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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

Announcing the 2024 Notable Books in the Language Arts

3/12/2024

 

By Fran Wilson, Patrick Andrus and Laura Hudock on behalf of the Notables Committee

For 27 years dedicated members of the Children’s Literature Assembly have served on the seven-member committee tasked with selecting 30 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts (NCBLA). While enthusiastic summaries of each title on the annual NCBLA list have been a highlight for readers of the Journal of Children’s Literature and Language Arts as well as for session attendees at the annual National Council of Teachers of English conference and Tucson Festival of Books, in coming months the instructional possibilities of selected NCBLA titles will now regularly feature on this blog. 

To launch this resource alongside the announcement of the 2024 NCBLA list, three current members Fran Wilson, a second-grade teacher in Madeira, Ohio and the 2024 NCBLA Chair, Patrick Andrus, a fourth-grade teacher in Eden Prairie, Minnesota and the 2025 NCBLA Chair, and Laura Hudock, an assistant professor of literacy and children’s literature at Framingham State University wish to pull back the so-called curtain to shed light on the selection process.

All titles on the annual NCBLA list are works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry penned for children in grades K-8 and published in the previous calendar year. These selected children’s books have to exemplify additional criteria, including
  • have an appealing format*;
  • be of enduring quality;
  • meet generally accepted criteria of quality for the genre in which they are written; and 
  • meet one or more of the following criteria:
    • deal explicitly with language, such as plays on words, word origins, or the history of language;
    • demonstrate uniqueness in the use of language or style; and/or
    • invite child response or participation*.
With these criteria foremost on NCBLA committee members’ minds, we individually read and evaluate and then collaboratively vet each prospective book. 

The exemplary children’s books named to each NCBLA list are high-quality texts that promote language arts and offer a range of literacy-related instructional possibilities. For example,
Holey Moley cover
Holey Moley (Bethan Clarke, 2023) features laugh-out-loud language play – rhyming and alliteration. This picturebook promotes phonological awareness and begs to be read aloud to the youngest of readers.
How do you Spell Unfair Cover
How Do You Spell Unfair?  (Carole Boston Weatherford, 2023) recounts young MacNolia Cox’s ground-breaking achievement – winning the local Akron, Ohio spelling bee and advancing to the national competition – while challenging racist stereotypes and facing discrimination. This nonfiction picturebook invites readers to explore embedded vocabulary shared as spelling words related to her lived experience.
The Probability of Everything Cover
Probability of Everything (Sarah Everett, 2023) is a middle grade novel that prompts immediate conversation among readers, often recounting their emotional experience while following protagonist Kemi Carter’s countdown of the meteor, Amplus-68’s collision with earth. These discussions continue long after the last page has been read. 
As we narrow down 768 prospective titles to a list of 30, the two *asterisked criteria often serve as our guiding light for envisioning instructional possibilities. Though we may anticipate a particular title’s positive reception to an audience of K-8 readers, we need to be certain that our assessments align with the responses of actual children. So, committee members often read aloud to their young children, grandchildren, K-8 students, and under/graduates enrolled in children’s literature and literacy courses. Patrick and Fran will highlight two ways we informally tested the asterisked criteria for titles published in 2023 and considered for the 2024 NCBLA list.

Patrick’s Polling Insights

During scheduled Zoom meetings each committee member nominates titles read to date as potential final selections based on NCBLA criteria, but we often wonder about how the intended audience of K-8 readers would receive these books. To help prioritize the target audience in committee discussions and voting, I (Patrick) have had the opportunity to share these nominated titles with my fourth-grade class. Throughout the past voting year, I tested out various picturebooks with this real-life "studio audience" to obtain a sampling of up to twenty-five elementary-aged readers’ honest, authentic opinions.  

I share one picture book each school day as part of my daily teaching routine. My fourth-graders become excited when they know I'm testing a picture book - they’re eager to contribute to the selection process and take this role seriously. My students offer their candid observations, inquiries, and themes related to these books. Many times after I finish one of the book selections, a student will shout out, “Now that is a five-star book!” or predict, “That one is going to be the winner this week.” At the end of the week, I collect their votes for the favorite picturebook of the week. Of note, some titles have been redacted.
Picture
Of those deemed potential final selections for the NCBLA list by our committee, some fell flat with my students when real aloud while others delivered positive responses. 
Picture
Sometimes, quite surprisingly to our NCBLA committee, a title would receive overwhelmingly enthusiastic engagement compared to other contenders. 
Picture
The diverse preferences among my students, reflected in the voting screenshots I share with the committee via text messages, enrich our conversations and reaffirm our mission to select the thirty best titles each year.

