Hush

Hush

• Genre: Fiction; middle grade realistic contemporary
• Originally Published: 2002
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 640L; grades 5-8
• Structure/Length: 4 parts; 28 chapters; approx. 192 pages; approx. 3 hours, 25 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: 13-year-old Toswiah Green and her family must secretly resettle in another city under new identities. Now, under the name Evie Thomas, Toswiah tries to cope with the loss of her best friend, her grandmother, and other pieces of her past.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Police brutality; racism; suicide ideation and attempt

Jacqueline Woodson, Author

• Bio: Lives in Brooklyn, NY; author of almost 30 books for young and adult readers; Young People’s Poet Laureate (2014-2016); won the National Book Award for Brown Girl Dreaming (2014)
• Other Works: Brown Girl Dreaming (2014); Harbor Me (2018); Before the Ever After (2020)
• Awards: National Book Award Finalist (2002); School Library Journal Best Book (2002); Booklist Editor’s Choice (2002); ALA Best Book for Young Adults (2003)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The Challenge of Navigating a New Identity
• The Pervasiveness of Racial Bias and Stereotypes in American Society
• The Role of Community in Coping with Trauma

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Gain an understanding of the sociocultural context of the Federal Witness Protection Program and the potential impact it has on children like Evie/Toswiah within it.
• Analyze paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the main text’s themes of Navigating Identity and Community and Coping.
• Collect, record, and present real-life stories of overcoming challenges through a variety of creative media in order to draw parallels between the themes in the main text.
• Analyze and evaluate characters, themes, symbols, and motifs to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding Toswiah’s integration of her changing identity, the pervasiveness of racial biases in society, and other topics.