Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

1. About the Author

1.1. Robin Talley lives with her wife and daughter in Washington D.C.

1.2. She is the author of five New York Times bestselling novels for young adults.

1.3. The Lies we Tell Ourselves was her debut novel and was published in 2014.

1.4. It was the first winner of the Amnesty CILIP Honor and Concorde Book Award.

1.5. All of Talley's novels focus on LGBTQ characters.

2. Essential Questions

2.1. In what sense is prejudice self-generated and how can is it overcome?

2.2. How does this novel serve as model for social change/awareness?

2.3. How we stand up for and/or defend others?

2.4. In what sense does the distribution of power affect how people are treated/see themselves?

3. Evaluation

3.1. The Lies We Tell Ourselves is a dual POV YA novel.

3.2. It is set during the late 1950's and early 1960's. During a time when the South was heavily segregated. Talley based her debut novel off of true narratives during the Segregated South.

3.3. It features racist language that is used to enhance not only the characterization of the individual characters but so too the period in which it is set in.

3.4. The novel itself features themes on racial inequality/prejudices, desegregation of schools, and homosexuality.

3.5. Similar or Alternative Texts that explore the themes of Segregation, Racial Inequality, and Prejudice are:

3.5.1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

3.5.1.1. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

3.5.1.1.1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

3.5.1.1.2. Similar or Alternative Texts that explore the themes of coming of age and sexuality and/or gender identity are:

4. Classroom Application/Activity

4.1. Create a found poem using language harvested from a segment of the text that answers a question about the nature of power.

4.1.1. Consider these questions when constructing the poem:

4.1.2. Is power an oppressive and corrupted force used to suppress and marginalize?

4.1.3. OR

4.1.4. Is power a force of enrichment, protection, creation, and motion?

4.1.5. OR

4.1.6. Is it both?

4.1.7. OR

4.1.8. Is it Neither?

4.2. Students will be given 20 minutes to draft the poem and 5 minutes to preview/share their poems with a partner.

4.2.1. Students will then be asked to share and the class will guess which poem the question answers.

4.2.2. Depending on the amount of volunteers, this activity can take anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes.

5. Summary

5.1. Lies We Tell Ourselves follows Sarah Dunbar as she, her sister, and several other young adults become the first black students to join a previously all-white school in Virginia.

5.2. The black students receive hate and violence from their white peers and sometimes even by their teachers.

5.3. Even as the best and brightest from their old school, they are all placed in remedial classes.

5.4. When one young white girl, Linda, who greatly opposes the integration, find herself working with Sarah in a school group project. She is forced to meet the group in secret at a drugstore to avoid letting her father know about her working with a black student because of her father's racist and violent attitude towards those who associate with the black population of the town.

5.5. The situation gets more complicated when Sarah kisses Linda, and subsequently avoids her.The novel follows the two girls as they grow closer and learn from one another.

5.6. Eventually, as Linda starts to learn how to turn away from her racism she follows Sarah to Washington D.C., where they presumably start their lives together.