Fran’s Student-Initiated Persuasive Essays

When I (Fran) shared A Few Beautiful Minutes: Experiencing a Solar Eclipse, a picturebook written by Kate Allen Fox and illustrated by Khoa Le, my second-graders quickly noticed that the endpapers had illustrations featuring the stages of a solar eclipse. They were not only mesmerized by the rich, descriptive text highlighting the observable changes happening over a few beautiful moments but also appreciated the colorful illustrations depicting people gathering to make once in a lifetime memories. Upon learning that a total solar eclipse would be visible in many parts of North America this year, they wanted to know if their city was in the path of totality. After some research, guess what they discovered? They live on the southern limit!

After realizing the disappointment that April 8th was a school day, many students decided to voice their opinion–not just to me, but to my school district’s superintendent. Using information in the back matter and additional research, they wrote persuasive essays on why they should be released from school to experience the eclipse with their families. Here is a an example of a second grader’s two-page persuasive essay:
[Insert Blog_Pic 4]
Picture
Lo and behold, my superintendent called an early release on April 8th! My students have realized the power of voicing their opinion. Now, I can’t wait for them to learn the titles on the 2024 NCBLA Award list. These children will truly know that their opinions matter!

Drumroll please…

As members of the 2024 NCBLA committee, we are privileged to serve alongside exemplary K-16+ educators. It is our hope that with these shared insights into the selection process and future blog posts about the instructional possibilities, you will be inspired. Now, we present the 2024 list of Notable Children’s Books in Language Arts.
Celebrating the 2024 Notables. Link to notables page
Fran Wilson is a second-grade teacher in Madeira, Ohio and the 2024 NCBLA Chai.
Patrick Andrus is a fourth-grade teacher in Eden Prairie, Minnesota and the 2025 NCBLA Chair.
Laura Hudock is an assistant professor of literacy and children’s literature at Framingham State University.

2024 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts Selection Committee Members

Fran Wilson, Chair, Madeira Elementary School, Ohio
Patrick Andrus, Eden Prairie School District, Minnesota
Dorian Harrison, Ohio State University at Newark
Ally Hauptman, Lipscomb University, Tennessee
Joyce Herbeck, Montana State University
Laura Hudock, Framingham State University, Massachusetts
Lynette Smith, Walden University, Pennsylvania

2022 CLA Breakfast

10/31/2022

 

by Angela Wiseman & Ally Hauptman (2022 Co-Chairs)

We invite you to join us for our annual Children’s Literature Assembly Breakfast at the 2022 NCTE Convention featuring the award-winning author-illustrator Jerry Craft! Our breakfast is on Sunday November 20th, starting at 7am (PST) and takes place in Ballroom D at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The CLA breakfast is not to be missed! As you have seen in other blog posts, we will present awards, have an art auction and book raffle, and then Jerry Craft will speak and sign books afterwards! You need a ticket to the CLA Breakfast to attend. If you have already registered for the NCTE conference, but would like to purchase a ticket to the breakfast, the easiest way to do this is to call NCTE directly at (877) 369-6283.
2022 CLA Breakfast at NCTE on 11/20/22 @ 7 am
We would like to present some background on the esteemed, award-winning author-illustrator, Jerry Craft. As Publishers Weekly described in a book review about New Kid, Jerry Craft masterfully creates realistic stories that feature real life characters, “deftly weaving discussions of race, socioeconomics, colorism, and solidarity into an accessible narrative.”

We were first introduced to his work when we read New Kid, which was published in 2019. New Kid is part of a trilogy; Class Act is the second book and the third will be released in the near future. This fantastic book about Jordan Banks describes his experiences dealing with life as an adolescent while attending a private school where he doesn’t always fit in. He’s one of the only students of Color at this school and experiences prejudice and racism as he realizes how both race and socioeconomic factors impact the way people treat each other. Jerry Craft is motivated to show realistic portrayals of children in his books, but he also really wants children, particularly children of Color,  to see themselves in his stories.
Before Jordan Banks, Jerry Craft wrote the comic strip Mama’s Boyz, which features the Porter family. It depicts the experience of Pauline Porter, a mother who is single-parent to two teenaged sons named Tyrell and Yusuf. While depicting real life experiences of a family, it was important that he had characters that he could imagine his own sons reading and relating to. If you visit his website, the first thing you see next to his profile and books is a quote that says “I make the books I wish I had when I was a kid.”
Mama's Boyz comic strip sample
(Image from https://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/craft-jerry.htm)
If you regularly attend the CLA Breakfasts at NCTE, you know what a wonderful experience they are! But if you haven’t, we welcome you to join us! It’s a great opportunity to meet other people who are passionate about children’s literature, hear an amazing author-illustrator, purchase raffle tickets for wonderful books, and possibly bid on art from children’s illustrators! We hope to see you there!

