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Listening to Voices from the Four Directions:  Indigenous Storytellers for Your Classrooms

9/28/2021

 

By Donna Sabis-Burns, Rachel Skrlac Lo, and Casey O'Donnell on behalf of the CLA Breakfast Committee

Book cover: I Sang You Down from the Stars
Looking out the window we begin to see the slight change in color of the fall foliage, a brisker feel to the air, and school busses carrying students to their not-so-new-normal classrooms.  Apples, pumpkins, and “Indian” corn are appearing in the grocery store aisles.  The gift of autumn is here. One highlight of this time of year is the NCTE Annual Conference held in November. Under “normal” circumstances, the Children’s Literature Assembly Breakfast is held in person as part of that gathering. While we will not be able to meet in person this year, the CLA Breakfast will be offered as a live event during the conference. In anticipation of our session, we are sharing about some of the most prolific, wonderful Indigenous multiple award-winning storytellers from across the Four Directions.
​

Cynthia Leitich-Smith (Muscogee Creek), Traci Sorell (Cherokee Nation), Michaela Goade (Tlingit), Carole Lindstrom (Metis), and Kevin Maillard (Seminole Nation) will make up this year’s Breakfast speaker panel. They will offer insight into their creative writing process, share their newest work, and offer some candid thoughts on how being Indigenous has strengthened their entire literature experience.

These storytellers celebrate #OwnVoices in the here and now. They offer counter stories to highlight the dynamism of Native American and Alaska Native communities for all ages. During a conversation with them in February 2021, we discussed the joys of reading and storytelling and reflected on the importance of celebrating the rich legacy of Native experiences that influence contemporary society. Native American, American Indian, or Indigenous peoples (terms used interchangeably) make up the 575+ federally recognized tribes and 200+ state-recognized tribes, much diversity exists across this Indigenous landscape in the United States. To celebrate this diversity, in this post, we will share with you the newest works from these amazing storytellers, including samples of teacher guides, links to audio-books, artwork, and other storytelling materials to share both in and outside of the classroom.

​Teachers strive to create an environment for children that is all-embracing because they know that when children feel accepted, they will be happy, healthy, and confident members of society. This spirit of inclusiveness should permeate not only the social dynamic of the classroom, but the teaching materials as well. Children’s books that are endowed with social justice themes and multicultural issues provide a much richer reading experience than texts with homogeneous characters and unchallenging stories. The stories shared by these authors and illustrator offer many ways to enlighten students of all ages to the diverse books, cultural nuances, and traditions that Indigenous people bring to the table. Check out these teacher resources for a glimpse into the rich world of native storytelling.

Activity Kits and Teacher Guides

Book cover: Indian No More
A Teacher's Guide to Indian No More (Lee & Low)
Book cover: We Are Water Protectors
A Teacher's Guide to We Are Water Protectors (MacMillan)
Book cover: Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross
Discussion Guide for Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer (Lerner)
Book cover: Ancestor Approved
A Teacher's Guide to Native Literature (including Ancestor Approved) produced by Heartdrum, an imprint of HarperCollins
Book cover: Sisters of the Neversea
A Teacher's Guide to Native Literature (including Sisters of the Neversea) produced by Heartdrum, an imprint of HarperCollins
Book cover: Fry Bread
A Teacher's Guide to Fry Bread (Read Across America)
Book cover: Encounter
When students encounter texts that feature characters with whom they can connect, they can see how others are like them and how literature can play a role in their lives. If students can feel connected to books, not only will they be more apt to obtain the intrinsic motivation to increase the amount of reading they do, but they will also begin to feel more accepted as strong and unique members of society and to become less vulnerable to negative stereotyping and feelings of oppression. It is the hope of our storytellers that these resources be shared with all students, to demonstrate not only resiliency and determination, but also joy and grace within the texts and illustrations to take them to places they have never seen or heard of before. Below are are some video and audio resources related to some of the works of our storytellers.

