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From the 2020 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts: Moving From Small to Large Through Play and Imagination

12/8/2020

 

By Kathryn Will, Meghan Goodwin, and Sophie Hendrix

​​The Notable Children’s Books in Language Arts Committee (NCBLA), reads, reviews, and discusses over 400 books of various genres written for K-8 children each year. These works of poetry and prose are analyzed using the charge of the committee that asks in making the selection of the top thirty texts the seven committee members consider:
        1. Appealing format,
        2. Enduring quality,
        3. Exemplary quality for their genre, and
        4. Meeting one or more of the following:
                a. Use of language: play on words, word origins, history of language
                b. Uniqueness in use of language or style
                c. Invitation of child response or engagement
This post focuses on two of the texts from the 2020 Notables List that might be seen through the lens of a progression from small to large. Although The Magic of Letters (2019) and Small World (2019) are very different books, they can be used to invite readers to imagine, play, and wonder.

The Magic of Letters
Written by Tony Johnston
Illustrated by Wendell Minor
Penguin Random House, unpaged, ISBN
 978-0823441594
Imagine an invitation to play with language through the revelation of letters as building blocks to words, and words to meaning. Through rich images of simple, but colorful line drawings, and collage, readers are encouraged to consider the magical nature of literacy as the pathway to building new ideas. The interplay of the text and illustrations immerse the reader in the playful progress as the rabbit leads the journey from letters, to words, to sentences. Interesting and rigorous vocabulary such as flibbertigibbet, clunk, limber, and enchantment invite readers to strive for complex use of language.
The Magic of Letters cover

Small World
Written by Ishta Mercurio

Illustrated by Jen Corace
Abrams Books for Young Readers, unpaged, ISBN 
978-1419734076
Small World cover

From the beginning of her time on the Earth as a baby in her mother’s arms to her travels to the moon as an astronaut, we journey with Nanda in her ever-expanding world. As Nanda grows, her participatory experiences with her expanding world grow more scientifically complex. Beautiful vocabulary such as fractals, symphony, and spooled, complement the rich illustrations vividly layered with color and images. Lyrical language invites the reader to travel along the journey with comfort. Woven throughout the story as the perspectives change, a thread of circularity brings comfort within the expansive boundaries or growing up--first in her mother’s arms and finally in the sphere of the Earth as she looks at her home from afar. The illustrations of gouache, ink, and pencil provide the depth of realism with warm inviting scenes that allow the reader to imagine the existence of this journey.​
Ishta Mercurio offers craft ideas related to things Nanda does in Small World.

​​Teaching Tips

Both of these books invite readers to engage in exploration and discussion through multiple reads due to their rich vocabulary and use of language. Teachers can easily deepen and extend the texts through a variety of activities.

Using the illustrative style of The Magic of Letters, children could repurpose magazines and catalogues to cut out letters and words as sources for creating new words and sentences. As they pore over the texts, they could look for familiar and known letters and words, providing opportunities for practice in letter and word recognition before assembling them in a collage. Children could use crayon resist to create magic letters of their very own, or even play roll and write to create sentences from familiar and new words. These activities reflect the rich and playful nature of the text.

Small World is a text that envelopes the reader in the world of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math). The rich vocabulary begs teachers to consider connections to geometry, snow science, and roller coasters. With consideration of Nanda’s career as an astronaut, students might watch this video about women astronauts, or think about materials they might need for a trip to the moon. This book also holds opportunities for rich discussion with questions such as:
  • In what ways is the world large? In what ways is it small?
  • What do the pictures in this book tell you? (without reading the book first to focus on inferencing)
  • How has your perception of the world changed as you have grown up?
  • In what ways did Nanda’s world change as she grew up? How does she see the world differently towards the end of the book as compared to the beginning?
  • Why do you think Nanda’s perception of the world changed throughout the book? Can you relate to this?
Children might write or draw with consideration of the ways in which their world has expanded outward from their welcome into the world, to their current context, and even the possibilities of where they might like to be in the future.


Kathryn Will is an Assistant Professor of Literacy at the University of Maine Farmington (@KWsLitCrew). She is passionate about sharing the power of children's literature with her students, including the two listed below who assisted in the creation of the teaching tips shared. She is a member of the 2019 Notables Committee, and will be chairing the committee in the upcoming year.
Meghan Goodwin, Preservice teacher, University of Maine Farmington (@Ms_G_Teaches)
Sophie Hendrix, Preservice teacher, University of Maine Farmington

Curating Inclusive Bookshelves and Curricula

12/1/2020

 

BY MEGAN VAN DEVENTER

As educators, we recognize the value in providing readers with reading experiences that act as mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors (Bishop, 1990) to affirm readers’ identities, build empathy for others, and explore humanity. We understand the importance of curating bookshelves that offer a vast array of experiences that validate readers’ lives, feelings, and identities. At times, it can be challenging to select and teach books that do not ‘mirror’ our own lived experience, and it can feel vulnerable to step outside our own expertise. Fortunately, there are many of us committed to expanding our own readership and curating inclusive bookshelves and curricula that resonate with our students. This blog post champions and supports educators doing this vulnerable work to ensure all students are included and reflected and refracted on their bookshelves and in their curricula. This post shares books, tools, and resources to support educators building their expertise to ensure young readers have access to high quality, validating, and accurate children’s literature.​ 

