Similar to libraries, local bookstores can also act as a resource for teachers. These bookstores may even be a part of your students' "funds of knowledge". In "A Different World: Black Bookstores as Literacy Counterpublics" Marc Lamont Hill discusses a black bookstore in Philadelphia, Rasul's, and shows it as a counterpublic space, or a space that deviates from dominant society. In this bookstore all age ranges of mostly African-American people come to buy books. Often the books Rasul's sells aren't sold in mainstream bookstores such as Barnes & Noble, despite being bestsellers.
In this essay Hill discusses some African-American students who come to the store. In some cases the students try to supplement their education with this bookstore because they aren't exposed enough to their own culture at their school, but mostly students come here to replace their education because they believe they are being taught lies at school. Despite the fact that Beloved or Their Eyes Were Watching God were used in the students' curriculum, they still weren't relating to the books. One student said she never considered herself a writer until reading Rasul's books because those books matched her style of writing, whereas the African-American authors she read in class didn't.
Though students in this essay often replaced their education with Rasul's, I would encourage you to use such independent bookstores to supplement your students learning. You might have to track it down, but there is likely a bookstore like this somewhere in your community, especially if you teach in an urban setting. In East Lansing we have The Curious Book Shop, where you can often find good books for cheaper than at a chain bookstore. Asking your students where they go to read or get their books from could give you a lot of insight into their lives as readers and if there happens to be a well-attended bookstore among your students, definitely check it out, see what it has to offer. Nothing should be more important than engaging your students in their own learning process and using an independent bookstore can be a good resource for you as well as your students.
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