Losing is Democratic: How to Talk to Kids About January 6th

By Kitty Felde

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chesapeake Press
• Release date: Jan 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9781737097839

Book preview

Kitty Felde

Losing is Democratic: How to Talk to Kids About January 6th

A Fina Mendoza Mystery Novella

First published by Chesapeake Press 2023

Copyright © 2023 by Kitty Felde

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

First edition

ISBN: 978-1-7370978-3-9

Cover art by Mindy L. Stein

This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy

Find out more at reedsy.com

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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

Democracy is on trial in the world, on a more colossal scale than ever before.

CHARLES FLETCHER DOLE, 1906

A note from the author:

I covered Capitol Hill for public radio for nearly a decade. The basement of the U.S. Capitol was my office.

On the afternoon of January 6, 2021, I was at home in California watching the election certification vote on CNN. The violence that erupted after a rally at the White House shocked me. My office, the U.S. Capitol, was overrun by unhappy voters who wanted a different outcome to the election. Staffers and politicians, even the snack bar workers, ran for their lives.

I thought about the children whose parents worked in that building. And children who watched on TV. How do we explain the events of January 6th to them without scaring them to death? What’s the bigger picture here?

Losing is Democratic: How To Talk to Kids About January 6th is my way of answering those questions and hopefully, inspiring hope in our next generation of citizens, encouraging them to compete fairly, win or lose graciously, and build a better, kinder, happier America for all.

There’s free curriculum for Losing is Democratic at the end of this book. You can also download it here.

Talk to your kids. They are our hope for the future of our democracy.

Kitty

Chapter 1

They’re building something outside the U.S. Capitol.

Papa said it’s for the inauguration later this month when they swear in the new president. Papa also said the swearing isn’t the bad kind of swearing where my grandmother makes me