Tools and Resources for Curating an Inclusive Bookshelf and Curriculum

Educators committed to expanding our bookshelves beyond our own favorite reads must be intentional in selecting and teaching high quality children’s literature that is accurate, validating, and honest. There are several wonderful tools and resources to ensure our bookshelves are inclusive, relevant, and accessible for readers. The four tools and resources below support educators in curating inclusive bookshelves and reading curricula (and help us cull problematic books from our shelves as well).
Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children's Books
Louise Derman-Sparks's Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children's Books  names and specifies the harmful biases we must avoid when curating inclusive, affirming classroom libraries and curricula. This tool supports educators’ analysis of books through a critical lens to ensure they are validating reading experiences that do not perpetuate stereotypes and misconceptions.
Reading Diversity: A Tool for Selecting Diverse Texts
Reading Diversity: A Tool for Selecting Diverse Texts by Teaching Tolerance provides a series of critical questions that help educators evaluate a book in considering its text complexity, diversity and representation, critical literacy, and the reader and task. This text selection tool empowers educators to determine the value of a book for readers in their classroom community.
#DisruptTexts
This resource articulates a pedagogical stance educators should adopt when evaluating texts by #DisruptTexts. Co-developed by Tricia Ebarvia (@triciaebarvia), Lorena Germán (@nenagerman), Dr. Kimberly N. Parker (@TchKimPossible), and Julia E. Torres (@juliaerin80), the #DisruptTexts movement is an online social media community via Twitter that analyzes the merit of canonical and contemporary literature in the classroom. The #DisruptTexts core principles are (1) interrogating our biases to understand how they inform our teaching practices; (2) centering the authentic voices and lived experiences of people of color; (3) applying a critical literacy lens to our teaching practices that is anti-racist, anti-colonial, and anti-bias; and (4) working in community with other educators, particularly Black, Indigenous, and educators of color. Working with others in community to disrupt our bookshelves is critical to ensure we are serving our readers best.
American Indians in Children's Literature
Dr. Debbie Reese’s blog American Indians in Children’s Literature catalogues inaccurate and stereotypical representations in children’s literature, focusing on Indigenous representation. Searching Dr. Reese’s blog for recommendations can help us cull our bookshelves to ensure high quality, accurate, and honest depictions of history and today. 
Oyate
Oyate is a native organization that works towards honest and authentic representations of the lives and histories of native peoples. The Oyate site includes "critical evaluation of books and curricula with Indian themes," workshops and other resources.

Books for Curating Inclusive Bookshelves and Curricula

The tools and resources described above support educators in selecting and teaching high-quality, accurate, and honest children’s literature. Building our expertise through these tools and resources sustains our commitment to curating inclusive bookshelves. Here are four children’s literature books that support educators in holding space that honors young readers’ and teachers’ capacity to engage with complex and authentic picturebooks.
When Sadness is at Your Door written by Eva Eland (2019)

​This picturebook describes how sadness can feel, and how the main character comforts sadness until it moves forward. While it can be tempting to avoid hard emotions, it is important for young readers to see hard emotions—like sadness—experienced so they can build the capacity to manage the range of emotions they will experience throughout their lifetime. This picturebook might initially feel vulnerable because it is not a joyful text, but Eland’s words of courage will support an educator in engaging these hard emotions in ways that validate young readers’ authentic experiences.


Book Cover: When Sadness is at Your Door

The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family written by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S.K. Ali and illustrated by Hatem Aly (2019)
​
This picturebook is a beautiful story of two sisters on the first day the older sister wears her hijab to school. This text is a vulnerable read because it explores the racism students experience in schools. While we may wish that racism does not exist in schools, we are better for explicitly discussing it with youth through an antiracist pedagogical lens, and this book is hopeful in its depiction of the joyful main characters celebrating their family and culture. 

Book Cover: The Proudest Blue

The Journey written by Francesca Sanna (2016)

This picturebook is a powerful story about a refugee family escaping a devastating war in their country and journeying toward a better future. This book approaches this harrowing reality in an intentional and age-conscious way that invites young readers and educators into conversation.

Book Cover: The Journey

We Are Water Protectors written by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade (2020)
​
​This picturebook celebrates Indigenous Water Protectors and their efforts to protect Mother Earth. This picturebook may feel like a vulnerable read because it recounts modern conflicts in North America between Indigenous Peoples and oil companies. This lyrical text combined with incredible artwork prompts young readers and educators to reconcile our world today.

Book Cover: We Are Water Protectors

​Bookshelves and curricula that honor young readers in helping them make sense of the world are a key aspect to orchestrating equitable and socially just classrooms. These books, tools, and resources support our work as educators in curating high-quality reading experiences that are inclusive, accurate, and honest.

References

Bishop, R.S. (1990). Windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives: Choosing and using books for the classroom, 6(3), 1-2. ​
Eland, E. (2019). When sadness is at your door. Random House. 
Lindstrom, C. (2020). We are water protectors. Roaring Brook Press. 
Muhammad, I., & Ali, S.K. (2019). The proudest blue: A story of hijab and family. Little, Brown and Company. 
Sanna, F. (2016). The journey. Flying Eye Books. 


Megan Van Deventer is an Assistant Professor of English Education at Weber State University and the current CLA Secretary. ​

Three Tips for Biography Read-Alouds

11/24/2020

 

By Courtney Shimek, on behalf of The Biography Clearinghouse

2020 has changed our world in indelible ways. From navigating a global pandemic to fighting social injustices embedded into our everyday lives, we find ourselves overwhelmed, exhausted, and uncertain of the future. In response to these crises and the emotions they produce, we have found solace in picturebook biographies that deliver some much-needed perspective. Reading biographies have become a part of our self-care; they provide archives of the past, context for the present, and hope for the future. At The Biography Clearinghouse, we recognize the potential of biographies to shape readers’ understanding of the world, inform their connection to history, and engender empathy. Through our teaching ideas, we suggest ideas and resources for incorporating biographies into curricula. We also recognize that sometimes picturebook biographies come to life most vividly when read-aloud with young readers.

As we maintain our "new normal" of vacillating between online, hybrid, and in-class instruction, reading aloud continues to be a constant beacon of inspiration and connection in our teaching. Our youth are navigating the same chaotic and ever-changing world; given that biographies model the complexities of this world, sharing these perspectives with youth is vital. As such, I share here 3 tips for reading biographies aloud and a few illustrative examples of high-quality biographies.