Video & Audio Resources

Traci Sorell on the writing process of 
Indian No More


Traci Sorell on The Children's Book Podcast

Book Chat with Illustrator Michaela Goade

I Sang You Down from the Stars Video Introduction from the Author & Illustrator

Kevin Maillard reads Fry Bread Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian
We are obligated to educate our youth with a clear lens and to teach the richness of realistic, authentic, and contemporary literature for children and young adults. We need to promote books where Indigenous characters are up front and visible, not hidden or pushed aside. We want to highlight in a bold, distinguishable manner characters and stories that unveil and promote the beauty of diverse literature written/illustrated by and for Native Nations (also called Indigenous people and used interchangeably here when the specific Nation is not known), and all other marginalized groups. The storytellers highlighted here, and across the land, provide a glimpse of the wonderment and beauty that present-day and historical Indigenous culture and traditions bring to the literature landscape.
Five Voices from the Four Directions. 2021 CLA Breakfast on November 21 @ the NCTE Convention
Come celebrate with us at 9 am (EST) on November 21, 2021 at the CLA Breakfast at NCTE! There will be great conversation and book giveaways!
Donna Sabis-Burns, Ph.D., an enrolled citizen of the Upper Mohawk-Turtle Clan, is a Group Leader in the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education* in Washington, D.C. She is a Board Member (2020-2022) with the Children's Literature Assembly, Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Committee, and Co-Chair of the 2021 CLA Breakfast meeting (NCTE).

Rachel Skrlac Lo is an Assistant Professor at Villanova University. She is a Board Member (2020-2022) with the Children's Literature Assembly, Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Committee, and Co-Chair of the 2021 CLA Breakfast meeting (NCTE).

Casey O'Donnell is
 a graduate student in the Masters Plus Teacher Certification Program at Villanova University.
*The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service, or enterprise mentioned herein is intended or should be inferred.

Spotlight on Recent Middle-Grade Portrayals of Deafness

9/21/2021

 

By Jared S. Crossley

Although the fight for increased diversity in children’s literature has been going on for decades, there has been a recent surge in attention to this need since 2014 and the creation of the We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) campaign. The website for WNDB states that they advocate for “essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people” (We Need Diverse Books, n.d.), and their definition of diversity extends beyond diversity in sexual orientation, gender, and race, but also includes disability. 
​

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2019) there were 7 Million students in 2017-2018 who received special education services, accounting for 14 percent of all public school students. The amount of time these students spend inside a general education classroom has been gradually increasing over the last twenty years. This contributes to the growing need for educators to use texts with positive and accurate disability portrayals as part of their reading instruction in the general education classroom (Collins, Wagner & Meadows, 2018). Children with disabilities need to be able to see themselves in the books they read, and their classmates can also benefit, gaining empathy and understanding, by reading about children with similar disabilities. 

Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop (1990) wrote about how books can serve as windows, “offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange” (p. 1). They can also serve as mirrors, which reflect our own experiences, and “in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience” (p. 1). It is very important that all children see themselves reflected in the books they read. However, many children who have disabilities or are racial minorities often don’t see themselves in the books that are available to them. Bishop stated:
"When children cannot find themselves reflected in the books they read, or when the images are distorted, negative, or laughable, they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society of which they are a part. Our classrooms need to be places where all the children from all the cultures that make up the salad bowl of American society can find their mirrors" 
​
​-Rudine Sims Bishop
Educators should make it a priority to provide all of the children in their classrooms books that serve as mirrors, as well as books that are windows into cultures that are not familiar to their students’ lived experiences. 
​

For the past four years, I have been privileged to serve on USBBY’s Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities committee. During that time I have gained new perspectives and learned more information about various disabilities and differences. One type of book that often gets grouped into the disability category is books that contain a portrayal of deafness. It has been debated if deafness should be considered a disability (Harvey, 2008; Lane, 2002) with varying opinions for and against the consideration of deafness as a disability. However, regardless of whether or not it is a disability, we need positive portrayals of deafness in children’s literature that can serve as mirrors for children who are deaf, and windows for children who are hearing. Over the past few years there have been a number of excellent middle-grade books that center a child who is deaf. In this post, I want to highlight three titles that I thought were exceptional portrayals.
Song for a Whale

​Song for a Whale
by Lynne Kelly (2019) is the story of twelve-year-old Iris who was born deaf. In science class she learns about a whale named Blue 55 who cannot communicate with other whales. Iris, who has had trouble fitting in at her school due to communication 
barriers, connects with this whale and decides to create a song that Blue 55 would be able to hear in an effort to let him know that he is not alone. Even when the whole world seems to be against her, Iris is determined to meet Blue 55 and speak to him in a way they both can understand.

​
Book cover: Song for a whale
Show Me a Sign

Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte (2020) tells the story of Mary, a young girl growing up deaf in the early 1800’s on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. As part of a Deaf colony on the island, Mary has always felt safe and protected. However, all of this is threatened by the appearance of a young scientist who is bound and determined to find the cause of the island’s deafness so he can cure this “infirmity”.  Soon Mary finds herself in harm's way as this scientist takes her as a “live specimen” in order to more closely study her deafness. The sequel, Set Me Free, is set to be released September 21, 2021.
Book cover: Show me a sign
Book cover: Set me free
All He Knew
​

All He Knew by Helen Frost (2020) is a novel in verse set during World War II. Henry loses his hearing at an early age, and when it is time for him to start school, his deafness mixed with social anxiety, are mistaken for unintelligence. Henry is sent to live at an institution where he is mistreated, but must rely on his intelligence and inner strength to survive his hardships. All He Knew is inspired by actual events that happened to Frost’s husband’s uncle.

​
Book cover: All he knew
References
Bishop, R.S. (1990). Windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives, 6, ix-xi. 
Collins, K. M., Wagner, M. O., & Meadows, J. (2018). Every story matters: Disability studies in the literacy classroom. Language Arts, 96(2), 13.
Harvey, E. R. (2008). Deafness: A disability or a difference. Health L. & Pol'y, 2, 42.
Lane, H. (2002). Do deaf people have a disability?. Sign language studies, 2(4), 356-379.
U.S. Department of Education. (2019). Children and youth with disabilities. Retrieved from 
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgg.asp
We Need Diverse Books. (n.d.). About Us. WNDB. 

Children’s Books
Frost, H. (2020). All He Knew. New York, NY: Farrar Straus and Giroux.
Kelly, L. (2019). Song for a Whale. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.
LeZotte, A.C. (2020). Show Me a Sign. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.
Jared S. Crossley is a Ph.D. student at The Ohio State University studying Literature for Children and Young Adults. He is a former 4th- and 5th-grade teacher, and currently teaches children's literature courses at Ohio State. He is the 2020-2021 chair of the Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities committee (USBBY). 

The CLA Student Committee: Fostering an Inclusive Community

9/14/2021

 

By Emmaline Ellis, Alex Lampp Berglund, and Meghan Valerio, on behalf of the CLA Student Committee

