Books That Teach Empathy

January 17, 2021 ~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

This week I felt compelled to compile a list of book titles that can be used to teach empathy. Before I share this list with librarians and teachers in my district I wanted to share my motivation for doing so…

It is challenging being a teacher when traumatic events unfold. I taught 12th grade English during 911, and I had 18-year-old students worrying they would be drafted to fight in World War III. Hamlet had to wait. We had to talk. I had to listen and try to help them make sense of the madness. It was heartbreaking. Now with the act of domestic terrorism that took place in Washington last week, I am reminded of how important a teacher’s role is when our students are abruptly faced with the repercussions of cruelty and intolerance and our need to make them feel safe.

Now, as an instructional coach, I do not have a class or my own, so I was spared the conversations and fears that could have taken place. Instead, I took to Twitter. Not only did I want to witness the events happening in real-time, but I also wanted to see how teachers were navigating the upheaval. I was getting my news minute by minute, which is both a wonder of social media and a scourge. Soon I began noticing tweets from teachers asking others how they would approach this current event with their students the next day. The overwhelming consensus was to approach it gently but truthfully. Teachers came together to support one another by both sharing resources and offering suggestions of approach. The networking was wonderful to witness, and every educator on my feed seemed to present the hope that they could promote positive change in their classroom (online and otherwise) and that the children they teach are well on their way to being positive, responsible citizens.

We live in Canada, but I know that an undercurrent of the same hatred and intolerance exists. I can’t help but wonder if it is too late to foster a sense of empathy and tolerance in young people. What can we do as educators to help foster a sense of empathy and inclusion in young people? Well, there is one little thing we can do, it’s the simple act of reading. Read yourself. Get kids to read. Read to kids. Studies have shown that reading fiction can increase a sense of empathy because it forces the reader to live through the eyes of a narrator or a character (Hammond 2019) helping us better understand and cooperate with others (Kaplan 2016.)

Obviously, reading cannot serve as a bandaid for systemic racism or political unrest. Still, it can be the baby step we need towards fostering kindness and acceptance in those we teach.

Here is a list of books with direct links that may help in fostering a sense of empathy in individuals whether they be our students, our children or ourselves. At the end of this list are websites citing research supporting how reading builds empathy.

Please feel free to share any titles you have as well!

(I’ve “guestimated” division suitability but you can professionally determine what book would suit your kiddos).

Division 1-2- 3

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt De La Pena

Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts and Noah Z. Jones

You, Me and Empathy by Jayneen Sanders and Sofia Cardoso

Most People by Micheal Lennah and J. E. Morris

The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig and Patrice

All are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman

Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan

Every book from Kathryn Otoshi

I am Enough by Grace Byers and Keturah A. Bobo

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson and Tara King

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead and Erin E. Stead

I Walk with Vanessa by Kerascoet

Just Feel by Mallika Chopra

Come with Me by Holly M. McGhee and Pascal Lemaitre

How to be a Lion by Ed Vere

Adrian Simcox Does Not Have a Horse by Marcy Camp[bell and Corrina Luyken

Each Kindness and The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson and E.B. Lewis

Peace is an Offering by Annette LeBox and Stephanie Graegin

Not My Idea by Anatasia Higginbotham

The Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Nicky and Vera by Peter Sis

Division 3-4

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

New Kid by Jerry Craft

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

The Star Outside my Window by Onjali Q. Rauf

I Am Alfonso Jones By Tony Medina

Illegal by Eoin Colfer

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Lilit Thwaites and Antonio Iturbe

Jr/Sr High div 4

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

There There by Tommy Orange

So you Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

This is my America by Kim Johnson

You’re Welcome Universe by Whitney Gardner

So you Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Do Better by Rachel Ricketts

Tell me Who You Are by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi

The Removed by Brandon Hobson

Word Problems by Ian Williams

Websites

Hammond, Claudia.(2019, June 2). Does Reading Fiction Make Us Better People? BBC Future. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190523-does-reading-fiction-make-us-better-people

Kaplan, Sarah.(2016, July,22.) Does Reading Fiction Make You a Better Person? The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/07/22/does-reading-fiction-make-you-a-better-person/

Schmidt, Megan. (2020, August, 28). How Reading Fiction Increases Empathy and Encourages Understanding. Discover Magazine. https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/how-reading-fiction-increases-empathy-and-encourages-understanding

Seifert, Christine.(2020, March 6.) The Case for Reading Fiction. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/03/the-case-for-reading-fiction

Reflecting on 2020 and setting goals for 2021

January 10, 2021January 10, 2021 ~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

Welcome, 2021!