Tip #1: Discuss the Visual Features

Cover of Spotted Tail
Picturebooks are unique artifacts where readers gain information not only from words but also from images. The visual features of biographies provide insights into the emotional experiences of distinctive individuals and offer a deeper understanding of humanity. As you read biographies aloud, begin examining the artistic elements (e.g., design and composition, font styles, use of color, artistic mediums, etc.) and see what you discern about the featured individuals, their emotions, and their experiences. For example, from the beautiful mixed media artwork in Spotted Tail (Weiden et al., 2019), we see how the history of the Lakota people connects to present-day issues through striking photographs, art, textural elements from nature, and quotes. Though Spotted Tail has a text-heavy narrative, the design and combination of photographs and art from Jim Yellowtail and Pat Kinsella provide readers numerous points of discussion and a perspective worth including in your read-aloud rotation. Additionally, in It Began With a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way (Maclear & Morstad, 2019), Morstad’s illustrations show the reader the detail and sense of color Fujikawa used in her work, and real photographs of her family are included throughout the book. In addressing the visual features of books with readers, we learn about people’s beliefs, histories, cultures, and emotions, and learn more information than from the words, alone.

Tip #2: Back Matter Matters

Cover of Planting Stories
Often, when we begin a read-aloud we skip to the beginning of the narrative and stop at the end, but creators of contemporary biographies share exceptional amounts of information in the peritextual elements, or everything in the book which is not the actual narrative. Instead of stopping your read-aloud at the end of the narrative, share some of the information included in the back matter such as authors’ and illustrators’ personal connections to the content, where they sourced research materials, and their creative processes. For example, in Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré (Denise & Escobar, 2019), Denise provides descriptions of books by Pura Belpré, as well as films, books, and collections about Pura Belpré for further study. Similarly, in A Place to Land: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation, Barry Wittenstein and Jerry Pinkney (2019) provide notes expanding upon their decisions, short biographies about other civil rights leaders, along with sources and a bibliography. Biography creators also include additional content through the book jacket, endpapers, and their dedications. Sometimes, the back matter or other peritextual features might be more text-heavy or smaller in size than the narrative. We suggest projecting these features or displaying them on an interactive whiteboard so that these peritextual features can be explored and discussed collectively. When we only read aloud the primary narrative, we miss out on information that contextualizes the biography, describes the creative process, and inspires readers to search out additional sources.


Tip #3: Revisit Writer’s Language

Cover of Fight of the Century
Biographers don’t just share events with readers, they share the essence of a person’s life. After you read a biography aloud, reread the book like a writer and examine how the authors’ word choices shape your understandings of a person, place, or event. In Fight of the Century: Alice Paul Battles Woodrow Wilson for the Vote (Rosenstock & Green, 2020), for example, Rosenstock structures her biography as a boxing match between Alice Paul and Woodrow Wilson. By portraying major events as rounds and including commentary from fight announcers (e.g., “This fight determines whether the women of the United States can vote, folks!”), readers experience how progress is often a battle of wills and experience what a fighter Alice Paul was. Additionally, Nelson’s use of western idioms (e.g., “plain as the ears on a mule” and “fit like made-to-measure boots”) in Let ‘er Buck!: George Fletcher, the People’s Champion (Nelson & James, 2019), drops the reader into the cowboy language and culture of Pendleton, Oregon. Through similes and energetic descriptions of bull riding, we experience how Fletcher was discriminated against and, yet, became a hometown hero. Biographers’ language choices provide us with new ways of looking at historical events, embed us in particular moments of time, and supply inspiration for our own writing processes.

The six exemplar biographies referenced in this post are just some of the contemporary picturebook biographies that evoke engaging, artistic, and dynamic read-alouds. If you’re interested to know more about biographies and how to include them in your curriculum, join Tanya Lee Stone, Lesa Cline Ransome, Barb Rosenstock, and members of The Biography Clearinghouse and the Children’s Literature Assembly, Xenia Hadjioannou and Mary Ann Cappiello, as they engage in conversations about biographies on December 9th from 6:00-7:00 pm EST on Stimola Live.
Flyer for Real People Real Classrooms Stimola Live Event. Registration URL linked to image
Previous posts from the Biography Clearinghouse
Exploring Representation and Advocacy in Government with "What Do You Do with a Voice Like That?"

Studying Science Processes with Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record Setting Dive of the Bathysphere

20 Biographies for 2020

Ideas for Change with Tonya Bolden’s Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl

The Biography Clearinghouse: Creating, Crafting and Connecting

How do you read aloud biographies? We would love to hear your tips through our email, thebiographyclearinghouse@gmail.com, or through comments on Facebook and Twitter #theBiographyClearinghouse. No matter what 2021 brings, we know we will navigate the uncertainty equipped with high-quality, multidimensional biographies and share the reassurances and possibilities they provide through read-alouds.

References

Denise, A. A., & Escobar, P. (2019). Planting stories: The life of librarian and storyteller Pura Belpré. HarperCollins.
Maclear, K., & Morstad, J. (2019). It began with a page: How Gyo Fujikawa drew the way. HarperCollins.
Nelson, V. M., & James, G. C. (2019). Let ‘er buck!: George Fletcher, the people’s champion. Carolrhoda Books.
Rosenstock, B., & Green, S. (2020). Fight of the century: Alice Paul battles Woodrow Wilson for the vote. Calkins Creek.
Weiden, D. H. W., Yellowtail, J., & Kinsella, P. (2019). Spotted tail. Reycraft Books.
Wittenstein, B. & Pinkney, J. (2019). A place to land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the speech that inspired a nation. Neal Porter Books
Courtney Shimek is an assistant professor at West Virginia University and has been a member of CLA since 2015.

From the 2020 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts Using Poetic Picturebooks as Mentor Texts

10/27/2020

 

BY ELIZABETH M. BEMISS

Each year, the Notable Children’s Books in Language Arts Committee (NCBLA) reads and discusses works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry written for K-8 readers. Committee members, seven dedicated children’s literature enthusiasts, with experience ranging from elementary school teaching, to school librarians, and finally, university faculty with expertise in children’s and young adult literature, consider the requisite qualities for narrowing down the winners to a list of 30 titles.  

