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Exploring Heart & Hope with Biographies: The 2024 CLA Expert Class

10/21/2024

 

By Mary Ann Cappiello, Sara K. Sterner, and Kathy Short

Saturday, November 23, 2024 from 5:45 PM - 7:00 PM EST  Room 102 A, Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
Official Session Link: Children’s Literature Assembly Expert Class: Exploring Heart & Hope with Biographies
The Biography Clearinghouse
The Children’s Literature Assembly (CLA) has sponsored a Master Class at the annual NCTE Convention since 1994. This guaranteed session provides K-12 teachers and teacher educators with the opportunity to gain insight about the use of children’s literature through interactions with leading scholars, authors, and illustrators in the field. In 2023 at our 30th Annual session, we debuted our new name: the Expert Class.
 
In collaboration with The Biography Clearinghouse, an affiliated project of The Children’s Literature Assembly, the 31st annual Expert Class, “Exploring Heart & Hope with Biographies,” showcases the many ways in which picturebook biographies can be used across the curriculum for a range of purposes. This is an exciting opportunity to expand engagement with biographies as well as increase participants' biography related repertoire in their classrooms.  
 
The concept of “a biography clearinghouse” began at the 2018 NCTE convention in Houston, when author Barb Rosenstock asked what could be done to go beyond genre study and elevate the role of biography in classrooms across the curriculum. Ideas began to percolate amongst Barb, former members of NCTE’s Orbis Pictus Committee, and fellow author Tonya Bolden, and while sheltering at home at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team created “The Biography Clearinghouse.” Readers of the CLA blog may already be familiar with the work that appeared here 2020-2023.

The Biography Clearinghouse believes that:

  • High-quality, well-written biographies are multidimensional and multi-layered. As students explore the ways in which the book operates, and the decisions the author and illustrator made, they also use the biographies as vehicles for learning about the world.
  • Because of the increasing diversity of subjects, biographies are one of our best tools for diversifying the curriculum K-8.
  • Biographies can infuse the language arts, science, social studies, math, and integrated arts curriculum with models of agency and perseverance.
 
To help facilitate this work in K-8 classrooms, the Clearinghouse created a three-part framework: Investigate, Explore, and Create.
Inverstigate, Explore, Create Framework
This year’s class provides a unique opportunity for rich discussions about and experiences with picturebook biographies. After an initial introduction to the Investigate-Explore-Create framework, participants will rotate between four roundtables to experience activities and conversations rooted in each component. At one table, Barb Rosenstock and Scott Riley will focus on “Investigate,” and engage in conversation about the process of researching and writing biographies. Participants will “Explore” content and disciplinary thinking with Amina Chaudhri at one table and socio-emotional learning with Jenn Graff at another. At the fourth roundtable, Erika Thulin Dawes will engage attendees in the final part of the framework, “Create.”
 
We’ll conclude the session by sharing a Library Thing database of over 350 picturebook biographies (with tags)! This process will allow attendees to engage in dialogue about the power of biography and consider new ways to conceptualize how to bring the genre into their classes with more heart and hope. Everyone will leave the 2024 Expert Class filled with the wonder of biographies and ideas for new opportunities to bring biographies into the lives of children and tweens.
 
We are excited to share this biography party with you!  While building connections and learning together, we’ll share some vegan and gluten-free snacks (it’s late afternoon, and everyone might be a bit peckish). The Expert Class will close with the awarding of biography-based door prizes to bring home along with your new ideas and expertise.

Mary Ann Cappiello, Sara K. Sterner, and Kathy Short serve as the 2024 CLA Expert Class Committee.
 
  • Mary Ann is a Professor of Language & Literacy at Lesley University
  • Sara is an Associate Professor of Elementary Education at Cal-Poly Humboldt University and a CLA Board Member
  • Kathy is a Professor of Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies at The University of Arizona and a CLA Board Member

Other CLA offerings during NCTE 2024

Notables
CLA Breakfast
Art Auction

Sharing Books We “Love” to Support On-Going Work During Troubling Times

2/13/2024

 

By Adam Crawley and Elizabeth Bemiss on behalf of the CLA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Committee

We are living and navigating in troubling times. Across the country, educators (e.g., K-12 teachers, librarians, teacher educators, etc.) experience censorship of and challenges to texts that center historically marginalized races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and other ways of being. In several states (e.g., Florida, Georgia, Utah), legislation explicitly restricts such representations and discussions in K-12+ schools. Simultaneously, cities across the country are supporting newcomers bussed from the U.S.-Mexico border, and schools and libraries specifically are trying to aid these families with daily needs (e.g., food, shelter) and other aspects (e.g., school transitions, providing books in Spanish). Meanwhile, unrest in Africa, the Middle East, and Ukraine continue to weigh heavily on many of our minds and hearts; mass shootings in schools and other public settings remain prevalent; and the upcoming 2024 U.S. Presidential election causes increased tension across politically opposed ideologies. In the midst of all of this, we want to retain hope. We also know that reading and discussing children’s literature with youth can be vital for promoting social justice.

To support educators’ on-going work - and in the spirit of Valentine’s Day week - we asked 2023 and 2024 CLA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity (DEI) Committee members to share about books they “love” for their representation and ability to foster DEI work. While we recognize that no single book can address all of the world’s current complexities, we hope the recommendations in this list are helpful resources and provide a sense of solidarity for your own contexts.
Book cover: Bathe the Cat
Bathe the Cat
by Alice B. McGinty, illustrations by David Roberts (February 2022, Chronicle Books)

​I read this book as part of my sabbatical research that I completed (in part) at the Center for Research in the Humanities at the New York Public Library. I love the representation of diversity in race, gender, and sexual orientation in this wonderfully loving family, but it’s the cat who steals the show! Teachers can use this book to talk about doing chores and organizing for visitors.  Students will crack up about the shenanigans that can happen when directions get mixed up! Such a fun book! (contributor: Craig A. Young)

Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series 
by Traci Sorell, illustrations by Arigon Starr (April 2023, Kokila)

I first learned about this book at the 2023 CLA breakfast and read it immediately. The book is complex and gripping. The contrast between the tension in the media versus the camaraderie portrayed between the Native American athletes speaks volumes about the construction of Native Americans in the U.S. The childhoods of each of the players were fascinating. The artistry by Arigon Starr depicts art that is rooted to each of the athlete’s tribes. Apart from the compelling story, Sorell provides information about other Native baseball players until today, quotes, and an author’s note. (contributor: Laura Ascenzi-Moreno)
​
Book cover: Contenders
Book cover: Forget Me Not
Forget Me Not
by Ellie Terry (May 2018, Square Fish)

As a neurodivergent reader, I love middle grade stories that share the realities of our existence without relying on stereotypes or assumptions, especially when those stories are by neurodivergent creators. One great example is Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry, a dual-perspective novel - half in verse - about a young girl with Tourette’s syndrome (TS). (It’s important to note that the book’s author has TS, too.) It’s a story of friendship and hope and rejecting the idea that it’s better if you hide—your TS, your neurodivergence, who you are. Terry eloquently recognizes the difficulty, but also the brilliance, in finding your own voice and being your most authentic self. (contributor: Jennifer Slagus)
Book cover: Jo Jo Makoons
Book cover: Jo Jo Makoons Fancy Pants
Book cover: Jo Jo Makoons Snow Day
Jo Jo Makoons Series
by Dawn Quigley, illustrations by Tara Audibert (Heartdrum)

