PICTURE BOOK READING GUIDE
GUIDED ANTI-BIAS/ANTI-RACIST READING | GRADES K+
WELCOME
This is a preview of a Reading Is Resistance reading guide designed to accompany author Zetta Elliott and illustrator Purple Wong’s picture book On My Block. For the full-length PDF, click the icon above.
We recommend that grownups read the focus book and the reading guide content BEFORE reading with young readers. This guide will help you prepare your own questions for your young reader(s) and choose vocabulary, history, and other related topics to integrate into your learning and discussion.
Lesson content was written by Zapoura Newton-Calvert and was designed to start or deepen anti-racist and anti-bias conversations in families and other learning communities.
THEMES
COMMUNITY, ART, DIVERSITY, NEIGHBORHOOD, CELEBRATION
SUMMARY + NOTE
Zetta Elliott’s book On My Block is an uplifting celebration of community and neighborhood. It features different scenes, including a community garden, a park, an apartment building, and a block party, where neighbors gather, live, cook, and celebrate. The illustrations include multiple family configurations, identities, and abilities. The story overall gives a sense of belonging in a world where we honor our differences and come together around our shared humanity.
HOW WE DESIGN OUR READING GUIDES
This reading guide is designed to be part of a larger life-long commitment to anti-racist reading and learning for the grown up and young reader(s). Reading Is Resistance sees reading as an opportunity to seed deeper conversations and possibilities for action around racial justice in our communities. We hold the belief that anti-racist practice is a process of learning (and unlearning) over time.
The Learning for Justice Social Justice Standards (focused on Identity, Diversity, Justice, and Action) serve as guides for our work.