In this post, I will feature two poetic picture books included in the 2020 Notables list, Lion of the Sky: Haiku for All Seasons (2019), and Room on Our Rock (2019). ​

Lion of the Sky: Haiku for All Seasons 
Written by Laura Purdie Salas  
Illustrated by Mercé López
Millbrook, 2019, unpaged, ISBN 978-1-5124-9809-7


In this unique collection of poetry, Laura Purdie Salas intrigues readers with “riddle-ku” poems. The 24 three-line poems, centered around the four seasons, are narrated by something nonhuman, making it a mask poem for readers to guess each narrator. Coupled with Mercé López’s  stunning rendered acrylic illustrations that capture the nature of each object being described, the poetic words and artwork render objects associated with the seasons: 

A kite flying in spring 

“I am a wind bird,
sky skipper, diamond dipper,
DANCING on your string” 

Dandelions of summer 

“my fluffy seeds DRIFT
tiny puffs lift in the breeze
and land...who knows where?” 

Falling snow in the winter
 
“I’m cold confetti
falling from a crystal sky,
blanketing the town”  
Book cover: Lion of the Sky
Book cover: Room on Our Rock
Room on Our Rock 
Written by Kate and Jol Temple
Illustrated by Terri Rose Baynton
Kane Miller, 2019, unpaged, ISBN 978-1-61067-902-2

This clever book presents readers with a story that reads forward and backward, revealing narratives about sharing and compassion. Upon the first reading, a trio of seals announce “There’s no room on our rock” to a seal and pup approaching their rock from the sea. As the seals shoo away the approaching pair, readers are told “No room on this rock? Can it be true? Read back to front for another point of view.” Readers then find a seal and pup escaping dangerous seas who are welcomed by the seals: “You’re welcome here / You’ll never hear us say / Shoo! Go away!” Gray and blue watercolor illustrations of a landscape in the sea compliment this story sure to warm hearts and encourage compassion among readers. 

Teaching Tips for Using the Books as Mentor Texts

Utilized as mentor texts, these poetic picture books provide readers with delightful opportunities to craft their own written responses inspired from the texts.

The whimsical collection of “riddle-ku” poems in Lion of the Sky invites readers to enjoy a play on language and is an inspiring way to help young writers craft unique poetry of their own. Students can create their own “riddle-ku” poems and invite peers and family members to guess the answer to their “riddle-kus.” To scaffold young writers, teachers can draw from this brainstorming resource from Millbrook Press where students can craft a “Zoo-ku,” or a “riddle-ku” about an animal. Additionally, students can publish their “riddle-ku” on a Padlet Page created by the author, Laura Purdie Salas. Another way students can craft their poems is through Read Write Think’s Interactive Haiku Generator, which guides students through brainstorming, drafting, and publishing, where individual background images can be added to the published “riddle-ku.”  

The poetic forward and backward reading of Room on Our Rock can foster rich conversations between readers about the varying messages from the book when read forward versus backward as well as discussions surrounding point of view. Teachers can guide students to reflect on the kind of tone and voice needed to read the book forward and how it changed to read the book backward. Teachers could also have students think about how the artwork on each page was used to create the tone of the book from two perspectives. After engaging in deep conversation around the book, students can partner up to write a review of the book and then share their reviews via free audio or video sharing applications. Students can post links to the reviews on a class page such as note.ly or Padlet.



Elizabeth M. Bemiss, an Assistant Professor at the University of West Florida, teaches courses in children’s and young adult literature and literacy methods. Elizabeth is a member of the 2019-2021 Notables Committee.

Exploring Portrayals of Creativity Sponsors in Contemporary Children’s Literature

10/6/2020

 

By Katie Caprino, Elizabethtown College

One of the reasons I became a teacher was because it was a profession in which I thought I could be creative. A writer, I wanted a position in which I could carry on my passion of writing and inspire student writers.

Reflecting back on my work as a middle and high school English teacher, I lament the limitations I feel were put on my work as a creative person. Even my current role as a literacy teacher educator seems overwhelmed at times by elements which I feel are the absolute antithesis to creativity.

My opportunity to teach the creative methods course at my institution gave me a space to engage with creativity and to help future teachers think critically about what creativity looks like in the classroom and inspire them to be creative teachers. Inspired by Brandt’s (1998) work on literacy sponsors, I believe that teachers, students’ peers, and even students themselves play an important role in being creativity sponsors.
​

In this blog post, I share a few contemporary books that provide portrayals of creativity sponsors, framing my work in the context of research on creativity. I then provide teachers with some ideas on how to use contemporary children’s literature texts as inspiration to facilitate a creative classroom.

​The Books

​One Time. Creech’s (2001) Love That Dog has been a mentor text for many of my students’ poetry writing. My sixth graders and my preservice teachers laugh at the same parts of this ode to poetry and write beautiful pieces inspired by the poems referenced in the text. It should not be surprising that I was so excited to read Sharon Creech’s (2020) latest middle grades book One Time. Readers are introduced to Gine Filomena, who is an imaginative eleven-year old.

Gina has always had her dad to cultivate her creativity, but she really blooms when Antonio, her creative and somewhat mysterious neighbor joins her class, which is taught by the new and creative teacher Miss Lightstone. Miss Lightstone tries out methods unheard of with the last teacher: time to write, inspiration boards, wordplay, and provocative questions on the board like Who are you? The other students in the class are a bit slower to adopt Miss Lightstone’s methods of giving them choice and few boundaries. They want to know how they will be graded. And exactly what to do. There is mystery and intrigue, and not everything makes complete sense to the characters in or the readers of One Time, but one thing is clear: Gina will always remember her creativity sponsor: Miss Lightstone.
​

This is a powerful book that touches upon issues of creativity and, more broadly, what our schools have become. It is a book that would make a wonderful read-aloud to younger students, a fabulous read at the middle grades level, and a powerful read for preservice teachers.
Cover of One Time by Sharon Creech
Ish. I have come to love the work of Peter H. Reynolds. As part of my work on this project, I came across his 2004 children’s picture book Ish. This book introduces readers to Ramon, a boy who loves to draw. However, when his brother Leon ridicules him, he gives up. That is, until his sister Marisol brings him into her room full of all of his previous drawings. Marisol helps him understand an important lesson: that the process not the product matters (Resnick, 2018). His sister’s creativity sponsorship motivates him to think differently about his art and writing.
Cover of Ish by Peter H Reynolds
In the Draw-ish video embedded below, Peter Reynolds takes viewers to a creating adventure by starting with a single dot.
What Ish helps young children and adults realize is that it only takes one person to inspire an artist. When I use this children’s picture book in my creative methods course, I want to ask my students: Do you want to be more like Leon or Marisol in your classroom?
You can also read more about Peter Reynolds’s Animation-ish, a web-based animation program. ​
What If. Writer Samantha Berger and illustrator Mike Curato teamed up to create a wonderful children’s picture book about a little girl’s ingenuity. Letting nothing stop her, she is committed to always creating, even when it means figuring out exactly what materials will help her reach her goal. The beauty of this book is not only in its storyline but also in its creative composition. The mixed-media illustrations give texture to a book that embodies creativity. 
​

