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Who Am I Without Him? Short Stories About Girls and the Boys in Their Lives by Sharon G. Flake
Engaging short stories written in African American voices for teens are always in demand and not always easy to find. Enter Sharon G. Flake, author of The Skin I’m In and Money Hungry,
with this collection geared toward girls, originally suggested to me by
my colleague Chrystal Stewart. While this book makes for an enjoyable
read from start to finish, three stories recommend themselves to ELA
faculty. “Don’t Be Disrespecting Me,” one of the collection’s few
stories written with third-person narration, would serve as an
accessible lesson on characterization and offers a good match with a
Venn diagram or other compare and contrast graphic organizers. This
tale meaningfully contrasts two teen males, Erin and Noodles, who are
friends striving to make it through high school in the face of poverty
and who approach their frustrations differently. Another stand-out is
the last story, written in epistolary form and entitled “A Letter to My
Daughter.” Articulated in the voice of an absent father returned from
prison after a decade or so, the narrator speaks to his daughter from a
distance about her experiences becoming a young woman. Full of
admonitions, this story pairs interestingly with Lupe Mendez’s “What
Should Run in the Mind of Caballeros” and Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” for
students learning to think critically about voice, form, and purpose.
Chrystal additionally favors the collection’s first story, “So I
Ain’t No Good Girl.” This book works well as an independent read for
middle school and younger high school girls, but the true beauty of a
collection like this one is that students are likely to become motivated
to read it on their own after reading one or two of its stories with an
engaging teacher. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber
Flake, Sharon G. Who Am I Without Him? New York: Jump at the Sun, 2007.
Click here for the author's discussion guide to the book found on her website.
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