The CLA Student Committee is a small group of student members of CLA that work together to boost the recruitment of students to CLA, promote and participate in CLA programming, organize events specifically for students involved in CLA (including but not limited to the student social at NCTE and virtual check-ins throughout the year), facilitate the annual CLA Student Conference Grants, and plan and host a yearly webinar on a variety of topics related to children’s and young adult literature. In particular, the webinar is an exciting opportunity that allows student members to build community and learn with and from other scholars within the field. While planning the webinar, the Student Committee must consider the needs of all student members of CLA and select a topic that meets those diverse needs. This year, we were honored to develop a webinar that we felt responded to the current educational climate and the vital roles that children’s and young adult literature can and does play in our classrooms across a multitude of contexts.
Members of the CLA Student Committee:
  • Alex Lampp Berglund (Chair)
  • Kristin Bauck
  • Julie Carbaugh
  • Emmaline Ellis
  • Jennifer Pulliam
  • Meghan Valerio
All of us (Emmaline, Alex, and Meghan) are members of the Children’s Literature Assembly Student Committee, and we each bring a variety of experiences as classroom teachers, reading specialists, and teacher educators. In our different contexts, we have witnessed the ways literacy curriculum and praxis have privileged certain voices, while both intentionally and unintentionally silencing and, at times, even harming others. These experiences, coupled with continued historically heated debates on racism, gender equality, immigrant acceptance, (dis)ability rights, and LGBTQ+ activism, led us to plan our second annual CLA Student Committee webinar, entitled “Inclusivity in Curriculum and Pedagogy.” The goal of this webinar was to provide a space for literacy scholars to share their inclusive research and pedagogy and for participants to unpack their own experiences with inclusivity in educational spaces. In this post, we highlight many of the resources and pedagogical practices shared by the panelists, Dr. Desireé Cueto, Dr. Sara Sterner, Dr. Megan Van Deventer, and Dr. Kelly Wissman, that we hope you can implement in your own teaching. CLA Members can access a video recording of the webinar within the members-only portion of the CLA website.
Picture
As a former upper elementary educator, Dr. Sara Sterner discussed the various curriculum commitments that she makes in the teacher education courses she leads at Humboldt State University. These decisions include selecting balanced course texts that are both affordable and include research-based practices that educators can immediately use in their classrooms. Further, she maintains a critical focus in her pedagogy. For example, she continually models and supports disruptive readings of texts and elevates and honors silenced and erased perspectives wherever and whenever possible. Her work with children’s literature is also woven throughout her courses, as she promotes the practice of “Classroom Book-a-Day.” This activity includes the purposeful selection and sharing of a children’s book during each class to instill reading joy and foster connections with students. Dr. Sterner revealed that the feedback from students on “Classroom Book-a-Day” has been overwhelmingly positive, as students not only added titles to their future and current classroom libraries but also learned the importance of inclusivity when selecting and using children’s literature in their lessons.
“...There are just times that it is the collective beauty of a shared story. I'm not asking you to analyze or ask questions about texts, but you just get to be with the words and be with the characters and be with illustrations. The way that that builds reading joy is central to my inclusive practice in the ways that I fold my students into our learning community.”

-Dr. Sara Sterner

“I really underscore the affirming power of books, and how they provide language for young readers to witness and express their complex lives and experiences and emotions--how reading a book can provide reassurance. It can provide a new socio-emotional skill set. It can provide solace. So instead of having all of the words that a young reader would need to communicate their innermost feelings, if you have the right book, then a reader gets to say ‘This book is like my life,’ which can start a healing and joyful process.”

-Dr. Megan Van Deventer

Dr. Megan Van Deventer, an Assistant Professor of English Education at Weber State University, centered her presentation around the theoretical and pedagogical framework of the cognitive-affective model of conceptual change (Gregoire, 2003). Within this model, teachers must feel both capable and motivated, and Dr. Van Deventer works to ensure that these goals are met throughout her preservice teacher education courses. The inclusive pedagogical moves that Dr. Sterner practices and promotes include creating a class of readers by developing her students’ (and her own) reading identities, demonstrating a meta-awareness of orchestrating a class of readers through explicit and intentional instruction, and having students create a Children’s Literature Resource File. Children’s Literature Resource Files are created by each student and feature a curated list of 30 children’s books alongside critical reviews of each text. Returning to the other integral component of the cognitive-affective model of conceptual change, Dr. Van Deventer shared the inclusive practices she uses to increase capacity which include developing critical analysis skills, modeling vulnerable readings and conversations, curating supplemental readings, and having students self-evaluate their Children’s Literature Resource Files. The self evaluation element of the Children’s Literature Resources Files prompts students to reflect on their own pedagogical commitments and aspirations and think critically about the ways they can grow as inclusive educators.