A perfect read-aloud title, What If is a creativity sponsor on its own, but I believe younger children will really be motivated by seeing a young girl, with no adult intervention, be creative on her own. The little girl does not have a creativity sponsor; she is capable of being her own. Her resourcefulness is inspiring. The story begins with her writing a story and then imagining if the pencil broke and how she would still create stories. She then shares how she would fold the paper to create stories and then chisel the table and carve the chair when she ran out of paper. And on and on.

We want thinkers like this protagonist in our classroom, in our world. We want young children who can create on their own, perhaps with some scaffolds yes, as Resnick (2018) writes in his book Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Passion, Projects, Peers, and Play and as Miss Lightstone realizes in Creech’s (2020) One Time, but we want them to have the resilience and confidence to do some of the creative lifting themselves.


Resnick (2018) emphasizes the importance of having students engage in the creative learning spiral, a process by which students imagine, create, play, share, and reflect. What if helps young readers see the power of the first three tenets. Teachers and parents would be smart to organize classrooms that facilitate the creative opportunities the story’s lead creative character has.
Cover of What If by Samantha Berger

In this video, Resnick discusses how to help kids become creative thinkers.
On A Magical Do-Nothing Day by Beatrice Alemagna
On a Magical Do-Nothing Day. One thing I have noticed during the time of COVID was that the people who told me they were bored the least were people whom I would characterize as having hobbies and being readers. Now certainly, I have not validated my hunch through systematic study, but I do wonder if creativity has served some as a type of buffer to the challenges of this unprecedented time for some people. It’s almost as if we have had almost a half of year of what Beatrice Alemagna’s (2016) character in On a Magical Do-Nothing Day experiences.

A young child laments coming to a cabin with their mother. Wanting to only play an electronic game, the child’s mom takes the game away. Of course, the child finds it and heads outside into what is a miserably rainy day - made more miserable when the game is lost. But what the loss of the game allows is for the child to see the world in a new way. This book is less about a young child creating creative products, like in What If, but it is a book about opening oneself up to notice things in different ways. And this is something play allows.
​

Emphasizing the importance of play to the creative process, Resnick (2018) discusses how pivotal it is that we allow students to play. The premise of his entire book, indeed, is that all grades should be more like kindergarten used to be, not overwhelmed with curriculum standards and coverage, but with opportunities for students to engage in his 4Ps: projects, passion, peers, and play. Because these, he claims, open up creativity’s doors.

Now What?

Certainly, adding the titles shared above to your classroom library is a good start. Sharing these books with students in a way that invites them to discuss what they think creativity is, whether they are creative, and how their schooling experiences have encouraged or restricted creativity could be the next step.

And then I call for a little self-reflection. Are you, as a teacher, more like Leon or Marisol in Ish? How might you be more of a Miss Lightstone from One Time? When you think about your students, do they take risks like the little girl in What If? Or do they ask so many questions about how assignments will be graded and what you want like Gina’s classmates in One Time? Do your students know what to do with some free time like the little child in On A Magical Do-Nothing Day?

These reflections might prompt you to think about how you might use one of the books shared in this post as a mentor text for a lesson idea. Here are some ideas!

      ● Let your students freewrite, working up to longer periods of time, and share their work. (One Time)
     ● Provide students with an object and ask them what they would do if that object broke in order to complete an intended
         task. (What If)

      ● Offer spaces in your classroom where your students can explore and play. (On a Magical Do-Nothing Day)
      ● Invite your students to draw a picture, and post everyone’s picture in a gallery. (Ish)

It is important to think about how important creativity sponsors are in a child’s life. Teachers can be creativity sponsors, but so, too, can peers and children themselves – if we let them! It is my hope that these book recommendations, along with the reflective prompts and lesson ideas, may inspire creativity in you and your students!
Books Referenced

Alemagna, B. (2016). On a magical do-nothing day. New York: HarperCollins.

Berger, S. (2018). What if. New York: Hachette Book Group.

Brandt, D. (1998). Sponsors of literacy. College Composition and Communication, 49(2), 165- 185.

Creech, S. (2020). One time. New York: HarperCollins.

Creech, S. (2001). Love that dog. New York: HarperCollins.

Resnick, M. (2018). Lifelong kindergarten: Cultivating creativity through projects, passion, peers, and play. Cambridge,
​          MA: MIT Press.


Reynolds, P. (2004). Ish. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
Kathryn Caprino is a CLA member and is an Assistant Professor of PK-12 New Literacies at Elizabethtown College. You can follow her on Twitter @KcapLiteracy. She blogs frequently at Katie Reviews Books.

Supporting Visual Literacy with Born to Ride: A Story About Bicycle Face

9/29/2020

 

BY JENNIFER SUMMERLIN

Book cover: Born to Ride
The Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts Committee (NCBLA) read and reflected on over 400 of the newest books (published in 2019) for readers in grades K-8. Committee members considered the following qualities for choosing the final 30 titles to make the NCBLA Notables 2020 list:
  1. appealing format,
  2. enduring quality,
  3. exemplary genre criteria,
  4. unique language, and
  5. encouraging active participation and engagement.
This post will feature one historical fiction picture book included in the 2020 Notables list, Born to Ride: A Story About Bicycle Face, written by Larissa Theule and illustrated by Kelsey Garrity-Riley. 


