Are you wondering how to teach about the racial conflicts going on now in America? This book could give you a good springboard for discussion, especially using the free discussion questions provided by the author, a veteran homeschooling mom.
You will want to check out a new novel called The Long Shadow by Phyllis Wheeler. This is an anti-racist time-travel tale for kids ages 12-14.
Fourteen-year-old Richie, from white suburbia, thinks it is a good idea to run away from his guardian – until he finds himself whisked back 50 years, fighting to survive a freak storm, and afraid to accept help from a black man.
“Part survival story, part exploration of racial justice in America, part journey of self-discovery, and wholly engaging and memorable. A well done and powerful story. It is certainly stuck in my head.”—Joe Corbett, school librarian, St. Louis
“A powerful message wrapped in a page-turner.” —Cherie Postill, author, speaker, and mentor for teens at the St. Louis Writers Guild
“Heartwarming and heartbreaking, Richie’s story is a shining example of how taking a chance on unlikely friendships is the best way to break down the barriers we build.” —Jill Williamson, award-winning author of the Blood of Kings trilogy
“Sometimes we need to escape our own time and place to walk a few miles in someone else’s shoes. Phyllis Wheeler’s The Long Shadow will open your eyes, rend your heart, and take you on an invaluable journey.” —Wayne Thomas Batson, bestselling author of The Door Within Trilogy.
Wheeler’s sensitivity reader, St. Louis writer LaShaunda Hoffman, finds that the black characters are portrayed with dignity: “It was a good history lesson without being offensive to anyone.”
Why did the author feel impelled to write this book? “I grew up in a variety of mostly white neighborhoods in various places,” says Wheeler. “I moved to highly segregated St. Louis. Then, soon after we married, my husband and I decided to buy a house in a black neighborhood. We lived there twenty years and raised our four children there. We had black neighbors who folded us into their lives, their community.”
Living in a black neighborhood is not something most white people have done. “I wrote this book, hoping to encourage more people of any color to reach out to get to know someone different,” says Wheeler.
Published by Elk Lake Publishing Inc., an award-winning Christian publisher. Find out more about the book here.
This book will be available starting June 1, 2021.
FREEBIE: You want to bring up booklovers, but you’re also wondering how you can pre-read all those books in the library. Phyllis and Sarah at Bringing Up Booklovers are here to help! Find their middle grade book reviews for homeschoolers on Youtube at Bringing Up Booklovers.
