The 2017-18 YAL Conference Books (continued)

Tomboy by Liz Prince Liz Prince’s graphic memoir, Tomboy, shares her story about the challenges she had growing up: navigating society’s gender expectations, feeling like an outsider, dealing with bullies and eventually coming to terms with her authentic self. As a young girl, Liz preferred playing baseball to playing dress up. She picked up on the subtle, or not so subtle, messages society dictated about gender, and therefore chose to be Luke Skywalker over Princess Leia. She did not want to be the damsel in distress. She wanted to be the one doing the saving-- the one who took action. But when her Little League baseball coach assigns her to centerfield instead of letting her

take the pitcher’s mound, she realizes she doesn’t know where she belongs. Liz Prince, both author and artist, tells her story to be both a window and a mirror to her reader. Her story of finding one’s identity is funny, honest and, at points, uncomfortable and heartbreaking. It would make a great addition to any classroom library and could anchor a thematic unit focused on the essential question: Who am I and where do I belong? Grade 9 and up.

Chicago Slices: Media Literacy and Critical Video Remixing Rather than a traditional book as text, this workshop will use archival footage from Chicago’s Media Burn archive, an organization that collects, restores and distributes documentary video and television. Chicago Slices—Chicago Stories Then andNow, a Hive-funded project, engages youth and educators in media literacy and critical video remixing. Led by The National Museum of Mexican Art’s youth initiative Yollocalli Arts Reach, in partnership with the Chicago History Museum, Media Burn and CCAS, the Chicago Slices project allows

participants to analyze archival footage and learn about using different tools for a range of video remixing from Snapchat to tools like Media Breaker. Grade 8 and up.

A People’s History of Chicago by Kevin Coval Kevin Coval is one of the most powerful storytellers of our generation. Following the legacy of Howard Zinn, he uses his voice to amplify the voice of people on the margins and shine light on the stories that go unheard in our city. Beginning with an homage to the area’s indigenous peoples and their forced removal, he highlights the struggles andtriumphs of our city’s workers, poor people, and people of color. Through seventy-seven poems that represent the seventy-seven neighborhoods in Chicago, Coval paints a more encompassing understanding of our city’s history. Although Coval is most often recognized in Chicago as the co-founder of

Young Chicago Authors and Louder Than a Bomb (LTAB), the largest youth poetry festival in the world, A People’s History of Chicago is a masterpiece and a critical driving force in the evolution of poetry in Chicago. Grade 8 and up.

Registration opens September 5, 2017 at yal.c4cas.orgQuestions? Call Dan at (312) 563-7134

L

Conference Features Conference Cost

Register at yal.c4cas.orgRegister early to ensure your choice of workshops.

For more information, call Dan Laubacher at (312) 563-7134.

October 20 - 21, 2017

Conference At-A-GlanceWelcome, Keynote & Teacher Unit PresentationsFriday 7:00 pm – 9:45 pm

Saturday 9:00 am - 3:30 pm Featured Book Workshops & Closing Reflection

Full participation on both days is required to Earn 6 CPDUs

The Q Conference Center1405 N 5th Ave. St. Charles, IL 60174

Registration

18 Annualth

Conference

Adult Literature

YoungYA

Kevin Coval, the superstar poet, community builder, artistic director of the Young Chicago Authors, founder of Louder than a Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival, and professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, kicks off the conference with the Friday night keynote. He is a riveting speaker all educators should hear.

On Friday, teachers share class-room-tested techniques from units they created. Saturday offers two workshops that provide strategies and materials for the books attendees receive in advance.

Join us for a convivial, intellectually stimulating weekend to refresh your practice. You'll remember why you became an educator in the first place!

$450.00 conference fee for teachers from non-partnership schools. This includes two books, threemeals, and an overnight stay in a private room.

Teachers working with eligible grade levels in GEAR UP schools pay $50.00 conference fee to cover cost of food. Remaining participation cost is paid for by grant.

The 2017-18 YAL Conference Books

Registration opens September 5, 2017 at yal.c4cas.orgQuestions? Call Dan at (312) 563-7134

Breakthrough: How One Teen Innovator is Changing the World by Jack Andraka, with Matthew Lysiak This nonfiction book tells the remarkable story of 15-year-old Jack Andraka’s path to inventing a four-cent strip of paper capable of detecting pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancers 400 times more effectively than the previous standard. Jack was inspired to search for a better way to detect pancreatic cancer after the death of a family friend. The road to eventual success was filled with obstacles, including Jack’s own struggle against bullying and depression. Nevertheless, he fought through his personal difficulties as well as the nearly overwhelming obstacles that disbelieving medical professionals threw

in his way. Jack’s memoir includes do-it-yourself experiments to try in every chapter, making it a great STEM curriculum text. Jack encourages other young people to persevere in following their dreams, providing an inspiring example of what a teen can accomplish with determination and knowledge. Grade 7 and up.

