Play Book Tag discussion

Originally posted on 10/31/2020 in compeltely the wrong folder/thread. Sorry!

Readers of the Purple Sage
Arkansas - Education First page, 1st column about halfway down, 37 people tagged

This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Tiffany Jewell; Illustrated by Aurelia Durand

4 stars

I purchased this book this summer because the local school system that my son graduated from made a concerted effort to diversity their library holding at both the elementary school and the junior high/high school. This book came highly recommended as one of the books to be purchased not only for the JH/HS library but for many of the teachers' "classroom libraries".


Tiffany Jewell, the author, does a fantastic job of explaining many concepts related to race, ethnicity, culture, and identity. The book is obviously targeted toward middle-school and high school students, but could probably be suitable for some older, not-quite-middle-school-age-kids as it is certainly very accessible. However, I also think, that as an adult, I got quite a bit out of the book because I appreciated the care and detail with which Jewell explained concepts like intersectionality and how not only our identity, or really identities, but our priviledge can shift depending on a wide variety of contexts. I also think that the chapter that focuses on th concept of microagressions in one of the best chapters.

In additon to some good discussions of these complex topics, Jewell incorporates reflective activities throughout the book. The majority of the relective activities are based on writing in a notebook, which seems appropriate as Jewell is a writer and part of the power of her voice, as she notes, comes from writing.

In addition to the reflective activites that ask readers to think about their identies, their intersectionality, their place within the global majority, and their priviledges, Jewell also provides effective and timely advice on finding your voice and speaking up. I really appreciated the chapter that discusses the differences between callling someone in and calling someone out for their behavior. (Quite honestly, I hadn't really heard of the concept of "calling in". I guess I always thought if you called someone on their behavior, you were calling them out.)

Auriela Durand's illustrations are also a great addition to this text. They celebrate diversity in race, ethnicity, ability, and stature, among other things; plus they are vibrant but not too cutesy, so I think they will be appealing to the target audience of teenagers.

Overall, I found the book really informative and educational and would highly recommend reading it. The book is a actually a pretty quick read. (Don't let the fact that it took me forever to read it around my work commitments fool you!)