Native Americans have a great love of laughter. In this series, author Dawn Quigley (Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe) introduces a spunky seven-year-old named Jo Jo Makoons who lives on an Ojibwe reservation. Jo Jo’s worldview is truly one-of-a-kind as she learns to be friendly, fancy, and imaginative. I love Jo Jo’s hilarious adventures, which are similar to a younger Amelia Bedelia experience. Readers will meet Jo Jo’s Ojibwe family and community (and her pet cat Mimi) as she moves through contemporary, everyday events. Illustrator Tara Audibert (Wolastoqiyik First Nation heritage) adds her comical, cartoon-style artwork to each story in the series. First and second-grade readers will make connections with Jo Jo’s realistic experiences, her feelings in those situations, and learn how she solves her problems. These books are upbeat and humorous, making them a very enjoyable read. (contributor: Andrea M. Page Hunkpapa Lakota)
Book cover: Our Skin
Our Skin: A First Conversation about Race 
by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli, illustrations by Isabel Roxas (May 2021, Rise x Penguin Workshop)
​
Have you ever struggled with finding the language to talk about race and racism with young children? In Our Skin: A First Conversation about Race, authors Megan Madison, Jessica Ralli and Isabel Roxas provide a template for building children’s (and adults’) racial awareness and racial literacy in simple language. Madison and Ralli’s straightforward language introduces terms like skin color, race, racism, and injustice, while Roxas’s art showcases our commonalities and differences in physical attributes that children will likely recognize. Dismantling racism is a centuries-long process that will likely continue into our future. As difficult as it may be, it is necessary to keep the conversation going. As author and activist James Baldwin once said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” This book provides a pathway for parents, teachers, and librarians to face and dismantle racism by creating a brave space to have more courageous conversations with young readers. (contributor: Nadine Bryce)
The House that Lou Built 
by Mae Respicio (June 2018, Wendy Lamb Books)

Growing up as a first generation Filipina-American, I never saw myself or my lived experiences reflected in any book I read as a child. I am beyond thrilled that Filipinx and Filipinx-American writers and Filipinx-American characters are finally represented in children’s literature. While the work of Newbery Medalist Erin Entrada Kelly may be most known, I wanted to share the work of Mae Respicio as well. The House That Lou Built is one of Respicio’s novels that I would recommend for upper elementary and middle school readers. The protagonist, Lou, defies gender and cultural stereotypes to make her dream of building a tiny house come true, especially when she realizes what is at stake. A coming-of-age novel that is full of family, friendships, Filipino culture, and heart. (contributor: Grace Enriquez)
Book cover: The House That Lou Built
Book cover: The Year We Learned to Fly
The Year We Learned to Fly
by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrations by Rafael López (January 2022, Nancy Paulsen Books)

In The Year We Learned To Fly, young readers living in cities see the setting they call home represented in familiar ways.  Woodson draws our attention to nature with mentions of spring rain and the early darkness that accompanies autumn in her story of a brother and sister struggling with boredom. The fashionable Afrocentric grandmother encourages her granddaughter and grandson to use their imagination and helps them to see the world in new ways. The grandmother’s wisdom and sense of history becomes their own. I love the homage to Virginia Hamilton’s The People Could Fly in the story, afterword, and in Lopez’s illustrations. There are beautiful ties to the African American literary tradition related to flying. The book lends to discussions about imagination and ancestry linked to enslavement. (contributor: Susan Browne)
This is Our House 
by Hyewon Yum (April 2023, Square Fish)

This Is Our House, written and illustrated by Hyewon Yum, shows one “normal” Korean American family’s growth in the United States. In the house in New York, babies grow, become adults, and get married. Seen from a granddaughter's viewpoints, this book showcases that Asians are also one of the fabric of the United States. This book also shows interracial marriage as a part of the story. The story and illustrations are peaceful on the surface, however, teachers and students can share their own diverse aspects of their own families, which should be considered as “normal” in the first place. (contributor: Eun Young Yeom) ​
Book cover: This is Our House
Book cover: We Still Belong
We Still Belong
by Christine Day (August 2023, Heartdrum)

I love how We Still Belong by Christine Day showcases the importance of Native heritage, the impact of stereotypes, the value of kindness, and the importance of community all while captivating young readers. Indigenous People’s Day is a central part of the story, and it can inspire readers to learn more about this day and its significance. This book is perfect for beginning discussions about exploring one's identity and what it really means to belong. The publisher created an Educator Guide that will help with discussions. (contributor: Kasey Short)
These poignant and powerful texts that are well loved by CLA DEI committee members illuminate many issues surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion. These texts speak to issues of race, gender, heritage, and sexual orientation, to name a few, and could be used in the classroom to evaluate the impact of stereotypes or assumptions, to face and dismantle racism, to highlight the value of kindness, or to provide a realistic portrayal of diversity for readers to see themselves and their lived experiences represented in texts.

As delineated in the CLA Bylaws, the DEI committee encompasses a steadfast commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusivity within CLA:
 
"The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Committee Chair and members shall help ensure CLA’s commitment to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusivity. The committee shall help create and/or review CLA policies and position statements shared with CLA members and/or the greater public. The committee shall work with membership and nominating committees for recruitment as well as help distribute calls for CLA-related applications. Committee members shall also serve as resources for CLA Standing Committee Chairs when they are developing materials and programs." 
 
For more information about the DEI committee, please contact committee chairs Adam Crawley ([email protected]) or Elizabeth Bemiss ([email protected]).
Adam Crawley is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the School of Education at the University of Colorado-Boulder. He serves as the 2023 and 2024 CLA DEI Committee chair.

Elizabeth Bemiss is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of West Florida. She is a CLA Board Member and chair of the 2023 and 2024 CLA DEI Committee.

Making Waves and Radiating Hope: Young Peoples’ Acts of Resistance in 2024 Award-Winners

1/27/2024

 

By Jennifer Slagus and Callie Hammond

There is something endlessly energizing about reading new things—whether it’s an anxiously-awaited release, a long-term tenant on your TBR-list, or the research of an emerging scholar (maybe we’re a little biased on that last one). Members of the CLA Student Committee are privileged to do just that: to read exciting books and write about all the exciting ways they can be used in classrooms to improve the lives and learning of our students. Much of our work as early career researchers highlights critical pieces of children’s literature that attend to the social, cultural, and political contexts of our real and literary worlds. We want to share a few recently published, award-winning books relevant to our doctoral research that highlight young peoples’ bravery and acts of resistance. All three are critical, impactful reads worth embedding in each of our classrooms in 2024.

Jennifer Slagus

I’m a huge fan of books by authors who share a lived reality with their characters. As a neurodivergent researcher, I strive to highlight middle grade novels that help to restory the perceptions of who neurodivergent people are (and who they’re allowed to be). There have been many fabulous authors in the past five years or so who have contributed books that do just that. But one author sticks out to me as an exceptional advocate for neurodivergent acceptance: Sally J. Pla. She’s an autistic middle grade author and the founder of A Novel Mind, a website that centers mental health and neurodiversity representation in children’s fiction. ANM has been a gold mine for my research. Not only does it feature a vibrant blog and a ton of educator resources, but it also has a database of over 1,150 children’s books featuring mental health and neurodiversity representation.
Cver of The Fire, the Water, and Maudie McGuinn (2023)
Picture
Sally’s most recent novel, The Fire, the Water, and Maudie McGuinn (2023) was just awarded the 2024 Schneider Family Book Award for its fantastic neurodivergent representation set against the realistic difficulties many disabled people face (like infantilization, abuse, and resulting trauma). Despite all of Maudie’s hardships—living with an abusive stepdad and narrowly escaping a ravaging California wildfire—she finds strength in her own voice and is able to admit she needs help. Just before the book published, Sally and I talked about Maudie on Episode 4 of my podcast In the MIDst: A Kid's Lit Podcast.  She explained the novel is “about blooming after your world’s kind of been scorched in a way. But it’s a healing novel, it talks about some really deep issues of emotional abuse . . . and moving on afterwards and healing and growing and finding your voice and learning that you can tell, and you can talk, and it’s okay” (31:25-31:46).

Maudie’s ability to find her voice and self-advocate—her acts of resistance against the way she is continually mistreated—make this a critical read. And the accompanying discussion guide, created by an Education PhD, features questions and activities to facilitate classroom discussions that can help young readers better understand Maudie’s experiences, and support them as they analyze the conflict, and consider how to better empathize with and care for their neurodivergent friends, family, and community members.

Callie Hammond

As a middle school teacher for ten years, I often utilized picturebooks to engage my students and to teach discrete skills, usually about grammar, and to illustrate writing techniques. These lessons had varying success—sometimes the 7th graders would be open to reading a picturebook, other times they rolled their eyes and refused to participate.

The most successful picturebooks that I ever brought into my classroom though had nothing to do with grammar or writing, they had to do with Anne Frank. I taught her diary to 6th graders who, unless they were readers themselves and had already discovered World War II fiction, had no knowledge of the Holocaust or how Jews were treated in the years preceding the war. My Anne Frank picturebook collection featured many books about Anne (there are a lot of them out there), but also books that explained significant parts of the war: the night of broken glass, Jewish resistance, children in concentration camps, children who also hid during the war, and many others.

Now, as a doctoral student in English education, I have come full circle to analyze the stories of Jewish female protagonists in YA novels about World War II, and representations of the Holocaust in picturebooks. Two of these picturebooks were published in 2023 and feature stories and information that our students need and can learn from. Both books were also just named Notable Books for a Global Society Award for 2024. As is fitting for a book about a traumatic historical event, both are nonfiction and have extensive back matter to explain the stories.
Cover of Hidden Hope: How a Toy and a Hero Saved Lives During the Holocaust
In Hidden Hope: How a Toy and a Hero Saved Lives During the Holocaust, a young girl named Jacqueline resists the Nazis by hiding fake papers in a wooden yellow duck toy for those who needed to escape France after the Nazi invasion. Her story reveals a twist though: she is a Jewish girl masquerading in the open as a Christian. Her act of resistance and sheer bravery are an incredible learning opportunity for students to understand different types of resistance during the war.

Cover of Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kinderstransport
Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kinderstransport is about the Kindertransport (or child transportation) of Jewish children from Czechoslovakia to Great Britain. This picturebook does not shy away from the overwhelming confusion and sadness of the children who are leaving their parents, and of the parents whose children are leaving. Reading this book with middle school and high school students will provide an emotional connection to the hardships of the war without focusing on atrocity pictures.


Utilizing both of these picturebooks in the classroom with older students can prep them for the heavier history or readings a teacher might soon introduce. They also provide picture evidence of hardships and bravery without being too macabre.
Jennifer Slagus is a doctoral candidate at Brock University in Ontario, Canada and Coordinator of Research & Instruction at the University of South Florida Libraries. Jennifer’s doctoral research focuses on representations of neurodivergence in twenty-first century middle grade fiction.

Callie Hammond is a doctoral student at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Callie’s doctoral research focuses on accessing historical knowledge when teaching literature that involves the Holocaust and using critical content analysis to analyze and understand representations of the Holocaust in children’s picturebooks.

CLA Student Committee Members
  • Jennifer Slagus - Brock University (Chair)
  • Nadine Bravo - University of Southern Maine
  • Kristen Foos - Ohio State University
  • Callie Hammond - NC State University
  • Ling Hao - University of South Carolina
  • Carrie Ann Thomas - Ohio State University

Enjoy Breakfast with Award-Winning Children's Author Traci Sorell

11/7/2023

 

By Andrea M. Page and Jackie Marshall Arnold

We invite you to the Children's Literature Assembly’s annual event at the 2023 NCTE Convention. Enjoy breakfast with our Keynote Speaker, award-winning author Traci Sorell. The breakfast is Sunday, November 19th, from 7:00am to 8:45am EST in Short North A of the Grand Columbus Convention Center. 
Picture
This breakfast will be the highlight of your experience at NCTE. During the event, you will have time to engage with fellow Children’s Literature Assembly members. You can participate in a book raffle for an entire set of 2023 Notable Books. Or perhaps bid on and win a piece of art in our Children’s Literature Art Auction. Most importantly, you will hear children’s author Traci Sorell talk about her two new titles, Contenders and Mascot, and other highlights of her writing journey.

​You will need to purchase a ticket to attend the breakfast, so if you have already registered but would like to join us, call NCTE at (877) 369-6283 and they will help you add the ticket to your registration.  ​
Picture
2022 Art Auction, Anaheim, CA (photo courtesy of Andrea Page)
Traci Sorell
Photo credit: Cody Hammer
Traci Sorell, our featured speaker, is an award-winning author of many books including We Are Grateful:  Otsaliheliga, At the Mountain’s Base, We’re Still Here, Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer, Powwow Day, Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series, and Mascot. As an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, Traci is committed to her community. She is a storyteller who is dedicated to presenting Native Americans in their full humanity through her writing. Traci uses her writing gift to elevate and illuminate Native American contributions to our world. All her work reflects these themes. For some ideas on how to integrate Traci's books into your classroom, please see our previous post. 
Learn more about Traci and how her experiences shape her work during her keynote presentation. You will hear about her newest titles, Mascot and Contenders. Co-authored with Charles Waters, Mascot, a middle school novel-in-verse is told in multiple voices. The middle school characters wrestle with the reality that their school features a racist mascot. When their language arts teacher engages the class in a project debating the “Pros and Cons of Indigenous Peoples as Mascots” controversy ensues across the diverse group of students and the entire community. Mascot earned a starred Kirkus review stating, “a brilliant story not to be missed; deeply engaging from the first page.”
Book cover: Mascot
Book cover: Contenders
Traci will also discuss her new picture book, Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series. Also receiving a starred review from Kirkus, Contenders highlights the lives of Charles Bender and John Meyers, two Native athletes who make history playing against each other in the 1911 World Series. Her books capture readers’ imaginations.

​
Every paid breakfast attendee will walk away with a copy of either Contenders or Mascot. Traci will sign books following the CLA Breakfast program.
If you are a veteran of our CLA Breakfast, you already know what an amazing experience it is! If you have not had the opportunity yet, we invite you to join us for Sunday’s breakfast with an incredible author. Find out what you’ve been missing. The CLA Breakfast is a wonderful opportunity to meet others who are passionate about children’s literature, engage in learning from Traci Sorell, and perhaps go home as a winner of a robust set of award-winning books or an original piece of beautiful art! We hope to see you there!

​
Andrea M. Page (Hunkpapa Lakota)  is a board member of the Children’s Literature Assembly and serves as the Co-Chair for the 2023 CLA Breakfast Committee. She is a children’s author, educator and speaker. She lives in Rochester, NY.

Jackie Marshall Arnold is a member of the Children’s Literature Assembly and serves as the Co-Chair for the 2023 CLA Breakfast Committee.  She is an associate professor at the University of Dayton in Dayton, OH. 

The CLA Expert Class 2023

10/24/2023

 

By Sara K. Sterner, Lisa Pinkerton, and Mary Ann Cappiello

CLA Expert Class 2023: 
Nodes of Literary Connection—How Culturally Diverse Imprints are Building Pathways for More Inclusive and Representative Children’s Literature | Saturday, November 18, 2023 from 5:45 PM - 7:00 PM EST (GCCC Room B-130-132)
Expert class logo
Starting in 1994, the Children’s Literature Assembly (CLA) has sponsored a Master Class at the annual NCTE Convention. This guaranteed session provides K-12 teachers and teacher educators, as well as other members of our organization, the opportunity to gain insight about the use of children’s literature through interactions with leading scholars, authors, and illustrators in the field. For the 30th Annual session, we honor that history and debut its new name, the Expert Class.
In collaboration with Ellen Myrick, President and Chief Marketer, Publisher Spotlight, the 30th annual Expert Class will feature an impressive gathering of authors, illustrators, publishers, and organizations that are influencing the landscape of inclusive representation in children’s literature for readers and creators alike (Menefee & Johnson, 2021; Rosenberg, 2022). Recognizing a continued dearth of diverse books for young readers, especially those written by diverse creators, the demand for more authentic representation in children’s publishing remains an issue (Menefee & Johnson, 2021). In response, small publishers and imprints are shifting the field—creating extended publishing pathways for inclusive books that serve as authentic nodes of literary connection for young readers.

​
This Expert Class explores a movement in the publishing industry working to expand representation in children's literature that has been woefully lacking in the field. It is our goal that participating in the session will help individuals to build nodes of connection that expand or enhance their knowledge of diverse publishers and creators and the books that they publish. Additionally, participants will have opportunities to discover new books and publishers that center representation and highlight lived experiences that have been historically underrepresented and misrepresented in literature for young people. Importantly, the session has the potential to trailblaze new pathways for participants as they work to guide young readers to experience windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors (Bishop, 1990) that flow out of these literary nodes of connection.

​This year’s class will provide a unique opportunity for participants to interact directly with publisher/creator teams during the session as they rotate between tables. The session is organized in conversational-style groupings organized around the following focal themes. At each table, speakers will share the focus, vision, and collaborative process that constitute their books and work. In addition to building connections and learning from the experts featured in our Expert Class this year, there will be incredible door prizes and take-aways from the session. 

Featured Authors

Expert class author table logo
Michelle Kadarusman writes books for young people inspired by a commitment to environmental awareness and to honor the earth. Publications: We the Sea Turtles (2023), Berani (2022), Room for More (2022), Music for Tigers (2020), Girl of the Southern Sea (2019), and the Theory of Hummingbirds (2017), Pajama Press.
Photo: Michelle Kadarusman
Book cover: We the Sea Turtles
Shirin Shamsi is an author of many books for young people who hopes to inspire her readers to appreciate the beauty and diversity of our planet. Featured Publications: Zahra’s Blessing: A Ramadan Story (2022), The Moon From Dehradun: A Story of Partition (2022), Planting Friendship: Peace, Salaam, Shalom (2021), Laila and the Sands of Time (2019), and A Hug For The World: An Anthology (2019). 
Photo: Shirin Shamsi
Book cover: Zahra's Blessing

Featured Illustrators

Jade Orlando is a free-lance illustrator whose colorful illustrations can be found in books, cards, apparel, and other media. Jade has illustrated many books for young people. Her latest picturebook project, I am Going to be a Princess: A Story about Inspirational Black Women and Girls (2023), written by Stephanie Taylor, will be published in December by Nosy Crow.
Photo: Jade Orlando
Book cover: I'm Going to Be a Princess
Kathryn Otoshi is an award-winning illustrator and author who is best known for her picturebook series One, Zero, and Two. Using numbers and colors, this series promotes character development and helps young readers to explore the challenges and joys of interpersonal experiences with others. Featured Publications: Calling the Wind: A Story of Healing and Hope (Written by Trudy Ludwig, 2022), Lunch Every Day (2021), and Draw the Line (2017). 
Photo: Kathryn Otashi
Book cover: One
Book cover: Two
Book cover: Zero
Expert class illustrator table logo

International English Language Books:  Featured Publisher

Expert class international English language books table logo
John Mendelson has served as president of Nosy Crow USA since May of 2022 when he helped establish the Crow’s Nest across the pond. Passionate about helping to guide children to become lifelong readers, he enjoys finding books that capture readers with their creativity and distinction.  More about Nosy Crow: This small independent publishing company is based in the UK and focuses on creating engaging books for children ages 0-12. It is a reader-centered company that seeks to produce books that beautifully captivate readers and encourage them to read for pleasure. They have a commitment to ethically and responsibly source the supplies and materials for their books.
Nosy Crow logo

International Translated Books:  Featured Publisher

Angus Yuen-Killick is the creator and founder of Red Comet Press. In this role, he is delighted to be directly connected with the process of discovering new books as he guides them through publication—from creator to reader. More about Red Comet Press: This small independent publishing house started in 2021 and is most known for its focus on books in translation, mostly from Europe. The company continues to expand its offerings and is growing to also include books that originate from the press. Their ongoing goal is to bring marvelous stories and books in translation to English speaking audiences.
Red Comet Press logo
Expert class international translated books table logo

North American Small Presses: Featured Publishers

Expert Class North American Small Presses Table logo
Groundwood Books, represented by marketing director Fred Horler, is a Canadian publisher that is part of the House Of Anansi Press. While the majority of their books are from Canadian creators, they also have outstanding selections from other countries. They focus on publishing books that often reflect the voices of historically underrepresented or misrepresented creators and communities, are justice-oriented, and embrace stories that artfully engage with difficult or controversial topics.
Goundwood Books logo
Lee and Low Books is an independent multicultural children’s literature publisher based in the United States. Since its foundation 30 years ago, the press has been dedicated to changing the landscape of representation in the books and creators it publishes. Their ongoing mission is to publish inclusive books about everyone and for everyone. It is a major focus of the company to share stories that are mirrors for children of color and that can be read and enjoyed by all children. The impact of this focus continues to expand in their work and the addition of multiple imprints.
Lee & Low Books logo

Outstanding International Books/USBBY

Learn more about the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY). It is  the U.S. national section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), which was founded to promote international understanding and good will through books for children and adolescents. Not only will this table feature information about USBBY, it will feature more information about the superb books selected for the 2023 Outstanding International Books List. 

Christina Moorehead, Publisher Liaison with Publisher Spotlight, will guide this conversation.
USBBY logo
Expert class outstanding international books table logo

References:
Bishop, R. S. (1990, Summer). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, 6(3).

Menefree, D. L. & Johnson, C.F. (2021). Diverse imprints and the classroom: How publishers are taking up the call to package and promote diverse literature for youth. The ALAN Review, 49(1), 85-89.

Rosenberg, R. (2022, August 23). Read and learn: Culturally diverse children’s book publishers and imprints. BOOK RIOT. https://bookriot.com/diverse-childrens-book-publishers/ ​
Sara K. Sterner, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, CLA Board Member and Expert Class Committee Co-chair 

Lisa Pinkerton, The Ohio State University, CLA Board Member and Expert Class Committee Co-chair

Mary Ann Cappiello, Lesley University, CLA Board Member and Expert Class Committee Co-chair

#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

The Biography Clearinghouse Logo
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 ExampleReveal 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

Patricia's Vision Cover
Fauja Singh Keeps Going cover
The floating field cover
Between the Lines cover
The Crayon Man cover
The Oldest Student Cover
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. 

