I love when my fiction and nonfiction reading converge thematically, and it just happened again for me this week, when I finished Ben Winters’s astonishing 2016 novel Underground Airlines. 

In all honesty, I almost put it down three times. I was already familiar with his Raymond Chandler-esque voice from The Last Policeman (fun, but gets old), and I struggled a little with the proselytizing about race in particular.

(IMO, the protagonist would be smarter about these things, even though I get that the noir hero wants to be duped or at least has a blind side.) However, I plugged away, practicing patience, and boy oh boy was I rewarded. The end is quite a surprise, and one you don’t see coming.

I won’t give it away, but let’s just say that, as a novel about deep racial injustice set within a technologically advanced dystopian America, it is a perfect pairing for nonfiction works that tackle racial profiling and our very real fears of losing our humanity, both literally and figuratively.

If your YA students are interested in alternative-history fiction books–and especially if they’re looking for something to read after finishing Winter’s Underground Airlines–you’ll want to hand them a copy of Alison Marie Behnke’s Racial Profiling and Stephanie Sammartino McPherson’s Artificial Intelligence. Both pub this fall with Twenty-First Century Books and both touch on similar themes.

After reading, here are some discussion questions you could ask your students:

1. Can they make the thematic connections between the fiction and the nonfiction titles?
2. Ask them about Winters’s vision. Is he onto something or not?
3. Can they expand the reading list to include other fiction and nonfiction titles–and movies–about similar topics?
4. And is this future (or present) fearful or promising?

These are the questions I see us all struggling with in the twenty-first century. Fortunately, fiction and nonfiction books are here to help us.

By Sara Hoffmann, School & Library Series Managing Editor

Happy June, everyone! There’s a lot to celebrate this month. In addition to marking the first full month of summer break for most kids, did you know June also brings many holidays and special days? And with summer stretching out before us, it’s a great time to celebrate those days with awesome books. Here’s what’s on tap for June, and what you can read to mark each day:

June 2: If you live north of the Panama Canal, it’s Yell Fudge at the Cobras in North America Day. This is the day to yell fudge at noon at the top of your lungs. It’s said to scare cobra snakes away. Plus, yelling fudge just sounds kind of fun. Or, if you’d rather not terrify everyone within a fifty-foot radius (in addition to scaring off snakes), you can just read about cobras and other venomous animals in this book:

June 7: It’s National Chocolate Ice Cream Day! Celebrate by reading this book (shameless plug—it’s by yours truly), which includes a recipe for homemade ice cream:

You can also learn how milk turns into ice cream here:

June 8: This is Best Friends’ Day! If you ask me, few things in life are more celebration-worthy than friendship. Read up on how to be good to your bestie here:

June 14: Today is Flag Day—and gosh, I really love seeing those stars and stripes everywhere. It’s so summery and festive. Read about why we celebrate in this book:

June 18: Time to celebrate those dads and guys who make a difference! It’s Father’s Day. Meet some great dads and other important family members as Makayla visits friends and gets to know their families here. Some families have lots of kids, and others have none. Some families are headed up by grandparents, and others have two dads or have parents who are divorced. Learn about them all while Makayla makes her rounds:

June 19: It’s Juneteenth, a time to celebrate the end of slavery. On June 19, 1865, a message arrived to slaves in Texas as they labored in the fields and homes of the white people who owned them: Slavery was abolished! They were finally free. The Civil War had ended in April, but it took two months for word to reach Texas. Every year, people throughout the United States set aside June 19 to remember and honor freedom for all people. Learn more in this book:

Also check out this selection.

June 21: It’s the first day of summer! Make some s’mores and give this title a read:

June 25: Today marks Eid al-Fitr, the last day of Ramadan, when the ninth month in the Muslim calendar ends. This breaks the Ramadan fast, a time period when Muslims don’t eat or drink until after sunset. On Eid, people eat big meals in celebration. They also have festivals, and some give gifts. Learn more about Eid—as well as Ramadan—here:

Have fun celebrating June with books—and let me know what special days you’re most looking forward to this summer! The comments section is wide open, and I’m all ears!

Meet marketing intern Lam Lai!

What brings you to Lerner?

I graduated from Macalester College last year, majoring in Creative Writing and Chinese. A professor told me about Lerner and encouraged me to go for it – and now I’m here! It turns out that another professor of mine from Macalester used to be an intern here back in the day, so we have that legacy going on.

I’m headed to New York in the fall for my MFA in Creative Writing. Afterward I want to work in academia, or a place like Lerner.

Name your top five books!

King Lear. Wuthering Heights. The Great Gatsby. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. To Kill a Mockingbird.