Category: Biography

Looking Back with Biographies

12/18/2023

By The Biography Clearinghouse

As we come to the end of another calendar year, we reflect upon how much the world can change in just a few short months. Political turmoil, violence, and war threaten the lives of millions. Climate scientists tell us that 2023 was the hottest year on record. Devastating fires and floods ravaged cities, towns, and forests alike. These catastrophes may feel unique to our life experience, so it helps to remember that people before us have faced hardships too.

Again, we turn to biographies to learn from the people among us and those who came before us. What lessons in leadership can we find? How do artists, faith leaders, scientists, activists, educators, and others work towards goals? Handle setbacks? Cope with prejudice? Persevere while facing devastation? Work collaboratively to create change?

In this year-end blog entry, we share a few picture book biographies from 2022 and 2023 that were inspiring to us, as well as preview a 2024 biography.

With best wishes for peace in the New Year,

The Biography Clearinghouse Team

A Song for The Unsung: Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the 1963 March on Washington
by Carole Boston Weatherford & Rob Sanders, illustrations by Bryan McCray (November 2022, Henry Holt and Co.)

It takes a person with extraordinary skills to organize an event as tremendous as the 1963 March on Washington. Bayard Rustin was primed for this event from a young age and across the span of his life. In A Song for the Unsung, we learn that his grandmother instilled in him Quaker values, and the importance of civic engagement; that Rustin practiced civil disobedience by resisting racism; that he endured homophobia even among the civil rights activists beside whom he struggled; and that along with being dedicated to non-violent resistance, he was a talented singer who knew the power of music to move and inspire. The creators of this biography pay tribute to Bayard Rustin with reverential grace and beauty, rendering him simultaneously sturdy and vulnerable, amid gorgeous mixed media illustrations. In the classroom, A Song for the Unsung can inspire conversation about the qualities of leaders such as Rustin, the legacy of the march (documented in the backmatter), and protest music (while listening to the songs listed on each page).

Game of Freedom: Mestre Bimba and the Art of Capoeira
by Duncan Tonatiuh (October 2023, Abrams)

In Game of Freedom, Duncan Tonatiuh tells the story of Manuel Dos Reis Machado, or Mestre Bimba as he is best known, and his role in uplifting capoeira from a marginalized and persecuted practice to an internationally recognized artform. The book starts at the turn of the 20th century in Brazil’s state of Bahia during Bimba’s childhood, when it was illegal to play capoeira in public. Skillfully interweaving exposition within the book’s narrative arc, Tonatiuh describes capoeira as a form of artistic cultural expression combining “music, fighting, theatrics, and dance” with deep roots within the culture of the Black descendants of formerly enslaved Africans, and explicitly links the harassment of capoeiristas to racial prejudice. After learning to play capoeira as a teenager, Bimba began to teach others but bristled at the disrespect and continuing persecution of the practice. In what follows, Tonatiuh offers an informative unspooling of how social and political change are slowly built. Readers learn that, determined to change matters, Bimba developed a new capoeira style and established a school or academia for teaching it and participated in a series of challenge bouts that increased the game’s visibility. Bimba’s efforts, in combination with the opening of other academies and the development of other capoeira styles, helped shift the public’s perception of the game and led to its complete decriminalization in 1953. The book’s backmatter includes a glossary and a rich author’s note.

Utilizing his distinctive stylized illustration style, that is influenced by pre-Columbian art, Tonatiuh captures the beauty and the fluidity of capoeira and of the Brazilian historical contexts of Mestre Bimba’s life. Particularly poignant is the depiction of enslaved ancestors as reversed silhouettes in select illustrations of capoeiristas. Readers may notice some slight departures from Tonatiuh’s typical rendering in the shape of the characters’ ears, but most notably in the en face depiction of some of the capoeira players.

Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller
by Breana McDaniel, illustrated by April Harrison (January 2024, Dial/Penguin)

Throughout 2023, school and public librarians have served as guardians of free speech, putting their careers on the line to support young people’s access to diverse books. These librarians, to whom we owe so much, are part of a long line of librarian activists creating change for their communities and beyond. Augusta Baker was one such leader. Baker curated a list of Black book creators for the young people with whom she worked at the 135th Street Branch Library in Harlem, fostered the careers of many Black authors, from Virginia Hamilton to Walter Dean Meyers, and became the first Black coordinator of children’s services within the New York City Library System. Baker was also an author and storyteller in her own right, teaching storytelling at Columbia University and becoming “Storyteller in Residence” at the University of South Carolina. McDaniels’ writing moves, propelling readers forward through varied sentences, alliteration, and just enough information. Hamilton’s gorgeous mixed media collages, saturated in warm colors of yellow, orange, and green, envelop readers in the warmth of Baker’s presence in the library and in the classroom. Backmatter includes a timeline, author’s note, and citations list. Go Forth and Tell would be a wonderful read alongside picture book biographies of fellow New York City librarian, storyteller, and changemaker Pura Belpré such as Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré (Denise, 2019) and Pura’s Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Reshaped Libraries with her Stories (Pimentel 2021), and Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library (Weatherford, 2017).

