Complex Books, In Context #6: Milo Imagines the World

Today, we’re digging into one of my favorite picture books, Milo Imagines the World, written by Matt de la Peña and illustrated by Christian Robinson. This is the sixth post in the “Complex Books, In Context” series. Check out the other guides for Wonder, Genesis Begins Again, The 57 Bus, Jacob’s New Dress, and Dreamers.

Milo Imagines the World offers many opportunities for rich conversations with students about stereotypes, identity, and family. On a long subway ride with his sister, Milo studies the people around him. He imagines what their lives are like and draws pictures of them in his sketchbook. He assumes things about them based on the way they are dressed, drawing on cultural stereotypes and expectations. When a boy (who he had imagined was nothing like him) turns out to be heading to the very same destination as Milo, he starts to reimagine all the assumptions he made about the people in the subway.

In our quest to provide diverse and inclusive books to our students, we must also be intentional about how we address complex social inequality issues. If we use our lessons to only focus on the characters or the craft, we miss an important opportunity to help them understand the world around them. When we lean into the complexity of a book, young people can begin to develop skills for learning about all kinds of complicated realities. We cannot prepare our students to actively engage in the issues that matter to them if we avoid the tough stuff in our classrooms. Students, like everyone else, need to practice this skill. One clear way we can support them is by helping them learn to see the social context surrounding a story, whether that story is in a picture book or YA novel. 

One way I recommend approaching our preparation for using a complex book is to identify and explore the following (ideally, in collaboration with our colleagues): 

1. Complex Themes: What complex themes does the author weave into this story?
2. Context: What background information do my students need in order to understand the characters’ experiences in context?
3. Connections: How can I link my students’ lives and experiences to the themes in this book? How can I be inclusive, avoid “othering,” and illustrate how we are all connected?
4. Conversations: How can I more successfully navigate these complex conversations? Whose perspectives do I need to be more aware of when discussing these themes?

I have included my reflections on each part as a guide for how this can be done, including sample statements or activities for discussing these issues with students. Because this is a picture book, I have geared these statements towards elementary students, but I would absolutely use this book to kick off a rich conversation with secondary students as well. Additionally, if your department/school/district uses the Social Justice Standards from Learning for Justice, I have included the standards most aligned with Milo Imagines the World below.

Complex Themes

What complex themes does the author weave into this story?

• Stereotypes/bias/assumptions 
• Social class/wealth and poverty
• Identity 
• Discrimination/profiling
• Incarceration/incarcerated people 
• Family diversity (children with incarcerated parents, LGBTQ families)

Context

What background information do my students need in order to understand the characters’ experiences in context? 

• Familiarize students with the language of stereotypes.
  • EXPLAIN: “When we assume things about people based on what they look like, we are using stereotypes. Stereotypes are hurtful. We are all different and it doesn’t feel good when someone assumes something about you that isn’t true.” 

• Help students interpret the assumptions Milo makes based on the social class markers that students might not understand. 
  • EXPLAIN: “Did you notice how Milo assumes the whiskered man is lonely and living in poverty because he looks unkempt? And how Milo assumes the boy in the suit is very wealthy and has a perfect life, only because of what he is wearing?” 

• Provide an explanation of the discrimination that Milo imagines happening to the breakdancing girls and how that makes him think about what people assume when they look at his face.

• • EXPLAIN: “Milo imagines that the girls will be profiled in a store and in a fancy neighborhood. Profiled means that people will use stereotypes to assume negative things about the girls. Milo thinks that, because they are young girls of color wearing certain styles, that people would think they might steal things or that they don’t belong in wealthy neighborhoods. After Milo imagines that, he looks at his own face and realizes that people might assume those mean things about him as well.”

• Ensure students have basic language and understanding of LGBTQ family forms so they can talk about Milo’s assumption of the bride.

