Too often throughout the school day, students and teachers slog through the predictable. The typical American history project. The classic novel. Test prep. It’s refreshing when a book comes along that brings a fresh topic into the classroom. Recently, book publishers seem ever more eager to delve into fun and informative topics. When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc & the Creation of Hip Hop (Laban Carrick Hill, author; Theodore Taylor III, illustrator) is not the usual staid book and a predictable topic.
Instead, students get to read about the history of hip-hop, tracing how early DJs like Kool Herc altered how music was played by merging different songs and melodies together to create something new. Originally based in dance parties around the Bronx, hip-hop came to embrace all different types of music from a wide range of influences and geographic locations. This mix, along with fervent fans, helped hip-hop spread quickly and become a major center of popular music culture today.
Along the way, be prepared for this book to alter some of our own preconceived notions about what history we teach, which stories get told, and the power of discussing topics that reflect all students’ interests and identities.
Reading Is Thinking 