Description

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Teachers, Librarians, Homeschoolers: enhance your comprehensive civics education resources with supplemental curriculum materials. Ten-year-old Fina Mendoza takes readers behind-the-scenes on Capitol Hill as she learns about American democracy, the electoral process, the U.S. legislative branch, and the events of January 6, 2021.

Losing is Democratic: How to Talk to Kids About January 6th features a Latina protagonist of spunk and smarts whose congressman father is on the House floor on January 6th.

Fina Mendoza, our amateur detective, is in the middle of an investigation to find out who stole the 5th grade's pizza. But all thoughts of detection go out the window as she, her older sister Gabby, and grandmother Abuelita watch on television as a mob breaks into the Capitol. Is Papa okay? Most of Fina's classmates have parents who work inside that building as well. Their teacher calms their fears and the next day, turns the event into a teaching opportunity, looking back at the bitter presidential election rivalry between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The students discuss the importance of winning and losing, whether it's in a baseball game, a reading competition, or an election.

FREE DOWNLOADABLE CURRICULUM AVAILABLE:

• Build reading skills while teaching integrated lessons in ELA, social studies, and history designed for grades 3-5 Common Core Standards, NCSS curriculum standards, C3 Social Studies Readiness, and California Public Schools' History-Social Science content standards.
• Promote deeper learning through active engagement, reading comprehension, content knowledge, and creative and analytical thinking.
• Designed for use by elementary school teachers, parents, homeschoolers, and community educators.
• Non-political presentation of the events of January 6th, appropriate for elementary age students.

INTERACTIVE COMPONENTS AND MULTIMEDIA SOURCES:

• Helps address students' diverse learning needs and supports the use of technology in the classroom.
• The Fina Mendoza Mysteries FREE podcast is based on the books and current events. The "January 6th: Losing is Democratic" 2-part episode is the basis for the book, Losing is Democratic.
• The "Facts Behind the Fiction" blog offers historical context for both the books and podcast.

 

Introduce civics to your students with The Fina Mendoza Mysteries series!

THE FINA MENDOZA MYSTERIES SERIES:
Book 1 – Welcome to Washington Fina Mendoza
Book 2 – State of the Union: A Fina Mendoza Mystery
Book 3 – Snake in the Grass (coming Fall 2024)

ALSO AVAILABLE IN SPANISH:
Book 1 – Bienvenida a Washington Fina Mendoza
Book 2 – Estado de la Unión (coming Summer 2024)
Book 3 – Serpiente en la Hierba (coming Spring 2025)

THE WEST WING MEETS NANCY DREW... 

For fans of The Secret Lake, Greenglass House, The Mysterious Benedict Society and The National Park Mystery Series as well as classic children's detective series like Boxcar Children, Encyclopedia Brown, and Hardy Boys.

 

About the Author

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Award-winning public radio journalist, writer, and TEDx speaker Kitty Felde hosts the Book Club for Kids podcast, named by The Times of London as one of the top 10 kidcasts in the world. The Los Angeles native created the Washington bureau for Southern California Public Radio. She covered Capitol Hill for nearly a decade, explaining how government works to grownups. Now she explains it to kids in a series of mystery novels and podcasts called The Fina Mendoza Mysteries.

Kitty was named LA Radio Journalist of the Year three times by the LA Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists. She fell in love with literature for young readers when she was a young reader herself, working at her local public library.

Praise For…

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"Our democracy is still very much in danger, and if elections are only considered valid if your side wins, our future is indeed dim. Kitty Felde helps us convey to children that our democracy depends on all sides of an election putting their allegiance to country above party, and her book helps open the door to a discussion about the perilous events on January 6th, how to find common ground, rebuild trust, and reach across the aisle, er, playground."  – U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff