Rocky Mountain News

Notebook
February 9, 2004

HELPFUL READING

In honor of February's Black History Month, the National Education Association has released a list of 100 books celebrating black heritage.

For the complete list, log on to www.nea.org/readacross/resources/afambooks.html.

Selected titles include:

I Love My Hair, by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley, grades pre-K-2

Papa's Mark, by Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert, grades 1-3

Almost to Freedom, by Vaunda Micheaux, grades 1-4

Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary, by Walter Dean Myers, grades 5 and up

The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, grades 11 and up

THEY SAID IT

"We expected them to be very serious, but they were just like us, messing around, having fun - but they still do their homework."

Blanca Trejo, 16, junior at West High School, about her experience meeting students in China in December

NO REFUGE IN SUBURBIA

An analysis of national health data by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research shows sex, drugs and delinquency are just as prevalent in suburban high schools as in urban ones. Some findings:

2/3 of all urban and suburban 12th-graders report having had sex.

60+ percent of suburban 12th-graders have tried cigarettes, compared with 54 percent of their urban peers.

74 percent of suburban 12th-graders and 71 percent of urban 12th-graders have tried alcohol more than two or three times.

©2004 Rocky Mountain News