Hope is an Arrow: The Story of Lebanese American Poet Kahlil Gibran
by Cory McCarthy, illustrated by Ekua Holmes (July 2022, Candlewick)

Khalil Gibran believed and held on to the universals of love and togetherness as he navigated his life as an outsider traversing between cultures. He moved back and forth between his homeland of Lebanon, and Boston, in the United States. The seeds for his greatest work of writing, The Prophet, were sewn in his continuous back and forth between cultures. Actual pieces from this famous book, which has been translated into more than 40 languages, are woven into this story. The snippets offer readers a glimpse of how his life may have engendered and connected to his famous writings. It was his art and poetry which helped Khalil Gibran persevere through incredible challenges and helped him communicate his ideas across cultures. There is a good chance that students who have grown up with more than one culture will connect with his story. It may provide teachers an opportunity to introduce students to some of Khalil Gibran’s work and dig in more and could invite students to communicate some of the larger feelings and ideas in their lives through poetry and art, much like he did.

Tiny Jumper: How Tiny Broadwick Created the Parachute Rip Cord
by Candy Dahl, illustrated by Maithili Joshi (October 2023, Little Bee Books)

Born as a “tiny” baby, but with tremendous courage, Tiny Broadwick was the inventor of the parachute rip cord and named the “First Lady of Parachuting.” Despite enduring embarrassing stunts like dressing up as a baby in order to do what she loved, Tiny knew she belonged in the air and took action to make her dreams a reality. After establishing herself as a prolific hot air jumper, Tiny persevered and entered a world where no woman had gone before- parachuting from airplanes. In Tiny Jumper, Dahl and Joshi show what determination, bravery, and unique interests can accomplish. Joshi’s dynamic illustrations and the incorporation of quotes from Tiny Broadwick throughout the running text bring this incredible woman’s story to life. Tiny Jumper inspires readers to follow their passions, against all odds, even when they seem up in the clouds.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude Wrap the World Cover

Christo and Jean Claude Wrap the World
by G. Neri, illustrated by Elizabeth Haidle (March 2023, Candlewick)

One of the greatest gifts artists offer humanity is the invitation to see the world in new ways. This is certainly the case with environmental artists Christo and Jean-Claude, the subjects of a new picture book written by G. Neri and illustrated by Elizabeth Haidle. Imagine walking through a city and suddenly noticing a car or even a giant building completely wrapped in fabric or finding a brightly colored floating path from a lakeshore to an island, where none had been the day before. These projects and more are featured by Neri who employs a constructed dialogue between the two artists to convey their life stories, their unique installations, and the goals that guided their public art making. Haidle’s mixed media illustrations match the playful creative nature of the artists’ collaboration, incorporating frames, speech bubbles, and marvelous renderings of the oversize and surprising works of art. Helpful back matter includes additional details about the married couple’s life stories, a note about the author’s sources and how the dialogue was composed, and ‘fun facts’ about the art. This engaging biography compels consideration of important questions such as: What is art? Who owns art? Who experiences art? Can art be temporary? How does art impact our lives?

The Biography Clearinghouse is a website aiming "to support educators in sharing biographies with young people." The site includes several resources, including a framework for teaching with biographies, interviews with biography authors and illustrators, and a portfolio of book entries. Recent entries:

Impossible Escape by Steve Sheinkin

A Life of Service: The Story of Tammy Duckworth by Christina Soontornvat,
Illustrated by Dow Phumiruk

The Biography Clearinghouse Team is comprised of book creators and educators of different levels.

Winter Hiatus Announcement

Interrogating History, Perspective, and Nonfiction Writing with Steve Sheinkin’s "Impossible Escape"

10/10/2023

By Mary Ann Cappiello & Xenia Hadjioannou on behalf of the Biography Clearinghouse

Recently, the Biography Clearinghouse interviewed author Steve Sheinkin about his latest nonfiction book, Impossible Escape: A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe. Action-packed and filled with dramatic tension and intricate historical details, Sheinkin shares the experiences of Rudi Vrba and Greta Sidonová, two Jewish teenagers during World War II.

While the full video interview and transcript are available on our website, covering a range of questions regarding Sheinkin’s research and writing processes, we share an edited portion of it here on the CLA blog as an example of the complex decision-making that goes into writing narrative nonfiction for tween and teen readers.

Interview Question
As you were working on the book and revising it, how did you balance crafting a narrative that builds tension, which as you mentioned earlier, gets the reader hooked and builds the narrative towards that climactic moment, and the need for exposition, which is oftentimes in the case of this book exposition about very difficult topics? What were the moments where you knew that you had to interrupt the action, pause the action to provide that information for your readers?

Steve Sheinkin’s Answer (edited for brevity):
That’s doing narrative nonfiction for middle grade and YA, I think. That's my career essentially, trying to figure out how to do that……

I used to write textbooks. That's… you see how hesitant I was to confess that? But I used to write history textbooks where they don't have that problem. It's all just boring facts and figures and names and dates. And so I just don't want to ever do that. I'm still sorry and making amends for doing that. So I want it to be just story. And then I realize, wait a minute. I can’t be. I get jealous of people who write for adults because they could just say, “and then Pearl Harbor happened,” and then everyone knows what that means. I can't do that, and fair enough I shouldn't be able to, because it's unfair of me to assume that someone who's 12 or 14 has that background information, and they shouldn't have to, to pick up the book. I think that's part of what makes this, hopefully, makes one of my books valuable, is that they don't have to have background information….

I guess I hope it works that I start with just story…I am seeing all the best scenes where there's really well documented moments that have those elements of a scene that you want as a writer. .. You don't need to know them right away, but you do need to know them pretty early on, and that's why the first third of a book like this is always the hardest part. It’s kind of like a juggling act once the balls are going. It's okay. But getting them all in the air in the right order is the hard part. And so I'll write little bits of context. In this case the rise of Adolf Hitler, what the Nazis were doing. How anti-semitism was such, so central, to what the Nazis did, and and all of that…

I end up writing way too much of that, and I always do, and then kind of pare it down until it starts to feel right, and I work with my editor on that kind of stuff more than any other part of the book. I don't like to write the whole thing and then send it to her. I specifically like to try to write that first third as a draft and send it to her because it's just never, never good at first. It always has that problem of being clunky, and either not starting fast enough or we're not getting to the context soon enough, and those are kind of at odds with each other.

You can get it right with enough back and forth, and trial and error… It's kind of like making a movie. You film both. You film all the scenes. You don't have to decide right away what order you're gonna edit them together in, but you know they're all going to be there.

Teaching Ideas

There are many different roles this fast-paced and moving book can play in the English Language Arts and Social Studies classroom. Below are two examples. For more, please see our full entry on Impossible Escape.

Punctuating Narrative with Exposition

Throughout Impossible Escape, Steve Sheinkin builds a tight narrative filled with action. Reading like a movie or a novel, the storyline builds tension, takes twists and turns, and moves towards a dramatic turning point and conclusion. But the book isn’t only the storyline. At times, Sheinkin zooms in on a single event, within a single story, and then zooms out to provide a larger context or reveal a pattern across people and time.

For example, on page 24, an old woman approaches Rudi, who is locked up in a small cell after getting beaten up and arrested in Hungary after fleeing Slovakia. She addresses him as “Mr. Jew” as she drops some food and cigarettes in his cell. Then Sheinkin begins to zoom out from this single event to note: “A kind gesture, but ominous also. He wasn’t a teenager anymore, not to most of the people in what he’d thought was his country.” In a further zoom out, Sheinkin goes on to explain that antisemitism was “hardly new in Europe,” and provides a brief overview of antisemitism across the centuries, from the medieval period to the 20th century. Sheinkin leverages the dramatic moment within his narrative to provide readers with necessary background knowledge to understand more deeply the dangers Rudi and Gerta and their friends and families faced.

Ask your students what they notice about this scene on page 24 and the exposition that follows. What do they learn? Why did Sheinkin pause the narrative? Why is this information important? After having that conversation, play the portion of our interview with Sheinkin, where he discusses how, why, and when he punctuates narration with exposition: 00:22:36.190 --> 00:27:47.800.

After discussing the video segment, have students

Identify similar moments where narrative is punctuated by exposition throughout the book as well as in any other narrative nonfiction texts they might be reading.
Practice this writing strategy by researching a historical event as a class - perhaps the Holocaust and World War II, perhaps something else related to your curriculum - and each writing a short narrative that includes important information in exposition.

Embracing Point of View in Nonfiction Writing

Nonfiction writing is often described as factual and objective, where the author and their perspective have no place. However, as noted in NCTE’s (2023) Position Statement on nonfiction literature, “though nonfiction has traditionally been thought of as offering an authoritative treatment of its topics, it is important for readers to understand that nonfiction, no matter how well researched and thorough, represents the authors’ perspectives and points of view.”

In Impossible Escape readers can infer how Steve Sheinkin is positioned toward the events and the issues at hand by noticing how he chooses to describe them. For instance, he explicitly characterizes antisemitic stereotypes as garbage (p.8) and being “rooted in ignorance and lies” (p. 24). Similarly, when Sheinkin writes about what Gerta did during the last months of the war, his admiration for her is clear when he notes: “Even after all her close call, she chose not to play it safe.”

Steve Sheinkin as the author becomes even more clearly visible when he addresses the reader by asking rhetorical questions that pull us out of the narrative and prompt us to grapple with some weighty material. In our interview, Steve offers some valuable insight into his decision to use rhetorical questions (starting at 30:55).

At the very end of the book, Steve Sheinkin admits that he struggled with figuring out how to conclude the book, thinking that he needed to come up with a way to sum up the book with “some profound message to apply to daily life” (p. 219) and admitting that “this last little section was the hardest for me to write” (p. 219). You can hear Steve discuss this decision in the interview, starting at 34:39. In the end, he took a lesson from Rudi Vrba himself who would say that “the story is the thing” and encourage his audience to draw their own conclusions and interpretations. It is an interesting contrast to traditional storytelling that often ends with an explicit lesson or moral.

Invite students to look for the author while reading Impossible Escape as well as other nonfiction texts. How do those glimpses help readers infer the book creators’ emotional and intellectual positioning toward their topic?

After finishing the book, encourage students to sit with the last few sentences: “Everything is in the story. You read the story. You know what to do” (p. 219). Invite them to respond in any way that makes sense. That could involve writing, drawing, painting, or recording. Plan a gallery walk or other opportunities for sharing these responses.

When students are writing their next nonfiction text, encourage them to engage emotionally with their material, and to insert themselves in some way in the text.

Mary Ann Cappiello teaches courses in children’s literature and literacy methods at Lesley University and is a founding member of The Biography Clearinghouse. She is co-chair of CLA's Expert Class committee and a former chair of NCTE’s Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction K-8.

Xenia Hadjioannou is associate professor of language and literacy education at the Berks campus of Penn State University. She is president of CLA and co-editor of the CLA Blog. She is a founding member of The Biography Clearinghouse.

Search & Explore the Biography Clearinghouse’s Collection on Library Thing!

12/13/2022

By Xenia Hadjioannou & Mary Ann Cappiello on behalf of the Biography Clearinghouse

Wondering how to find and curate biographies suited to the interests of your students or to your curricular needs? Frustrated by a piecemeal approach, cross-referencing booklists, award lists, and Google searches? The Biography Clearinghouse has a year end gift for you!