I will start by providing a brief summary, followed by corresponding primary source images and instructional strategies for maximizing text and supporting visual literacy. Coupling quality historical fiction texts with visual primary sources like infographics, charts, graphs, photographs, illustrations, or political cartoons affords opportunities to critically explore and unpack images, while building background knowledge and making connections to the text (Lent, 2016; Harris, 2010). 
​
Summary

This beautiful picture book features one strong-willed young girl, Louisa Belinda Bellflower, determined to learn to ride a bicycle. This story, set in Rochester, New York in 1896, tells of a brother and sister (Louisa and Joe) who, like other siblings, play and disagree. Although typical siblings, the difference is the topics of their disagreements, which tend to focus on the things boys can do that girls cannot. Louisa is discouraged from wearing anything other than a dress, limiting her ability to do cartwheels or learning to ride a bicycle (also off limits for girls). Louisa is determined to ride a bike, even if it means contracting “bicycle face,” a permanent result of scrunching your face and bulging your eyes while trying to balance the bike. Louisa Belinda Bellflower will not be stopped as she works to prove to her brother and boys everywhere that girls can and should ride a bicycle. 


Primary Visual Source

The Library of Congress website features a variety of visual primary sources depicting women as a collective part of the late 19th century bicycle frenzy. The bicycle, commonly referred to as the wheel, was an instrumental vehicle of progress for the women’s movement and their fight for voting rights. Globally, women began riding bicycles, finding new freedom in their mobility. With this increased transportation came a greater public presence of women, allowing increased likelihood of their voices to be heard. 

​Two primary visual sources are: The “new” woman and her bicycle by Frederick Burr Opper and Woman in a room with a bicycle saying to a man and child, “Sew on your own buttons, I’m going for a ride” photographer unknown. ​


Primary Visual Source: The “new” woman and her bicycle

Image of
Website:  https://www.loc.gov/item/2012648801/ 
Title: The “new” woman and her bicycle
By: Frederick Burr Opper
Publisher: NY: Keppler & Schwazmann, 1895 
    June 19.

Summary: 
This cartoon was printed on the back cover of the Puck magazine (v. 37, no. 954). The “new woman” stands at the center. The three mice at her feet demonstrate her new strength and lack of fear. This is in contrast to the smaller scene of the older woman in the bottom right-hand corner who stands on a chair at the sight of mice. The “new woman” is surrounded by a variety of women of all ages demonstrating the usefulness and freedom of increased mobility the bicycle provided.

Questions for Analysis:
  • What do you notice about the woman at the center of the picture?
  • Why do you think she is standing that way? What might her posture convey?
  • What do you notice about the surrounding vignettes?
  • At the bottom of the picture it says, “THE ‘NEW WOMAN’ AND HER BICYCLE—THERE WILL BE SEVERAL VARIETIES OF HER.” What do you think this means? Why do you think the illustrator would choose to say there would be “several varieties of her”?
​Text Connection:
Revisit the two-page spread immediately following the dedication page. ​​
Book illustration: village with cyclists
Ask students what they notice about this two-page spread.  The illustrations show men riding their bicycles, while the women and children were confined to their homes. Discuss connections between the two-page spread and the cartoon of the “new woman.” Text illustrations depict the various ways the bicycle assists with the men’s daily work.
​

End this discussion by asking the students to share their observations from the final two-page spread positioned right before the author’s note. The illustration mirrors the cartoon, but features women doing all of the same things the men can do with the assistance of a bicycle. Finally, ask the students what message they believe the cartoonist is trying to convey. 
Book illustration: village with cyclists
Ask the students how they think the illustrator came to create both of these two-page spreads. This allows an opportunity for shifting the discussion toward the time spent researching to develop a well-written and illustrated, accurate, and authentic historical fiction. ​​

Primary Visual Source: Woman in a room with a bicycle saying to a man and child, “Sew on your own buttons, I’m going for a ride”

Photograph: woman with bicycle
Website: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3a50886/
Title: Woman in a room with a bicycle saying to a man and child, “Sew on your own buttons, I’m going for a ride.”
By: Unknown
Date Created/Published: 1899, Stereo Copyrighted B. L. Singley

Summary: This printed photograph was doubled and placed on cardboard to create a stereo card for a stereograph machine. A stereograph machine was used to make pictures look three dimensional, similar to an old-fashioned view-master. To learn more about the stereograph, view the video at the What is a Stereograph?  webpage of Middlebury College's Museum of Art.

The image on the photograph is of a woman standing in her home with her bicycle beside her. Looking closely, you see she is gesturing for a little boy to take a piece of fabric or clothing from her. Art critics suggest the picture seems staged because the bicycle being held by the woman is very large and does not have the lower crossbar that is typical of a woman’s bicycle. Notice that the woman’s attire in the picture does not support riding a bicycle. However, as more women began using bicycles for transportation, changes in clothing, such as bloomers, allowed them to ride comfortably. Prior to these changes in clothing styles, women were pictured seated sideways to accommodate their long dresses.
​

Questions for Analysis:
  • How is this photograph different from the cartoon of the “new woman”?
  • What do the differences tell us about this photograph? What can we infer about the picture based on the differences?
  • What do you notice about the woman in this picture? Who, do you think, is the boy in the picture? Explain your thinking using specific details from the photograph to support your ideas.
  • What do you notice about how this woman is standing? What might her body language convey?
  • At the bottom of this photograph it says, “#332—“Sew on your own buttons, I’m going for a ride.” What does this caption reveal about the photograph?
  • How might the photographer feel about women’s inclusion in the riding movement? Explain your thinking.
  • Based on the photographer’s perception, who do you think might have taken the picture? Why?
Text Connection:
Revisit Born to Ride: A Story About Bicycle Face with students. Before rereading, ask the students to pay close attention to what the women are doing throughout the book. After reading, discuss all of the things the women are doing from the beginning to the end of the text. Begin a conversation about why there might be concern and discouragement from others (men and women) when it comes to women riding bicycles. Ask the students what connections they can make between the photograph and the text. To wrap up the conversation, ask students about potential origins of the “Bicycle Face” affliction. Share the author’s note, “About Bicycle Face” and “From Bicycles to Votes.” To conclude the session, have students work in pairs to complete T-Charts, transcribing their learnings with specific, supporting evidences.

