Help!
I work at a children's shelter and we serve kids from birth to their 18th birthday. Our big issue is the above ages. These kids are too young to run away from the shelter (the magic age is 13- blame the state of California, the ACLU, the lawyers who feel foster kids have the right to make their own decisions- I could go on and on, but not the forum) and a lot of them don't get to bring their cell phones in with them. Television is not allowed after 9:30 pm Sunday- Thursday nights, and after midnight on Friday and Saturday nights. So, a lot of these kids do not know how to fall asleep without electronics. We try reading to them to help them fall asleep but we have extremely limited reading materials. I have purchased used books that are a hit with girls aged 7-10, but we need help finding books for boys and girls aged 11 and 12. The big issue is that, 1. A lot of our kids are exposed to the streets, so we need books that are more, down to earth? Less, fantasy? A lot of these kids have smoked, some have drank alcohol. Lots of domestic violence in the home. Parents are drug addicts. Lots of homelessness. Also, most of these kids read at grade levels far below their expected grade level. So when we ask them what they want to read, an 11 yr old girl has asked for a 1st grade book to be read to her. And then, surprisingly it didn't hold her interest.
Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!
by LRod2212
1 Comment
I used to mentor an older teen girl and gave her a copy of Wonder by RJ Palacio. She was really excited to read it because she liked the movie. The book is also told from numerous points of view, including the 6th grade main character as well as high school students.
Bridge to Teribithia and The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson are two classics that have a lot to do with class, race, and depressing family situations. But there’s a lot of grace and forgiveness in both books.
I will never not recommend books by Gary Schmidt, he’s won the Newbery Honor. His book Orbiting Jupiter is about a teenage boy in foster care who has a daughter already. The Wednesday Wars, Okay for Now, and Just Like That are set between 1967-1969 and are fantastic.
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia is about a preteen and her younger sisters who are sent to live with their mom in Oakland where they get involved with the Black Panthers.
Some graphic novels: the same young woman who I mentored sat down one day and read The Prince and the Dressmaker from cover to cover without stopping. She was so excited that she had read an entire book.
Nimona is also so good.
Best of luck! My heart goes out to these kids.