Last week I reflected on my year of reading. The titles, the genres, the authors. Around March last year, I had to take the reality of my “COVID mindset” and my inability to focus into consideration and set a milestone much lower than I usually do at 50 books. As an English teacher and book blogger, this felt like a failure. This year, however, I am confident I can air higher than 50 soooooo I’m thinking 60?

So, what have I learned about myself as a reader?

I read more non-fiction (yay one of the goals I DID meet)

General fiction made up the bulk of my titles (mostly mystery and fantasy)

I included graphic novels.

A handful of audiobooks made my list (mostly non-fiction)

Favourites?

fiction- Mexican Gothic (review to come) by Silvia Moreno Garcia

non-fiction- The Heart and Other Monsters by Rose Anderson

audible- Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow

YA- Legendborn by Tracy Deonon

Graphic novel: Long Way Down based on the novel by Jason Reynolds artist Danica Novgorodoff

Fantasy: The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo(review to come)

Reading goals for 2021

60 titles

Increase Science fiction and poetry.

I need your help, my fellow book addicts, please send me titles of your favourite Science fiction reads and poetry books (preferably contemporary!!!

What was your favourite read of 2020? What are your goals for 2021

Happy reading!

Rabbit Foot Bill by Helen Humphreys

December 8, 2020 ~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

Truth be told I picked up this book because my mother’s side of the family comes from Saskatchewan, and years ago my mother taught in Weyburn. She had lots of teaching stories to share but I don’t ever remember her telling me about the mental hospital.

Leonard’s is our protagonist. Leonard’s only friend in the world is Bill an older man who lives on the fringes of society and makes lucky rabbit foot chains for those who would be so inclined to buy them. Lenard was only a boy when he witnesses Bill murder the town bully with a pair of garden shears. An experience that would traumatize anyone. But interestingly enough Lenorad’s response to the murder was similar to the murderer’s itself the; victim “had it coming to him.”

I’ve read several reviews of this novel and some reviewers have complained that the characters are flat and the plot is underdeveloped. This is not my view. Maybe because of my interest in the setting and its connection to my mother or maybe because I think the author’s intent was to portray a story of redemption. We didn’t have to know every fact about Leonards’s life or every fact of Bill’s life. We just need to know the bits and pieces that led to Leonard loving himself.

Bill is arrested and Leonard grows up and becomes a psychiatrist. This is where Weyburn comes in. Leonard is hired on at the Weyburn Mental Hospital and is surprised and relieved to see that Bill is not in prison but rather an inmate of the asylum.

We soon realize that Leonard has a dangerous fascination with Bill. He claims to want to understand what led Bill to murder, but we soon realize that Leonard’s friendship was more complicated and disturbing than we first were led to believe. As a psychiatrist is Leonard is drawn to Bill because he wanted to figure out his own fascination with the outcast or is it because he wants to pursue the relationship they had once formed all those years ago?

Humphries has stated that the novel is “about people trying to fix themselves”. I came away thinking it was also a novel about self-discovery and forgiveness. Pretty deep themes for such a short read.

It is also a novel that is informative it brings to life a time in Canadian Health care that is not often acknowledged. A time when children were placed in mental institutions because there were “too many mouths to feed” or if they seemed “slow”. It was also a time when psychiatrists took LSD along with their patients. In fact, the true history of the Weyburn mental hospital is pretty fascinating. According to Atlas Obscura, it was an institution where cutting edge treatments and psychiatric drug research happened. It was where the term “psychedelic” was first coined AND the CIA was interested in its LSD research as potential use in truth serums.

If you’re looking to increase your exposure to Canadian literature “Rabbit Foot Bill” is a great novel to add. I would also add this novel to a High School novel study or make part of an in class book collection.