References

​(ca. 1899) Woman in a room with a bicycle saying to a man and child, "Sew on your own buttons, I'm going for a ride"., ca. 1899. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2006683468/.

Harris, B.R. (2010). Blurring borders, visualizing connections: Aligning information and visual literacy learning outcomes. Reference Services Review, 38(4), 523-535. doi: 10.1108/00907321011090700 

Lent, R. C. (2016). This is disciplinary literacy: Reading, writing, thinking and doing…Content Area by Content Area. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin SAGE Publications.

Opper, F. B. (1895) The "new woman" and her bicycle - there will be several varieties of her / F. Opper. , 1895. N.Y.: Published by Keppler & Schwarzmann. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2012648801/.

Theule, L. (2019). Born to ride: A story about bicycle face. New York, NY: Abrams Books for Young Readers.
​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. Jennifer is a member of the 2019 Notables Committee. She can be reached at jsummerl@uab.edu.

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 thebiographyclearinghouse@gmail.com. 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. 

The Lived Experience: Creating and Sequencing Text Sets to Build Background Knowledge

9/8/2020

 

BY LIZ THACKERAY NELSON & MARGARET OSGOOD OPATZ

Diagram illustrating how to scaffold texts starting with texts closest to students' lived experiences and moving farther out.
As former teachers, we are familiar with our students’ common refrain: “What does this book have to do with me?” Helping our students connect to what we teach in meaningful ways increases motivation, engagement, and overall learning (Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000). In this blog post we want to explore how creating and sequencing text sets to foster student background knowledge helps students make meaningful connections and increases reading engagement. 

The importance of readers’ background knowledge has been acknowledged for decades (Anderson, Reynolds, Schallert, & Goetz, 1977; Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998; Reynolds, Taylor, Steffensen, Shirley, & Anderson, 1982), yet in schools throughout our country readers are placed in texts that are decontextualized and reflect a lived experience very different from their own, making it challenging to construct meaning from the text and ultimately learn from it (Fleming, Catapano, Thompson, & Ruvalcaba Carrillo, 2015). This is particularly true when it comes to the informational content presented in science. To support readers in comprehending and learning from texts, teachers can reshape the curriculum by beginning with students’ lived experiences in mind. Reshaping the curriculum includes the use of high-quality literature sequenced in a way that begins with familiar content and contexts and then moves further from students’ lived experiences to the expected or mainstream curriculum.

Learning about Animal Adaptations in an Urban Setting

For example, when addressing science standards to teach about how animals adapt to their environment, many units of study focus on exotic animals such as those found in the Amazon Rainforest, the Serengeti, or Australian Outback--using texts such as I See a Kookaburra! (Jenkins & Page, 2005) , Biggest, Strongest, Fastest (Jenkins, 1997), or What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? (Jenkins & Page, 2008).  While it certainly isn’t bad to teach about exotic animals and their unique ecosystems, to help students first understand how animals function in their unique habitat, it can be beneficial to begin with animals that are closer to students’ lived experiences. Therefore, before moving to texts that showcase exotic animals, we suggest using texts such as Please, Puppy, Please (Lee & Lee, 2005), Animal Babies in Towns and Cities (Kingfisher, 2005), City Critters: Wildlife in the Urban Jungle (Read, 2012), or Urban Roosts: Where Birds Nest in the City (Bash, 1992). These texts allow you to focus on animals that students who live in urban settings can observe in their own environment. 
 
Imagine students reading Urban Roosts: Where Birds Nest in the City (Bash, 1992), a book which illustrates several urban locations where birds live and nest (e.g., in a storefront light, under the awning of a building, on a statue that stands on a street corner, in a stoplight).  Then, as students walk outside of their school building (or their homes if they are learning online right now), they start to notice the birds that roost on the building’s exterior doorways, creating firsthand experiences of animals adapting to their environments, and opportunities to talk about scientific content beyond the school texts and science class.  When meeting as a class again, students discuss how the birds have adapted to and thrive in the urban environment. By situating school texts in familiar contexts, students are able to build background knowledge before being expected to grasp concepts in faraway, unfamiliar places. Because we live in an urban area, we would sequence our animal adaptation text set like this:


Diagram listing a sequencing example for texts on animal adaptations
Based on the area where you live, you may want to change the order of the texts. For example, salamanders are very common in some parts of the United States, so teachers in that area may want to move Salamanders by Molly Kolpin closer to the beginning of the text set.  

Explanation of Text Sequence

Creating & Sequencing Your Own Text Set

To create and sequence text sets that begin with students' lived experiences and progress outward, we propose 5 steps: 

STEP 1:

Determine the standards, learning goals, and outcomes for an instructional unit.

STEP 2:

Begin with your curriculum to integrate content.
  • Select your topic of area of focus for the unit.

STEP 3:

Determine areas of the curriculum or unit that require additional resources for students to build conceptual knowledge. 

STEP 4:

Gather texts based on the topic.
  • Use various resources to find high-quality literature: 
    • ​​American Library Association
    • Kids Like Us​
    • Lee and Low Publisher
    • Worlds of Words
    • USBBY
    • Grace Enriquez & Denise Dávila’s CLA Blog Post: Online Resources for Diverse Children's Literature

STEP 5:

Use texts to build a bridge between students' lived experiences and the school curriculum. 
  • With your students in mind, determine the books that are closest/furthest to your students' lived experiences. 
  • Go through the process of sequencing texts from closest to furthest from your students' lived experiences. 
  • Evaluate how each book fits into the development of knowledge throughout the unit. 

References

Anderson, R. C., Reynolds, R. E., Schallert, D. L., & Goetz, E. T. (1977). Frameworks for comprehending discourse. American Educational Research Journal, 14(4), 367-381.

Cunningham, A. E., & Stanovich, K. E. (1998). What reading does for the mind.
American Educator, 22, 8-17.

Fleming, J., Catapano, S., Thompson, C. M., & Ruvalcaba Carrillo, S. (2015). More mirrors in the classroom: Using urban children’s literature to increase literacy. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Guthrie, J.T., & Wigfield, A. (2000). Engagement and motivation in reading. In M.L. Kamil, P.B. Mosenthal, P.D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research: Volume III (pp. 403-422). New York: Erlbaum.

