Lois Letchford: Social Justice - Richard Wright (Simplified Version)

24 Jun 2021 · 3 min

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3:03

In this instructional video, Lois Letchford, author of Reverse to Memoir, demonstrates her process for simplifying a complex children's book—Richard Wright’s The Library Card—so it can be accessed by younger or struggling readers. She walks through each page, showing how she reduces dense paragraphs to concise sentences, pairs them with relevant pictures, and invites students to further rephrase the text in their own words. Letchford emphasizes the importance of cultural relevance, noting how the adapted story sparks family discussions about heritage and history, as exemplified by a student who asked his mother and grandfather about Richard Wright. The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to like, subscribe, and share, underscoring the broader goal of making culturally appropriate literature accessible to all children.

Chapters

Hi, I'm Lois Letchford, author of the book Reverse to Memoir, reading stories for children. And I wanted to show you how I adapt a book like Richard Wright and the Library Card for younger readers, for those who are struggling. So there's the book and this is what I do. Here are my words. And I use this picture and I've taken this big paragraph and I've turned it simply down to Richard Wright loved words. And if I need to change that again, I would. Then I turn the page. And he loved the stories his mother told. And there's the picture I used, and there I've written the words beside it. He loved the stories his mother told. And even if that's too challenging for my students, I would say, let's change it. What would you like to say? And then for this picture, Richard became a very good reader, but Richard could not go to the library. Libraries were only For white people. And then that picture. Richard found a friend in Mr. Fawk, a white man. And then he asked, Can I use your library card? Richard asked Mr. Fogg. Yes, said Mr. Fogg. Richard went to the library. He read many books. Richard started to write. And then finally, Richard became the author of many books. So we've rewritten this last page to tell the story. So that's what I do when I'm adapting books for younger readers, encouraging them to connect with the culturally appropriate reading that's far too challenging. So then they can go back and say, book. Do I look like this man? And ask questions of their family. And one student asked his mother, did you know Richard Wright? And then he asked his grandfather, did you know Richard Wright? And both came back and said, yes, we know of him. And it was the start of a learning journey for another child. Thank you. Hit like, hit subscribe, and share.