Angela Wiseman and Ally Hauptman

​Ally Hauptman is a CLA Board Member and co-chair of the 2022 CLA Breakfast Committee. She is an associate professor at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN.

Angela Wiseman is a CLA Board Member and is co-chair of the 2022 CLA Breakfast Committee. She is an associate professor of literacy education at North Carolina State University.

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

Exploring the Vulnerable Heart of Verse Novels with Children

3/22/2022

 

By Ted Kesler

I have just completed my position as chairperson of the NCTE Poetry and Verse Novels for Children Committee. Our list of notable poetry and verse novels that were published in 2021 as well as other information about the award can be found on the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children page.

In the post Exploring Notable Poetry Books for Advocacy with Children published on 3/15/2022, I presented three notable poetry piturebooks from this list that promote advocacy and offered lesson plan ideas to do with children. In this second post, I discuss three notable verse novels that promote resourcefulness and the strength of family bonds in the face of overwhelming adversity. All three verse novels featured– Samira Surfs (Ruhksanna Guidroz), The Lost Language (Claudia Mills), and Red, White, and Whole (Rajani LaRocca) – feature 12 year-old girl protagonists. Therefore, I recommend these books for grades 5 through 7 readers. 
​First, it is important to establish what constitutes notable verse novels for children. Our committee’s definition is:
  • A narrative told predominantly in poetic forms, with strong poetic elements.
  • The poetry forms and elements are integral to the telling of the story.
  • Excellence in writing and emotional impact. We ask: does the poetry "create images, express feelings, and stir emotions" (Cullinan, Liang, and Galda, 2016)?
We look for purposeful and aesthetic uses of such poetic elements as metaphor and other figurative language, pattern, imagery, and evocative word choice. Verse novels often use free verse, but might also include other poetic forms, such as rhyming couplets, enjambment, concrete poems, personification, and rhythms that represent the voice of strong characters. 
The verse novels I present in this blog post certainly meet these criteria to heighten each protagonist’s encounter with adversity. An example is from Samira Surfs. Samira, her older brother, Khaled, and their parents are now living as unwanted refugees in Bangladesh, after escaping religious persecution in Burma (now called Myanmar). 

“Escape”

I covered my ears from the pa-pa-pa
and the screaming.
Who did they shoot?
I’m too scared to open my eyes.
Soldiers torched homes
our mosques
our market.
Smoke curled around our throats,
squeezing.


So we fled with neighbors
into the blackness of night,
terror biting down hard.
I glanced behind
to see if it was all true.
“Samira, keep your eyes ahead,” Baba called out. 
Samira Surfs by Ruhksanna Guidroz
This excerpt expresses the power of poetry to convey this harrowing experience. Guidroz uses onomatopoeia, personification, strong imagery and word choice, metaphor, line breaks and stanzas to "create images, express feelings, and stir emotions.” 
​This book invites so many analytic and creative responses that will heighten students’ intentions for social justice. Here are some suggestions:
​
  1. The teacher might photocopy each poem across the novel that describe the family’s escape from Burma. Reading across these poems, students then might bullet information they learned about Samira’s family’s life in Burma. This would create lively discussion. The teacher might then photocopy the first excerpt of the Author’s Note that explains this refugee crisis (page 404 to top of page 405). Students might then revise and elaborate their thinking.
  2. The teacher might photocopy some poems that describe conditions that Samira and her family face as unwanted refugees in Bangladesh and do similar comparative work with the excerpt of the Author’s Note that describes these conditions (middle of page 405 to middle of page 406).
  3. Similarly, the teacher might photocopy poems that describe Khaled, Samir and her friends learning to surf. Students might synthesize what they learned about surfing across these poems. They then might research the real-life empowerment of girls who learned to surf at Cox’s Bazar (the setting of this novel) using an online site such as The Surfer Girls of Cox’s Bazar. 
The Lost Language by Claudia Mills
​In The Lost Language, Bumble and her best friend Lizard, in an effort to gain the attention and respect of Bumble’s mom – a linguistics professor who studies vanishing languages – try to “save” a vanishing language. Teachers might share Know & Think Tube's video Linguistic Diversity, which provides an overview of linguistic diversity and why it matters. Students might then visit the Endangered Languages Project website that Mills provides in the “Author’s Note” to investigate and report on a vanishing language. The language they study could perhaps be from a country where their families come from or from here in the United States. Students can share information about the language and present reasons why it is vanishing. Finally, the class might watch Karen Leung's  TEDx video Embracing Multilingualism and Eradicating Linguistic Bias in which she talks about linguistic diversity and language biases. Students can discuss ideas for practicing linguistic accommodation and acceptance. 
​​​In Red, White, and Whole, Reha contends with being the only Hindu girl with brown skin, dark eyes, and black hair, from India in her private middle school in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid-1980s. As teachers read-aloud this book, students might keep a “Parking Lot” of new learning about Indian culture, as so many poems are rich with descriptions of their foods and dress and celebrations. These notes would support rich discussion. Students then might use some of these poems as mentor texts to write their own poem that is steeped in one of their own cultural practices for a class book celebrating diversity. 
Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca
All three verse novels also contend with issues of trauma. I pointed out the issues in Samira Surfs. In The Lost Language (spoiler alert), Bumble and her father contend with her mother’s mental breakdown. In Red, White, and Whole (spoiler alert), Reha and her father contend with her mother’s leukemia. Here is one excerpt:
Under hospital lights,
a bag of fluid drip drip drips
through a plastic tube into Amma’s arm.
One evening when Daddy and I visit,
a nurse comes in behind us,
and what she hangs on the metal pole near the bed
is not a bag of fluid,
but a bag of blood.
I see it and
the world turns gray
with specks of light floating in the corners.
Reha! Amma cries.
The next thing I know,
I am lying on the floor of Amma’s hospital room
Daddy holding an ice pack to my neck,
the nurse bending my legs.
Are you all right, kanna? Amma asks.
Even though
she’s the one who’s sick.


