Category: Activism

Concerned about Book Bans? CLA-SC Webinar Panelists Inform and Empower Attendees

11/29/2022

By Emmaline Ellis, Laurie Esposito, and Jennifer Slagus

In response to an increase in attempts to ban and challenge various children’s and young adult books, the topic of this year’s Children’s Literature Assembly Student Committee (CLA-SC) Annual Student Webinar was “Book Bans: Who, How, and Why?” As a committee with diverse experiences, interests, and roles in the field of children’s literature, the CLA-SC members find these movements to be particularly concerning, as the targeted books are often those that feature characters who are LGBTQIA+, Black, or Hispanic. While some book challenges have received pushback, many others have been successful. These decisions made us wonder - how do books become banned? What is the reasoning supporting these bans? And, who are the decision-makers behind book bans? These burning questions were the guiding focus of this year’s CLA-SC Student Webinar.

In order to learn more about the decision-making processes behind book bans, we enlisted the expertise of four esteemed panelists, all of whom are CLA Committee or Board Members. In this post, we summarize and highlight each panelists’ professional or personal experiences and insight as they relate to book bans, and conclude by sharing the informative and helpful resources shared throughout the Webinar. CLA Members can access a video recording of the webinar within the members-only section of the CLA website.

Dr. Rachel Skrlac Lo
Our first panelist shared the story of a book challenge in her suburban Philadelphia school district. Dr. Rachel Skrlac Lo, Assistant Professor of Education at Villanova University and parent of a child in the district, described the district’s response when a fellow parent challenged Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer. In violation of its own protocol, the district removed the book from the high school library pending review by an anonymous ad hoc committee. Various district stakeholders justified the challenge with concerns about potentially harmful psychological effects and age appropriateness. Dr. Skrlac Lo countered these unsubstantiated concerns with empirical data on the harm under-representation in schools causes LGBTQIA+ youth.

Although Gender Queer was ultimately returned to the library’s shelves in June 2022, Dr. Skrlac Lo pointed out that a single complaint rendered the book inaccessible to all students for nearly an entire academic year. In concluding her presentation, Dr. Skrlac Lo focused on ways in which we can act against book challenges and bans in schools. She encouraged us to share our expertise through engagement in public discourse. For example, we could join community groups, attend committee meetings, write to legislators, and write op-ed pieces for local publications. Perhaps most importantly, she urged us to “resist and push against” deficit narratives as we listen to and support members of groups targeted by censorship efforts.

Breakout Quote for Dr. Skrlac Lo:
...in this case, these book challenges weren’t about pushing us to really think about concern for the child. They are political posturing of power.

Dr. Nadine Bryce
Dr. Nadine Bryce, an Associate Professor of Literacy at Hunter College, presented on “Book Challenges, Book Bans, and Anti-CRT Laws: New York.” Dr. Bryce spoke to the “how” processes behind book bans by sharing information about the history of book bans, particularly in New York, and included personal anecdotes from educators with whom she spoke about this topic. Book challenges and bans seem to occur with more frequency and noise in other states, and Dr. Bryce was surprised to learn that there are two bills currently pending in the New York State Legislature that would restrict the use of certain books or topics based on their reference to racism or Critical Race Theory. Dr. Bryce put forth a passionate argument that while certain books may not be appropriate for certain age groups, adults can make informed choices about whether or not individual readers are equipped to handle critical engagement with literature. Dr. Bryce echoed Rudine Sims Bishop’s (1990) seminal piece on windows, mirrors, and doors, and advocated for children’s access to all books so that they can locate themselves and others within literature. Book bans are restrictive, instill fear, and create complicated power relationships. Instead, by ensuring that children have thoughtful access to all books, literature can continue to create pathways for children to reimagine and transform our world.

Breakout Quote for Dr. Bryce:
We can probably agree that not every book is good for every reader, but books with challenging subject matter that generates strong emotions can teach us a lot about how to harness the power of discomfort that is a part of our lives and our world. Parents are the first arbiters of whether or not a book was appropriate for a child, but banning books from all children is restrictive and has larger implications, instilling fear and seeking control over who has access to difficult stories, and limits opportunities for all.

Dr. Wendy Stephens
As an experienced school librarian and current Associate Professor and School Librarian Chair at Jacksonville State University, Dr. Wendy Stephens has experience navigating the topic of challenged books censorship with both high school students and parents and future librarians. Dr. Stephens poignantly made the case for school librarians to defend libraries as “laboratories of intellectual freedom,” citing the 1982 Supreme Court case Island Trees School District versus Pico, when a group of students legally challenged a movement by local parents to ban “permissive” literature from their district’s libraries. The Supreme Court ruled that based on the rights upheld by the First Amendment, public schools cannot restrict access to books based on their content. Due to this landmark case, Dr. Stephens provided the webinar attendees with “overarching intellectual freedom principles” to aid in the selection of texts for school libraries (i.e. “have a policy and stick to the policy”), as well as strategies for when a book is being reconsidered (i.e. have your reconsideration committee established before a book is challenged). By using these strategies, librarians can minimize outside scrutiny while still serving students’ needs and interests. To preserve students’ intellectual freedom, adults should shift their focus from defending specific titles and authors to advocating against book bans in general. In her conclusion, Dr. Stephens provided a list of useful resources from the Alabama School Library Association: Intellectual Freedom Committee.

Breakout Quote for Dr. Stephens:
It’s incumbent on librarians to defend student expression as well as the right to receive information.

Dr. Lester Laminack
Our final panelist, Dr. Lester Laminack, is a children’s author and educational consultant. He shared his experience growing up gay in the southern United States during a time when children’s books did not hold stories of kids like him. Dr. Laminack traced the historic resonance of this exclusion and discussed how exclusion and fear still inform the rampant book bans seen across the country today. Efforts toward literary exclusion and restriction have resulted in thousands of books facing challenges or bans, many for their LGBTQIA+ and anti-racist content. Yet, Dr. Laminack answered this bleak reality with hope. In harkening back to the 2021 and 2022 theme of Banned Books Week, he shared that “Books unite us, but censorship divides us.” He argued that a child’s only censor for what they read should be their own parents’ decisions, not the opinions of elected officials or other anonymous adults. Like Dr. Bryce, Dr. Laminack emphasized the importance of mirrors and windows (Bishop, 1990) within children’s literature, and provided an emotionally provoking discussion on the benefits of LGBTQIA+ representation. As it is through sharing the stories of diverse experiences—of the reality of fear and pain, but also of joy—that books offer insight and spark conversations that can “help students focus on what they have in common. Those are the windows.” And it is those mirrors and windows that, Dr. Laminack notes, enable children’s literature to have the “power to make us more human.”

Breakout Quote for Dr. Laminack:
Literature provides our youth an opportunity to broaden their visions of what it is like to share their deepest truth, to face their greatest fears, to live through the aftermath of their experience…But until we have access to books, we don’t have those windows. We can’t broaden ourselves.

Conclusion
This year’s Student Webinar was eye-opening and insightful, thanks to our four wonderful panelists whose passionate presentations helped us to understand the decision-making processes behind book bans and book challenges. We hope we can speak for all of the attendees of this event when we say that the webinar helped us feel informed and empowered to push back against such processes.

Throughout the webinar, our esteemed panelists shared a number of resources about banned and challenged books, as well as strategies to advocate for children’s access to all books.

Webinar Resources:

Recording of 2022 Webinar available to CLA Members
Alabama School Library Association: Intellectual Freedom Committee Recommended Resources
Articles from The Radnorite, Radnor High School Student Newspaper:
- "To ban or not to ban: What belongs in Radnor’s classrooms"
- "I experienced censorship, now I fear for our democracy"
Blogpost by Dr. Laminack, "Why We Need LGBTQ+ Literature for Children and Youth"
It Gets Better Project, resources in support of LGBTQIA+ youth
Kenneth Kidd’s “Not Censorship but Selection”: Censorship and/as Prizing (2009)
Nancy Larrick’s The All-White World of Children's Books (1965)
Podcast Read the Room
Video of Rudine Sims Bishop on Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors

Emmaline Ellis (she/her/hers) is a PhD Candidate in the Literacy and Learners program at Temple University and the current Chair of the CLA Student Committee. Emmaline’s research interests include investigating how the design of picturebooks influences book-related discussion in early learning environments.

Laurie Esposito (she/her/hers) is a PhD Candidate in the Literacy and Learners program at Temple University and a member of the CLA Student Committee. She is interested in the use of reader response theories to explore students’ use of immersive reading technologies and culturally conscious texts.

Jennifer Slagus (they/she) is a multiply-neurodivergent PhD student in Social, Cultural, and Political Contexts of Education at Brock University (Canada) and a member of the CLA Student Committee. Their research focuses on neurodivergent representation in 21st century literature for middle grade readers.

CLA-SC Member List:
· Emmaline Ellis
· Laurie Esposito
· Wenyu Guo
· Ling Hao
· Ashley Johnson
· Jennifer Pulliam
· Jennifer Slagus
· Meghan Valerio

Teaching and Learning Opportunities with Make Meatballs Sing

5/30/2022

By Denise Dávila on Behalf of the Biography Clearinghouse

Regarded as The Rebel Nun, the Pop Art Nun, and Andy Warhol's Kindred Spirit, Sister Corita Kent (1918–1986) was a member of the Immaculate Heart Community of Los Angeles, California. She created multimodal art prints that were social commentaries on poverty, injustice, and war. As the artist of "The Rainbow Swash" (1971), the largest copyrighted rainbow in the world, and the designer of US Postal Service's best selling "Love Stamp” (1985), Sister Corita also used her art and her voice to promote the kind of hope, love, and kindness that overcomes barriers and unites people.

In the highly acclaimed picturebook biography Make Meatballs Sing: The Life and Art of Corita Kent (2021, Enchanted Lion Books), author Matthew Burgess and illustrator Kara Kramer engage readers in a multimodal exploration of an extraordinary person’s life and legacy that resulted in nearly “800 serigraph editions, thousands of watercolors, and innumerable public and private commissions” according to The Corita Art Center of Los Angeles, CA. Learn more about Corita Kent at: www.corita.org.

The Biography Clearinghouse entry for Make Meatballs Sing includes and interview with Matthew Burgess and several recommendations for working with the book. Below is an excerpt of the teaching ideas in the entry.

Free Curriculum Guide

Using Viewfinders

Sister Corita Kent authored provocative multimodal compositions that were inspired by looking closely at ordinary objects and were imbued with intertextual meanings. As suggested in Make Meatballs Sing, much of her work began by focusing her attention on specific elements and blocking out others. She employed cardboard viewfinders with her students as tools for developing the skill of looking. These next activities build upon the use of viewfinders in the classroom. They are adapted from the Make Meatballs Sing Curriculum Guide.

If you have 1 - 2 hours

Make and Use Viewfinders
Invite students to make viewfinders, like those Sister Corita Kent asked her students to create, from everyday materials like recycled cardboard, heavy paper, or cardstock. Encourage students to use their finders to examine things in their classrooms, schools, homes, neighborhoods, and other venues. Take a walking field trip in the vicinity of the school to take a closer look and find unexpected surprises. After returning to the classroom, invite students to write about what they noticed and to discuss their experiences in looking and seeing in a different way.

If you have 1 - 2 days

Develop a Scavenger Hunt
Invite students to develop a scavenger hunt for another looking tour. Welcome them to generate ideas for their types of objects, shapes, attributes, or other elements they should look on the tour. For example, students might search for things that are green, billowy, jagged, smooth, angular, etc. Encourage students to bring a sketchbook to capture the images they find during the scavenger hunt. Alternatively, they could use digital cameras to document their findings. Upon returning to the classroom, encourage students to identify their favorite "find" from the hunt and to contribute it to a class collage. Students could collaborate in the creation of a visual patchwork akin with the art collage that appears on the back jacket of Make Meatballs Sing.

If you have 1 - 2 weeks

Create a Multimodal Composition for Screen Painting
Invite students to use their findings from their scavenger hunts to create multimodal compositions that incorporate images and texts. Present an array of Sister Corita’s prints as models. Encourage students to incorporate epigraphs or quotes from texts that are meaningful to them. Alternatively and/or additionally, invite students to create images based on their looking exercises that could be used for a simple screen painting project. Several resources are available online for creating serigraphy with students. Here is one approach that uses embroidery frames.