Flying Lessons and Other Stories edited by Ellen Oh In partnership with We Need Diverse Books, giants of YA literature Kwame Alexander, Soman Chainani, Matt de la Peña, Tim Federle, Grace Lin, Meg Medina, Walter Dean Myers, Tim Tingle, and Jacqueline Woodson join newcomer Kelly J. Baptist in a story collection that is as humorous as it is heartfelt. These award-winning authors give us ten distinct and vibrant short stories about characters from different backgrounds, ethnicities, sexualities, and disabilities. These stories are vital for adolescent readers who rarely see themselves reflected in books and stories, and they provide insights that can benefit everyone. Teachers, put this book on

your “must read” list and then share a short story with your students. The time needed to read a short story is small, but the payoff can be huge. Grade 7 and up.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas In her debut novel, Thomas explores the issues of internal and structural racism, strong black family structure, and the need to re-educate self and society against derogatory representations of black youth. The Hate U Give is the story of Starr, a 17-year-old girl who lives in a poor black neighborhood but attends a fancy suburban prep school. When Starr’s childhood friend, Khalil, is shot and killed by police, the neighborhood becomes a war zone. Starr’s white school friends question whether Khalil somehow “deserved” it. No one really knows what happened the night of

Khalil’s death—no one but Starr—and what she does or does not reveal could endanger her neighborhood, and her own life. Grade 10 and up.

The 2017-18 YAL Conference Books (continued)

Tomboy by Liz Prince Liz Prince’s graphic memoir, Tomboy, shares her story about the challenges she had growing up: navigating society’s gender expectations, feeling like an outsider, dealing with bullies and eventually coming to terms with her authentic self. As a young girl, Liz preferred playing baseball to playing dress up. She picked up on the subtle, or not so subtle, messages society dictated about gender, and therefore chose to be Luke Skywalker over Princess Leia. She did not want to be the damsel in distress. She wanted to be the one doing the saving-- the one who took action. But when her Little League baseball coach assigns her to centerfield instead of letting her

take the pitcher’s mound, she realizes she doesn’t know where she belongs. Liz Prince, both author and artist, tells her story to be both a window and a mirror to her reader. Her story of finding one’s identity is funny, honest and, at points, uncomfortable and heartbreaking. It would make a great addition to any classroom library and could anchor a thematic unit focused on the essential question: Who am I and where do I belong? Grade 9 and up.

Chicago Slices: Media Literacy and Critical Video Remixing Rather than a traditional book as text, this workshop will use archival footage from Chicago’s Media Burn archive, an organization that collects, restores and distributes documentary video and television. Chicago Slices—Chicago Stories Then andNow, a Hive-funded project, engages youth and educators in media literacy and critical video remixing. Led by The National Museum of Mexican Art’s youth initiative Yollocalli Arts Reach, in partnership with the Chicago History Museum, Media Burn and CCAS, the Chicago Slices project allows

participants to analyze archival footage and learn about using different tools for a range of video remixing from Snapchat to tools like Media Breaker. Grade 8 and up.

A People’s History of Chicago by Kevin Coval Kevin Coval is one of the most powerful storytellers of our generation. Following the legacy of Howard Zinn, he uses his voice to amplify the voice of people on the margins and shine light on the stories that go unheard in our city. Beginning with an homage to the area’s indigenous peoples and their forced removal, he highlights the struggles and triumphs of our city’s workers, poor people, and people of color. Through seventy-seven poems that represent the seventy-seven neighborhoods in Chicago, Coval paints a more encompassing understanding of our city’s history. Although Coval is most often recognized in Chicago as the co-founder of

Young Chicago Authors and Louder Than a Bomb (LTAB), the largest youth poetry festival in the world, A People’s History of Chicago is a masterpiece and a critical driving force in the evolution of poetry in Chicago. Grade 8 and up.

Registration opens September 5, 2017 at yal.c4cas.orgQuestions? Call Dan at (312) 563-7134

The 2017-18 YAL Conference Books (continued)

La Gringa by Carmen Rivera La Gringa is the longest-running Spanish-language play in Off-Broadway Latino theater history, recently produced in Chicago to an extended run. The script, published in both English and Spanish, is a story of a young woman’s search for identity. María Elena García makes plans to visit extended family in Puerto Rico and connect with her homeland. While María has never been to Puerto Rico, she displays intense love and pride for the island, completing a college major in Puerto Rican Studies. Upon her arrival, however, María confronts the realization that her family considers her an American – agringa. María’s struggle to define herself creates a valuable platform for

examining individual and collective issues involved in navigating and belonging to more than one culture. Grade 9 and up.

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander and The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin James Baldwin wrote The Fire Next Time on the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation and early in the Civil Rights Movement to challenge the assertion that the slaves were ever truly freed. Michelle Alexander in The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, responds to Baldwin’s assertion a half century later with a powerfully substantiated argument that our prison system is a revamped version of slavery. She concludes her thesis with Baldwin’s own words, “...if the word integration means anything, this is what it means, that we, with love, shall force

our [white] brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it….We cannot be free until they are free.” Baldwin challenges our assumptions about self and other. Alexander dismantles the prison industrial system before our very eyes. When those of us who live and teach in Chicago in 2017 find ourselves at a loss for words when another student of color is incarcerated or murdered, the call and response between these powerful thinkers encourages us to keep the conversation alive. Grade 11 & up.

No Better Friend (Young Readers Edition) by Robert Weintraub This compelling book tells the true story of an amazing dog called Judy and a young British air force technician, Frank Williams, who saved each other, repeatedly, during a horrific period as POWs in the South Pacific during World War II. (Yes, Judy was an official canine POW.) Judy’s exploits are so astonishing that they would be hard to believe without the testimony of multiple witnesses who affirm Frank’s account of events. This young reader edition is well-crafted to keep the attention of readers from 6th grade through adult, with sidebars and photos that provide details of the war without weighing down the exciting tales of Judy’s

bravery and inventiveness. You’ll go from tears to cheers more than once as you root for Judy and her friends to survive situations that seem impossible to overcome. Students will learn about WWII without complaint as they see it through Judy’s unforgettable story. Grade 7 & up.