Under hospital lights,
the world is upside down.
The world of medicine,
the one I’ve always wanted to join,
is scary.
And I begin to question
whether I really want to be a part of it.
Here I turn to The Vulnerable Heart of Literacy (Dutro, 2019) for guidance. After reading this and other poems in the novel that focus on Amma’s illness, teachers might open invitations for students to share and write their own entries of times that they faced fear of illness or injury or hospitalization for themselves or loved ones that would open the vulnerable heart of literacy in the class community. These kinds of invitations are also possible for poems that describe the traumatic situations in Samira Surfs and The Lost Language. By making our classrooms sites of testimony and critical witness, we create “literacies of connection, of love, and of respect for the knowledge that comes from pain, from struggle, and toward the power of bringing that knowledge to learning” (p. 113).

Ted Kesler, Ed.D. is an Associate Professor at Queens College, CUNY and has been a CLA Member since 2010. He served as chairperson of the NCTE Poetry and Verse Novels for Children Committee from 2019 to 2021.
www.tedsclassroom.com | @tedsclassroom | www.facebook.com/tedsclassroom) ​

2021 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts Award Books

3/30/2021

 

BY JEANNE GILLIAM FAIN ON BEHALF OF THE NCBLA 2021 COMMITTEE

The NCBLA 2021 committee has the following charge as a committee: 

The charge of the seven-member national committee is to select 30 books that best exemplify the criteria established for the Notables Award. Books considered for this annual list are works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry written for children, grades K-8. The books selected for the list must meet the following criteria:

1. be published the year preceding the award year (i.e. books published in 2021 are considered for the 2020 list);

2. have an appealing format;

3. be of enduring quality;

4. meet generally accepted criteria of quality for the genre in which they are written; 

5. meet one or more of the following criteria:
  • ​deal explicitly with language, such as plays on words, word origins, or the history of language
  • demonstrate uniqueness in the use of language or style; and/or
  • invite child response or participation
Books transport us into new places and sometimes take us out of the craziness of the world. This was one of those years where we experienced unexpected challenges. I led this committee as we navigated some of the real challenges of the pandemic. To be perfectly honest, in September when we didn’t have the normal number of books, I panicked. 

I am truly thankful for this thoughtful committee that continually encouraged me to keep going as I contacted publishers in hopes of obtaining more physical copies of books. Many publishers returned from turbulent times and physical copies of books were difficult to obtain. However, as a committee member, it’s just easier to dig deeper with a text when you have a physical copy in front of you. Thankfully, publishers started returning to sending physical copies of books at the end of January and in February. We continue to be so thankful for the support many publishers extended to us as they worked diligently to send our committee books. However, that meant, that we had to read on a rigorous schedule and we often had to meet more than twice a month in order to have critical conversations around the literature. 


Here’s a figure that highlights our process as a committee:​
Picture

Recurrent Themes from the 2021 NCBLA List

Recurrent themes from the 2021 NCBLA list
This year, we talked about the importance of story and our criteria. We felt that students in K-8 classrooms needed joyful and hopeful stories. We also came to consensus that sad stories are important also. We felt that the readers needed to see themselves in the pages of picture books and novels. We see the strengths of each book and the themes that stand out across books. 

These themes capture the outstanding books on our 2021 NCBLA list. We are still working with publishers to collect all of the books' covers. But here are a few book covers that highlight some of the incredible books from our list.

Some of the 2021 NCBLA Books

Book cover: When You Trap a Tiger
Book cover: The Day Saida Arrived
Book cover: Your Name is a Song
Book cover: The Oldest Student
Book cover: Fighting Words
Book cover: Before the Ever After
Book cover: On Account of the Gum
Book cover: I Am Every Good Thing
Book cover: Black Brother, Black Brother
Book cover: What I like most
Book cover: Swish
Book cover: When Stars are Scattered

We invite you to see the power of literature across our 2021 NCBLA Book List!

Jeanne Gilliam Fain is s a professor at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee and Chair of the 2021 Notables Committee.
2021 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts Selection Committee Members
Vera Ahiyya (Brooklyn Arbor Elementary, New York)
Elizabeth Bemiss (University of West Florida)
Janine Schall (The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley)
Jennifer Summerlin (University of Alabama-Birmingham)
Kathryn Will (University of Maine, Farmington)
​Fran Wilson (Madeira Elementary, Ohio)

Midwinter Book Awards Beyond Newbery and Caldecott- Part I: Children's Books

2/9/2021

 

BY WENDY STEPHENS

Editorial Note:
This post is the first in a 2-part series by Wendy Stephens discussing the rich landscape of book awards announced over the winter months. In this first post, Wendy focuses on ALSC awards and awards by ALA affiliates recognizing books for children or books for a wide spectrum of age groups. The second post, which will be published next week, will present awards for YA literature administered by YALSA, as well as several other notable awards.
When we talk about budgeting for materials, I always advise my school librarian candidates to be sure to save some funding for January. No matter how good their ongoing collection development has been throughout the year, there are always some surprises when the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards (YMAs) roll around, and they'll want to be able to share the latest and best in children's literature with their readers. These are the books that will keep their collections up-to-date and relevant. 

From our own childhoods, we always remember the "books with the medals" -- particularly the John Newbery for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature and the Randolph Caldecott for the most distinguished American picture book for children. These books become must-buys and remain touchstones for young readers. In 2021, Newbery is celebrating its one hundredth year. Some past winners and honor books are very much a product of their time, and many of those once held in high esteem lack appeal today. 

For those of us working with children and with children's literature, the new books honored at Midwinter offer opportunities to revisit curriculum, update mentor texts, and build Lesesneian "reading ladders." Each award committee has its own particular award criteria and guidelines for eligibility, and its own process and confidentiality norms.

Every year, the YMAs seems to be peppered with small surprises. Does New Kid winning the Newbery means graphic novels are finally canonical? Is Neil Gaiman an American? What about all the 2015 Caldecott honors, including the controversial That One Summer? Did the Newbery designation of The Last Stop on Market Street mean you can validate using picture books with older students? How does Cozbi A. Cabrera's much-honored art work resonate at this historical moment?

​
In Horn Book and School Library Journal, Newbery, Caldecott and Printz contenders are tracked throughout the year in blogs like Someday My Printz Will Come, Heavy Medal, and Calling Caldecott. Other independent sites like Guessing Geisel, founded by Amy Seto Forrester are equally devoted to award prediction. Among librarians and readers, there are lots of armchair quarterbacks, and conducting mock Newbery and Caldecotts, either among groups of professionals or with children, have become almost a cottage industry. There are numerous how-tos on that subject, from reputable sources like The Nerdy Book Club and BookPage
. But there are numerous other awards announced at ALA Midwinter almost simultaneously that deserve your attention, too.

Among the Association for Library Services for Children (ALSC) awards are: the Robert F. Sibert Medal, the Mildred L. Batchelder Award, the Geisel Award, the Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media Award,  and the Children's Literature Legacy Award.

​Robert F. Sibert Medal
The Robert F. Sibert Medal for the most distinguished informational book for children, ALSC's version of the Orbis Pictus, offers great books to support a wide variety of content areas.
Book Cover: Honeybee
2021 Sibert Medal Winner

Mildred L. Batchelder Award
The Mildred L. Batchelder Award  is given to the most outstanding children’s book originating in a language other than English in a country other than the United States and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States, supporting publishers who bring an international perspective to U.S. readers.
Book Cover: Telephone Tales
2021 Batchelder Award Winner

Geisel Award
The Geisel Award recognizes an exceptional text for beginning readers.
Book Cover: See the Cat
2021 Geisel Award Winner

Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media Award
The Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media Award recognizes noteworthy apps, DVDs and streaming media. This year, it went to a podcast. 
The Imagine Neighborhood Podcast Logo
2021 EELDM Award Winner

Children's Literature Legacy Award
The Children's Literature Legacy Award, formerly the Wilder Award, honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made a substantial and lasting contribution to children's literature through books that demonstrate integrity and respect for all children's lives and experiences. 
Mildred D. Taylor
2021 Children's Literacy Legacy Award Winner: Mildred D. Taylor

​
Aside from the award winners, each year annual ALSC Children's Notable Lists are produced in categories for Notable Children's Recordings, Notable Children's Digital Media, and Notable Children's Books. If you want to see the machinations behind the designation, those discussions are open to the public this year via virtual meeting links.

Outside of ALSC, many of ALA’s affiliates have their own honors for children's literature. These include the Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) which sponsors the Coretta Scott King Book Awards; the Association of Jewish Libraries which sponsors the Sydney Taylor Book Awards; and REFORMA: The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking which sponsors the Pura Belpré awards. In addition to these affiliates, others such as the Asian/Pacific American Librarian Association and the American Indian Library Association also present awards. 

The awards are always evolving to reflect the abundance of literature available for young people. Like the Association of Jewish Libraries and the Asian/Pacific American Librarian Association awards, the American Indian Youth Literature Awards were first added to the televised YMA event in 2018. And this year was the first year for inclusion for a new Young Adult category for the Pura Belpré. 


Two awards of particular significance are the Stonewall Book Award – Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Awards are given annually to English-language works found to be of exceptional merit for children or teens relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience, and the Schneider Family Book Awards, honoring authors or illustrators for the artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences, with recipients in three categories: younger children, middle grades, and teens.
Coretta Scott King Awards
The Coretta Scott King Books Awards honor African American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults as well as professionals who support that valuable work. Of particular note is the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent.
Book Cover: Legendborn
2021 John Steptoe New Talent Award Winner: Tracy Deonn

Sydney Taylor Book Awards
The Sydney Taylor Book Awards, ​named in memory the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series author. The award recognizes materials for children and teens that exemplify high literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience, designating Gold and Silver medalists and Notable Books of Jewish Content in categories including Picture Books, Middle Grade, and Young Adults.
Book Cover: Telephone Tales
2021 Sydney Taylor Gold Medal for the Middle Grades Category

Pura Belpré Awards
The Pura Belpré Awards honor Latinx authors and illustrators whose work portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience. ​
Book Cover: Furia
2021 Pura Belpré Young Adult Award Winner

Asian/Pacific American Librarian Association Awards
The Asian/Pacific Librarian Association's Awards for Literature designates award and honor titles in Young Adult, Children's and Picture Book categories for authors and illustrators whose books promote Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage.

Book Cover: When You Trap a Tiger
2021 APALA Children's Winner

American Indian Librarian Association Awards
One award we didn't see this year: American Indian Youth Literature Awards. Awarded biennially, this award identifies and honors writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of North America.
Book Cover: Bowwow Powwow
202o AILA Picturebook Winner

Stonewall Book Award
The Stonewall Book Award - Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children's and Young Adult Literature Awards are given annually to English-language works found to be of exceptional merit for children or teens relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience.
Book Cover: We Are Little Feminists: Families
2021 Stonewall Book Award Winner

Schneider Family Book Awards
The Schneider Family Book Awards, honoring authors or illustrators for the artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences, honor recipients in three categories: younger children, middle grades, and teens.
Book Cover: I Talk Like A River
 2021 Schneider Family Younger Children Award Winner 

Odyssey Award
This is an award that considers materials for a wide spectrum age groups in their decision-making. The best audiobook production for children and/or young adults are chosen for the Odyssey Award. The Odyssey alternates administration between ALSC and YALSA.
Kent State audiobook CD
2021 Odyssey Award Audiobook
Wendy Stephens is an Assistant Professor and the Library Media Program Chair at Jacksonville State University. 

20 Biographies for 2020

9/22/2020

 

BY MARY ANN CAPPIELLO on behalf of The Biography Clearinghouse

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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



Biographies About Scientists

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Book cover: Born Curious
Book cover: Sharuko

Biographies About Champions for Change

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Teachers March: How Selma’s Teachers Changed History (2020) by Sandra Neil Wallace and Rick Wallace, illustrated by Charly Palmer 
Book cover: Lifting as we Climb
Book cover: She Was the First
If you have any picture book or chapter-length biographies or collected biographies for young people that you would like to recommend, please email us at [email protected]. We’re also interested in hearing more about how you’re using life stories in the classroom this year.
Mary Ann Cappiello teaches courses in children’s literature and literacy methods at Lesley University, blogs about teaching with children’s literature at The Classroom Bookshelf, a School Library Journal blog, and is a former chair of NCTE’s Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction K-8. 