Reynolds, R.E., Taylor, M.A., Steffensen, M.S., Shirey, L.L., & Anderson, R.C. (1982). Cultural schemata and reading comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 353-366.


Liz Thackeray Nelson  is a doctoral student at the University of Utah in Educational Psychology. Her research interests include writing, multiliteracies, and children's literature. She is currently serving as the chair for the CLA Membership Committee. 

Margaret Osgood Opatz is a doctoral student at the University of Utah in Educational Psychology. Her studies include reading, literacy, and linguistics. She is a past recipient of the CLA Bonnie Campbell Hill National Literacy Leader Award. 

Ideas for Change with Tonya Bolden’s Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl

9/1/2020

 

By Jennifer Graff and Courtney Shimek on behalf of the Biography Clearinghouse

As shared in our initial Biography Clearinghouse post, we are committed to showcasing how biographies can help connect youths with each other and the world. Offering curricular possibilities that are easily adaptable to grade level, time, and other contexts and providing “behind-the-scenes” content from biography creators are central components of our commitment.
Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl Cover
In the spirit of returning to school and the desire to amplify the historical achievements of Black people in the U.S., we showcase the story of someone committed to justice and equity her entire life. “A child of New York City’s striving class of Blacks in the mid-1800s" (p.5) whose ideals were to “Aim high! Stand tall! Be strong! -- and do!” (p.5); a girl whose mother was “an ace operator for the Underground Railroad” (p.21); and an educator who wrote, “I never forgot that I had to sue for a privilege which any but a colored girl could have without asking” (p.36). Thus, our first featured biography on the Biography Clearinghouse website is Tonya Bolden’s award-winning Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl.

Bolden felt compelled to write about Maritcha after coming across her memoir at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Bolden’s rich, descriptive language and use of primary and secondary sources illuminate the life and experiences of Maritcha Rémond Lyons and her family in New York City during the latter half of the 19th century. Readers discover what life for Blacks was like in New York City, witness the terror and violence of the Draft Riots in 1863, and experience the fight for education and equal treatment. Bolden’s discussion of her research and writing process in the front and back matter as well as Maritcha’s perseverance, determination, and legacy inspired us to interview Bolden and imagine how we could incorporate this powerful biography into our classrooms.


Operating within our Investigate, Explore, and Create model, we designed teaching ideas geared toward literacy and content area learning as well as opportunities for socio-emotional learning and strengthening community connections.
Investigate focuses on authors’ and illustrators’ craft and structure. Suggested mini-lessons, writing opportunities, and talking points invite students to take composition-focused “closer looks” and “tryouts,” accentuating the importance of authors’ and illustrators’ craft from multiple perspectives. Bolden’s use of rich, vivid language and a medley of source material in Maritcha inspired our suggestions that connect the power of word choice and text structure as well as differentiate between facts and informed hypotheses. 

Explore offers resources to connect ideas, historical events, and scientific discoveries and inventions within the featured biographies to our world. These resources are selected to help readers deepen and extend their understandings of and connections between historical events and eras, scientific progress and modern conveniences, and to illustrate the interconnectedness of life across geographical places/spaces and disciplinary perspectives. For Maritcha, we found resources about the Draft Riots of 1863 as well as other education desegregation cases from the United States that happened between a decade and a century prior to Brown v. the Board of Education.   

Create invites readers to apply what they learn and know from the biographies to their current communities and contexts. Acutely aware of time and resources, our suggestions are typically  designed to meet educators where they are and offer additional opportunities.

Investigate, Explore, and Create Model

Diagram of interconnected circles involving Investigate research & writing process craft and structure, Explore content and disciplinary thinking  social and emotional learning, Create new texts and artifacts
Create with texts and artifacts

Create with Maritcha

Featured here is one of the Create ideas inspired by Maritcha. We mirror Bolden’s focus on family, community, and equity by having students think about their individual families, situate themselves within their communities, and then engage in positive action and change. While Bolden’s Maritcha is geared toward upper elementary or intermediate grades, the Create ideas speak to primary and intermediate grade levels, work with varying amounts of time, and stimulate new ideas rather than prescribe curricular engagements.

Getting to Know Your Community Leaders

Community networks were central to Maritcha’s story as well as her and her family’s accomplishments. The importance of community networks is still present today. But how often do we have opportunities to delve deeper into the community networks that help us survive, if not thrive?
If you have 1-2 hours . . .
If you have 1-2 days . . .
If you have 1 week or longer  . . .
Discuss the ways in which Maritcha’s community helped her succeed and who the leaders were in her community.
As a class or in small groups, brainstorm who (people and/or organizations) are part of their communities, who they consider to be leaders in their communities, and why (e.g., leadership qualities, character traits, etc.).


Sample discussion starters:
  • Who does a community look up to/learn from most and why? 
  • What qualities do these individuals have that inspire members of the community?

In small groups, students identify someone from their community network. 


Students generate interview questions and then conduct in-person or virtual interviews with their identified community members about the importance of community, leadership, etc. (connect back to key ideas from Maritcha).

By investigating biographers’ research and writing processes and connecting people and historical events to our modern lives, we hope to motivate change in how readers engage with biographies, each other, and the larger world. To see more classroom possibilities and helpful resources connected to Marticha: A Nineteenth Century American Girl, visit the Biography Clearinghouse. Additionally, we’d love to hear how the interview and these ideas inspired you. Email us at thebiographyclearinghouse@gmail.com with your connections, creations, questions, or comment below if you’re reading this on Twitter or Facebook.
Jennifer M. Graff is an associate professor at the University of Georgia, the current past-president of CLA, and a former committee member of NCTE’s Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children. 

Courtney Shimek is an assistant professor at West Virginia University and has been a member of CLA since 2015.

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 jgfain@lipscomb.edu
 
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 thetututeacher@gmail.com.

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 ebemiss@uwf.edu.

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 leigh23@oakland.edu
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 janineschall@utrgv.edu.
 
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 jsummerl@uab.edu.

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
kathryn.will@maine.edu.
Jeanne Gilliam Fain is s a professor at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee and Chair of the 2020 Notables Committee.
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