We have created a collection of biographies for young people on LibraryThing, an online book cataloging service. The collection makes use of “tags” with which users can use to guide and focus their searches. This continually updated collection is intended as a tool for educators of all subjects and age groups, librarians, and anyone else who enjoys and works with biographies. We are busily tagging the books in our collection and will continue to add and tag more titles!

The best part about it? You can access our collection for free and without having to sign up for an account. You can search the collection by theme, literary elements, geographic location, format feature, profession/discipline, etc.

To learn how to access, navigate, and search through the Biography Clearinghouse Collection review the information below.

How do I access the Biography Clearinghouse Collection?

Simply go to https://www.librarything.com/catalog/Teachwithbios. There you will see our entire catalog listing. In the “Tags” column you will see all the tags assigned to each book by members of the Biography Clearinghouse.

How do I search through your catalog?

I am looking for information on a particular biography. How do I search through your catalog?

If you already know the title of the book you are looking for, type it in the “Search this Library” field and hit search. You can also search by author or illustrator names.

For more advanced search options, you can click on the triangle next to the “Search this library” field to expand the search menu. You can then use the available options to constrain your search.

I am looking for biographies on a particular topic/theme or with certain characteristics. How do I run my search?

The easiest way to conduct a keyword search through our catalog is through our “Tags” list. To access our “Tags” list click on the “Tags” tab. The number in parenthesis next to each tag represents the number of biographies in our catalog to which that tag has been assigned.

Clicking on a tag will produce a listing of all books in our catalog we have annotated with it.

Have any questions? Biographies to add to our collection? Suggested tags? Please email us at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.

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

Mary Ann Cappiello is a Professor of Language and Literacy at Lesley University, where she teaches courses in children’s literature and literacy methods. For twelve years, she blogged about teaching with children’s literature at The Classroom Bookshelf. She is a former chair of NCTE’s Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction K-8. Mary Ann is the coauthor of Text Sets in Action: Pathways Through Content Area Literacy (2021).

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.

Exploring the New Frontier of Uncharted Space Stories in Children's Nonfiction

5/10/2022

By Suzanne Costner

I headed to Houston in November 2018 to attend the NCTE Annual Convention and moderate a panel presentation for a group of children’s nonfiction writers. I was also looking forward to the Children’s Book Award Luncheon, never realizing that it would change my life. As the presentation of the year’s winners was winding down, an announcement was made encouraging attendees to apply for a place on one of the award committees. My sister nudged me and whispered, “You could do that.” Two months later, I was beginning my term on the Orbis Pictus committee and immersing myself in children’s nonfiction.

From January 2019 through December 2021, we read over 1,300 books on topics ranging from amoebas to world history. As we reviewed, debated, and voted, my favorite topics involved astronomy, aviation, and aerospace, although I enjoyed all of them. The titles that combine those topics with a picture book biography make wonderful entry points into the study of science and history. Even though my time with the Orbis Pictus has ended, I am still searching out those sorts of books to add to my school library collection. I would like to share two of those titles with you and suggest related areas your students might enjoy investigating.

Book cover: Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Gold Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer

Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Gold Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer by Cherokee author Traci Sorell and Métis illustrator Natasha Donovan is an excellent example of a biography that features a woman in a STEM career. The book shows Mary’s love of mathematics and traces her path from teaching, to becoming Lockheed’s first female engineer, and then a member of the Skunk Works division working on satellites and spacecraft.

Extensive back matter includes a timeline, photos, an author’s note, an explanation of the Cherokee values mentioned in the text, source notes, and a bibliography. Illustrations showcase some of the aircraft Mary worked on such as the Lockheed A-12 and the Starfighter F-104C, as well as equations related to the projects.

To learn more about her amazing career, try the following:

Read the Smithsonian article “Mary Golda Ross: Aerospace Engineer, Educator, and Advocate.”
Read the Smithsonian article “Mary Golda Ross: She Reached for the Stars.”
Watch the Reading Rockets video: “Traci Sorell: Classified: Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer.”
Access the author’s website for additional materials that explore the Cherokee values Mary personified.
There is also a Classified Teaching Guide which contains many activity ideas for experimenting with the forces of flight.

Blast Off! How Mary Sherman Morgan Fueled America into Space written by Suzanne Slade and illustrated by Sally Wern Comport is another of the untold stories of the space program. Working with two engineers as her assistants, Mary Sherman Morgan created the rocket fuel hydyne which powered the launch of the first American satellite into space. This biography explores Mary’s late start in school, her determination to pursue a career in chemistry, and her work at North American Aviation.

This book also has plenty of back matter with photos, a timeline, a selected bibliography, and more details about Mary, the Juno 1 rocket and the Explorer 1 satellite. The author’s note includes an explanation of how difficult it was to find information. She states, “Mary Morgan’s history is not well-documented. Unfortunately, that is true of many women who have made meaningful contributions to science and other fields.” Thanks to the author’s persistence in reaching out to family members, people from Mary’s hometown, and aerospace experts, she was able to create this inspiring story.

Book Cover: Blast Off! How Mary Sherman Morgan Fueled America into Space

Students may find helpful information in the following:

The book trailer shows the important launch Mary was working toward with her rocket fuel.
This NASA video tells more about Explorer 1 and its lasting legacy for space exploration.
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a web page on Explorer 1 with links to photos, videos, and other information.
In this short BBC video George Morgan talks about his mother and Rocket Girl, the book he wrote about her work developing rocket fuel.
To make experiments of their own about the perfect fuel ratio for a rocket launch, students might enjoy working with fizzy rockets and trying out different proportions of water to Alka-Seltzer tablets to power the launch. SciTech Labs has posted a how-to video.
There is also a lesson plan with instructions available from the Civil Air Patrol.

