The Assignment

A really incredible book about curricular justice...and what happens when teachers' egos, combined with institutional bias, creates an assignment that encourages antisemitism and other forms of hate to emerge. The story is complex and interesting and the voice work - a super talented cast of characters - brings the story to life. Great especially for teachers, and critical for right now in our society.

I've just finished listening to the audio version of this book and I'm struggling to find the right words to describe my feelings. Let's see if I can sort out a few words for the book: important, impactful, timely, difficult, courageous, necessary. At times funny and endearing, but with powerful messages about doing the right thing, even if it goes against authority or what might be popular, this book is a must read. Students (and let's face it, adults) must be encouraged to think critically about what happens around them, even if--as we see these days--authority figures say and do things that seem immoral. There is a lot of nuance in this book; sometimes good people make errors in judgement, but that doesn't mean they must be followed just because we trusted them in the past to have a good moral compass. What I especially loved about this book was that it wasn't just about students speaking out against antisemitism (although they did). It was about students speaking out against ALL hate, using the antisemitic assignment as an example of the extreme of intolerance of 'The Jewish Question' and the 'Final Solution' (okay, so that last line was something I never thought I'd type in my lifetime). But more than that, other forms of discrimination are specifically mentioned, inside the context of Holocaust atrocities and outside of it, making this book even more relatable and current. It's very clearly a book for ALL humans, showing that hate, in all its forms, is not to be tolerated or encouraged, even if the intended end-result is a positive one. There are a few difficult scenes where the reader is told in first-hand accounts of some of the atrocities suffered at the hands of the nazis but they are necessary. Hard to hear, but necessary. I can only imagine how hard these were to research and write. Hugs and thanks to the author for enduring for the sake of this important story. Not to be missed are the authors note and acknowledgements that give added depth and context to the fictionalized account that was inspired by true events.