The American Demographic Library and Independent Reading

Independent reading is the reading students choose to do on their own. It reflects the readers
personal choice of the material to be read as well as the time and place to read it.
Independent reading is done for information or for pleasure. No one assigns it; no one
requires a report; no one checks on comprehension. Voluntary reading involves personal
choice, reading widely from a variety of sources, and choosing what one reads.
We will use our independent reading time as a vehicle for social justice. It means we must
learn about injustice and discrimination in all its forms with regard to differences in: race,
ethnicity, gender, gender expression, age, appearance, ability, national origin, language,
spiritual belief, size [height and/or weight], sexual orientation, social class, economic
circumstance, environment, ecology, culture, and the treatment of animals.
Throughout the semester you will chose your own novels and reflect on what you have read.
We will do this by writing in our journals and summarizing what we have read to a partner.
You will also be required to read about different groups of people that represent American. I
have created an American Demographic library that contains 100 books: 50 fiction and 50 nonfiction. I have chosen 10 categories (out of many, many categories) that you will be required to
read about:
European American

American Indian

Asian American

African American

Latinx American

Elderly American

LGBT American

Veteran American

Naturalized American

Non-Christian American

Fiction

Non-Fiction