When I was a child visiting my school library, all the biographies were about famous presidents and other men. We still have a long way to go to balance the representation of women and other marginalized groups, but knowing there are authors and illustrators bringing these stories to life for today’s students is encouraging. Reading these stories of dreams achieved and challenges overcome may inspire young readers to pursue their own passions in life, or even introduce a topic to spark that passion. I hope everyone finds some nonfiction to engage their hearts and minds.

Suzanne Costner, School Library Media Specialist at Fairview Elementary School (Maryville, TN) member of NCTE, CLA, ALA, AASL, ILA, NAEYC, NSTA, ISTE, CAP, AFA, AIAA

#MeetSomeoneNewMonday: One Teacher’s Year-Long Celebration of Picturebook Biographies

5/3/2022

By Mary Ann Cappiello, Jennifer M. Graff and Melissa Quimby on behalf of The Biography Clearinghouse

Over the last two years, we’ve enjoyed sharing excerpts from The Biography Clearinghouse website. We hope that our interviews with book creators and our teaching ideas focused on using biographies for a variety of classroom purposes has been helpful to the CLA membership and beyond. This month, we’re very excited to share something different - a voice directly from the classroom.

Melissa Quimby, a 4th grade teacher in Massachusetts, has written the inaugural entry in our new feature “Stories from the Classroom.” Melissa is the genius behind #MeetSomeoneNewMonday, a weekly initiative that has spread from her classroom to her grade level team to an entirely different school in just three years.

This initiative launched when Melissa decided to share her passion for picturebook biographies with her students through interactive read-alouds. They were hooked! As Melissa writes, “Over time, I molded this project in intentional ways, and it evolved into an adventure that focused on identity, centered marginalized and minoritized communities, and cultivated thoughtful, strategic middle grade readers.” What started as a way to share nonfiction picturebooks as an engaging and compelling art form developed into a more nuanced exploration of global changemakers–past and present. With their weekly reading of picturebook biographies, students grow as readers and thinkers and deepen their individual and collective sense of agency.

In the following excerpts, Melissa describes how she reveals each week’s notable changemaker to her students and shares some of her picturebook biography selections.

Monday Read-Aloud Routines

Reveal Slide Example

On Monday mornings, we gather together as a reading community. In an effort to build excitement, our reveal slide is projected on the board as students arrive. Some weeks, copies of the backmatter wait on the rug, inviting students to preview the figure of the week. This could be the author’s note, a timeline, or a collection of real-life photographs. Once all readers are settled, we watch a video to learn a little bit about the person in the spotlight.

Some weeks, interactive read aloud time happens on Monday morning immediately following the reveal. On some Mondays, it works best for us to huddle up in the afternoon. Occasionally, we steal pockets of time throughout our busy schedule to enjoy the biography of the week in smaller doses. When we read the text is not as important as how we read the text. The heart of this work truly lies in how we generate emotional investment within our students and how we help our students’ reactions and ideas blossom into new thinking about the world and ways that they can take action in their own lives for themselves and others. Sometimes, we simply read the biography to love it. In those moments, readers are silent with their eyes glued to the book, scanning the illustrations, wide-eyed when something surprising happens. Perhaps they whisper something to their neighbor, let out an audible gasp or share a comment aloud. Sometimes, we read to grow ideas. In these moments, readers are tracking trouble, considering how the figure responds to obstacles. They are ready to turn to their partner and reach for a precise trait word or theme and supporting evidence.

Meet Someone New Monday: A Sampling of Picture Book Biography Selections

To read more about #MeetSomeoneNewMonday, including Melissa planning process with her grade level team and student responses, visit Stories from the Classroom on The Biography Clearinghouse website

You can also reach out to Melissa through her website (QUIMBYnotRamona) or Twitter (@QUIMBYnotRamona) to discuss how to implement #MeetSomeoneNew initiative in your classroom or school.

Inspired by Melissa’s picturebook biography initiative or done something similar? Share your ideas and stories with us via email: [email protected]. Or, chime in on Twitter (@teachwithbios), Facebook, or Instagram with your own #teachwithbios ideas and picturebook biography recommendations.

Melissa Quimby teaches fourth grade in Massachusetts. She is passionate about helping young writers improve their craft, and her to-be-read list is always stacked with middle grade fiction. Melissa shares her love of children’s literature on Teachers Books Readers and shares about her literacy instruction with the Choice Literacy community. You can connect with her at her website, QUIMBYnotRamona, or follow her on Twitter @QUIMBYnotRamona.

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. She is a former chair of NCTE’s Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction K-8.

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 16+ year CLA membership.

Women’s History Month

3/1/2022

By Julie Waugh and Erika Thulin Dawes on behalf of The Biography Clearinghouse.

March is Women’s History month and picturebook biographies are a powerful way to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of women. In the most recent Biography Clearinghouse entry, we explore Victoria Tentler-Krylov’s picture book biography Building Zaha: The Story of Architect Zaha Hadid. As a child, Zaha Hadid was fascinated by aspects of her surroundings that others passed by without observing. Her eye for the beauty in nature developed into a vision for architecture that challenged existing perceptions of what a building could be. In Building Zaha, Victoria Tentler-Krylov describes how these seeds of interest planted in childhood grew into a career and a passionate commitment to an artform. Tentler-Krylov’s water illustrations soar across the page, lifting readers into Zaha’s vision of what humankind’s structures might aspire to be.