​​Dr. Kelly Wissman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Literacy Teaching and Learning at the State University of New York at Albany, where she teaches graduate level courses in children's literature for pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and doctoral students. Dr. Wissman’s research focuses on incorporating culturally sustaining pedagogies in reading intervention settings, a topic that stems from her concern that curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment are not attuned to the cultural and linguistic resources of diverse learners. During the webinar, Dr. Wissman shared findings and insight from her two-year inquiry project titled, “Names, Journeys, and Dreams,” in which she collaborated with a reading interventionist who incorporated culturally sustaining practices into her intervention setting. One of these practices was the inclusion of interactive read alouds of culturally and linguistically diverse picturebooks. Although this practice was accompanied with challenges (limited time, limited resources, etc.), Dr. Wissman believes that the inclusion of picturebooks that were culturally and linguistically relevant to the students allowed them to be more connected to their reading intervention instruction.
“...To integrate culturally sustaining picturebooks more fully into reading intervention may require we move away from a monolingual gaze for defining what literacy is, what kinds of texts we choose, what we mean by reading achievement and how we assess it, and what interventions can sustain students’ connections to their communities and pride in their languages.”

-Dr. Kelly Wissman

“I never begin with morality. I never begin with ‘this is how you should believe.’ We’re already in a world that's polarized and difficult so it always starts with [the students’] own questions and tensions. I try to create spaces for them to make connections and so I use children's books as a way to get them to read and make some connection to the text and I think that stories are the most beautiful and natural way to do that because stories create empathy.”

-Dr. Desireé Cueto
A former elementary teacher, school counselor, and Director of Multicultural Curriculum in the Tucson Unified School District, Dr. Desireé Cueto is currently an Associate Professor of Literacy and the Director of the Pacific Northwest Children’s Literature Clearinghouse at Western Washington University. Her areas of research include: critical content analysis of children’s and young adult literature, transformative literacy pedagogies and collaborative action research, and engaging diverse learners. During the CLA-SC webinar, Dr. Cueto highlighted three new trends from her content analysis of African-American children’s and young adult literature: reality, refusal, and reclamation. She spoke to the importance of books that portray African-American children as resilient, rather than “downtrodden” or as “perpetual victims,” portrayals that she grew accustomed to as a child herself. Dr. Cueto believes inclusive children’s books encourage connections to human stories that create empathy, and encouraged the other panelists and attendees to continue their use of such literature in their syllabi particularly now, during a time when curriculum has been “highly politicized.”

