World Class by Teru Clavel

WORLD CLASS by Teru Clavel describes “One Mother's Journey Halfway Around the Globe in Search of the Best Education for Her Children” since they attended school in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo before moving back to the United States. This is definitely a topic of high interest to our students, especially those whose parents may have been educated in other countries. There are certainly cultural differences and attitudes which are fascinating and Clavel describes many of them.  However, she is extremely negative about the Palo Alto school district, one of our sister schools. Frankly, this caused me to wonder how reasonable it was to try to generalize her children’s experience(s) as describing an entire nation’s (or region’s) school system? As other reviewers have noted, I do believe that her intentions were good, but I felt that she often made sweeping statements which were rather simplistic and sometimes repetitive, as she herself says, “One of the hard truths I came around to in California was that I’d been a little naïve about the US education system in general. … I had downplayed in my own mind how deeply rooted and systemic the problems are.”  To her credit, she includes extensive notes and references, plus a glossary and index. Also, Clavel, draws a number of parallels, noting, for example that in 2017 the OECD found that globally teachers make an average of 88 percent of the salary of those in other professions with the same level of education (in US middle schools, that figure is 60 percent) – if we want the best teachers (and reduced turnover) for our children, we should reflect that in our compensation and provide better financial incentives. I also liked how she tried to steer the conversation to learning, rather than schools, although I believe there is much more that could have been written about innovation in American schools relative to Asian ones. Overall, her suggestions about dealing with administrators or encouraging your child to read the classics seemed unrealistic for many parents. She says, “I’ve always believed that you assess your child’s education every day and then support them as best you can” which is certainly important, but at what point should those students be taking increased responsibility for their own intellectual and emotional growth? If you are interested in education, I would suggest beginning by shadowing a high school student at your local school as well as reading other titles, such as these recent ones.

Women's Work by Megan K. Stack

WOMEN’S WORK by National Book Award finalist Megan K. Stack explores a “Reckoning with Work and Home” by relating events from Stack’s time living in Beijing and India.  During those periods she and her husband became parents. They employed housekeepers and childcare workers – “migrants who’d left their own children behind to work in the city, and ended up in my house.” This extremely personal and well-written text describes Stack’s feelings about work (she had been a foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times) and motherhood, noting “Job, book, baby: I’d forced myself to choose the one I loved least. It was a terrible choice because I loved each of them.” WOMEN’S WORK also confronts the ideas of feminism and privilege as Stack strives to explore the lives, homes, and families of the women who worked for/with her and says, “Xiao Li, Mary, and Pooja will forever give me strength and push me forward to what needs to be done.” 

Stack recounts in detail her own experiences with post-partum depression, concluding at one point, “If a woman is in an intolerable situation, the answer is not to drug her so that she can tolerate it.  The answer should be – should be – to change the intolerable situation.” And, she honestly reflects on the role of men, particularly fathers and husbands (expat or not), who often fail to appreciate the ambivalence - even guilt - over the unsatisfactory compromises involved with employing domestic workers. In addition, she writes about Asia: “[China and India] represent our collective future; they are the stuff of the world’s dreams and nightmares. They are also places that have made statistical headway towards erasing women.” There is SO much to explore here and our students could certainly use this book as a Junior Theme research text or perhaps read portions for Senior Writers Seminar. I definitely recommend WOMEN’S WORK which received a starred review from Kirkus.

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING by Randy Ribay is excellent and I am highly recommending this newly available title.  The publisher, Kokila, is a Penguin Random House imprint “dedicated to centering stories from the margins with books that add nuance and depth to the way children and young adults see the world and their place in it.”  They have certainly succeeded with this coming of age novel which centers on a high school senior, Jason/Jay who was born in the Philippines, but raised in the United States by his Filipino father and American mother.  As a roughly 10-year-old child, Jay (with his parents and siblings) had visited family in the Philippines, where he developed a special relationship with his same age cousin, Jun. That young man and his younger sisters, Grace and Angel, led a privileged life due to their father’s role as a police chief.  But conflicts erupted in the family, causing Jun to run away and live on the streets, eventually being killed by anti-drug vigilantes sanctioned by President Duterte.  The sad news has a strong impact on Jay and he decides to spend his spring break returning to the Philippines, trying to learn more about his cousin’s death. In its starred review, Booklist says, “By deftly weaving key details into Jay’s quest for the truth, Ribay provides a much-needed window for young people of the West to better understand the Filipino history of colonization, occupation, and revolution.” PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING also received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal; the latter described the novel as “Part mystery, part elegy, part coming of age, this novel is a perfect convergence of authentic voice and an emphasis on inner dialogue around equity, purpose, and reclaiming one's lost cultural identity.” 

Because of the ties to World History, I have been actively encouraging Sophomore English teachers to consider adding PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING to the curriculum.  Hopefully, the publisher will be able to support this effort with a discussion guide and other teacher resources.  NPR recently posted an interview with the author, Randy Ribay.

As a side note, my fellow librarians and I have been previewing other possible texts including Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo (set in 1930s Malaysia and recipient of multiple starred reviews) and Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson (achieved six starred reviews and was named a New York Public Library Best Book in 2017). These, too, will expand student horizons by introducing memorable characters and situations.