![]() I wasn't able to express myself the way I truly wanted to, though, until I was introduced to multicultural literature in college that led to me falling in love with books.Īfter the session, Joshua came to the front of the stage and asked to speak with me in private. And the confusion I sometimes felt about growing up racially mixed. Secret spoken-word-style poems I never shared. For a long time after that experience I viewed myself as unintelligent - and the most difficult definition to break free from, I told the students, is self-definition.Įven though I was a reluctant reader in junior high and high school, I found myself writing poems in the back of class. I was nearly held back in second grade because I "couldn't read," which shattered my confidence. I started my talk by describing my own early struggles in school. He kept smacking the kid next to him in the back of the head and laughing. It wouldn't be the first time Joshua blew an opportunity like this."Īs the librarian introduced me to the school, I studied this kid. ![]() "But don't worry, we'll remove him if he starts acting up. "That one's a real instigator," he told me. The principal then pointed out a particular student, seated near the back. It was an underprivileged school, a traditionally low-achieving school, but they were working hard to raise performance. The student body was mostly Hispanic, he told me, and over 90 percent qualified for free and reduced lunch. I write young adult novels that feature working-class, "multicultural" characters, so I'm frequently invited to speak at urban schools like this.Īs is often the case, the principal and I talked as the kids filed into the auditorium. Matt de la Peña is the author of Ball Don't Lie, Mexican WhiteBoy, We Were Here, I Will Save You and, most recently, The Living.Ī few years ago I did an author visit at an overcrowded junior high school in a rougher part of San Antonio.
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