INTRODUCTION
This reading guide is designed to accompany Lisa Mantchev and Taeeun Yoo’s picture book Strictly No Elephants. We hold the belief that anti-racist practice is a process of learning (and unlearning) over time. Reading Is Resistance sees reading as an opportunity to seed deeper conversations and possibilities for action around racial justice in our communities.
Lesson content was written by Olivia Horning and was designed to start and deepen anti-bias/anti-racist conversations in families and other learning communities. Editors were Eli Porterfield and Raina Christian.
BOOK THEMES
INCLUSION, FRIENDSHIP, BELONGING, COURAGE, DIVERSITY, JUSTICE
THE READ ALOUD
BOOK SUMMARY
In this book, a boy and his pet elephant talk about their friendship and mutual support. They are close and wear matching red scarves. They go to a pet club meeting, and they find a sign that says “Strictly No Elephants.” The elephant then leads the boy away. The boy and his friend then meet a girl and her pet skunk, who have also been turned away from the club. The two humans decide to start their own pet club; this creates an unbreakable friendship. This book teaches us how to be a good friend and how to create new friends and belonging. Just because you may be excluded sometimes, does not mean you don't belong or fit in. There are even opportunities to help others feel like they have a place of belonging, too.
FULL READING GUIDE (download here)
For the full reading guide including discussion questions based on anti-oppression capacity building, download below!
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