In the Biography Clearinghouse entry for Building Zaha, you will find an interview, in which Victoria Tentler-Krylov describes how her own education as an architect influenced her writing of Zaha Hadid’s story. You’ll find teaching ideas that focus on character development, mentoring, and goal setting, as well as ideas that build content knowledge about the relationship between architecture and nature, the design processes of architecture, and women leaders in the field. Like us, you will be inspired by the lessons that author/ illustrator Victoria Tentler-Krylov learned from studying the life of Zaha Hadid: “Trust your own voice. Trust your own vision.”

Here is an excerpt of the teaching ideas in the Biography Clearinghouse entry for Building Zaha:

Exploring Zaha’s Designs

Zaha Hadid became known as “the queen of the curve” in the architecture world. She created buildings with shapes that people thought impossible to build. Invite students to explore, notice, and wonder with Zaha Hadid’s amazing projects:

A Tour of Zaha Hadid’s Most Iconic Buildings from Google Arts and Culture
30 Projects That Define Zaha Hadid’s Style from Rethinking the Future
At her death, the BBC created this short video that looks back on Zaha’s work.
For a slightly longer look at her life, watch Curious Muse’s Zaha Hadid in 7 Minutes.
Google Arts and Culture also has a site Zaha Hadid; Groundbreaking Architect and Visionary.
Zaha Hadid’s Architects continues the work of Zaha Hadid. When she died in 2016 her company had 36 projects underway.

Another recent children's book biography about Zaha Hadid is The World is Not a Rectangle by Jeanette Winter. Winter’s book focuses heavily on how Zaha Hadid’s work is influenced by the natural world, whereas Tentler-Krylov’s book focuses more on Zaha the person. The paired texts could provide a powerful invitation for students to compare and contrast the different ways in which authors made choices about how to share a person’s life in picture book format.

Breaking Boundaries: Female Architects

Throughout her career, Zaha Hadid encountered stumbling blocks. In the Biography Clearinghouse interview, Victoria Tentler-Krylov describes how her research into Zaha’s life revealed that Zaha wondered how those obstacles related to her identities as a woman and as a Muslim. Women continue to be underrepresented in the field of architecture. After reading Building Zaha, introduce your students to the work of Maya Lin, by reading Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines (written by Jeanne Walker Harvey, illustrated by Dow Phumiruk, Henry Holt, 2017). Compare and contrast the lives, experiences, and accomplishments of these two renowned female architects. Extend your study of women in architecture, by exploring the digital resources below. Connect with a female architect in your community who is willing to share her experiences in the field with your students.

Women of Steel and Stone
ARCHUTE: The 25 Top Female Architects Changing the Architecture Industry

Black Architects on their Challenges, Successes, and Hope for the Future
CULTURED: 15 Architects on Being Black in Architecture

Early Black Female Architects
MADAME ARCHITECT: "That [Most] Exceptional One": Early Black Female Architects by Kate Reggev

Designing for Form and Function: Thinking Like an Architect

Victoria Tentler-Krylov shared how one of her favorite illustrations in Building Zaha is the spread where a young Zaha is the only character in a crowded space who is looking up in a beautiful mosque. Looking closely and wondering can help you think and work like an architect. Looking closely and wondering can also help you focus on form (what a space looks like) in architecture, and how well that form meets function (what is going to happen in the designed space). Form and function are ideas that need to work hand in hand for an architect to create a successful place to live or work.

Some people told Zaha Hadid that form was more important to her than function. She was criticized that her creative, uniquely designed spaces did not use space as well as they could, or did not use space as efficiently as possible. This was part of why, early in her career, people told Zaha that she would only be a “paper architect” - an architect that would only have designs on paper and not made into buildings.

If you have 1-2 hours…	If you have 1-2 days…	If you have 1-2 weeks…
Invite students to look closely at your own classroom. What do you notice about how it is formed? How well does the way it is designed help you learn? How could you improve your classroom’s design to make it a better place to learn? Record some ideas and make some initial sketches.	Zaha Hadid started many of her earlier architectural plans with paint and brush. After sharing ideas about how the classroom could be improved and redesigned, invite students to use different media to create initial plans for a newly designed classroom, much the same way that she did. You may wish to share some of Zaha’s initial architectural artwork to inspire them.	Zaha Hadid was one of the first people to predict that computers would transform the architectural design process. It is possible that computers allowed her to create some of the unique shapes and structures that many thought were not possible. Collaborate with a local architect who can demonstrate their use of computer programs in their process of design. Visit with the architect in person or by Zoom so that students can see the architect's sketches and final plans. Ask questions about how the architect considers form and function in their design. Discuss how plans become blueprints that serve as guides for the construction of a building. Invite your students to revisit the initial classroom design plans they created with an eye for the relationship between form and function. How does the structure of the classroom they have created relate to its proposed use? Pair students so that they can describe their classroom plans to a classmate to get feedback. Next, ask students to create a more blueprint-like sketch of their envisioned classroom. Some students may be up for the challenge to use Google Sketch Up to create a structure from its creative beginnings to a model that you can walk through virtually.

Additional Resources:

The Guggenheim Museum in New York has a repository interesting resources for teachers, with lesson plans, entitled Form Follows Function.

Sebastian, S., Shankar, R. & Al Qeisi, S. (2018). Design approach of Zaha Hadid from vocabularies and design techniques. Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research. 5 (6), 495-503.

Other Recently Featured Biographies

Erika Thulin Dawes is Professor of Language and Literacy at Lesley University where she teaches courses in children’s literature and early childhood literacy. She blogs about teaching with children’s literature at The Classroom Bookshelf, a School Library Journal blog, and is a former chair of NCTE’s Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children.