Resources for Fostering Inclusivity

Inspired by the transformative work of the presenters, we have compiled a list of resources that were shared by the panelists that have helped us form our own understandings of inclusivity and foster community in our own inclusive educational spaces in a variety of ways. These resources include educational course texts, children’s and young adult literature titles, authors, podcasts, and online tools and sites.
RESOURCE FOLDER
Course texts
​
  • The CAFE Book: Engaging All Students in Daily Literacy Assessment and Instruction (2019) by Gail Boushey & Joan Moser
  • The Write Thing (2018) by Kwame Alexander
Book Cover: The CAFE book
Book cover: The write thing
ELEMENTARY/CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
  • I Am Not a Number (2016) by Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer
  • The Undefeated (2019) by Kwame Alexander
  • My Papi Has a Motorcycle (2019) by Isabel Quintero
  • The Day You Begin  (2018) by Jacqueline Woodson
  • All Because You Matter (2020) by Tami Charles
  • When Aidan Became a Brother (2019) by Kyle Lukoff
  • Eyes that Kiss at the Corners (2021) by Joanna Ho
  • We Are Water Protectors (2020) by Carole Lindstrom
  • Our Favorite Day of the Year (2020) by A.E. Ali
  • I Am Every Good Thing (2020) by Derrick Barnes & Gordon C. James
  • Alma and How She Got Her Name (2018) by Juana Martinez-Neal
  • Hair Love (2019) by Matthew A. Cherry
  • The Journey (2016) by Francesca Sanna
  • They She He Me: Free to Be! (2017) by Maya Christina Gonzalez and Matthew SG 
  • Crown: Ode to the Fresh Cut (2017) by Derrick Barnes
  • This Day in June (2014) by Gayle E. Pitman
  • Your Name is a Song (2020) by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
  • Carter Reads the Newspaper (2019) by Deborah Hopkinson 
  • Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre (2021) by Carole Boston Weatherford 
  • The Teachers March! How Selma's Teachers Changed History (2020) by Sandra Neil Wallace & Rich Wallace
  • The Proudest Blue (2019) by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow 
Book cover: Carter reads the newspaper
Book cover: I am not a number
Book cover: My papi has a motorcycle
Book cover: The day you begin
Book cover: The proudest blue
Book cover: The teachers march
Book cover: The undefeated
Book cover: Unspeakable
​middle school/young adult literature
​
  • An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States For Young People (2019) by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
  • Ghost Boys  (2018) by Jewell Parker Rhodes
  • New Kid (2019) by Jerry Craft
  • The Season of Styx Malone (2018) by Kekla Magoon
  • Harbor Me (2018) by Jacqueline Woodson
  • Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (2020) by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
  • Not My Idea: A Book about Whiteness (2018) by Anastasia Higginbotham
  • Tristan Strong Series (2019; 2020) & The Last Gate of the Emperor Series (2021) by Kwame Mbalia
  • King and the Dragonflies (2020) by Kacen Callender
Book cover: An indigenous peoples' history of the united states
Book cover: Ghost boys
Book cover: King and the dragonflies
Book cover: New kid
Book cover: Tristan Strong
Authors
  • Contemporary Realistic Fiction:
    • Jewell Parker Rhodes 
    • Lisa Moore Ramee
    • Jerry Craft
    • Jacqueline Woodson
    • Derrick Barnes
    • Gordon C. James
    • Kekla Magoon 
  • Nonfiction/Informational:
    • Jason Reynolds
    • Ibram X. Kendi
    • Anastasia Higgenbotham
    • Kwame Alexander
    • Kadir Nelson.
  • Historical Fiction and Biography:
    • Carole Boston Weatherford
    • Tonya Bolden
  • Fantasy:
    • Kwame Mbalia
podcasts
  • ​​Teaching While White 
  • Book Love Foundation 
  • Heinemann
online resources
​
  • A Tool for Selecting Diverse Texts by Learning for Justice 
  • Reading Against the Grain by Learning for Justice
  • Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books by Louise Derman-Sparks
  • A Guide to Thinking Critically about Books for your Classroom Library and Curriculum by Jess Lifshitz (@Jess5th)
  • School Library Journal & School Library Journal Blogs 
  • Lee and Low’s 2019 Diversity Baseline Results 
  • 1619 Curriculum Project 
  • Zinn Education Project 
  • Classroom Book A Day from Jillian Heise (inspired by Donalyn Miller)
Emmaline Ellis is a PhD Student in the Literacy and Learners program at Temple University. She is a member of CLA’s Student Committee. 

Alex Lampp Berglund is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia. She is chair of CLA’s Student Committee.

Meghan Valerio is a PhD Candidate in Curriculum and Instruction with a Literacy Emphasis at Kent State University. Meghan’s research interests include investigating literacy from a critical literacy perspective, centering students and curricula to understand reading as a transactional process, and exploring pre- and in-service teacher perspectives in order to enhance literacy instructional practices and experiences. She is a CLA Student Committee member. ​

The CLA Endowment: Enriching Research in Children's Literature

9/7/2021

 

By Miriam Martinez, on behalf of the CLA Endowment Committee

As members of the Children’s Literature Association (or as visitors to this website), we all value children’s literature. Books have the power to enrich lives, foster empathy, open doors, and promote learning.  As educators, we also recognize the importance of learning more about children’s literature and ways of connecting readers to books for a range of purposes. This means there is a need for research related to children’s literature.

Because the Children’s Literature Assembly is committed to supporting research, in 2004 the leaders of CLA began making plans to establish an endowment for two purposes: 
  • To support original research contributing to the field of children’s literature, and 
  • To support the dissemination of CLA’s yearly selections of Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts​.
Members of the CLA Endowment Committee:
  • Miriam Martinez
  • Ruth Lowery
  • Lauren Liang
  • Trish Bandre
  • Xenia Hadjioannou
  • Ally Hauptman
Then, in 2005 the Endowment was officially launched! The next several years were devoted to the hard work of building Endowment funds to a point that sufficient money existed to sustain this critical work. This hard work came to fruition in 2011 when the first research grant was awarded to Lori Ann Laster for her research on text selection for refugee youth. Since that beginning, the fund has helped to support the research of 12 scholars of children’s literature.  Here is just a sampling of some of the exciting work the Endowment has supported:
  • Dr. Grace Enriquez’s longitudinal case study focused on how teachers’ understandings of children’s literature for social justice education develop over time and space.
  • Dr. Evelyn Arizpe investigated changes in reading practices and reading responses among adolescents in Mexico over a 25-year period.
  • Dr. Adam Crawley explored elementary parents' perspectives on various gay and lesbian-inclusive picturebooks.
You can learn more about the work of these and other research award recipients on the CLA website.  