From the 2020 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts

8/25/2020

 

BY JEANNE GILLIAM FAIN

Reflecting on the 2020 NCBLA List, our seven-member committee believes in the influence of each individual book and the power of the books grouped together to offer another layer of meaning. After reviewing over 400 titles with 2019 copyright dates appropriate for readers in K-8th grade, the members of the 2020 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts Committee met online to decide upon our final list of 30 titles. We read books multiple times and learned from each other as we carefully considered the craft of each book.
In this post, I am going to highlight two picture book biographies from the 2020 NCBLA List: Soldier for Equality: Jose´de la Luz Sáenz and the Great War (2019) and Feed your mind: A story of August Wilson (2019).

Tonatiuh, D. (2019). Soldier for Equality: Jose´de la Luz Sáenz and the Great War. New York, NY: Abrams Books for Young Readers, unpaged.

Soldier for Equality Cover
Jose´de La Luz Sáenz starts his young life by fighting bullies as they call him names for being Mexican despite being born in the United States and his “abuela” arrived in the United States more than “twenty-five years ago.” His war experiences emitted mixed responses in terms of equity from his fellow soldiers as his experiences included challenging injustices with particular officers that were his “countrymen.” This book is impeccably researched and many quotes were used from specific pages of Luz’ diary. Duncan’s original style inspired by Pre-Columbian art conveyed his digital and collage-type illustrations vividly add to the powerful voice in this story.

Bryant, J. (2019). Feed your mind: A story of August Wilson. (C. Chapman, Illus.). New York, NY: Abrams Book for Young Readers, unpaged.

Feed your Mind Cover
Jen Bryant's Website
August Wilson, born Frederick August Kittel Jr., learned to understand the power of language and reading. He grew up with the mantra, “If you can read, you can do anything-you can be anything.” This mantra moved him to overcome racial prejudice and intense bullying. This book is written in two acts and in verse. There is an extensive author’s note about research process and places where the spoken lines were based on what the author thought August might say.

Golden Line Strategy & Flip Grid

Both picturebooks feature high-quality language and there are many golden lines, lines that really resonate with the reader, within these texts. The golden line strategy involves the reader choosing a specific line from the picture book biography that causes the reader to pause, ponder, reflect, and/or question the text.

The line should purposely connect with the reader. Readers can choose the golden line from the text and post responses on Flipgrid.

Using flipgrid, the reader can record the reading of the golden line. The teacher can post invitational questions on the flipgrid. Readers can create their own response or answer one of the invitational questions and post on flipgrid. Readers can listen to their peers' golden line responses and post a response back.


Invitational Questions:
  • Why did you choose this golden line?
  • What did this golden line make you think about?
  • Did you make a personal connection with the line of text?
  • What did you learn from this golden line?
  • What you notice something in particular about the line in terms of the genre of the text?
  • What specific words stood out to you and why did these words stand out?
  • What inspired you in this golden line?
Read picture book, aske students to reflect on sections, readers choose a golden line. readers post on Flipgrid, peers offer responses
Golden Lines & Flip Grid Strategy

References

Bryant, J. (2019). Feed your mind: A story of August Wilson. (C. Chapman, Illus.). New York, NY: Abrams Book for Young Readers, unpaged.

Tonatiuh, D. (2019). Soldier for Equality: Jose´de la Luz Sáenz and the Great War. New York, NY: Abrams Books for Young Readers, unpaged.


Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts

You can check out the complete 2020 Notables List (2019 copyright) on our Notables page.

There you can also access the NCBLA lists from previous years.

Meet the Notables Committee

Jeanne Gilliam Fain is a professor in the College of Education at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. She is the current Chair of  the 2020 NCBLA. Her research examines critical visual analysis in global children’s literature, critical literacy and linguistically and culturally diverse children’s and adolescents’ literature. Jeanne can be reached at [email protected]
 
Vera Ahiyya is a kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn, New York.  She has been teaching for 14 years and in three different states. Vera has a passion for sharing books that feature diverse characters and voices. She shares her passion for children's literature on social media and through presenting to educators nationwide. Vera can be reached at [email protected].

Elizabeth M. Bemiss is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Educational Leadership at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, FL.  Her research examines teacher identity construction, effective literacy teaching practices, and critical literacy practices with young children. She can be reached at [email protected].

S. Rebecca Leigh is professor in the Department of Reading and Language Arts at Oakland University in Rochester, MI. Her research interests include multiple ways of knowing, writing, and teacher education. Her current research examines how access to art serves as a pathway to literacy learning and development and its impact on students as writers. Leigh can be reached at [email protected]
Janine M. Schall is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Bilingual and Literacy Studies at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She teaches literacy courses and conducts research in the areas of multicultural literature and children’s literature with LGBT characters. Janine can be reached at [email protected].
 
Jennifer Summerlin is an Assistant Professor of Reading at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her research examines construction of knowledge among preservice teacher candidates, supporting literacy best practices within the P-12 classroom, and reading intervention. She can be reached at [email protected].

