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This teacher needs your help!

Mr. Suttles from Chicago, IL is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Mr. Suttles is requesting
Student-led project

Changing the Narrative

We need books that bring African American and Hispanic experiences to life for our readers.

  • $1,675 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

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Help Mr. Suttles

Keep the momentum going! Make a donation to Mr. Suttles for his next project!

About My Students

I teach at a school where 99% of the students are minority and 93% receive free/reduced lunch. As middle schoolers, my students are inquisitive and want to understand the many things they are studying. They are interested in the world beyond their neighborhood, but few have traveled much beyond their community or the city of Chicago.

My students are good readers, and we have read and discussed a range of books this year, from "Watership Down"" and A Long Walk to Water", to "Night" and "Unbroken"Additionally, students have read a wide range of novels from our classroom library. This reading has exposed students to a variety of themes and genres.

However, it was during a class discussion of "Brown Girl Dreaming" that my students asked, “where are more books like this” and “why aren’t we reading them?” Books that portray the African American experience, but not about what they felt were typical African American topics.

We know that reading achievement and students actively engaging in reading text go together with academic success. Being able to provide students with books that reflect a wide range of African American experiences could

Driven by student interest and desire, the funding of this project will allow us to bring literature into the school that is going to provide a more complete picture of the experiences that African American and other minority groups have and to further engage students in the reading process by allowing them to see more complete representations of who they are. Students will develop a wide range of reading comprehension skills interpreting themes and author's point of view. Students will also develop skills connect to pride, honor and self-esteem as they develop a fuller images of themselves and those like them.

In Their Own Words

Where is the African American and minority literature? We asked this once we finished the memoir “Brown Girl Dreaming" and asked our teacher "Where are more books like this and how can we bring them into our school and classroom libraries?

For most of us, the literature we read does not necessarily represent who we are. Most characters in books do not reflect who we are and when they do it is usually around slavery, civil rights or inner-city kids who are trying to get out of a gang. We want to bring in more diverse minority books that we can read.

If we can do this, it will help us better understand not only African American history, but teach us life lesson and morals and help us improve ourselves. It will also help us out in that it can show us how we have made a difference in the world.

If we receive this money, it will allow us to bring in books that can inform us on who we are and what great things we have done in this world. These can be used to inspire each of us to reach for more. It will also push us to become better readers and help us meet our reading goals for assessments. By reading and learning, we can create opportunities for us to discuss books with our peers in both class settings, but also in the lunch room, at recess and after school.

This is important to our school because we need to know not only our history, but must also see ourselves in every day literature. We are a predominately black school and we know that urban schools have bad representation within most books we read. We rarely see books with positive role models, especially for the guys in our classes. We want to make sure we can read books with positive self-images that allow us to see beyond our own world on the west side of Chicago.

Mr. Suttles Polaris Charter Academy Grades 6-8

Celebrate Black teachers and kids! This project supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of students are Black.

Equity Focus

At this school, more than 50% of students are Black, Latino, and/or Native American, and more than 50% come from low-income households. Learn how your donation to this school supports a more equitable education.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

More about Mr. Suttles

Chicago, IL View local requests

More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

100 students impacted 1donor

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Expand the "Where your donation goes" section below to see exactly what Mr. Suttles is requesting.

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Wonder • Amazon Business $9.75 25 $243.75
Bronx Masquerade • Amazon Business $6.91 25 $172.75
Forged by Fire • Amazon Business $6.00 25 $150.00
Monster • Amazon Business $6.00 25 $150.00
Bluford Series 20-Book Boxed Set (Books 1-20) • Amazon Business $66.96 2 $133.92
Sag Harbor • Amazon Business $9.96 3 $29.88
Buck: A Memoir • Amazon Business $9.75 3 $29.25
Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class • Amazon Business $8.46 3 $25.38
Black Boy White School • Amazon Business $12.40 2 $24.80
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (Penguin Modern Classics) • Amazon Business $12.20 2 $24.40
Selected Poems of Langston Hughes: A Classic Collection of Poems by a Master of American Verse (Vintage Classics) • Amazon Business $12.05 2 $24.10
New Boy • Amazon Business $6.35 3 $19.05
Night Boat to Freedom • Amazon Business $8.99 2 $17.98
Emako Blue • Amazon Business $5.99 3 $17.97
Sellout • Amazon Business $17.33 1 $17.33
Feathers • Amazon Business $5.62 3 $16.86
Who Am I Without Him? (new cover) • Amazon Business $8.18 2 $16.36
Secret Saturdays • Amazon Business $7.99 2 $15.98
Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel • Amazon Business $7.58 2 $15.16
If You Come Softly and Behind You • Amazon Business $7.54 2 $15.08
The Battle of Jericho (The Jericho Trilogy) • Amazon Business $7.19 2 $14.38
Yes! We Are Latinos: Poems and Prose About the Latino Experience • Amazon Business $7.15 2 $14.30
Bucking the Sarge • Amazon Business $6.29 2 $12.58
Gaby, Lost and Found • Amazon Business $6.29 2 $12.58
Romiette and Julio • Amazon Business $6.00 2 $12.00
Girls Like Me (Bluford High Series #21) • Amazon Business $5.95 2 $11.90
The Crossover • Amazon Business $9.99 1 $9.99
Selected Poems • Amazon Business $9.29 1 $9.29
Zombie Baseball Beatdown • Amazon Business $4.51 2 $9.02
Bang! • Amazon Business $8.58 1 $8.58
The Color Purple • Amazon Business $8.07 1 $8.07
The Dreamer • Amazon Business $7.32 1 $7.32
Pickle: The (Formerly) Anonymous Prank Club of Fountain Point Middle School • Amazon Business $3.49 2 $6.98
Day of Tears • Amazon Business $6.96 1 $6.96
P.S. Be Eleven • Amazon Business $6.86 1 $6.86
The Color of My Words • Amazon Business $3.38 2 $6.76
12 Years a Slave • Amazon Business $3.38 2 $6.76
My Havana: Memories of a Cuban Boyhood • Amazon Business $6.47 1 $6.47
Behind You • Amazon Business $6.19 1 $6.19
One Crazy Summer • Amazon Business $5.94 1 $5.94
Copper Sun • Amazon Business $5.89 1 $5.89
47 • Amazon Business $5.89 1 $5.89
You Don't Even Know Me: Stories and Poems About Boys • Amazon Business $5.53 1 $5.53
The Skin I'm In • Amazon Business $5.51 1 $5.51
Tears of a Tiger • Amazon Business $3.72 1 $3.72
Junebug • Amazon Business $3.30 1 $3.30

Materials cost

$1,372.77

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$20.59

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$1,423.36

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$251.18

Total project goal

$1,674.54

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $1,674.54

1 Donor

-$1,674.54

Donations toward project cost

-$1,423.36

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$251.18

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. Suttles and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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