Julie Waugh teaches 8th grade ELA at Smith Junior High and serves as an Inquiry Coach for Mesa Public Schools. She delights in the company of children surrounded and inspired by books. A longtime member of NCTE, and an enthusiastic newer member of CLA, Julie is a former committee member of NCTE's Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children.

Meet Wu Chien Shiung, the “Queen of Physics” and “First Lady of Physics”

2/21/2022

By Jennifer M. Graff, Jenn Sanders, and Courtney Shimek on behalf of The Biography Clearinghouse

Picturebook biographies are some of the best ways to get to know global change-makers, understand the immense sacrifices made when pursuing one’s passion, and recognize injustices that typically accompany activist work. They enable us to connect with the people behind the discoveries. Thanks to Teresa Robeson and Rebecca Huang’s (2019) award winning picturebook, Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom we can meet Wu Chien Shiung (aka “Madame Wu”), a renowned female nuclear and particle physicist who transformed our understandings of physics and became an unwavering mentor to and advocate for women in science. While Wu Chien Shiung was overlooked for the Nobel Prize in Physics three times, a sampling of Wu Chien Shiung’s accomplishments in the table below, showcases why she is referred to as the “Queen of Physics” and “The First Lady of Physics.”

A Sampling of Wu Chien Shiung’s Accomplishments and Accolades
(Robeson, 2019)

The first woman to

teach science (1942) at and receive an honorary doctorate (1958) from Princeton University
have an asteroid named after her (1965)
be elected president of The American Physical Society (1975)
receive Israel’s Wolf Prize in Physics (1978)

She also received

the President’s National Medal of Science (1997)
her own U.S. Commemorative Forever stamp (2021)

The Biography Clearinghouse’s latest entry includes interdisciplinary teaching ideas and resources that

help build historical knowledge about China
highlight historical and contemporary Asian American and Pacific Islander activists
offer award-winning children’s picturebooks connected to contemporary issues such as family separations and the importance of names, and
detail arts-based activities focused on character creations and personal identities.

This entry also features interviews with Robeson and Huang about their inspirations for this picturebook biography, connections to Wu Chien Shiung, and details about their research and composing processes, among other interesting topics. Below are three instructional ideas from this entry.

Wu Chien Shiung. Columbia University, 1958. Smithsonian Institution Archives. Public Domain Image

Mentoring Via Peer Conferencing

Mentorship is one of the motifs present throughout Wu Chien Shiung’s life. It is also a significant factor in Robeson’s development of her poetic narrative in Queen of Physics [see her interview at 24:24]. Peer conferencing can serve as a similar opportunity for young writers to get feedback on their writing (Sanders & Damron, 2017). Once students are explicitly taught how to effectively peer conference and learn some strategies, peer conferencing can be a truly collaborative and mutually beneficial learning experience for the writer and peer mentor. In their book about writing peer tutoring, Sanders and Damron recommend apprenticing students in these five processes:

"Watch for ideas and organization first.”
Teach the mentor/tutor to pay attention to the writer’s ideas before worrying about spelling conventions.

“Respect the writer and the writer’s paper.”
Make the writer feel comfortable, be an active listener, and don’t write on the person’s paper.

“Involve the writer by asking questions.”
Teach mentors/tutors to ask open ended questions that get the writer talking about their ideas, their writing purpose, or their process.

“Teach the writer.”
Mentors/tutors share writing strategies that can be applied to the current piece but also across other pieces, rather than just trying to fix or revise the one piece they are discussing.

“Encourage the writer.”
Mentors/tutors provide encouragement by noting something specific that the writer did really well and offering one or two suggestions for revision (p.127).

Students can also focus their conferences on any previously taught writer’s craft lesson. Engaging in regular peer conferences helps young writers understand the value of feedback throughout the writing process and counters the myth of the isolated, independent writer.

Teachers can also invite students to consider the role of mentorship in their own lives. Students can identify individuals who have served as mentors to them and explore mentorship patterns and practices that are helpful and empowering to them as learners.

Advocacy and Activism

Queen of Physics features Wu Chien Shiung’s acts of persistence and resistance throughout her life. As a child, Wu Chien Shiung defied gender norms and expectations and led student protests and strikes in China for free speech. At the age of 24, she relocated to the U.S. to pursue her professional dreams as an advanced student of science. While enduring the hardships of war, life-long familial separation, and multiple episodes of racism and sexism, Wu Chien Shiung persisted in her pursuit of scientific discoveries and mentorship of female scientists in the U.S. and China. Wu Chien Shiung’s experiences remind us of other significant female Asian and Asian American activists to know. We share four female activists below, with more included in the The Biography Clearinghouse entry for Queen of Physics.

Yuri Kochiyama was a political activist from California who fought with Malcom X to work for racial justice, civil and human rights, and anti-war movements. She went on to work in the redress and reparations movements for Japanese Americans and continued to fight for political prisoners until she passed away in 2014.
Pranjal Jain is an Indian-American activist who has been organizing since she was 12 years old. As a current undergraduate at Cornell University, she is the founder of Global Girlhood, a women-led organization that inspires intercultural and intergenerational dialogue in online and offline spaces.
Stephanie Hu is a Chinese American who founded Dear Asian Youth while she was a high school student as a support website for marginalized young people as a result of the rise in anti-Asian racism and violence during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Anna May Wong was the first Chinese American movie star to appear in U.S. box offices. Although she was often relegated to smaller roles that perpetuated Asian stereotypes, her career spanned silent films, talkies, theater, and television, and she helped blaze the trail for Asian American performers after her. See Paula Yoo and Lin Yang’s (2009) picturebook biography, Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story, published by Lee & Low Books.

