The Teaching History Her Way Podcast · CherylAnne Amendola

Civic Education in Elementary School & the Fina Mendoza Mysteries with Kitty Felde

·25 min·1 clip

After January 6, Felde made a two-part Fina Mendoza episode called “Losing is democratic.”

1. The Teaching History Her Way podcast episode focuses on civic education through Kitty Felde’s Fina Mendoza mysteries and the State of the Union book. 2. Host Sherrilyn Amendola speaks with Kitty Felde, an award-winning journalist, podcaster, writer, and the creator of the Fina Mendoza series. 3. The episode asks how a children’s mystery can teach civics, Congress, immigration, and democratic participation without losing young readers. 4. Felde says the character Fina was inspired by a real girl she met through a mentoring program for eighth graders headed toward college. 5. She describes that real Fina persuading her mother, who did not speak English, to petition for a better high school in Los Angeles. 6. Felde connects Fina’s determination to the real girl’s path through college, teaching, a master’s degree, and work toward a PhD. 7. She says she also wanted shy girls to see a character who could still feel capable of changing things. 8. Felde explains that Capitol Hill became part of the series because she covered it as a journalist and wanted children outside Washington, D.C. to see that world. 9. She describes Fina’s family as politically mixed, with a Democratic congressman father and a grandmother who admires Ronald Reagan because of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. 10. Felde says Abuelita is a source of humor and conflict because she challenges her son and pushes Fina to stand up for herself. 11. Amendola notes that State of the Union explains what a rebuttal is and what the State of the Union address means for the president’s party. 12. Felde says she deliberately asked members on both sides of the aisle for blurbs because she wanted bipartisan support for the books. 13. She argues that children should not be disillusioned before they are old enough to vote, and that Capitol Hill workers are human beings trying to make a difference. 14. Felde says book three, Snake in the Grass, will deal with partisanship getting “into the weeds” literally and politically. 15. She describes creating a special two-part Fina Mendoza podcast after January 6 because the event felt close to home for families living near the Capitol. 16. Felde says she used teachers’ advice to frame the idea that “you can’t have a baseball game unless somebody wins and someone loses.” 17. She says the episode about election workers eventually became a novella and that she later watched hearing testimony from the front row. 18. The conversation moves like an interview between a host and guest, with Amendola asking classroom-focused questions and Felde answering with reporting, writing, and family stories. 19. People who teach civics, use historical fiction, or want kid-friendly civics examples would get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners looking for pure entertainment without education or classroom application may skip it.

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