Denise Dávila is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin. She studies children’s literature and researches the home literacy practices of families with young children in under-resourced communities.

Teaching and Learning Possibilities with Duncan Tonatiuh's "Soldier for Equality"

5/17/2022

By Erika Thulin Dawes and Xenia Hadjioannou on behalf of the Biography Clearinghouse

We close out the school year immersed in social strife and conflict. Our students are grappling both with big questions about humanity and substantial uncertainties about everyday life. Recent research describes rising mental health concerns for young people (Acheson, 2020; Cowie & Myers, 2021; Samji et al. 2022) and it’s not surprising that maintaining optimism is challenging in the context of war, a global pandemic, and climate change. As educators, we are seeking ways to provide our students with grounding and with hope. And we believe that biographies, life stories of inspiring people, can help to provide both an anchor and inspiration. Our latest Biography Clearinghouse entry features Duncan Tonatiuh’s picturebook biography Soldier for Equality: José de la Luz Sáenz and the Great War. Using his trademark illustrative style, digital collage inspired by Mixtec Pre-Columbian art, Tonatiuh describes the World War I experiences of ‘Luz’; a teacher, activist, Texan, and a person with Mexican heritage.

Toniatiuh’s biography of José de la Luz Sáenz is a powerful narrative of the transformative power of literacy. Luz’s education and multilingualism were instrumental in his life trajectory; his knowledge allowed him to navigate the battlefield safely, keeping him out of the trenches and instead in a fortified command post for the intelligence service. He developed his skills in organizing while teaching English to Mexican American soldiers. And upon his return to teaching when the war was over, he turned his outrage over unequal schooling for Mexican American children into activism, establishing the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), an organization that helped to end the segregation of Latinx children from white schools.

In our Biography Clearinghouse entry, we provide an interview with Duncan Tonatiuh and a collection of teaching ideas to support student exploration of Soldier for Equality. These teaching ideas encourage students to consider the transformative power of literacy and the generative power of community organizing and activism. They include: an exploration of translanguaging and theme development in picturebooks; a history of and contemporary look at the experience of minoritized populations in the United States army; a call to allyship to counter bullying; a visual literacy exercise exploring traditional artistic motifs; and a tribute to teacher activists.

Below is an excerpt of the teaching ideas in the Biography Clearinghouse entry for Soldier for Equality: José de la Luz Sáenz and the Great War:

Social Justice Concerns in Personal Lives and Society

Throughout his life, Luz identified injustices levied against Mexican Americans, and engaged in purposeful actions to work against these injustices and promote equity. In Soldier for Equality, readers encounter several instances of prejudice and discrimination against Luz, because of his status as a Mexican American. Readers also get to see purposeful actions Luz is taking to fight against these injustices.

As a class, create parallel lists of (a) instances of prejudicial treatment Luz encountered and (b) purposeful actions he took to work against those injustices and bring about equality and fair treatment.

At the micro/personal level: Invite students to locate instances of prejudicial treatment and unfairness in their daily lives. Are there certain people who are persistently teased, gossiped about, called names, bullied, or excluded? What would be some specific purposeful actions they could take to work against those patterns of mistreatment and exclusion?
At the macro/social level: Invite students to locate instances of prejudicial treatment and injustice in modern society. What are some aspects of modern society where unjust treatment is still an issue? Who is taking purposeful action to combat these injustices? What actions are they taking? Depending on the age of the students and on the time available, this can lead to inquiry projects into the lives of modern day activists and/or the work of social action organizations such as LULAC and the NAACP.

RECENT ENTRIES

Teachers as Activists

If you have two hours…	If you have two days…	If you have two weeks…
Read or reread Soldier for Equality: José de la Luz Sáenz and the Great War and ask students to make note of the meaning that education, language, and reading and writing had in his life. Record students' thoughts on a two column chart with one column labeled ‘claims’ and the second column labeled ‘evidence from the book.’ Next, pair students up, asking students to interview each other about the roles of language and literacy in their lives. Prior to conducting the interviews, brainstorm a list of questions to ask. Questions could include: What languages do you speak? What language are spoken in your family? In your community? What does it mean to you to be bilingual? Why is education important to you? What do you hope to achieve through education? What do you read and why do you read? What do you hope to learn and/or achieve by reading? What do you write and why do you write? What do you hope to create and/or achieve through writing?	The text set outlined below features the life stories of teachers who also served as activists. Divide students into small groups, each group responsible for reading one of the picturebooks listed below. Brown, M. (2010). Side by side: the story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez = Lado a lado: la historia de Dolores Huerta y Cesar Chavez. Ill. by J. Cepeda. Rayo. Halfmann, J. (2018). Midnight teacher: Lilly Ann Granderson and her secret school. Ill. by L. Ladd. Lee & Low. Harvey, J.W. (2022). Ablaze with color: A story of painter Alma Thomas. Ill. by Loveis Wise. HarperCollins. Rhuday-Perkovich, O. (2018). Someday is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-ins. Ill. by J. Johnson. Seagrass Press. Wallace, S.N. & Wallace, R. (2020). The teachers march! How Selma’s teachers changed history. Ill. by C. Palmer. Calkins Creek. Provide each group with a graphic organizer on which to record notes about the subject of their biography. Students can record: the name, birth, and death dates of their subject; where their subject lived and worked; key achievements of their subject; challenges faced by their subject; beliefs about education held by their subject. To share their learning about these teacher activists with their classmates, ask each group to create and perform a monologue in the voice of their subject. The monologue should highlight the information captured in their graphic organizers.	As an extension of the text set exploration of teacher activists, engage students in a discussion of all the people that serve as teachers in their lives. In which settings do they learn beyond school? Who are the people who mentor, guide, and teach them in all the realms of their lives? Invite students to consider what they could compose, create, or make to honor and celebrate their teachers. Possible projects could include: Interviewing their teachers to create profiles honoring them Developing a forum for community members to publicly thank teachers who have made a meaningful difference in their lives (bulletin board in the school or local public library, social media campaign) Letter writing to thank significant teachers Establishment of a teacher recognition award with student developed award criteria

Citations

Acheson, R. (2020). Research digest: The impact of the covid-19 pandemic on child, adolescent, young adult, and family mental health. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 46(3), 429-440. https://doi.org/10.1080/0075417X.2021.1912810

Cowie, H., & Myers, C. (2021). The impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the mental health and well‐being of children and young people. Children & Society, 35(1), 62-74. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12430

Samji, H., Wu, J., Ladak, A., Vossen, C., Stewart, E., Dove, N., Long, D., & Snell, G. (2022). Review: Mental health impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on children and youth – a systematic review. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 27(2), 173-189. https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12501

Erika Thulin Dawes is a Professor of Language and Literacy at Lesley University where she teaches courses in children’s literature and early childhood literacy and is the program director of the graduate Early Childhood Education program. Erika is a former chair of NCTE’s Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children.

Xenia Hadjioannou is an Associate Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the Harrisburg campus of Penn State University where she teaches and works with pre- and in-service teachers through various courses in language and literacy methodology. She is the Vice President and Website Manager of the Children's Literature Assembly, and a co-editor of The CLA Blog.

The Bonnie Campbell Hill National Literacy Leader Award
Call for Applications

Do you have a vision for a leadership initiative that stands to improve and enhance literacy teaching and learning ffor students and/or teachers? Consider applying for the 2022 Bonnie Campbell Hill National Literacy Leader Award.

Reading "How War Changed Rondo" to Open Conversations about the War in Ukraine

3/8/2022

by Oksana Lushchevska

It takes a village to heal warriors – and it takes a warrior to teach the village how” state Raymond Monsour Scurfield and Katherine Theresa Platoni in their scholarly text Healing War Trauma: A Handbook of Creative Approaches.

Following the horrific news from Ukraine, an independent, rapidly developing country located in eastern Europe, US educators and literature advocates seek tools to facilitate starting conversations about the devastating effects of war on humanity and the support every individual can offer, regardless of where they are.

Children’s books can serve as a great tool to start deliberate, responsible conversations through classroom dialogue. Jella Lepman (1891-1970), a German journalist, author, and translator who founded the International Youth Library in Munich right after WWII, believed that children’s books are couriers of peace. She was certain that if children read books from other countries, they would realize that they share common human values and strive to preserve them.

I believe that we, as global-minded educators and literature advocates, should, to use Scurfield and Platoni’s words, become warriors of peace; peacemakers who prepare our children to grow into wise, understanding, and sympathetic global citizens who have the will and the capacity to heal the world. Being originally from Ukraine and witnessing this horrific war unfolding in my country, where all my family and friends live, I feel the cruciality of this duty urgently and viscerally. Thus, I want to bring to your attention the picturebook How War Changed Rondo, which is a Ukrainian export. The book has been recognized as a Kirkus Best Book of 2021 and as a USBBY Outstanding International Book of 2022.

Interestingly, this book was created by the Ukrainian book creators Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv in 2014. The book won the 2015 Bologna Ragazzi Award, which is one of the most prestigious European Awards in children’s literature. I translated this book as soon as it was written. It was an imperative for me to bring it to the attention of English-speaking readers as it highlights a vital turning point in Ukraine's independent history: Russia’s annexation of Crimea and occupation of the eastern part of Ukraine in 2014 (Ukraine has been an independent country since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991). I also felt responsibility to share with global young readers that we, as human beings, all want peace and democracy; we want to create and to thrive. In the picturebook, through the fictionalized characters, Danko (a light bulb), Fabian (a pink balloon dog), and Zirka (an origami bird), Romanyshyn and Lesiv depict the horrors of invasion of one’s own country, the impact of war, and the destruction in brings to everyone.

When I translated the text, I brought it to my classroom. It was 2015 and I taught a Children’s Literature course at the University of Georgia. When my students, who were future educators, read the text of How War Changed Rondo (the book was not yet published in the US), their empathy was sharp and deep. What’s important to know – I read the text without showing them the illustrations, so they could imagine the characters by themselves. After the reading, I invited them to write down their responses or/and to draw them. In particular, I invited them to imagine who the characters of the book are and what their injuries might look like. This was a very fruitful experience that further connected my students emotionally with the text and grounded their empathy. Finally, I showed them Andriy Lesiv’s original illustrations and they were touched by the perspective they created. You can use a similar approach when reading this picturebook in your classroom, or you can do it your own way. The possibilities are endless. You might also like to pair it with a short professional animated video of The War That Changed Rondo recently done by Chervony Sobaka (Red Dog Studio). This will be a good set to bring an intelligent perspective on such an important topic.

The War That Changed Rondo from Chervony Sobaka on Vimeo.

In wrapping up, I wanted to leave you with some insights from the experiences of the Ukrainian people faced with the recent events. Children are not afraid to talk about serious topics. In fact, they are willing and eager to do it. While many of my Ukrainian colleagues are hiding in bomb shelters, they seek children’s books to soothe their children through the difficulties and hardship. Ukrainian publishers have distributed free digital copies of contemporary Ukrainian children’s books, some of which are books about peace and war. In this way, children can choose what they want to read and talk about. Some of them ask to read about peace to strengthen their hope. Others ask to read about war to have the possibility for catharsis.

Ukrainian Publishers and Literary Agencies Participating in the Free Book Initiative

Crocus/Krokus Publishers

Old Lion Publishing House/ Vydavnytstvo Staroho Leva

Barabooka Literary Agency

Ranok Publishers

Vivat Publishers

Vydavnytstvo Publishers

While Ukraine is going through this terrible experience, we here in the USA have a responsibility to help our young readers to grow into empathetic adults who will definitely create better, life-altering history for humanity to avoid tragedies such as this. In addition, I want to invite all US publishers to seek out contemporary Ukrainian books, especially books that might portray a unique perspective on the subject of war, tyranny, and shared human values. I suspect that there will be a lot of books soon, as many writers, myself included, are writing down their experiences to create a solid piece of history for the future generations. Such books can keep us accountable to the past, inspire endless possibilities of anti-war art such as the Never Again War poster created by Käthe Kollwitz in 1924, and guide us to do our best to prevent wars and create a bright hopeful future.

For more information about Ukrainian children’s books, please write to:

olushchevska@gmail.com

Translated from Ukrainian and readily available in the United States:

Picturebooks:

How Many? (By Halyna Kyrpa and illustrated by Olha Havrylova. Translated by Oksana Lushchevska. Bratske Publishers, 2014. Kindle Edition.)

Mr. Catsky, Mira, and the Sea (By Oksana Lushchevska and illustrated by Violetta Borigard. Bratske Publishers, 2015. Kindle Edition.)

And more from the team of Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv:

Sound: Shh…Bang…Pop…BOOM! (Chronicle Books, 2021)

Sight: Glimmer, Glow, Spark, Flash! (Chronicle Books, 2020)

Stars and Poppy Seeds (Tate, 2019)

Loudly, Softly, in a Whisper (Wonder House Books, 2017)

I See That (Wonder House Books, 2017)

Chapter Books and Longer Books:

Letters on the War: Children Write to Soldiers (Edited by Valentyna Vzdulska, Oksana Oksana, Julia Berezenko, and illustrated by Olena Staranchuk. Translated by Oksana Lushchevska and Michale Naydan. Bratske Publishers, 2015. Kindle Edition.)

Heart in Flames: Tales of Action and Intrigue (By Antaoly Koetesky and illustrated by Olexandr Zastanchenko. Translated by Oles Kovalenko and Vasil Baryshev. Dnipro Publishers, 1990.)

Set in Ukraine or Related to Ukraine:

Picturebooks:

The Mitten (By Jan Brett. Putnam’s Sons, 2009.)

The Mitten (By Alvin Tresselt and illustrated by Yaroslava. HarperCollins, 1989.)

The Birds' Gift: A Ukrainian Easter Story (Retold by Eric A. Kimmel and Illustrated by Katya Krenina. Holiday, 1999.)

The Spider's Gift: A Ukrainian Christmas Story (Retold by Eric A. Kimmel and Illustrated by Katya Krenina. Holiday, 2010.)

Chapter Books and Longer Books:

Alias Anna: A True Story of Outwitting the Nazis (By Susan Hood with Greg Dawson. HarperCollins, 2022.)

The Midnight Zoo (By Sonya Harnett. Candlewick, 2011.)

The Blackbird Girls (By Anne Blankman. Puffin (Reprint Edition), 2021.)

The Winter Horses (By Philip Kerr. Knopf, 2014.)

My Real Name is Hanna (By Tara Lynn Masih, 2018.)

Radiant Girl (By Andrea White, Black Spot Books, 2018.)

The Secret of Priest's Grotto: A Holocaust Survival Story (By Peter Lane Taylor & Christos Nicola, Kar-Ben, 2007.)

Donating to Help

If you are looking for donation options to support the people of Ukraine, here are some outlets for your consideration.

Polish Literacy Foundation: Raising funds to buy books for refugee children from Ukraine (and support Ukrainian publishers at the same time)
- For details, you can read Joanne O'Sullivan's article on Publishers Weekly: Polish Literacy Foundation Leads Relief Efforts for Ukrainian Kids
Ukrainian Red Cross: They organize educational services, provide sanitary materials and coordinate blood donations.
UNICEF: They provide medical aid, food, and psychological support to children.
Voices of Children: They provide psychological services to Ukrainian children impacted by armed conflict. You may be interested intheir digital storytelling project.
International Rescue Committee: The IRC provides food, medical care and emergency support services to refugee families in several countries, including Ukraine.
Come Back Alive: They provide assistance to around 100 combat units of the Ukrainian armed forces to cover the real-time needs of defending Ukraine.

ArmySOS: They provide support to the Ukrainian army.
Future Ukraine Fund: They support the most vulnerable children in Ukraine. Currently they provide assistance to the Ohmadit Children’s Hospital in Kyiv that cares for children and mothers affected by the war.
Help Ukraine Win: They are fundraising to provide essential supplies to Ukrainian people who fight against Russian aggression on the front line.

References
Lepman, J. (2002). A bridge of children’s books: the inspiring autobiography of a remarkable woman. Dublin, Ireland: The O’Brien Press, Ltd.
Romanyshyn, R., Lesiv A., How War Changed Rondo. New York: Enchanted Lion Books.
Scurfield, R. M., Platoni, K. Th. (2012). Healing War Trauma: A Handbook of Creative Approaches. New York: Routledge.

Oksana Lushchevska, Ph.D. is an independent children's literature scholar and a Ukrainian children's book author and translator. She is a publishing industry and government consultant in Ukraine and founder of Story+I Writing Group. She was a recipient of the 2015 CLA Research Award.
Website: http://www.lushchevska.com

Exploring the Life of Eleanor Roosevelt with “Eleanor Makes Her Mark”

11/2/2021

By Mary Ann Cappiello and Jenn Sanders, on behalf of The Biography Clearinghouse

“The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear.” This quote greets readers of Barbara Kerley and Edwin Fotheringham’s latest collaboration, Eleanor Makes Her Mark: How Eleanor Roosevelt Reached Out, Spoke Up, and Changed the World. Kerley drops her readers right into the busy preparations for Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first inauguration, grounding readers in Eleanor’s public identity as the forthcoming First Lady. But then Kerley brings the readers back in time to Eleanor’s unhappy childhood and early adolescent years. Kerley’s characterization of Eleanor builds across the text: shy and quiet girl, engaged intellectual, socialite seeking purpose by teaching calisthenics in settlement houses and researching working conditions in garment factories, and, ultimately First Lady of the United States. As First Lady, Eleanor’s travels continued around the United States and across the Globe as she investigated working conditions, discrimination, and the effects of the devastation of The Great Depression and World War II. Kerley concludes the biography with Eleanor’s position as delegate to the newly formed United States General Assembly, working on the committee that authored the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Throughout the book, illustrator Edwin Fotheringam works with visual metaphors to emphasize Eleanor’s unflagging energy and her ability to bring people together. In the cover illustration, Eleanor jumps off of a globe, streaming a banner of paper dolls holding hands that trails in her wake. Fotheringham peppers the book with swirling lines of motion, highlighting Eleanor’s boundless verve, vivacity, and constant travel. Fotheringham also continues the hand-holding motif throughout the book to reinforce the ways in which Eleanor Roosevelt brought people together and made them feel seen, heard, and respected. Paper dolls thread through the backgrounds, and Eleanor is often depicted holding hands or connected to the people with whom she is interacting, like one long, human, paper chain.

Eleanor Roosevelt’s life work supporting families in under-resourced communities, creating safe working conditions, and promoting world peace has never been more relevant. While we have not lived through the same long-term economic devastation of The Great Depression, the COVID-19 pandemic has created an economic crisis for millions of Americans and billions across the globe. Congress and the White House are engaged in complex conversations and negotiations about the role of government, debating what social programs, safety nets, and infrastructure investments are appropriate in the 21st century; the same kinds of conversations Eleanor Roosevelt engaged in with her husband and their White House staff. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed how very interconnected our world is, a theme exemplified in the life and work of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Using the Investigate, Explore, and Create Model of The Biography Clearinghouse, we offer a range of critical teaching and learning experiences to use with Eleanor Makes Her Mark: How Eleanor Roosevelt Reached Out, Spoke Up, and Changed the World on our site. In our interview with Barbara Kerley and Edwin Fotheringham, you can learn about their research and creating processes. Highlighted here are two ideas inspired by the book.

First Ladies and Social Media

During our interview, Barb Kerley shared that she found a treasure trove of information about Eleanor Roosevelt’s daily life in archives of Eleanor’s (almost) daily column, “My Day,” which ran in papers across the country from 1935 to 1962. Laughing, Barb suggested that the column was Eleanor Roosevelt’s version of social media. After reading Eleanor Makes Her Mark, leverage Eleanor’s “My Day” column as an opportunity for your middle school students to explore how First Ladies have used the tools at their disposal to communicate directly with the public.

To learn more about the column, you can explore the resources of The George Washington University’s Digital Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project. Read her column by year or search for specific content across the years. After students have had an opportunity to read some columns, have them compare and contrast them with one another. What do they learn about Eleanor Roosevelt, and the circumstances of the world she lived in? How do the columns extend the understanding of Eleanor’s public life they received from Eleanor Makes Her Mark? How do they challenge their understanding?

Next, provide students with the opportunity to compare and contrast how the current and most recent First Ladies have used social media to speak with the public. Because some comments on social media are not appropriate for tweens to read, we recommend that you select some tweets from each First Lady and share them with your students. You can choose from First Lady Jill Biden’s (@FLOTUS) Twitter account, former First Lady Melania Trump’s (@MELANIATRUMP) Twitter account or her archived @FLOTUS Twitter account, former First Lady Michele Obama’s current (@MichelleObama) Twitter account or her archived @FLOTUS Twitter account, and former First Lady Laura Bush’s current (@laurawbush) Twitter account.

Synthesize the exploration by asking students to compare and contrast what they see as most valuable in the communications they explored. Why is it important for First Ladies--or First Gentlemen, or First Spouses--to communicate directly with the public? What kind of information is valuable for them to share, and why?

Creating Diagrams to Add Information

Writers and artists often choose to represent information visually with a diagram. Ed Fotheringham talked about his process of researching the floorplans of the White House and deciding how to show the inside of the White House. He ultimately settled on a cut-away diagram that is similar to a cross-section diagram. Diana Aston and Sylvia Long also use diagrams masterfully in their informational books An Egg is Quiet (2006) and A Seed is Sleepy (2007). Explore the power of diagrams to carry information with your students.

If you have 1-2 hours…	If you have 1-2 days…	If you have 1-2 weeks…
Using the images in Eleanor Makes Her Mark and those shown in the Interview Video [9:10], compare and contrast Ed Fotheringham’s floorplan diagrams with his modified cross-section diagrams of the White House. Discuss with students the pros and cons of each diagram and the different kinds of information conveyed in each.	After comparing the two kinds of diagrams Ed considered to represent Eleanor Roosevelt’s movement throughout the White House, read one of Aston and Long’s books noted above. Read it once to enjoy and a second time to notice and note the different diagrams used: a scaled diagram, timeline, cross section, surface diagram, graph, flowchart, etc. Pay attention to how the diagrams are labeled and/or captioned. Have students go back to an informational piece they have written and consider what kind of diagram would be useful. Then, give them time to draw the diagram and add it to their writing. If students don’t already have an informational piece in progress, you can have them do a quickwrite about something they know a lot about (an animal, instrument, sport, etc.), and then ask them to consider what additional information might be interesting to readers that they could add with a visual diagram. Again, provide time for them to search for the information and create the diagram in their draft.	Facilitate an informational writing unit, where students expand on the quickwrite started in the middle column and create a draft that uses two different kinds of diagrams (there are more than the ones listed above, such as a chart or table, a bar graph, etc.). You can also guide students in using some of the writing craft strategies that Barb uses in her biography, such as beginning with a problem (e.g., planning the inauguration ceremony, being more than a hostess) or stating the theme of the text early on (“She’d hoped to ‘leave some mark upon the world.’”) and using a repeated phrase to thread that theme throughout the text (e.g., “leave her mark”). (You might also explore some of the ideas on writer’s craft in other Biography Clearinghouse entries, such as using historically accurate dialogue in informational texts discussed in the She Persisted: Claudette Colvin entry.)

Visit The Biography Clearinghouse for several more teaching ideas for Eleanor Makes Her Mark and the other biography units we have on the website!

Mary Ann Cappiello teaches courses in children’s literature and literacy methods at Lesley University, blogs about teaching with children’s literature at The Classroom Bookshelf, a School Library Journal blog, and is a former chair of NCTE’s Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction K-8.

Jennifer Sanders is an Associate Professor of Literacy Education at Oklahoma State University, specializing in representations of diversity in children’s and young adult literature and writing pedagogy. She is co-founder and co-chair of The Whippoorwill Book Award for Rural YA Literature and long-time member of CLA.

