INTRODUCTION
This reading guide is designed to accompany Leyla Torres’s picture book Subway Sparrow. 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 Conlan Morgan, and was designed to start and deepen anti-bias/anti-racist conversations in families and other learning communities. Editors were Katelynn Sagendorf and Robert Raffaelly.
BOOK THEMES
LANGUAGE, COMMUNITY, ACTION, COLLABORATION, DIVERSITY, CULTURE
THE READ ALOUD
BOOK SUMMARY
When a sparrow becomes trapped on a New York City subway car, four people must work together to save it. Cultural differences become apparent once they begin their mission. Despite these differences, the four characters collaborate to work as a team. By overcoming the barriers of age, culture, and language, they manage to free the bird from the train. They then release the bird to safety and wish it well. This story is an effective tool for teaching the value of cooperation, regardless of potential differences in identity, culture, or ethnicity.
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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