Printmaking a Character for Fiction Writing

Rebecca Huang uses a medium called printmaking to create the illustrations in Queen of Physics. Two basic relief printmaking techniques are woodblock and linocut in which printmakers carve a reverse or mirror image of their final picture onto linoleum or wood blocks. Then they use ink rollers called brayers to roll ink across the carved block and either hand rub or use a special press machine to press the inked block onto paper to create the final artwork. Often, a printmaker will carve multiple layers in the block, stopping to print each layer in a different color, to create a multicolored print. Check out the following online resources to learn more about printmaking techniques: Pace Prints and printmaking techniques. The back matter in Duncan Tonatiuh’s award-winning picturebook biography about the printmaker Jose Guadalupe Posada, Funny Bones also includes information about printmaking techniques.

By using basic supplies such as styrofoam plates and markers for printmaking, students can create a character to print and use in their own creative story. Watch this short video of a teacher demonstrating the styrofoam printmaking process.

If you have 1-2 hours….	If you have 1-2 days…	If you have 1-2 weeks…
Each student can design a main character for a story they write, and then draw and marker-print the character on paper. In this activity, students will experience a process of printmaking that helps them understand the steps and all the work that goes into making printed images.	After students create their printed character (see the If you have 1 to 2 hours . . . column), students can draft the story in which their character experiences a problem, challenge, or adventure. Based on their story, they can add a background setting in their picture to place their character in the context of their story. Students will simply draw the background setting and objects around their character on their printed picture.	Students can print their character four to six times, on separate pieces of paper, to create a storyboard with multiple scenes. Save one of these prints to make a title page for the story. For this activity, we recommend students leave the background of the styrofoam plate empty so they can draw in different backgrounds as the story progresses. Then, they can divide their corresponding written story into sections (three, four, or five, depending on the number of prints they made). For each story section, they can draw in a related background setting, additional characters, or objects to help complete the scene. In the end, they will have a multimedia print that has their character marker-printed and the background drawn in with pen, marker, or other tools.

Visit The Biography Clearinghouse website for additional teaching ideas connected to Queen of Physics as well as other biographies for young people.

Reference

Sanders, J., & Damron, R.L. (2017). They’re all writers: Teaching peer tutoring in the elementary writing center. NWP & Teachers College Press.

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 16+ year CLA membership.

Jennifer Sanders is a 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.

Courtney Shimek is an Assistant Professor in the department of Curriculum & Instruction/Literacy Studies at West Virginia University. She has been a CLA member since 2015.

Gearing Up for NCTE2022 & Winter Hiatus

12/14/2021

by Xenia Hadjioannou, Lauren Liang, Liz Thackeray Nelson (Editors of the CLA Blog)

Link to the call for proposal for NCTE 2022

During the Closing Session of the 2021 NCTE Convention, María E. Fránquiz, Program Chair for the 2022 conference, announced the theme of the 2022 Annual NCTE Convention: ¡Sueños! Pursuing the Light. With this call for proposals, María is inviting us "to think of ways that we can pursue and bring light to each other, to our profession, and our organization." The full clip of her announcement is provided below.

Clip from the Closing Session at NCTE 2021: María Fránquiz announcing the theme for NCTE 2022
Published with permission | Transcript

Out of the Darkness Grows the Light

In her announcement, María Fránquiz discussed drawing inspiration from the work of Sister Mary Corita Kent, "a social justice advocate, artist educator, designer and poet" and shared Kent's poem from the 1977 serigraph titled out of the darkness.

María also referenced a recently published children's biography of Corita Kent written by Matthew Burgess and illustrated by Kara Kramer: Make Meatballs Sing: The Life and Art of Corita Kent. The biography, which was composed in close collaboration with the Corita Center and includes reproductions of her work, was recently selected as one of the 2022 Orbis Pictus recommended books.

out of the darkness
Corita Kent, 1977

out of the darkness
of one moment
grows the light
of another moment
perhaps in some distant time
if not in the next moment
love the darkness

An image of the out of darkness cerigraph as well as comprehensive collection of Corita Kent’s artwork can be found on the website of The Corita Art Center.

Golden Line Strategy

Another children's title María Fránquiz connected to the 2022 NCTE Conference theme of ¡Sueños! Pursuing the Light is a picturebook by Yuyi Morales published as Bright Star in English and Lucero in Spanish. In this book, a young fawn explores a border territory, gently guided and encouraged by a maternal voice.

Using the golden line strategy, María pulled out the line:

"No matter where you are, you are a bright star inside our hearts."

"Dondequiera que estés, eres un lucero en nuestros corazones."

In reflecting on the excerpt, María commented, "For me, this line embodies, the belief of light within each person, child or adult. It is repeated in different forms in the story. The message offers protection to children because it presents the possibility of a caring person or community somewhere. This line radiates hope and love. I think that line also ties nicely with the lighthouse logo that incorporates our theme for the 2022 Convention. With the moon, and the stars brightly shining and the constellation beyond the lighthouses of our different parts of the world."

If you are interested in learning more about the golden line strategy, check out our post From the 2020 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts in which Jeanne Fain, the 2020 Notables Committee Chair, describes the strategy and offers ideas and recommendations for practice.

Submitting Proposals for NCTE 2022

Call for Proposals
Proposal submission online form for NCTE 2022.
Proposals are due by 11:59 p.m. ET, Tuesday, January 18, 2022.

For any questions, please email [email protected].

Hiatus Announcement & Wishes for the new year. We will be back in January

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.

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