, she will have to choose between all she’s come to love about her new life and standing up for what she believes.
Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed. This week ya girl has education on the brain as our country contemplates the safety of sending students back to school in the middle of a pandemic (so many feelings). Betsy DeVos: may your marinara sauce never cling to your pasta! Fifty points to you if you get that reference.
While none of these books are specifically about schools + pandemics, they are all wonderful examinations of education that I think more people should read.
To the club!!
Nibbles and Sips
We’re sticking to summer vibes again this week, so let’s talk paletas. Paletas are Mexican popsicles, first popularized in Tocumbo, Michoacan in the 1940’s by a family business called La Michoacana. They come in water and milk-based varieties of both traditional fruit flavors (strawberry, coconut, lemon, etc) and less conventional ones like corn, avocado, cheese, and arroz con leche. Side note—I was SO confused when someone offered me a popsicle as a kid and handed me a hunk of blue ice on a stick. I wasn’t used to blue, I was used to fresh strawberry, mango, and rompope (Mexican eggnog)!
It’s hard to pick just one favorite flavor, but one I’ve been craving lately is pepino (cucumber) con chile. They’re easy to make and are such a perfect, cold, refreshing treat in the sweltering summer months. Try them out and let me know what you think!
An Education on Education
Two of these books are more about educational theory and one is a memoir. There is so, so much to discuss in these books: how the pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality ignores systemic inequality, how racism is embedded in our education system, how impactful a role early education (or the lack thereof) plays in molding young minds.
When Grit Isn’t Enough: A High School Principal Examines How Poverty and Inequality Thwart the College-for-All Promise by Linda F. Nathan – Back in 2013, a University of Pennsylvania professor named Angela Duckworth gave a TED Talk about grit as the great predictor of success. I remember having feelings about it even then, mainly the icky feeling that the emphasis on grit, though not entirely flawed by any means, leaves out an essential examination of systemic inequality. This book immediately jumped at me then when it came out in 2017; it investigates five assumptions that inform our ideas about education and how those beliefs mask the systemic inequity that makes the educational playing field far from even.
Educated by Tara Westover – Now, speaking of grit: you gotta give credit where credit is due and Tara Westover is basically grit defined. She was raised in rural Idaho by survivalist and fundamentalist Mormon parents who homeschooled their children and denied the validity of modern medicine. She decided she wanted to go to school and sneakily found a way to get into BYU, meaning she walked into an institution of higher learning for the first time at age 17. Imagine for just a second what that must have been like: getting dirty looks when you ask what the Holocaust is, or having your roommates sit you down to chide you for not washing your hands after you using the bathroom. Tara not only graduated, but went on to earn a PhD from Cambridge. That is all impressive enough on its own, but even more so when you throw in the verbal and physical abuse she endured. This isn’t a read specifically about the education system, but is a fascinating read about education in general and one person’s truly inspiring story.
For White Folks Who Teach In the Hood…and the Rest of Y’all Too by Christopher Emdin – While working as a bookseller, I worked a big educational conference in San Diego where Christopher Emdin was a keynote speaker. When this man walked into the building, I thought Beyoncé had arrived. I watched hundreds of teachers go full fanperson for this guy, and speaking to him for just a few moments as he signed books showed me why. In addition to having a truly effervescent personality, his book is a challenge (and guide) for white teachers to check their privilege, understand and connect with their students, and examine the flaws in a universal approach to education.
Suggestion Section
Our roundup of personalized book club gifts, because we could all use a little gift right now.
Meet the beautiful young ladies of the Reading Riders Book Club in Collin County, Texas. In addition to creating a space to share a love of reading, they’ve also partnered with local nonprofits to collect more than 200 books for children in need. Those faces gave joy today.
Virtual book clubs to join now—reach out, make a bookish connection!
Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with your burning book club questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter, catch me once a month on the All the Books podcast, and watch me ramble about even more new books every Tuesday on our YouTube channel.
Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa