To Celebrate Diverse Voices: LatinX Writers [S1 E24]
Welcome to a brand new series!
As we at Brave New Teaching have committed to do the work to model anti-racist and anti-biased educational best practices, we have also committed to share ideas that can help others join us on this journey. This month, we’d like to highlight four incredibly moving LatinX writers in a series that will be continued throughout our work. While the series aims to celebrate diverse voices during national heritage months, please know that we teach and examine these writers all year round. September is the month to celebrate, but from August to May, there are ample opportunities to read their work.
Looking for resources beyond the four authors we share today? Be sure to check out:
Our GIVEAWAY!! Head on over to Instagram to enter to win books and other goodies from our show today!
Amanda’s weekly email series of close read lessons featuring LatinX writers (a new lesson every Sunday for the month of September!)
This Hispanic Heritage Month/Celebrating LatinX Culture Choice Board activity
Our free download today: a close reading template for Author’s Voice (fill out the form below and we’ll send it over!)
Gabriel García Márquez
“A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings”
What we love about this story:
An easy dabble in magical realism
Manageable length for 1-2 class periods
Pairs well with other longer texts
Opportunities to teach close reading focusing on syntax
An excerpt:
On the third day of rain they had killed so many crabs inside the house that Pelayo had to cross his drenched courtyard and throw them into the sea, because the newborn child had a temperature all night and they thought it was due to the stench. The world had been sad since Tuesday. Sea and sky were a single ash-gray thing and the sands of the beach, which on March nights glimmered like powdered light, had become a stew of mud and rotten shellfish. The light was so weak at noon that when Pelayo was coming back to the house after throwing away the crabs, it was hard for him to see what it was that was moving and groaning in the rear of the courtyard. He had to go very close to see that it was an old man, a very old man, lying face down in the mud, who, in spite of his tremendous efforts, couldn’t get up, impeded by his enormous wings.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Mexican Gothic
What we love about this story:
Vivid use of imagery
Dark and mysterious plot line
Would work well to pair or replace other classic, Euro-centric Gothic romances
An excerpt:
Javier Zamora
Unaccompanied
What we love about his poetry:
Brutally honest look at a solo immigrant story
Accessible for students, yet powerful themes and nuance of language
The collection of poems in the book build off of one another, much like a concept album
The New Yorker wrote about him and he’s featured in the Library of Congress’ Hispanic Heritage Authors collection
Elizabeth Acevedo
Clap When You Land
What we love about her work:
This is a novel in verse (highly engaging for kids)
Her work is accessible for students, but still stunning to analyze
Rich use of imagery and culture at the heart of her stories
An excerpt: