A NOTE FROM ZAPOURA
Christina Soontornvat is one of my favorite authors. When, as an adult, I started to read children's literature again with my own children, I realized the ability of some authors to create opportunities for the reader to develop their justice practices rooted in an honoring of each other's stories. This book, A Wish in the Dark, was one of the first new authors I read. And I was immediately enchanted. A Wish in the Dark is that book that I gift to my friends of all ages. With its mix of magic and justice, there's so much to learn, to be delighted by, and to ask ourselves about what is fair and what is not. I hope you choose this book and use this curriculum to guide a conversations designed to deepen all of our capacities to grow a more just world.
ABOUT STORYSEED SOCIAL JUSTICE CURRICULUM
Our curriculum and ongoing practices are rooted in emergent strategy: “the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions.” The interactions we have with books, among reading partners, inside classrooms, and within reading communities are relatively simple. What is cultivated from those interactions is something much more complex – lifelong, daily abolitionist, decolonizing, heart/body-centered, and anti-racist practices. These include learning how to make the ground more fertile for ongoing identity, healing, discussion, action, and imagination practices in ourselves and with each other.
Each curriculum includes section summaries, discussion questions, additional learning resources, and a list of books to read next.
BOOK SNEAK PEEK
Pong and Somkit are 9-year-old boys who are more like brothers than friends. They grow up in a Thailand-inspired, magical world, captive on the island that holds Namwon Prison because their mothers gave birth while incarcerated there. But everything changes for Pong when a visit from the Governor, admired for giving the city of Chattana magical light, reveals that he is not the hero he was thought to be. This fantastical adventure story digs deep into friendship, justice, and how to fight back against unjust systems.
BOOK THEMES
JUSTICE, FRIENDSHIP, MAGIC, ADVENTURE, IDENTITY, ACTION, INCARCERATION, ABOLITION
CURRICULUM SNEAK PEEK
This is a literal snapshot of the curriculum or this book. I hope it gives you a little taste and leaves you wanting more!
GET THE CURRICULUM HERE
Click below to purchase the curriculum for A Wish in the Dark. Thank you!