Purging in Purgatory

November 29, 2020 ~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

You know that place you sometimes go where you feel all itchy and unsettled inside. Like you don’t know if you should go out and run a mile

or just sit down on the floor in a puddle and try to cry?

You’re feeling something but you can’t quite name it? You’re not happy, you’re not sad, but somewhere in between and it’s definitely not content. You’re just feeling displaced and well,

feeling as though you’re visiting purgatory.

I visit the purgatory, in no way under my own volition, whenever get a little stressed or feel slightly out of control. And when I’m here, I feel the need to clean my house. To be the mistress of my domain. Participate in something, even if it’s something as insignificant as washing my kitchen floor, and feel as though I’ve facilitated change.

Accomplished something tangible.

Completed a task.

Success I can see.

When I linger in this purgatorial emotional space for a bit longer than usual, I start purging. But unlike Dante’s purgatory where time is spent purging sin, I purge articles and objects I’ve accumulated. I toss out plants that annoy me for needing more than water to survive. I pack up and donate clothing to the Salvation army (in one purging zeal, when I concluded that I had far too many black boots, I threw out several pairs, unintentionally including an expensive pair I had bought a month before…Now I’m a more discerning purger).

I will determine who, er I mean what will stay and what will stay within the walls of my sanctuary and what will go.

Today, frighteningly enough, I even tippy-toed my fingers through my three bookcases in an attempt to weed my library (almost two-hundred volumes) settling on only two that I could part with. So I must not be too far past the threshold of purgatory to feel compelled to part with my beloved books.

Fortunately (unfortunately?) I don’t visit this “purgatory” very often. At least not often enough to keep on top of a collection of shoes and magazines and club soda cans that accumulate at a rapid rate in my home.

But when I do, the mindless organizing

and tossing

and cleaning

takes my mind off the unsettledness inside and as an end result I have a spotless abode free of some clutter,

and a mind blessedly free of a bit of clutter as well

if only for a little while.

Shards of Bare Mute Blackness

November 22, 2020 ~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

I keep journals. Journals possessing emotional streams of consciousness. Travel journals. Journals that read as an itemization of my day. Journals with ideas and impressions from anything and everything. But I also have a journal filled with quotes. Quotes from novels. Lines from poems. Dialogue from movies. Chains of words I find especially poignant and sometimes beautiful in their conciseness or imagery. One such quote comes from Brian Morton’s novel Starting Out in the Evening:

The world, the human world, is bound together not by protons and electrons, but by stories. Nothing has meaning in itself: all the objects in the world would be shards of bare mute blackness, spinning wildly out of orbit, if we didn’t bind them together with stories. – Brian Morton

Stories are inextricably a human thing. We are entertained by them. We are lulled to sleep by them. From them we not only learn about others, but more importantly we learn about ourselves.

Living a life that serves as a basis for our own stories.

My fear is that young people are indifferently coasting through life with no stories of their own to tell. That families aren’t sharing anecdotes about growing up. That there are no more tales starting with “when I was your age” told around the supper table:

“What did you do today young man?”

“I dunno. Played my video game.”

“What else did you do?”

“Nothin”.

“Nothing? You must have done something else.”

“I dunno. I can’t remember”.

What if we looked at each day as a story to be told? Would the sky be bluer? Would the people we work with be more interesting to behold? Would what we say be more scintillating?

Everyone should go someplace somewhere all alone if only for a day. Someplace new. Someplace never before seen by your eyes. To discover and meet and smell and taste a new environment.

Be a new character in a new setting. With a wide-eyed curiosity that is stronger than insecurity and indifference.

To take bits and pieces of information. Data colored by emotion.

A life’s tapestry that is more than a history.

And string them all together

to form something

exclusively our own.

Corpora vs Spiritus

November 21, 2020 ~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

“The day of the corpora is the night for the spiritus. When the bodies cease their labour the spirits in man begin their work. The waking of the body is the sleep of the spirit and the spirit’s sleep a waking for the body.” (Paracelsus cited in Lawrence Durrell’s “Justine”)

Well, this explains why I’m so tired some mornings. My body may be at rest but my spirit is partying it up with the other spirits!

