ALL the WAY to the TOP

Author: Annette Bay Pimentel 

Illustrator: Nabi H. Ali 

Foreword: Jennifer Keelan- Chaffins 

Grade Levels – K- 3rd grade 

Element 4 : Social Movement and Social Change 

Buy it here! 

Teacher Resources

Summary

ALL the WAY to the TOP by Annette Bay Pimentel is a true story about Jennifer Keelan- Chaffins. The book depicts her experiences as she is just starting the school year in kindergarten. The school makes it known that Jennifer does not belong there since she is in a wheelchair. For for this reason, she must change schools, but only attend in the afternoons. Right away, she stands out in her new kindergarten classroom as her peers have never seen a person in a wheelchair before.Jennifer and her family hear about activists meeting where they are organizing a protest to bring awareness about inaccessibility and the lack of wheelchair lifts on buses. Jennifer participates in many more protests and demonstrations and hears about the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) proposal in Congress. If the law passes, people with disabilities will have equal access to streets, elevators etc. With the lack of news/updates around the ADA, Jennifer and her family decide to go to Washington, D.C. They attend a protest and Jennifer reaches the steps of the U.S Capitol but the steps are a barrier to those in wheelchairs. She is there for all the people who have been told “They cannot do this or that” because of their disability. Jennifer slides out of her wheelchair to climb the steps while the protest is happening! She goes ALL the WAY to the TOP! In the end, Members of Congress pass the law. Jennifer knows that she will continue fighting for what she believes is right. 

Element 4 : Social Movement & Social Change 

This book explores the social movement ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act): this law paved the way for equal access to employment, transportation etc. for people with disabilities. As the reader, we meet Jennifer who learns firsthand about the discrimination and inequalities of how People with disabilities are treated. Jennifer and her family familiarize themselves with the current social justice issues that affect Jennifer. She then takes matters into her own hands and uses her body voice to help create social change in a powerful way by crawling to the top of the Capitol steps. This book promotes social movements and social change in such an authentic way because it stems from someone’s real life experience. It also brings awareness to how social movements and change can be enacted when a person is passionate about the cause. One person’s voice and determination like Jennifer’s can help change people’s lives for the better. 

Activities 

In an inclusive classroom, this would be a great book to include in one’s library. One way to use this book in my early childhood classroom would be to focus on setting and explain to students the beginning, middle and end of the story. It is also important to focus on how the students think Jennifer might have felt from the beginning of the story to the end to tie in the socio-emotional piece to an activity. Another way to use this book in my classroom for example in 3rd grade as a read aloud and focus on the vocabulary used in the book. Students would write a letter to Jennifer either supporting or opposing her stance in how she handled the situation at the protest. This will include drafts, revision, and final copy so this activity could be prolonged in a unit. Teachers can even from this activity into a debate where students are grouped, and they need to decide whether they agree or disagree. Teachers may also want to focus on Point of View, where they put the students in Jennifer’s shoes, this is a “perspective taking” strategy that teachers can use so students can imagine themselves having the same experience as Jennifer. Many activities can be done in the classroom with this book.