I read Unfair quite some time ago, and what I loved most about it is how pacy it is. One chapter just rolls into the next, making it the perfect read for my book club. From discussing themes to exploring narrative voices and structure, there's so much I can do with a book like Unfair! Discrimination What does discrimination mean?At my writing programme last year, we worked on writing persuasive speeches, and I was stunned by the kinds of things children write. Two children - one boy and one girl - chose to write about gender equality, and both speeches were powerful in their own ways.Especially as my reading programme for ages nine and ten has an important creative writing element, we will begin with a discussion on discrimination, and move on to writing persuasive texts on the subject. Narrative Voices Unfair employs two narrative voices … [Read more...]
Unfair
Three years ago, when I read No. 9 on the Shade Card, I came across the concept of a shade card for the first time. As a child, conversations about skin colour bounced off me. People spoke of how one person was lighter or darker than another; they talked of having tanned too much after a trip to Goa; I knew people who wore socks no matter how hot it was just so that their feet wouldn't tan. None of these conversations pierced the bubble I lived in, much like Lina, one of the two protagonists of the story. Unlike Lina, however, there never came a time in my childhood when I had to come face to face with the fact that being fair was a real obsession, not something you could just roll your eyes at and forget all about.Lina loves drama. When she learns that the school production of the year is Romeo and Juliet, she's thrilled. Of course she'll audition for the part of Juliet! Unlike … [Read more...]