I find this passage fascinating. If you only knew where your spirit goes when your body is recharging throughout the wee hours of the morning. Does it soar in and out of the earth’s ether touching down only at places it’s never visited before like select iridescent cells of the Brazilian rain forest or the Monet-esque sunflower fields of Provence. Or does it meet the spirits of others have also left their “corpora”, those we never see, those far away, those who have died?

A way to bridge distances if only with your imagination.

I also find it intriguing that the quote mentions that the spirit has “work” to do. Could this mean righting wrongs, healing hurts, strengthening my own sense of spirituality with my God? We are taught to say prayers before we go to sleep. A preparation, perhaps, of a deeper communion with God.

If during the night, while we are asleep, our body healing and resting from the day in order to work to the best of its capacity when conscious it only goes to say that we should also take time out, even if it is at night, to restore and strengthen our spirit.

Maybe our spirits too have places to go, people to see, things to do.

If our spirits cross paths in the night be sure to wave “hello”!

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

November 20, 2020 ~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

Adaline lives in 17th century France with 17th-century societal expectations- she must marry. Now Addie doesn’t want to get married. She wants to travel and learn and meet new people. She definitely doesn’t want to keep a home and have babies. So she does the only thing she can do to get out and makes a deal with the devil. Being a master equivocator, the devil distorts the bargain, yes, she will be free to travel and learn and meet new people however she will be immortal, and tragically be immediately forgotten by anyone and everyone she meets, making it impossible to forge any relationship whatsoever. Addie truly becomes invisible and must maneuver through the centuries on her wit and with only her own company. Sure the devil pops in every year or so to bully her, and as anyone would, accepts his company because, of course, he is the only “friend” she has.

Until …

one day she enters a book store where she is remembered. Now what? What will the devil do with these new sets of circumstances? Or is the devil himself who has placed this “person who remembers” in her path just to taunt and torture her.

I really loved this book. It reminded me of other novels where our protagonist is immortal and weaves his/her way through the centuries. Pilgrim by Timothy Findley and Orlando by Virginia Wolfe come to mind. However I found this novel much easier to consume- in fact, I read it in just over a day.

Philosophy, history, romance, fantasy, all included within the pages of this book along with several loving tributes to art and literature make this novel one of my favourites of the year.

I was given a free copy of this novel by NetGalley and MacMillian-Tor books (thank you!) but I will most certainly be purchasing one for my bookshelf. It will be work a re-read in the future.

Delicates

November 20, 2020 ~ Lisa Helm ~ 1 Comment

Delicates is the second in a graphic novel series by Breena Thummler. Where the first novel Sheets introduces us to Marjorie Glatt’s story and her story, Delicates continues her story but also introduces us to a new character Eliza Dunn.

At the beginning of Delicates, Marjorie is still coming to terms with her mother’s death with the support of her ghost friend Wendell. Marjorie has started eighth grade and is now struggling to be part of the “popular” group who seems to be behaving like a typical group of obnoxious “judgey” teenagers. The ghost Wendell sees these friends for who they truly are and often calls Marjorie on her association with these newfound friends. And if truth be told, Wendell is feeling a little bit neglected.

Where Marjorie was the main character in Sheets, in Delicates she shares the page with Eliza Dunn, a classmate who is bullied because of her social awkwardness, and her peculiar preoccupation with photography, particularly photographing ghosts.

Marjorie’s and Eliza’s lives soon become intertwined largely in part because of Wendell’s involvement. To Marjorie’s surprise, Eliza can also see Wendell.

Along with a hugely emotive story, the artwork (especially the colour choices) are really quite beautiful. The story itself is a timely one, friendship, and acceptance, and the strength it takes to recognize and proactively stop bullying.

I would add both Sheets and Delicates to any school or classroom library.

Thank you NetGalley and Oni press for the free copy.

A Meditation on Thornton Wilder

November 14, 2020 ~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

“There arose a perfume of tenderness, that ghost of passion which, in the most unexpected relationship, can make a whole lifetime devoted to irksome duty pass like a gracious dream” (pg. 74)

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder.

I have fallen in love with Thorton Wilder because of this quote.

