When I Read THE TALK @CrownPublishing in March I Couldn't Wait for it to Debut. Well, It's Out. Such a Great Middle School Text

In March, while traveling to and from the North Texas Teen Book Festival (the last trip before the shut-down), I brought an advance copy of The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love, & Truth with me. The collection is edited by Wade Hudson & Cheryl Willis Hudson, and is a Crown Book for Young Readers through Random House Children's Books and written for a middle-school audience. As noted in yesterday's #ProjectLit talk, however, it is a book for everyone to do what the title says....to have a talk with one another. 

I told Rebecca Marsick and Kim Herzog, who came with me to the festival, that they needed to read it as soon as possible - it will be a must-have for 5th-8th grade classrooms during the upcoming years. Each of the contributors offered a new perspective and made you think (well, made me think). Yes, the writing was geared towards a younger audience, but as Cheryl Willis Hudson remarked last night, "The book is meant to be shared and discussed with many." That's what stories do when shared with others. They help all of us to grow.

Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson, "the legends" as Renée Watson called them, discussed how they wanted to have a follow up text  to We Rise, We Resist, We Raise our Voices, to address the toxic environment set forth in this country since the 2016 election (seeds planted long before this generation came to see what has gown). They wanted to have another book to keep kids engaged with love, hope, and possibility. "The Talk" they explained, "is something Black parents are familiar with … it is something that all parents need to have with their children. Sometimes there is no control. It pushes conversations about self-esteem and who you are on the planet." They discussed the goal was to elicit ideas from authors who have been speaking truth to power and who write for a multicultural audience to capture the numerous talks needed within a diverse society. They felt the conversation would be incomplete if there weren’t many voices, including White authors…as the conversation needs to be broadened. "If the problem could be solved by people of Color it would have been solved years ago." As editors, they hoped for an intergenerational text, one where people around the world could talk about systemic racism and injustices. "More history needs to be told," they stated, "to empower and to enlighten. We can move forward, and through history, people can find hope."

At one point, Cheryl Willis Hudson shared her quilting project, and the need to spiritually uplift and to reflect on stories in whatever art from works best.  "We’ve been stuck too long."

Wade Hudson discussed his story, "The Bike," as well, which highlights when a young boy first learns he lives in poverty –  relevant today with layoffs and joblessness. He wanted to share his story, and how his father shared hardships with his sons. He finished the evening by reading an excerpt from his story - the one when a bike did not arrive on Christmas morning. 

Another author present for the meeting was Adam Gidwitz, a White author who spent time writing about his family's immigration story from Lithuania, but with the intersections of a grandfather's success within a racialized south easily exploited for financial gain. His story, "Our Inheritance," processes his family history  and sets out to explain economic disparities to his daughter, even those that arise from both pride and inequity.

"Middle school kids are as smart as anyone," he shared with the audience. "They are full of optimism and a sense for justice. They aren't carrying the weights on them like adults do, and they are open to raw conversations. They have clarity in their thinking. They are ready." THE TALK invites conversations to our homes, including the story from his Lithuanian ancestry, as he moves to teach his daughter to care for the people you live around.

Gidwitz shared a talk he had with Joseph Bruchac about having two ears and one mouth - we should train ourselves to listen twice as much as we talk. As a White man, as White people…two ears, and one mouth. We should listen twice as much as we speak. … THE TALK is an invitation into other people’s homes. 

I was thrilled to see Renée Watson on the panel, as well, as she described THE TALK as a tool to have conversations with kids. She was excited to have something that was practical and and an example for what can spark necessary conversations. She admitted that all it took was a request from the Hudsons and she was in. I really enjoyed hearing how she's maintained a writing schedule through the pandemic and how she's moved beyond a stifling reality into a place to find her artistry. "That's what artists do," she remarked. "They look for upheaval and injustice, and they create. They make stories." Currently, she's writing about joy, especially the joy found by Black young girls in numerous communities. "It's a celebration of who they are and where they come from."

Renée Watson also encouraged journaling and told teachers, "This seems like the perfect time to have young people write what they are thinking and feeling. They need moments to process all this, too...to make art out of the chaos. It's a way to help them to gain control of their own lives. Making something is powerful"

Similarly, Renée discussed that listening is also an active word. It's okay to fall back, take in the books that are coming out, and to listen to the conversations. Listening is the priority.

"Find the people who are rooting for you."

The panel additionally discussed resources like Rethinking Schools and Teaching Tolerance as go-to spaces for teachers. They also tried to name movies and/or other books that have blended voices like this collection has, but they couldn't think of too many (I thought about Free to Be You and Me from back in the day) (I also thought about Scary Pockets, and how they musically mesh funk into a variety of popular songs with multicultural talent). 

But then Cheryl Willis Hudson mentioned "Glory" sung by the Detroit Youth Choir, and I had to look it up. She's right...it's a musical variation of what THE TALK is setting out to accomplish. 

I will definitely be promoting this book in all my Connecticut Writing Project and National Writing Project work. As awesome as the texts, so are the artistic contributions by powerhouse artists and illustrators. Simply awesome.