The experience of reading a novel as a class is an emotive experience. Add a chance for students to explore their own cultures and the global phenomenon of emigration, and you've created a classroom full of empathy.
When I first examined my school's curriculum, I noticed all the important classics schools never fail to include—novels like The Giver and The Outsiders. I began to reminisce about some of the literature I read during my middle school years and realized something shocking: I had never read a novel that connected to my Cuban heritage. As a student, it was hard for me to relate to all the classic stories I was expected to read. On Christmas Eve, my mom roasted a pig instead of a turkey, yet my school served all students the same diet of characters. I didn't see myself or my family's experience in the likes of Monsieur Loisel from "The Necklace." This realization led me to think about my current school district and its high percentage of Hispanic students. I began to understand why my middle school students weren't relating to the books we read in class. Working with my superintendent/principal, I embarked on a culturally responsive approach to literature, one that held my students' identities and experiences as central (Gay, 2000).
As relations between the United States and Cuba began shifting in 2016, I picked up a book my friend recommended. I instantly fell in love with the universal themes 90 Miles to Havana graciously expressed. The novel, based on the author's experiences as a child refugee during the Cuban Revolution, depicts the hardships young emigrants face and explains important topics like bullying and communism through a youth's eyes. As soon as I finished reading the emotional roller coaster, I recommended it to my father. After I saw how effectively it helped us bond over our past, I decided to give it a try with my 7th grade students. I have never seen students so immersed in a novel. We gathered in a circle and read it every day. Multiple students broke down during the more emotional parts because they related to the characters' experiences. Even though the historical fiction novel was mostly about Cuban history, I invited my students to relate the main character's struggle to their own. This turned out to be an easy task as they recounted their own experiences with adversity. One student ran out of the classroom crying because the main character's struggle with emigration reminded her of the hardships her father experienced when immigrating to the United States. When we finished the book, we all cried together.
I wanted to go one step further in bringing the characters in the novel to life for my students. At the prompting of my coteacher, I e-mailed the novel's author, Enrique Flores-Galbis, and we began bonding over our Cuban heritage. My students made the author cards about their experiences reading his novel, and they weren't afraid to be brutally honest. One student wrote that she truly "judged a book by its cover" and expected the novel to be just another boring story inflicted by a teacher. However, her opinion quickly changed when she realized the main character's experiences were not only realistic but also relatable. All my students expressed their personal attachments to the novel, and when the author saw these expressions of esteem, he offered to visit our class and discuss his emigration firsthand. The experience brought our class together more than I ever thought possible. Many of my students are not Hispanic, yet they were still able to relate to the novel. One student approached me and explained that it was easy for her to relate and make text-to-self connections because of her father's stories about immigrating to the United States from Italy. Another Caucasian student explained that the story was relatable because a tween told it and because it mentioned relevant issues such as bullying.
Reading this novel as a class created an opportunity for my students to connect to one another on a level they might not have been able to before. We shared our past histories and experienced history in the making with the death of Fidel Castro, considering how it related to the historical context of the novel. With this new curriculum, my students felt like they were finally part of something greater than themselves and could voice their opinions and experiences.