Kathryn Will
is an Assistant Professor of Literacy at the University of Maine Farmington.  Her research interests include clinically based teacher education, new teacher mentoring, and rural education.   Her current research looks at the literacy practices of future teachers and how their engagement with children's and young adult literature impacts their attitudes about reading.  Kathryn may be reached at
[email protected].
Jeanne Gilliam Fain is s a professor at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee and Chair of the 2020 Notables Committee.

Electronic Resources to Complement Contemporary Children’s Picture Books that Feature Mindfulness Elements

5/26/2020

 

BY KATHRYN CAPRINO

Teachers have been thinking about how to incorporate mindfulness into the elementary school classroom for a bit now. During the fall semester, I completed a study about how children’s picture books that featured mindfulness affected preservice teachers’ mindfulness and how they were thinking about incorporating mindfulness into their classrooms.

And the recent global pandemic has only underscored the importance of having children’s picture books that feature mindfulness. We, as parents, teachers, and teacher educators, need them for ourselves. And we need them for our students.

In this post, I share a few contemporary picture books that feature mindfulness elements, and include electronic resources that complement each book - perfect during this time of remote learning. It is my hope that these titles might help us all get through these trying times and propel us into a more mindful approach to what normal looks like on the other side of all this.


Eric Carle's Calm with the Very Hungry Caterpillar

I start with the iconic Eric Carle. Carle’s title Calm with the Very Hungry Caterpillar was recommended to me by one of my students. With its beautiful illustrations of natural images that are quintessential Carle, Calm is a perfect read-aloud text that starts with an invitation that seems appropriate for what many of us are experiencing right now: “When your monkey mind feels too busy …” Young children and those who are reading the book to them will close the book with a renewed sense of calmness.
Quick side note: I had the opportunity of seeing a traveling Carle exhibit in Norfolk, Virginia, last summer. With pieces from The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art , the exhibit provided visitors with an opportunity to learn more about Carle’s artistic process and to see some of the most iconic images from his books. One of my favorites was one of his owls! I encourage all of you to visit the museum once things return to normal. You can ask your students to take a virtual tour of the museum.

ECM Virtual Tour 2011-Large web movie from The Eric Carle Museum on Vimeo.

Tomie dePaola's Quiet

Tomie dePaola’s passing in March was upsetting to so many of us. His Quiet has a poignant message for all (both during the quarantine and after): “Let’s not be so busy.” Taking readers along on a walk with a grandfather and his grandchildren, Quiet begs us to contemplate and admire birds, dragonflies, and other natural elements that we see. This book could inspire many walks with the intention of finding objects or creatures that amaze. If you want to hear Tomie dePaola talk about what he wants readers to gain from Quiet, you can view the video below.


Susan Verde and Peter H. Reynolds' I am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness

This book starts with a young person feeling as though they are on a boat without an anchor. The book then shows how one can breathe and take actions to reach a sense of peace that can then be shared with others. The gorgeous, colorful illustrations complement the calming text, perfect for a read-aloud. If you want to hear Susan Verde read her book or have your students engage with it during this time of remote learning, you can watch the video below.

​​Mariam Gates' Good Morning Yoga

This is the perfect book to start out the day! Clear, kid-friendly directions and colorful illustrations help young children - and adults - progress through a series of yoga poses. If you want to hear Mariam Gates read her book or have your students and their parents engage with it during this time of remote learning, view the video below.


​Kira Willey and Anni Betts' Breathe Like a Bear

Kira Willey and Anni Betts’ Breathe Like a Bear offers thirty exercises for kids, including breathing like a bear, pretending to hold a cup of hot chocolate, and stretching like a kitty cat. Breathe Like a Bear is broken up into five major sections: Be calm, focus, imagine, make some energy, and relax. The way the book is arranged makes it perfect for those moments when you just want a short, poignant mindfulness activity. Kira Wiley’s website offers information for free and fee-based yoga events for children.
​It is my hope that these five titles will be added to your physical or electronic libraries, especially during this time when it seems that all of us could benefit from mindfulness practice.
Want to hear a little about my process for selecting texts? My recommendations are informed by Shapiro, Carlson, Astin, & Freedman’s (2006) three mindfulness axioms: intention, attention, and attitude.
  • Intention relates to having a personal vision.
  • Attention relates to focusing on moments in our lives.
  • And attitude relates to the approach one takes to attention.
At least one of these axioms are featured in each of the books shared above.
Reference

Shapiro, S. L. Carlson, L. E., Astin, J.A., & Freedman, B. (2006). Mechanisms of mindfulness.
Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62(3), 373-388.

Kathryn Caprino is a CLA member and is an Assistant Professor of PK-12 New Literacies at Elizabethtown College. She blogs frequently at Katie Reviews Books
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