RACE: Are We So Different? | Book Club
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is introducing a Community Book Club. It is an opportunity to read timely and interesting books, share your thoughts about each book with other people from around the community and maybe, in some cases, meet the author.
The first three books to be discussed have been selected to complement the exhibition of “RACE: Are We So Different?” which is at the Museum through January 4, 2009.
Reading List
The Color of Water
James McBride
The Color of Water tells the remarkable story of Ruth McBride Jordant, the two good men she married, and the 12 good children she raised. She was born Rachel Shilsky, a Polish Jew, immigrated to a America as an infant, raised an Orthodox Jew. As an adult she moved to New York City, leaving her family and faith behind in Virginia. Ruth met and married a black man, making her isolation even more profound. The book is a success story, a testament to one woman's true heart, solid values, and indomitable will. She battled not only racism but poverty to raise her children, and despite being sorely tested, never wavered. In telling her story, along with her son's, The Color of Water addresses racial identity with compassion insight, and realism. It is, in a word, inspiring, and you will finish it with unalloyed admiration for a flawed by remarkable individual.
Event: Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 11:30 am, Tri-C East Campus
Lecture by James McBride about his books The Color of Water and Miracle at St. Anna, which has been made into a film by noted producer Spike Lee.
Do I Dare Disturb the Universe
Charlise Lyles
This is the story of a girl who grew up and out of the Cleveland projects in the 1960s and ‘70s. Charlise Lyles came of age amid turbulent events in Cleveland. She watched dark smoke billow as race riots and a river burned. She stood in awe as black militants marched through the neighborhood. She played near sidewalks book-stained from murders. Yet she herself burned with a growing desire to discover great ideas in literature. She read tirelessly, and she searched among rundown neighborhood bars for the wayward father who had sparked her young intellect and then disappeared. Despite a dubious debut in the "slow class" at an aging urban school Lyles developed a drive to succeed. Then she landed a lucky break—a scholarship to a prestigious prep school in a wealthy suburb. There, on a bucolic, mostly white campus, the vibrant African American teenager met daunting new challenges. Crossing between two worlds, she felt at home in neither. Was she the misplaced kid from the projects? The budding intellectual who yearned to fit in? Confronting this uncertainty, she would discover a bold new self.
Event: Wednesday, December 10, 2008, 7 pm, Murch Auditorium, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The author will speak, as well as be available to answer questions and sign books. Members: Free; Nonmembers: $5.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
Sherman Alexie
The bright 14-year-old was born with water on the brain, is regularly the target of bullies, and loves to draw. He says, "I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats." He expects disaster when he transfers from the reservation school to the rich, white school in Reardan, but soon finds himself making friends with both geeky and popular students and starting on the basketball team. Meeting his old classmates on the court, Junior grapples with questions about what constitutes one's community, identity, and tribe. The daily struggles of reservation life and the tragic deaths of the protagonist's grandmother, dog, and older sister would be all but unbearable without the humor and resilience of spirit with which Junior faces the world. The many characters, on and off the reservation, with whom he has dealings are portrayed with compassion and verve, particularly the adults in his extended family. Forney's simple pencil cartoons fit perfectly within the story and reflect the burgeoning artist within Junior. Reluctant readers can even skim the pictures and construct their own story based exclusively on Forney's illustrations. The teen's determination to both improve himself and overcome poverty, despite the handicaps of birth, circumstances, and race, delivers a positive message in a low-key manner.
Event: Cancelled
For More Information
Please contact Kathryn M. Hall, CDP, Resource Specialist, khall@cmnh.org