A Lesson from Faith Ringgold about the Radical Power of the Picturebook

4/19/2022

 

By Jessica Whitelaw

Last week I was able to visit the long-awaited Faith Ringgold exhibit, American People, at the New Museum in New York. Many know Ringgold from her book Tar Beach, but this retrospective - her first - features Ringgold as artist/organizer/educator and showcases paintings, murals, political posters, sculptures, and story quilts that span the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, critical feminism, and reach into the landscape of contemporary Black artists working today. After years of a relationship with the book version of Tar Beach, it was moving to stand in front of the original story quilt that the book is based on, this intimate everyday object upon which she wrote, painted, and stitched, to push the boundaries of white western art traditions and explore themes of gender, race, class, history, and social transformation.
Picture
Woman on a Bridge #1 of 5: Tar Beach, 1988
Acrylic paint, canvas, printed fabric, ink, and thread
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. 
Gift, Mr. and Mrs. Gus and Judith Leiber, 1988

But from an educator perspective, this important exhibit left out something important about the arts, access, and critical literacy. It didn’t pay much attention to the radical act of making this story quilt, and all of the ideas that it explores, available to young people in the form of another everyday object, the picturebook. In the book version of Tar Beach, narrator Cassie Louise Lightfoot, “only eight years old and in the third grade,” invites readers into an experience and conversation that the story quilt was asking museum audiences to consider. Cassie’s is a story of resistance and self-definition and an invitation through art and words, to encounter issues of class, race, place, history, and the future through what Ringgold has called a “fantastical sensibility.” Cassie’s story offers a word/picture narrative marked by sharp observation and critique but also beauty and humanization.
I left the exhibit thinking about how Tar Beach provides an object lesson in how the arts can support critical literacy. With its imprint on the social and cultural imagination of so many, Tar Beach reminds us that we can look to the humble picturebook to find sources of radical power. In these everyday objects that can traverse home, school, and everyday life, we can seek out art and words to explore issues of cultural significance, often with an eye toward joy and justice at the same time.

So how can we harness the power and possibility of the arts that can be found in picturebooks? How can we invite and encourage deep critical literacy and inquiry? 
Book cover: Tar Beach
Below is a protocol adapted from the steps of art criticism that can be used to support students in developing picturebook practices that engage critical literacy and inquiry. It can be used with Tar Beach, whose content is both accessible and complex enough to use with both younger and older readers. But it offers a flexible participation structure that teachers can use with any picturebook that has rich  visual/verbal content. Like most protocols, it works best as a flexible tool not a prescriptive device.
Picturebook Read Aloud Protocol

Adapted from the steps of art criticism, this protocol provides a framework for sharing picturebooks that aims to cultivate a critical practice. It guides the reader through a process of looking closely to notice what they might otherwise overlook and to use what they know about words and pictures to analyze and make sense of what they see. The stages offer a helpful way to support students of any age through a process and unfolding of critical engagement that relies upon attention to specific details in the work to guide thoughtful engagement and response. The protocol is intended as a facilitation guide for teachers. Wording should be adjusted for the audience/age of the reader.
LOOK CLOSELY

Take inventory. Examine the cover of the book, the dust jacket and the endpapers. Look closely at the typography, the pictures, the words. Describe what you see and notice in detailed, descriptive language. 
ANALYZE

Use what you know about picturebooks and design to analyze the words and the pictures. Look at the colors, the lines, shapes, textures. Try to determine the media the artist used to make the pictures. Examine the style of the language the writer used. Look for patterns, repetition, rhyme. Draw attention to the picturebook as a unique form of the book that relies on the synergy of the words and the pictures by asking how the words and pictures work together: What do the words tell you that the pictures do not? What do the pictures tell you that the words do not? What happens in between the openings? ​
QUESTION

Use questions together to probe and deepen. Stop and ask questions about pages that are visually and/or verbally rich or complex. What sense do you make of this page? How do you know that? Why do you think the author or illustrator chose to do it the way they did? What questions does the page raise for you, make you wonder about?
CRITIQUE

What do you think the author/illustrator is trying to do or say or show in this book? Who do we see in this book? Who is the audience for this book? Who do you think should read it? Whose voice/voices do we hear? Who do we not hear from? What ideas do you have about the topic/topics in the book? What do you think the storyteller in this book believes or thinks or wants us to know? What questions do you have about what the storyteller is saying and showing? What genre/category does the book belong to? What other work has this author and/or illustrator created and how is it similar to or different from this book?​
RESPOND

After having looked closely at the book, what does this text mean to you? What does the story make you wonder about? How could this story mean different things? To you? To different readers? 
Additional Teaching Resources for Tar Beach

Watch Faith Ringgold read Tar Beach

Create a paper story quilt

Listen to Faith Ringgold’s favorite songs

Explore a Faith Ringgold Text Set:
  • We Came to America 
  • Cassie’s Word Quilt 
  • The Invisible Princess
  • Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky 
  • Harlem Renaissance Party 
  • If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks
  • Henry Ossawa Tanner: His Boyhood Dreams Come True

For Older Readers: Watch the Ted Talk by Kimberlé Crenshaw on intersectionality

Examine how Tar Beach explores identity and power at several intersections. Examine other artworks of Faith Ringgold such as her For the Women’s House mural at the Brooklyn Museum or her America series of paintings on the artist’s website

Read Ringgold’s feminist artist’s statement from her memoir, We Flew Over the Bridge. Look for themes that connect across and examine how the different art forms allow the themes to be explored differently. Read other excerpts from We Flew Over the Bridge: The Memoirs of Faith Ringgold, and examine how ideas from her life take shape in Tar Beach. Consider the different forms of visual and verbal storytelling that she employs in her work and how ideas are conveyed through different modalities in each.

​
Jessica Whitelaw is faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania in the Graduate School of Education and a member of CLA. 

On Challenging Book Challenges

2/15/2022

 

by Rachel Skrlac Lo & Donna Sabis-Burns on behalf of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee

Cover of
Challenges to books and reading lists are proliferating. In recent conversations with students, educators, and school board members, folks have shared that book challenges are taking up valuable time, distracting from and interfering with learning, and creating new tensions in the classroom and in the boardroom. Students are denied access to texts while challenged books undergo reviews, and they often have no say over districts’ decisions. Teachers are asked to modify carefully constructed curriculum or face discipline. Administrators are drawing on policies that were not designed for this onslaught of challenges. 

According to the American Library Association, in 2021 George/Melissa (Gino) and Stamped (Reynolds & Kendi) were the two most challenged books. Jason Reynolds decries these challenges for denying children access to books. These books are in good company. Gender Queer (Kobabe), Maus (Spiegelman), New Kid (Craft), Fry Bread (Maillard) are a few titles on a quickly growing list. These challenges represent the carefully organized efforts of several groups, such as Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education, groups that purport to work for “the restoration of a healthy, non-political education for our kids”. Their goal is to incite moral panic and culture wars, framed as protecting innocent children from harm. This notion of harm is narrowly defined, namely to protect white heteronormative conservative families from having to acknowledge a broader world.