A Partnership of Poetry and Politics: Carole Boston Weatherford’s Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement

4/13/2021

BY JENNIFER M. GRAFF & JOYCE BALCOS BUTLER, ON BEHALF OF THE BIOGRAPHY CLEARINGHOUSE

Our current celebration of poetry as a powerful cultural artifact and the national dialogue about voting rights generated by the introduction of 300+ legislative voting-restriction and 800+ voting-expansion bills in 47 states have inspired a rereading of the evocative, award-winning picturebook biography, Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement. Written by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Ekua Holmes, and published by Candlewick Press in 2015, Voice of Freedom offers a vivid portrait of the life and legacy of civil rights activist, Fannie Lou Hamer. Her famous statement, “All my life I’ve been sick and tired. Now I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired” (p.18) serves as a testimonial to the psychological and physiological effects of the injustices and violence inflicted upon Hamer and other Black community members in Mississippi. Additionally, Hamer’s statement signifies her tenacity, conviction, and unwavering fight for voting rights, congressional representation, and other critical components of racial equality until her death in 1977.

"All my life I've been sick and tired. Now I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired."

-Fannie Lou Hamer

Throughout Voice of Freedom, Weatherford’s poetry illustrates how Hamer’s stirring speeches, matter-of-fact testimonials, and her penchant for singing spirituals served as rallying cries for freedom and justice. Her roles as leader, mobilizer, organizer, political candidate, and advocate for social, financial and educational programming for Black communities further contributed to her identification as the “spirit of the civil rights movement.” Holmes’ vibrant, textured collages, often “based on or inspired by photographs” (Weatherford, 2015, unpaged back matter), enhance the verbal juxtapositions of humanity and horror, and pay homage to Hamer’s resilience, compassion, and commitment to justice.

Using the Investigate, Explore, and Create Model of the Biography Clearinghouse, we offer teaching ideas focused on the art and science of conveying “emotional weight” and “factual burdens” (interview transcript, p.9) in biographies written in verse. Generating a sense of intimacy punctuated by emotional overtones of hardship and resilience, using first person point of view, pairing and alternating verse and prosaic text, and helping cultivate reader empathy are discussed.

CURRENT BOOK ENTRY

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Harmer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement

CONNECTED BOOK ENTRIES

In our desire to honor and reflect Weatherford’s commitment to “mine the past for family stories, fading traditions, and forgotten struggles” (transcript, p.11), we provide a variety of multimedia resources for critical explorations of the past and present regarding:

youth-driven organizations for positive change
access to education for empowerment and transformation
voter suppression via literacy tests, poll taxes, and legislative acts
the significance of song in civil rights movements

Mississippi Voter Registration Application, 1955-1965 (National Museum of American History)

Below we feature one of two time-gradated teaching recommendations included in the Create section of the Voice of Freedom book entry.

Youth As Agents of Change in Local Communities

Weatherford begins Voice of Freedom with Hamer’s own words: “The truest thing that we have in this country at this time is little children . . . . If they think you’ve made a mistake, kids speak out.” Pairing Hamer’s advocacy detailed in Voice of Freedom with contemporary youth activists, guide students in their exploration of how they can (or continue to) be agents of change in their communities.

If you have 1-2 hours...	If you have 1-2 days...	If you have 1-2 weeks...
Using Voice of Freedom, discuss with students how Fannie Lou Hamer was a voice of change for voting rights and Black female political representation during the Civil Rights Movement. Introduce Amanda Gorman, the First Youth Poet Laureate of the United States, to students. As a class, watch Gorman’s reading of her 2021 presidential inauguration poem, "The Hill We Climb." Ask students what message they think Gorman is conveying through her poem. Use the full-text version of "The Hill We Climb Text" for students’ exploration of Gorman’s words. Discuss how Gorman uses her voice to effect change on issues such as civil rights and feminism. Begin an Agents of Change T- chart, using the headings, “Activist” and “Cause.” Ask students what issues Amanda Gorman might be advocating for in “The Hill We Climb.” Ask them about other causes they know about to include on the chart.	Revisit the concept of "agents of change," using the previously completed T-Chart. Watch one or both of the following videos featuring youth activists focused on environmental issues: Genesis Butler Shares Her Vision for Saving Our Planet Mari Copeny: A Water Crisis Activist. Continue to add to the existing T-Chart or create a new chart. Engage in discussions about the choices Genesis and Mari are making, how these affect their communities, and why this classifies them as agents of change. Below are other young activists that you can include in your inquiry: Autumn Peltier: Water Warrior Sophie Cruz: Keeping Families Together Melati and Isabel Wijsen: Bye Bye Plastic Bags See the book entry for additional possibilities.	Discuss the importance of youth activism in tandem with Secondlineblog.org. Have students identify local youth activists or organizations in their area whom they see as a voice of change. Consider using Global Citizen for inspiration. Have students create interview questions for the local youth activist or organization they selected. Students can conduct, record, and interview individuals through Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, or other digital platforms. Using their interview recordings as a resource, ask students to create a multimodal presentation on the group or individual. Using Voice of Freedom, “The Hill We Climb,” or the other texts included in these ideas as mentor texts, encourage students to describe the group or individual’s advocacy work in their presentations and include why this makes them agents of change. See the book entry for additional activities.

To see more classroom possibilities and helpful resources connected to Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, visit the Book Entry at The Biography Clearinghouse. Additionally, we’d love to hear how the interview and these ideas inspired you. Email us at thebiographyclearinghouse@gmail.com with your connections, creations, and questions.

Jennifer M. Graff is an Associate Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia where her scholarship focuses on diverse children’s literature and early childhood literacy practices. She is a former committee member of NCTE’s Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction K-8, and has served in multiple leadership roles throughout her 15+ year CLA membership.

Joyce Balcos Butler is a fifth-grade teacher in Winder, Georgia, where she focuses on implementing social justice learning through content areas. She is a National Writing Project Teacher Consultant, a Red Clay Writing Fellow at the University of Georgia, and a member of CLA.

20 Biographies for 2020

9/22/2020

BY MARY ANN CAPPIELLO on behalf of The Biography Clearinghouse

As we approach the final quarter of 2020, fires rage along the West Coast. Many regions of the United States face drought conditions. Gulf communities are inundated by Hurricane Sally while a string of storms line up in the Atlantic, waiting their turn. The impact of climate change is evident.

COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on our lives, our health. We bear witness to the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on minoritized groups, including Black and Latinx communities, Native Americans, and the elderly.

Across America, Black Lives Matter protests carry on, demanding that our nation invest in the essential work necessary to achieve a more perfect union through racial justice.

In 2020, we remember moments of historic change, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.