The Endowment Committee wo​uld like to invite you to participate in this important initiative either by helping us continue to grow the Endowment or by applying for the CLA Research Award. (And some of you may want to do both.)

Donations can be made to commemorate a special event, to honor a children's literature enthusiast, or just as an expression of commitment to the work of the endowment. There are two easy ways to donate to the Endowment:

Donate Directly on the CLA Website

Donate to support the mission of the CLA Endowment Fund.


The CLA Endowment Fund was established to support:


  • original research contributing to the field of children’s literature, and 
  • dissemination of CLA’s yearly selections of Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts.

 

Your contribution will provide invaluable support for these efforts.


You can dedicate your donation in honor of another person.

Donate

Your donations support The Vivian Yenika-Agbaw Student Conference Grant, which helps defray registration costs for the NCTE conference for undergraduate and graduate students with interest in children's literature.


The grant is named after the late Vivian Yenika-Agbaw, co-editor of the Journal of Children's Literature. Vivian was devoted to students and contributed greatly to the field of children's literature.


You can dedicate your donation in honor of another person.

Donate

Send a Check with your Donation

Send a check made out to Children’s Literature Assembly (with a note that the donation is for Endowment Fund) to the following address:

Children’s Literature Assembly
Trish Bandre
95 Wildcat Circle
Salina, KS 67401

If you are a member of CLA, consider applying for the CLA Research Award.  You can find more information about the application process at this link.

Picturebooks Exploring Issues of Poverty

​Finally, as a committee focused on providing financial support, and one comprised of children’s literature scholars and educators, we want to offer you a special thank you for your work in promoting children’s literature. Please find below a beginning list of picturebooks focused on poverty and financial issues, an important topic but one that is not often explored in books for children.
  • A Bike Like Sergio’s  (2018) by Maribeth Boelts, illustrated by Noah Z. Jones
  • A Chair for My Mother (1982) written and illustrated by Vera B. Williams
  • A Different Pond (2017) by Bao Phi,  illustrated by Thi Bui
  • Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay (2016) by Susan Hood, illustrated by Sally Wren Comport
  • Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse (2018) by Marcy Campbell, illustrated by Corinna Luyken
  • The Field  (2018) by Baptiste Paul, illustrated by Jacqueline Alcantara
  • The Floating Field: How A Group of Thai Boys Built Their Own Soccer Field (2021) by Scott Riley, illustrated by Nguyen Quang and Kim Lien
  • Last Stop on Market Street (2015) by Matt de la Pena, illustrated by Christian Robinson
  • Maddi’s Fridge (2014) by Lois Brandt, illustrated by Vin Vogel
  • The Most Beautiful Thing (2020)  by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Khoa Le
  • The Patchwork Bike  (2016) by Macine Beneba Clarke, illustrated by Van Thanh Rudd
  • Sunday Shopping  (2015) by Sally Derby, illustrated by Shadra Strickland
  • Thank You Omu! (2018) written and illustrated by Oge More
  • Tia Isa Wants a Car (2016) by Meg Medina, illustrated by Claudio Munoz
  • Tricycle (2007) by Elisa Amado, illustrated by Alfonso Ruano
  • Walk with Me (2017) by Jairo Buitrago, illustrated by Rafael Yockteng (and translated by Elisa Amado)
  • Watercress  (2021) by Andrea Wang, illustrated by Jason Chin
  • Yard Sale (2017) by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Lauren Castillo
Miriam Martinez is a Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is chair of CLA's endowment committee. 