Critics of these book challenges include storytellers, educators and librarians, teacher educators and other scholars, and students. Books provide access to new worlds and perspectives. They may challenge our beliefs or affirm them. They may disgust us, enrapture us, and all the places in between. A good library and curriculum has books that do all of these things. In schools, books are used to help us navigate the world and build our ability to think critically about who we all are. Book challenges deny all students the rights to access new worlds and develop these skills to critically interrogate their world.

Cover of Stamped
Cover of New Kid

Institutional Resources to Reject Book Challenges

This right to access diverse literature and other texts is protected through professional organizations’ mission statements, codes of conduct, and other institutional practices. For example, the National Education Association (NEA) is an example of an institution that can support teachers and school districts responding to these challenges. The NEA, which has 3.2 million members across the nation, believes “every student in America, regardless of family income or place of residence, deserves a quality education” (website), which they support through their mission and actions. Because they are a large and far-reaching organization, their resources act as a standard-bearer, and thus can be used to guide districts' response to book challenges.

The NEA’s Code of Ethics, briefly

The NEA’s code of ethics is guided by two principles, the first of which is a commitment to the student. It has eight conditions, including that educators have an ethical duty to not:
1. “restrain the student from independent action in the pursuit of learning”,  
2. “unreasonably deny the student’s access to varying points of view”, nor 
3. “deliberately suppress or distort subject matter”. 

Additionally, educators must make an effort to:
4. “protect students from harmful conditions”,  
5. “not intentionally expose the student to embarrassment or disparagement”, and
6. ensure all students have access to programs, benefits, and advantages regardless of “race, color, creed, sex, national origin, marital status, political or religious beliefs, family, social or cultural background or sexual orientation.” 

The two remaining conditions are that educators:
7. do not seek private advantage from relationships with students, and

8. will respect students' privacy. 

Using the Code of Ethics to Respond to Challenges

Principle 1 lays out a daunting task for educators: how do we honor the humanity and dignity of all students when some of our beliefs are contradictory? Book challenges highlight this paradox.

The adults behind the book challenges argue their children are harmed through the content of these books, and this harm can be manifested as feelings of discomfort, shame and embarrassment, or in exposure to ideas that may lead to “deviance”. According to Principle 1, then, these parents are claiming that being exposed to these books is a harmful condition (condition 4) that results in these children feeling embarrassed and disparaged whether due to sexual content of texts, such as in challenges to George/Melissa, or discovering the longstanding persistent impact of white supremacy, such as in Stamped (condition 5). 

Yet, if schools were to succumb to these challenges, the result would be changes to curriculum and school resources that would unfairly deny benefits (condition 6) to students who identify differently from the mostly white, mostly straight, mostly Christian, mostly politically conservative, mostly American parents who are leading these challenges. Moreover, by shifting school curriculum and materials based on this loud but small group, schools would further violate the code of ethics by restraining independent action (condition 1), such as access to a diverse and representative library collection. Students would be denied access to multiple points of view (condition 2) by restricting the scope of content and voices. This suppression would distort subject matter (condition 3) and would impede student progress (condition 6). Removing books based on outcry of a small but politically-motivated group violates most of the conditions of commitment to the student in the NEA’s code of ethics.

Additionally, because educators must respect students’ privacy (condition 8), educators are guided by an ethical duty to protect students' identities because students warrant this protection of their full humanity. As such, educators must not be compelled to reveal which students need access to these books. We must trust educators when they say there are children who need these books.

So, which students need access to these books? 

All students do. 

As CLA’s Position Statement on the Importance of Critical Selection and Teaching of Diverse Children’s Literature underscores:
Children come to see themselves and their experiences represented in the stories they read and these stories can also provide insight into ways of living and knowing that depart from their own. This point alone makes access to diverse literature an ethical and moral imperative so that all students’ lives and languages are represented, especially those communities whose lives and language have been historically underrepresented in school settings (p. 2).

Resisting book challenges, then, is not about supporting or denying an ideological position. It’s affirming our commitment to serve all students. By drawing on a code of ethics, or other institutional materials, educators can respond to these challenges with the support of their profession and an understanding that their desire to serve all students is morally and ethically just.

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

Donna Sabis-Burns, Ph.D., an enrolled citizen of the Upper Mohawk-Turtle Clan, is a Group Leader in the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education* in Washington, D.C. She is a Board Member (2020-2022) with the Children's Literature Assembly and Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Committee.
*The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service, or enterprise mentioned herein is intended or should be inferred.

Reflections of Realities and Renewals: USBBY’s 2020-22 Outstanding International Books (OIB) Text Sets

2/8/2022

 

By Bettie Parsons Barger and Jennifer M. Graff

For so many of us, books can feel like best friends, close family members, long-lost relatives, or trusted mentors. We gravitate toward them through our desire to connect or understand, to be inspired, or to experience a new or fresh perspective. As educators and literature advocates we also strive to help youths develop relationships with books, often relying on their curiosity about themselves and the unknown to help forge those connections.The United States Board of Books for Young People’s Outstanding International Books (OIB) lists are excellent resources for such pursuits. Shared in previous CLA Blog posts, each OIB list highlights 40-42 international books that are available in the United States. In 2021, the OIB committee read over 530 books prior to selecting the 42 titles for the 2022 list. These titles represent outstanding literature from 24 different countries and 2 indigenous territories in Canada.
Picture
Picture
OIB Selection Criteria*
*Not every book will meet every criterion equally.*​​
  • represent the best of children’s literature from other countries
  • introduce readers in the U.S. to outstanding artists and writers from other countries
  • help children in the U.S. see the world from other points of view
  • provide perspectives or address topics otherwise missing from children’s literature in the U.S.
  • exhibit distinct cultural flavor, help counteract stereotypes, bridge cultural gaps, build connections, and engage and prove accessible to young readers in the U.S.

​See the USBBY website for additional content and presentation considerations.

​As we look at the past three years of OIB lists, we recognize how our current realities are reflected in the committees’ selections. Julie Flett’s (2021) We All Play/ Kimêtawânaw illustrates humans’ innate connection to nature and the joyous experiences of playing outdoors, as the current pandemic has encouraged. The Elevator (Frankel, 2020) speaks to the power of humorous storytelling to unite strangers who unexpectedly find themselves in close quarters. The current Ukrainian-Russian tensions mirror the conflict in How War Changed Rondo (2021). Silvia Vecchini’s (2019) graphic novel, The Red Zone: An Earthquake Story, and Heather Smith’s (2019) picturebook, The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota’s Garden, are stirring testimonies about ongoing global natural disasters, such as the recent volcano eruption and subsequent earthquake and tsunami that have devastated the Pacific nation of Tonga.