The intensity of this moment can’t be denied. It’s demanding. It’s exhausting. Whether you are a teacher, librarian, or university faculty member, you are likely teaching in multiple new formats and modalities, facing daily logistical challenges. Caregivers also face new hurdles in supporting young people’s learning.

How do you meet the needs of students and the needs of this moment in history? How do you find hope in literature?

Perhaps one way is to turn to the people of the past and the present who are working on the edges of scientific knowledge. Or, to turn to the people of the past and the present who have acted as champions of social justice. Their life stories offer young people models of agency and action, blueprints for change.

To that end, The Biography Clearinghouse shares 20 biographies for 2020, a list of recent picturebook and collected biographies to connect with the challenges of the moment. This list is not comprehensive. It is simply a starting place. We hope these recently published biographies of diverse changemakers can become part of your curriculum or part of your read aloud calendar, in-person or over video conferencing software.

Biographies About Scientists

A Sporting Chance: How Ludwig Guttman Created the Paralympic Games (2020) by Lori Alexander, illustrated by Alan Drummond

Born Curious: 20 Girls Who Grew Up to be Awesome Scientists (2020) by Martha Freeman, illustrated by Katy Wu

Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner (2019) by Janice Harrington, illustrated by Theodore Taylor

Mario and the Hole in the Sky: How a Chemist Saved Our Planet (2019) by Elizabeth Rusch, illustrated by Teresa Martinez

Ocean Speaks: How Maria Tharp Revealed the Ocean’s Biggest Secret (2020) by Jess Keating, illustrated by Katie Hickey

Patricia’s Vision: The Doctor Who Saved Sight (2020) by Michelle Lord, illustrated by Alleana Charris.

Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom (2019) by Teresa Robeson, illustrated by Rebecca Huang

The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver (2020) by Gene Berretta, illustrated by Frank Morrison

Sharuko: El arqueólogo Peruano Julio C. Tello / Peruvian Archaeologist Julio C. Tello (2020) by Monica Brown; illus. by Elisa Chavarri; trans. into Spanish by Adriana Domínguez

The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just (2018) by Melina Mangal, illustrated by Luisa Uribe

Biographies About Champions for Change

All the Way to the Top: How One Girl’s Fight for Americans with Disabilities Changed Everything (2020) by Annette Bay Pimental, illustrated by Nabi H. Ali

Althea Gibson: The Story of Tennis’ Fleet-Footed Girl (2020) by Megan Reid, illustrated by Laura Freeman

Finish the Fight: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote (2020) by Veronica Chambers and the staff of The New York Times, illustrated by Monica Ahanonu, Rachelle Baker, Kristen Buchholz, Alex Cabal, Noa Denmon, Ellen Duda, Shyama Golden, Johnalynn Holland, Hillary Kempenich, Nhung Lê , Ella Trujillo, and Steffi Walthall

I am Not a Label: 34 Disabled Artists, Thinkers, Athletes and Activists from Past and Present (2020) by Cerrie Burnell, illustrated by Lauren Mark Baldo

Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box (2020) by Evette Dion

Lizzie Demands a Seat! Elizabeth Jennings Fights for Streetcar Rights (2020) by Beth Anderson, illustrated by E.B. Lewis

She was the First! The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm (2020) by Katheryn Russell-Brown, illustrated by Eric Velasquez

Soldier for Equality: José de la Luz Sáenz and The Great War (2019) by Duncan Tonatiuh

Spotted Tail (2019) by David Heska Wanbli Weiden, illustrated by Jim Yellowhawk and Pat Kinsella

The Teachers March: How Selma’s Teachers Changed History (2020) by Sandra Neil Wallace and Rick Wallace, illustrated by Charly Palmer

If you have any picture book or chapter-length biographies or collected biographies for young people that you would like to recommend, please email us at thebiographyclearinghouse@gmail.com. We’re also interested in hearing more about how you’re using life stories in the classroom this year.

The CLA Blog

By Emmaline Ellis, Laurie Esposito, and Jennifer Slagus

Breakout Quote for Dr. Skrlac Lo: ...in this case, these book challenges weren’t about pushing us to really think about concern for the child. They are political posturing of power.

Breakout Quote for Dr. Stephens: ​It’s incumbent on librarians to defend student expression as well as the right to receive information.​

By Denise Dávila on Behalf of the Biography Clearinghouse

Using Viewfinders

If you have 1 - 2 hours

If you have 1 - 2 days

If you have 1 - 2 weeks

By Erika Thulin Dawes and Xenia Hadjioannou on behalf of the Biography Clearinghouse

Social Justice Concerns in Personal Lives and Society

Teachers as Activists

Citations

The Bonnie Campbell Hill National Literacy Leader AwardCall for Applications

by Oksana Lushchevska

Ukrainian Publishers and Literary Agencies Participating in the Free Book Initiative

Translated from Ukrainian and readily available in the United States:

Picturebooks:

Chapter Books and Longer Books:

Set in Ukraine or Related to Ukraine:

Picturebooks:

Chapter Books and Longer Books:

Donating to Help

By Mary Ann Cappiello and Jenn Sanders, on behalf of The Biography Clearinghouse

First Ladies and Social Media

Creating Diagrams to Add Information

BY JENNIFER M. GRAFF & JOYCE BALCOS BUTLER, ON BEHALF OF THE BIOGRAPHY CLEARINGHOUSE

"All my life I've been sick and tired. Now I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired."

-Fannie Lou Hamer

Youth As Agents of Change in Local Communities

BY MARY ANN CAPPIELLO on behalf of The Biography Clearinghouse

Biographies About Scientists

Biographies About Champions for Change

Authors:CLA Members

Blog Editors

contribute to the blog

Archives

Categories

CLA

Resources

Children's Literature Assembly BreakfastExpert ClassOther CLA-sponsored SessionsArt Auction

Breakout Quote for Dr. Skrlac Lo:
...in this case, these book challenges weren’t about pushing us to really think about concern for the child. They are political posturing of power.

Breakout Quote for Dr. Stephens:
It’s incumbent on librarians to defend student expression as well as the right to receive information.

The Bonnie Campbell Hill National Literacy Leader Award
Call for Applications

Authors:
CLA Members

Children's Literature Assembly Breakfast
Expert Class
Other CLA-sponsored Sessions
Art Auction