Black History Month ‘Convince the Critics’ Competition - Winners Announced!

We are delighted to announce the winners of our Black History Month ‘Convince the Critics', whose entries appear below.  All of the books championed so compellingly by our winners, are available to borrow from the EPHS Libraries.  

A big congratulations to our winners India, Naomi and Evelina, and thank you to everyone that entered - you will all receive achievement points!  

KS3 Winner:

Why you should read Funky Chickens by Benjamin Zephaniah – by India Year 7

I think that everyone should read this phenomenal book because it is a classic that everyone loved to read when I was in Year 6.  It is a mixture of comedy and poetry but with a twist of culture to it as well.  I believe that you should read this book if you have a good sense of humour.  It can keep you going for a while because it has many pages of wonderful different poems for everyone.

KS4 Winner: 

Why you should read Tyler Johnson was here by Jay Coles – by Naomi I, Year 10.

I am writing this not just to convince you to read this book and books like this but for you to understand why they are written.

Each person in the black community has their own story of grief, pain, and oppression. This book by Jay Coles highlights that and issues surrounding racism and breaks down racial stereotypes that have been around for a long time to get you to feel one thing, empathy. The word empathy means the ability to understand and share the feelings of one another. 

Jay Coles in this book allows us to emphasize by introducing us to a boy called Tyler Johnson, Tyler in this book was a regular teenager who was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up losing his life to police violence. We as readers can already relate with the fact that we can be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time but how many can relate with losing their life to police violence or almost losing their life to it? Books like Tyler Johnson was here, educates us on these subjects because if they are not documented in some type of way whether it be written, filmed, or recorded then we will never have knowledge or understanding about it. This reminds me of the whole George Floyd incident that happened in last year May. If this event wasn’t recorded, we would not have known how the police officer, Derek Chauvin abused his power as a police officer to kill George Floyd.

Books like Tyler Johnson was here shows us the inside of racism in depth and gives us a visual of what people like Martin Luther King and Malcom X fought against, despite people in places of high power trying to stop them from reaching freedom with them even being illegally under investigation by organisations like COINTELPRO, run secretly by the FBI. 

Jay Coles authored this book, so we are able to walk out with more knowledge on what goes on in society but also to be a voice for the minority, and that is why Tyler Johnson was here is to be read. 

 

Runner Up:

Why you should read Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman – Evelina, Year 9.

Noughts & Crosses, the first book in Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses series, is a thrilling, page-turning story about the rivalry between one nought family (the McGregors) and one cross family (the Hadleys).  In this society, noughts (white people) are inferior to crosses (black people) and are segregated, discriminated against and murdered.  Even with all these dilemmas, the star crossed lovers, Sephy Hadley and Callum McGregor, find a way to be together.  This book is perfect for Black History Month because it gives an example of how black people felt during a time of racism and segregation.  I recommend this series to teenagers and adults, overall a great read!