Books for the First Week of School

9/1/2021

 

By Liz Thackeray Nelson, Lauren Aimonette Liang, and Xenia Hadjioannou

Last week, we invited our readers to share the books, texts, and other media they share with students during the first week of school. Thank you to all who shared their first week texts with us! Readers reported the books they share in their classrooms from elementary through doctoral-level courses! Below we share a few examples of the responses we received, with book titles and the teacher’s explanations of why and how they use the text. Perhaps you may find a new book or two to share with your students this year. 

Book cover: I Am Human
I Am Human: A Book of Empathy by Susan Verde; Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

​Used to help build community and set expectations for students.
Album cover: Anything Could Happen
"Anything Could Happen" music and lyrics by Dylan Cartlidge

​Used to create an upbeat atmosphere and help students not to set limits for what could happen this year. 

Book cover: This is my book!
This is My Book! by Mark Pett (and no one else)

​
​Used as a springboard to help students recognize that they are co-constructors in creating the class. 
Book cover: Where are you from?
Where Are You From? by Yamile Saied Méndez; illustrated by Jaime Kim

​Used to discuss how questions can carry underlying assumptions and how to create a classroom that is a safe space for everyone.

Book cover: From the bellybutton of the moon and other summer poems
From the Bellybutton of the Moon and Other Summer Poems/Del Ombligo de la Luna: Y Otros Poemas de Verano by Francisco Alarcón; illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez

​Used to help students begin exploring free verse poetry and to enjoy the work of a Mexican-American author.
Book cover: Garmann's Summer
Garmann's Summer by Stian Hole

​Used in an international children's literature course to contrast with a set of typical United States back-to-school books. Supports discussion of the complex emotional life of children and picturebooks' role in reaffirming feelings and supporting a better understanding of the reactions of others. 

Picture
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson; Illustrated by Rafael López

​Used to model how to set the tone in the classroom that honors diversity and a culture of sharing our stories.
Book cover: I Am One
I Am One: A Book of Action by Susan Verde; Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

​Used to remind students that all actions have an impact. 

Book cover: What do you do with a chance?
What Do You Do With A Chance? by Kobi Yamada; Illustrated by Mae Besom

​Used to help students see the class as an opportunity to soar and not a fearful or overwhelming experience.
Book cover: Lucha Libre
Lucha Libre: The Man in the Silver Mask by Xavier Garza

​Used in a university course on children's and adolescent literature to introduce to students excellent bilingual literature from a local author.

Book cover: My Papi has a motorcycle
My Papi Has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintero; Illustrated by Zeke Peña

​Used to help the Latinx students in the classroom see themselves and their community. 
Book cover: Multicultural literature
"Forward: Literature in the Lives of Latino Children" by Alma Flor Ada

​Used in a course for Literary and English Learners to help students recognize the importance of seeing and hearing one's home culture in literature and schools. 

Book cover: My Papi has a motorcycle
Teaching Critical Thinking Chapter 8: Conversation by bell hooks

​Used to help university students understand that learning is a collective experience and not accomplished in isolation. 
Xenia Hadjioannou is Associate Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the Harrisburg Campus of Penn State. She is Vice President of CLA and co-editor of the CLA Blog.

Lauren Aimonette Liang is Associate Professor at the Deparment of Educational Psychology of the University of Utah. She is Past President of CLA and co-editor of the CLA Blog.

Liz Thackeray Nelson is a doctoral candidate at the University of Utah. She is co-chair of CLA's membership committee and co-editor of the CLA Blog.

    Authors:
    CLA Members

    Supporting PreK-12 and university teachers as they share children’s literature with their students in all classroom contexts.

    Disclaimer
    The opinions and ideas posted in the individual entries are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of CLA or the Blog Editors.

    Blog Editors

    Xenia Hadjioannou
    Lauren Liang
    Liz Thackeray Nelson

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    If you are a current CLA member and you would like to contribute a post to the CLA Blog, please read the Instructions to Authors and email co-editor Liz Thackeray Nelson with your idea.


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