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The Noisy Classroom Trailer
Debut author Angela Shanté teamed up with illustrator Alison Hawkins and created The Noisy Classroom to help soothe childhood anxiety associated with school and change. The book is about an African American girl entering third grade. When she finds out she is going to be in the raucous and disorderly classroom with Ms. Johnson, she wants to run away.
Summer flies by and the little girl perseveres, soon finding herself cautiously entering the nontraditional classroom on the first day of school. Her worries slowly fade as she discovers “The Noisy Classroom” is not what it appears to be from the outside. The children play ball to learn math, write stories from an ant’s point of view, and sing, which even makes the end-of-day cleaning up fun. Ms. Johnson's is a loving classroom, even though it may seem "odd" and outside of what the little girl considers "the norm."
Angela, who taught elementary education for ten years, wanted to highlight the nontraditional classroom in a positive and inspiring way. “This classroom was much like my classroom” she says. “I believed in having fun, playing games, moving around, dancing, and enjoying the education experience [for the students and myself]. My classroom was dubbed ‘The Noisy Classroom’ because of it. I’ve found students can work, they can learn, they can be successful... and they can do so in a nontraditional way.”
We hope to bring this sweet story of discovery to you this Spring!