How wonderful would a relationship like this be? Having to get close enough not only in physical proximity but emotional proximity as well, to one person and stay there long enough to inhale that “perfume of tenderness”

where your first instinct would be to wrap your arms around this person and hold them close.

Tenderness without forethought, without premeditation, without an agenda.

No pretension.

To be pleasantly surprised at a love that grows where you didn’t expect it to grow. And you look upon it in wonder, finding it near impossible to believe that it truly exists in you,

the most unlikely of places,

or so you believed.

Where obligation and duty never really existed in its denotative form. All business-like and astringent.

No boundaries set by written laws or verbal promises but rather

a fidelity that is unexpected and natural.

Some of us have found in our relationships some such a manifestation of Wilder’s love

and some of us are still waiting.

Whatever the case I hope we recognize it as such

and hold on to it as a dream come true,

feeling blessed.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

November 8, 2020 ~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

Ok, I’ve read a lot lately about Matt Haig’s books. I’ve meant to increase my exposure to speculative fiction, and Haig’s books seem as good a place to start. If you look on Goodreads, almost all of his books have a 4+ star rating (not that Goodreads ratings matter. Ok, Goodreads reviews may gently nudge me towards a title or two). Haig’s premises to me, seem deeply philosophical, and I love books that make me think. So I finally picked up one of his titles, his newest The Midnight Library. And yes, it did make me think.
Our anti-hero Nora has had a REALLY bad day. Her cat died, she lost her job, and no one is responding to her texts. So Nora decides to die. No, I did not just spoil the plot…the first sentence literally says so.
Because of a choice she makes, Nora finds herself in the Midnight Library, a sort of purgatorial holding place where she is forced to consult a “book of regrets” and then choose from books that hold all the choices she could have made in life. Once she opens a “book of choice” she is transported to that life where she experiences what “could have been”.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve often thought about “what could have been if I’d only…”
Which undoubtedly is a wasteful use of time. This novel reminds me of this waste. I really appreciated the slow and steady character growth Nora exhibits. An example is her view of loneliness. On page 5 Nora states “all though she’d studied enough existential philosophy to believe loneliness was a fundamental part of being human in an essentially meaningless universe”, but by page 120 this view has changed to “amid pure nature solitude took on a different character. It became in itself a kind of connection. A connection between herself and the world. Between her and herself.” Loneliness vs solitude. HUGE paradigm shift. One, we all must make at least once in our life. I’m not going to tell you Nora’s perception of “loneliness” at the end of the book, but you can probably surmise what it will be.
Even though this book is philosophical, it is extremely accessible. It was a perfect “deep” read during a time in our history where I find reading deeply difficult.
It’s a good book! Read it!

Covid Conundrum

November 4, 2020 ~ Lisa Helm ~ 1 Comment

I wanted to read.
But I couldn’t
I wanted to write.
But I didn’t.
I am at a time in life that is opaque, where there are no bold lines,

only shadow and shades.

So I have begun to redefine myself.

On the cusp of retirement, a time when I aspire to hone my passions and strengths (without being guided by a paycheck) I take solace in the fact that there is one thing I will always be-

a reader.

It has only been in my later years, where I have become confident enough to identify as a writer. To claim that I am one.

And as I begin to wind down in my career (after 30 years), I have full intentions to read more, and write more

and grow creatively and profoundly in voice

and in imagination.

I aspire to be the embodiment of a sentient library where those seeking stories can come and confer. Suggestions of titles would trip off my tongue like water over rock.

To read.
To write reviews.
To write short stories.
To finish that novel.And then…

A global pandemic.

Oh, I thought, now that my life is limited in both act and engagement, I will have copious amounts of time to read and write and create.

But alas, I have yet to take advantage of the circumstances in which I find myself.
Instead,

I check updates,
And outbreak patterns,
And my temperature.

My concentration is non-existent. Sadly I can scarcely focus long enough to live in another world if even for a minute.

And all of this has been heartbreakingly disconcerting.

So not only has my identity been challenged, but the one place where I used to be able to claim respite from reality has slammed the door without giving me a key.

I long to wander freely in fiction where I can think of nothing else but plot points and protagonists.

Soon.