Following up from a previous post, How Can I Get My Daughter to Read?, I wanted to announce that we have made some progress in regards to Dora's story. First of all, she is on board with me creating a fictional character pulled from my ideas and observations of her...as long as she ends up being the most written about. :)
I know there are many directions I can take the novel, since she has already been exposed to an array of topics in her twelve years. Some of the issues she has faced most of us will never have to deal with, like having an alcoholic (biological) father and a chronically ill mother, or the fact that she has PANDAS and has experienced the mental torment of OCD and incessant anxiety. However I also think the difference in what she witnesses on a daily basis in school compared to what I did would be a wonderful story to tell as well.
When choosing where to buy a home it was important to my husband and I that we be in a school district and neighborhood where there would be a diverse group of kids. I grew up sheltered by the walls of a parochial school in a small town, leaving the number of non-Caucasian students limited to what I could count on one hand, so I promised myself that when I had children they would have a different experience. My daughter has grown up among a fairly even mix of Caucasian, Hispanic, and African American - including a concentration of Somali American students, whose families began migrating to our area of Ohio approximately 13 years ago.
I am surprised by how things are changing among these students as they get older, especially once they hit middle school. In the beginning...kindergarten, first grade, pretty much all of elementary school, everyone played with everyone. The kids did not segregate themselves by race. There was still a popular crowd and there were loners, but the cliques would be mixed. Through the 6th and 7th grade I have watched this change drastically as each race seems to pull together by a strong but invisible force.
I understand how this may happen as a way to make life easier. Hanging out with other people who follow the same diet if you are Muslim, or being friends with someone else whose parents only speak Spanish. What my daughter doesn't understand, and I am at a loss when trying to find an explanation for her, is why and when do they begin to bully each other? She witnesses multiple fights a week. Fist fights. And the surprising thing (to me anyway) is that they are mostly girls. When we would have girls 'fight' in our school it was more like one clique not talking to another for a couple days and then all would be right in the world. These girls get suspended for days at a time only to return with even more anger.
One thing I do know is true, and this is what I try and explain to her, is that there are plenty of adults that do not take the time to learn about and therefore understand and respect other cultures. I know this because I work with adults and see this regularly and have even at times seen adults be bullied - specifically those of the Somali American population - which is infuriating....and then I think "Our kids probably go to school together".
So back to the novel (I know this post is getting a little long winded but this is a hot topic for me) it will be set in high school, probably sophomore year. One girl with mental health issues (OCD/PANDAS) who obsesses about doing the right thing (cannot tell lies, etc.), befriends another girl who is being bullied because she is Somali American, but has to approach her in secret and keep their friendship secret. If the rest of the school knew they would both be outcast from the groups of friends they each had already. And of course together (in secret) they do wonderfully heroic things to keep bullies out of their lives - and others they know to be victims. I want to concentrate on showing the Somolian culture to the reader, along with the struggles that OCD brings to a young girl's life.
