Blog Post 4: Podcast Ideas

I am not completely set on one book for my podcast quite yet, however I do know that I would like to focus on race as an issue. There have been several books throughout my childhood and young adulthood that have dealt with racial issues. The one that stands out to me that I may be interested in going into further would be The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson. This beautiful picture book shows race from a child's point of view. Clover (an African American child) is told constantly as a young girl to not cross the fence in her yard. However she spots another girl (who happens to be white) on the other side of the fence and throughout summer the two attempt to meet.

The story is about defying the parents' ideas of what is right and what is wrong. And even more, it is about defying the social norms of segregation. The physical fence between the two girls stands for so much more. I really like this story because I feel this is often how children react in these situations. They are not aware of racial differences and do not see the 'problems' until adults point them out and create rules that only reinforce these social norms around racism. I think this story really unpacks a lot about race and the way in which children view race, and I think it would be an interesting story to delve into deeper.