Partnering the beliefs that books including hostile and traumatic events “can provoke reflection and inspire dialogue that sensitizes readers . . .” (Raabe, 2016, p.58) and that “stories are important bridging stones; they can bring people closer together, connect them, and help overcome alienation” (Raabe & von Merveldt, 2018, p.64), we created a sampling of five text sets that can be readily used in K-12 classrooms.
A Sampling of Outstanding International Books Text Sets (2020-2022)
(Book covers are organized by younger-to-older audience gradation.)
Wars and Revolutions
(civil, border, global, & cultural)

2022 OIB Books
Book cover: The Story of Bodri
Book cover: How War Changed Rondo
Book cover: Soul Lanterns
Book cover: When the World was Ours
Book cover: War
Book cover: Freedom Swimmer
Countries represented: Sweden, Ukraine, England/Germany, Japan, Austria/Poland/England, Portugal, China
​2021 OIB Books
Book cover: Maurice and His Dictionary
Book cover: Mexique: A Refugee Story
Book cover: War is Over
Book cover: Catherine's War
Book cover: Crossing the Farak River
Countries represented: Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, France, Myanmar
​2020 OIB Books
Book cover: A Sky Without Lines
Book cover: The Taste of Rain
Book cover: Our Castle by the Sea
Book cover: Questions I Am Asked about the Holocaust
Book cover: Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black
Book cover: Bone Talk
Countries represented: US/Mexico Border, China, United Kingdom, Sweden, United Kingdom, Philippines
Human Resilience
(civil, border, global, & cultural)

2022 OIB Books
Book cover: Peter Lee's Notes from the Field
Book cover: Coffee, Rabbit, Snowdrop, Lost
Book Cover: We Dream Medicine Dreams
Book cover: Wounded Falcons
Book cover: The Big Bad Wolf in my House
Book cover: The Sour Cherry Tree
Book cover: The Caiman
Book cover: The Star Outside My Window
Book cover: Carry On: Poetry by Young Immigrants
Countries represented: Canada, Denmark, Canada: Northwest Territories, Mexico, Canada, Canada, Venezuela, UK: England, Canada
​2021 OIB Books
Book cover: All the Dear Little Animals
Book cover: Weekend Dad
Book cover: Some Days
Book cover: The Barren Grounds
Book cover: Migrants
Book cover: Blood Moon
Countries represented: Sweden, Canada, Argentina, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom
​2020 OIB Books
Book cover: The Moose of Ewenki
Book cover: Angryman
Book cover: The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota's Garden
Book cover: Girl of the Southern Sea
Book cover: The Red Zone: An Earthquake Story
Book cover: Vanishing Colors
Book cover: Lubna and Pebble
Book cover: Paws and Edward
Book cover: Caravan to the North
Countries represented: China, Norway, Japan, Indonesia, Italy, Norway, United Kingdom, Norway, El Salvador/US
Telling Stories and Sharing Memories
(personal, biographical, cultural, geographical, historical, traditional, philosophical, intergenerational, visual, epistolary)

2022 OIB Books
Book cover: Comings and Goings
Book cover: My Words Flew Away like Birds
Book cover: Sona Sharma, Very Best Big Sister
Book cover: Sakamoto's Swim Club
Book cover: Thao
Book cover: Too Small Tola
Book cover: Africa, Amazing Africa: Country by Country
Book cover: The Caiman
Book cover: Living with Viola
Book cover: All the Colors of Life
Book cover: Carry On: Poetry by Young Immigrants
Book cover: Freedom Swimmer
Countries represented: Greece, Canada, India, Canada, Vietnam/Canada, Nigeria, Entire Continent of Africa, Venezuela, Canada, Norway, Canada, China
​2021 OIB Books
Book cover: Letters from Bear
Book cover: The Magic Doll
Book cover: The Lady with the Books
Book cover: Under the Great Plum Tree
Book cover: A Story About Afiya
Book cover: The Elevator
Book cover: The Time of Green Magic
Book cover: Music for Tigers
Book cover: The Barren Grounds
Book cover: Catherine's War
Book cover: Gamayun Tales I
Book cover: The Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River
Countries represented: Belgium, Central African Republic, Canada, United Kingdom, United Kingdom, Argentina, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Russia, China
​2020 OIB Books
Book cover: The Happiest Tree
Book cover: Thukpa for All
Book cover: The Girl and the Wolf
Book cover: Hicotea: A Nightlights Story
Book cover: Riding a Donkey Backwards
Book cover: The Parrot and the Merchant
Book cover: The Apartment: A Century of Russian History
Book cover: The Girl Who Rode a Shark
Book cover: Perception: A Photo Series
Book cover: This Place 150 Years Retold
Countries represented: South Korea, India, Canada, United Kingdom, United Kingdom, Iran, Russia, Canada, Canada, Canada
Connecting with Nature
(accentuating humans’ relationships with the natural world)

2022 OIB Books
Book cover: We All Play
Book cover: This is How I Know
Book cover: Little Bird's Day
Book cover: Ducks Overboard!
Book cover: 189 Canaries
Book cover: Wounded Falcons
Book cover: The Sour Cherry Tree
Book cover: Seasons: A Year in Nature
Book cover: Almost Nothing, yet Everything
Book cover: Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright!
Countries represented: Canada, Canada: Anishinaabewaking, Australia, England, Germany, Mexico, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, United Kingdom
​2021 OIB Books
Book cover: The Barren Grounds
Countries represented: Finland, West Africa, Portugal, Canada
​2020 OIB Books
Book cover: The Farmer
Book cover: Birdsong
Book cover: Along the Tapajos
Book cover: Hicotea: A Nightlights Story
Book cover: The Moose of Ewenki
Book cover: The Grizzly Mother
Countries represented: Switzerland, Canada, Brazil, United Kingdom, China, Canada
Creative Outlets
(Playful approaches to familiar topics, how play and curiosity can foster connections and community, and the role of imagination in creating new possibilities and realities, benefits of unexpected journeys)

2022 OIB Books
Book cover: Moon Pops
Book cover: We All Play
Book cover: Agnes's Place
Book cover: Inside the Suitcase
Book cover: On the Other Side of the Forest
Book cover: Anita and the Dragons
Book cover: Time is a Flower
Book cover: Molly and the Mathematical Mysteries
Book cover: Walking in Two Worlds
Countries represented: South Korea, Canada, Norway, France, Canada, Dominican Republic, Canada, United Kingdom, Canada
​2021 OIB Books
Book cover: All Along the River
Book cover: Cannonball
Book cover: Everybody Counts
Book cover: Little Fox
Book cover: There Must Be More than That
Book cover: Sound
Book cover: The Wanderer
Book cover: The Land of Roar
Countries represented: Belgium, New Zealand, Norway, Netherlands, Ukraine, Japan, Netherlands, United Kingdom
​2020 OIB Books
Book cover: One Fox: A Counting Book Thriller
Book cover: Count on Me
Book cover: The Boring Book
Book cover: Daniel and Ismail
Countries represented: United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Chile
​2022 OIB Bookmark & Annotations
2021 OIB Bookmark & Annotations
2020 OIB Bookmark & Annotations
Featuring over 100 OIB books from the 2020-2022 lists, including all of the 2022 books, these text sets are intentionally broad in scope and varied in format to enable numerous groupings or pairings. Here are a couple of possible groupings.
Creative Outlets
Making Friends and Building Community through Play ​
Engaging Math Explorations ​
​
  • Agnes’s Place (OIB 2022)
  • All Along the River (OIB 2021) 
  • Cannonball (OIB 2021)
  • Daniel and Ismail (OIB 2020)
  • Moon Pops (OIB 2022)
  • Count on Me (OIB 2020)
  • Everybody Counts (OIB 2021)
  • Molly’s Mathematical Mysteries: Ten Interactive Adventures in Mathematical Wonderland (OIB 2022)
  • One Fox: A Counting Thriller (OIB 2020)
Wars and Revolutions
WWII and Holocaust Survivor Stories ​​
Family Separations ​
​
  • Catherine’s War (OIB 2021) 
  • Maurice and His Dictionary: A True Story (OIB 2021)
  • Questions I’m Asked about the Holocaust (OIB 2020)
  • The Story of Bodri (OIB 2022) 
  • Soul Lanterns (OIB 2022)
  • When the World Was Ours (OIB 2022)
  • A Taste of Rain (OIB 2020)
  • Crossing the Farak River (OIB 2021)
  • Freedom Swimmer (OIB 2022)
  • Mexique. A Refugee Story from the Spanish Civil War (OIB 2021)
  • Our Castle by the Sea (OIB 2020)
  • When the World Was Ours (OIB 2022)
  • Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black (OIB 2020)
We hope these possible text sets and sub-groupings serve as a springboard for additional text sets that center international stories in our academic and personal lives and help us not only better understand the past but also negotiate the present to help build a more informed, inclusive, and joyous future. 

