Cody Elizabeth Handy – författare

Antoine struggles at reading and completing his work. He is frustrated that reading is hard for him, but easy for the other students in his class. One day, his teacher, Mr. Banner, makes him stay in the classroom at lunch. He thinks he is in trouble, but to his surprise, Mr. Banner wants to help him become a better reader. Through hard work, Antoine becomes a better reader and proud of himself.

Mr. Banner introduces Black History Month to the class by presenting as Carter G. Woodson. All of Antoine''s classmates immediately decide which African American they want to present. Antoine takes awhile to decide on the African American that inspires his every day life. Friday is the presentation day and a very exciting day.

After a night of protests, Morgan and her classmates discuss their emotions of the events that led up to the protest. Mr. Banner helps to answer their questions, explain the protest, and provide information on the message of the protest. At home, Morgan''s brother, Antoine explains that in Ms. Smith''s class they compared the Civil Rights Movement protests to last night''s protest. Ms. Smith emphasized the importance of learning from ancestors and past protests to make demands and change in today''s protests. This story was written to help facilitate the discussion, often times a difficult discussion, of protests and police brutality, with children. The beginning of the story discusses the issues with early elementary students in a restorative circle format. The end focuses on discussing the issue with older children.