• • EXPLAIN: “Milo assumes that the bride would be marrying a man, but then he realizes she could be marrying a woman. Some women marry men, some women marry women, and some women don’t get married. The idea that all women will marry a man is called an assumption or a stereotype. Assumptions and stereotypes can hurt people’s feelings.” 

• Provide a basic explanation of jails/prisons, why people have to go to jail/prison, how families visit their incarcerated loved ones, and the fact that many children have/had incarcerated parents.

• • EXPLAIN:“Jails and prisons are places where people sometimes have to go when they make mistakes and don’t follow the laws. Sometimes they have to stay for a long time before they can come home to their families, but their families can usually visit them, just like Milo and his sister are visiting their mom. When a person is in prison, it is called being ‘incarcerated.’ Lots of children have parents who are incarcerated.”

Connections

How can I link my students’ lives and experiences to the themes in this book?
How can I be inclusive, avoid “othering,” and illustrate how we are all connected?

• Regardless of their own identities, every student can find connection in the fear of assumptions. Everyone can relate to the moment when Milo looks at himself in the subway mirror and wonders what people will assume about him and, by extension, his mom. 

• • CONNECT: After reading, have students write down all the things they want other people to see when they see them–things about themselves, their identities, and their families that are important to them and make them proud. Then, help them to reflect on common stereotypes they might encounter as they move through the world–assumptions based on their gender, the color of their skin, how they dress, how they speak, their family form, etc. Help them use their own desires not to be pre-judged to resist making harmful assumptions about others.  

• When talking about Milo’s mom, help students disrupt the idea that people in prison are “bad people.”

• • CONNECT: Remind students that everyone does things that we regret, and everyone breaks the rules sometimes, whether it’s on purpose or by accident. Help them connect themselves and their own lives to Milo, his sister, and his mom. “Have you ever broken the rules? Does your family still love you? Of course they do! Just like Milo’s mom.”  Emphasize that people are complex, and just because Milo’s mom is incarcerated doesn’t mean she isn’t a good mom. Have them identify all the examples in the text that show that Milo’s mom loves her children.

Conversations

How can I more successfully navigate these complex conversations?
Whose perspectives do I need to be more aware of when discussing these themes?

• Reflect on whether we are framing Milo’s story as one of sympathy and pity or if we are using the story to build empathy and connection and help our students see the big picture. 

• • REFRAME: Sympathy for Milo’s family might look like this: “It’s sad that Milo’s mom is in prison.” On the other hand, empathy for Milo’s family and big picture thinking might look like this: “I can understand how Milo feels because everyone is worried about being judged unfairly. His mom is not a bad person, and it would be better if she could be with her family because Milo needs her, just like I need my family.”

• The perspectives of incarcerated people and their families are nearly absent from our conversations and curriculum. We can use this book as a tool to bring those voices to center. 
  • REFRAME:  It is likely that there are one or more students in class with a currently/formerly incarcerated parent. This is a topic where we need to be especially cognizant of avoiding “us/them” language. Incarcerated people and children with incarcerated parents are “us” and “we” just as much as any other group. 

Social Justice Standards Alignment

(LearningforJustice.org)

Identity 1 ID.K-2.1 I know and like who I am and can talk about my family and myself and name some of my group identities.
Identity 4 ID.K-2.4 I can feel good about myself without being mean or making other people feel bad.
Diversity 8 DI.K-2.8 I want to know about other people and how our lives and experiences are the same and different.
Diversity 10 DI.K-2.10 I find it interesting that groups of people believe different things and live their daily lives in different ways.
Justice 12 JU.K-2.12 I know when people are treated unfairly.
Justice 14 JU.K-2.14 I know that life is easier for some people and harder for others and the reasons for that are not always fair.
Action 18 AC.K-2.18 I will say something or tell an adult if someone is being hurtful, and will do my part to be kind even if I don’t like something they say or do.
Action 20 AC.K-2.20 I will join with classmates to make our classroom fair for everyone.