For more information about OIB books and USBBY, please join us in Nashville, Tennessee, March 4-6, 2022 for USBBY’s Regional Conference. 


​References
Rabbe, C. (2016). “Hello, dear enemy! Picture books for peace and humanity.” Bookbird: A Journal of Children’s LIterature, 54(4), 57-61.

Rabbe, C. & von Merveldt, N. (2018). “Welcome to the new home country Germany: Intercultural projects of the International Youth Library with refugee children and young adults.” Bookbird: A Journal of Children’s LIterature, 56(3), 61-65.
Bettie Parsons Barger is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education Core at Winthrop University and has been a CLA Member for 10+ years.

Jennifer M. Graff is an Associate Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia, is a former CLA President and Member for 15+ years.

Stories from Asian America: Picturebooks of Lived Experiences

11/9/2021

 

By Joanne Yi

At the tail end of 2020, I completed my dissertation, a large-scale study of Asian American children’s literature. In total, I immersed myself in over 350 Asian American picturebooks, published across the last 25 years. This number surprises many, in part, because it is admittedly a large number to study, but also because few Asian American, bicultural stories are popularly known beyond perennial classroom favorites such as The Name Jar (Choi, 2001) and My Name is Yoon (Recorvits, 2003). Below, I share an adapted excerpt of this work and suggest titles for teachers, librarians, and parents to read and learn about beautiful and resilient Asian American identities and experiences:
The last few years have brought to light the increasing importance of the #OwnVoices movement in publishing, which highlights and buoys stories that authentically reflect their authors. In my analysis of Asian American picturebooks, it was evident the stories written by Asian American authors were often tomes of lived experience. They included family histories in prison camps, refugee journeys, memories of grandparents, difficult immigration experiences, and much more. 

As I read Love As Strong As Ginger (Look, 1999), Hannah is My Name (Yang, 2004), A Different Pond (Phi, 2017), and Drawn Together (Le, 2017), I felt pangs of recognition as I recalled my childhood. These picturebooks were Asian American counterstories (Delgado, 1989), narratives that were different in content, perspective, and ideology from those reflecting the mainstream. The latter often racializes Asian American characters, stereotyping them as a monolith, as perpetual foreigners, and as model minorities. In contrast, the power of counterstories is, as Couzelis (2014) wrote, their “potential to destabilize dominant national myths that act as ‘universal’ histories” (p. 16). 

It is important to realize that many of these stories were intentionally created to provide Asian American representation. Many stories were inspired by the authors’ own childhoods in the United States and were often tied to specific memories, such as playing with cousins while the adults played mahjong or fishing for that evening’s supper, rather than general experiences, such as moving or acclimating to a new school. 

Several of the texts that disrupted stereotypical tropes did so because the illustrators figuratively drew themselves into stories not originally written with Asian American characters in mind. It’s no small matter that illustrator Louie Chin depicted Asian American siblings in a silly story about dinosaurs crashing a birthday party (Don’t Ask a Dinosaur, 2018), for example, or that Yumi Heo perceived Bombaloo, an imagined manifestation of anger and petulance, as a little Korean American girl (Sometimes I’m Bombaloo, 2002). These stories are meaningful, not because the starring role in a “White” story was filled by an Asian American, but because the stories finally aligned with the imaginations and realities of Asian American children themselves.
​

The difference lies in stories from Asian Americans and storying about Asian Americans. Myths of the model minority are laid bare with authors’ own stories and family histories of poverty, post-immigration traumas, language barriers, and cultural clashes. They are in stark contrast to those more commonly heard tales of joyous overseas adoptions, racially ambiguous people, fearsome ninjas, and fragile origami, and the myths that come with them. Such stories do not produce connections or reflections for readers. Rather, the defining characteristic of the most notable picturebooks was their commitment to authenticity and the telling of lived experiences.  ​


Recommendations for Picture Books

​I encourage educators and families to explore the diverse richness of Asian America and share these stories with the children in their care.
Drawn Together (2018) written by Minh Le, illustrated by Dan Santat
​

In this familiar story about intergenerational language barriers, a young boy who speaks only in English, struggles to communicate with his grandfather, who speaks only in Thai. They find commonality in their love of drawing and learn to bridge understandings and connect in new ways.
Book cover: Drawn Together

Where’s Halmoni? (2017) written and illustrated by Julie Kim
​

Two Korean American siblings, Joon and Noona [older sister], arrive at their grandmother’s house to find her missing. As they call out for their halmoni [grandmother], they stumble upon a hidden world straight out of a Korean folktale and meet a chatty rabbit, hungry dokkebis [goblins], a fierce tiger, and more. Guaranteed to bring a smile to kids’ faces, this lighthearted and adventurous tale explores Korean folklore, language, and culture in a way that never feels didactic, just pure fun.  ​
Book cover: Where's Halmoni?

Amira’s Picture Day (2021) written by Reem Faruqi and illustrated by Fahmida Azim
​

Amira, a young Pakistani American girl, may burst from delight over Eid al-Fitr and the celebrations, treats, and fun it brings. However, her excitement over skipping school to celebrate is dampened when she realizes it is also Picture Day. This gentle story casts a spotlight on the importance of events and special days for children and how home and school lives may conflict, particularly for those who do not identify as part of the majority. 
Book cover: Amira's Picture Day

Watercress (2021) written by Andrea Wang, illustrated by Jason Chin 

​This autobiographical story centers on a Chinese American family who, on a long drive through rural Ohio, spots wild watercress growing on the side of a road in a muddy ditch. They stop and forage the plants, which are later cooked for dinner. The young protagonist is at first embarrassed by her parents’ actions but as she learns more about her Chinese heritage, she begins to feel cultural and familial pride.
Book cover: Watercress

When Everything Was Everything (2018) written by Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay, illustrated by Cori Nakamura Lin

This story is based on the author’s own memories but will be intimately familiar to many other Southeast Asian American immigrants and refugees who grew up in working class Minneapolis. The poetic text, which reflects the author’s spoken word roots, describes everyday, ordinary bits of life, from food stamps to ESL classes to public housing, from the perspective of a Lao American child. 
Book cover: When Everything Was Everything

Dissertation excerpt adapted from 
Yi, J. H. (2020). Representations, Racialization, and Resistance: Exploring Asian American Picturebooks, 1993–2018 (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University).

References
Couzelis, M .J. (2014). Counter-storytelling and ethnicity in twenty-first-century American adolescent historical fiction (UMI No. 3620806) [Doctoral Dissertation, Texas A&M University]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. 
​

Delgado, R. (1989). Storytelling for oppositionists and others: A plea for narrative. Michigan Law Review, 87(8), 2411–2441.
Joanne Yi earned her PhD in Literacy, Culture, and Language Education from Indiana University. A proud MotherScholar and former elementary teacher from Philadelphia, her research interests include critical literacies, textual analysis of diverse children’s literature, issues of inclusion and belonging in elementary and early childhood contexts, and reading education. 
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