Category: ETL402 Literature across the curriculum

ETL402 Critical Reflection

Reading Haven (2007) was a great way to set the scene for this course. Even if we were not all literature “converts” before starting the course, understanding the research behind the power of stories would make us so. Of all the themes I think the second module – concerning diversity – was the one that engaged me most passionately and emotionally. Smolen and Oswalds’ (2011) book was instrumental in expanding my knowledge on this topic.

 

Reviewing my blog posts The Best of Times, the Worst of Times; if you name it will it come; Conversations and thoughts about diversity in literature; It can’t get any worse … can it? and The right to write as well as my first assessment The Power and Potential of Multicultural Diverse Literature I realise they all concerned themselves with this topic. In practise, despite best intentions and efforts, large international communities of practise, the so called “global librarian networks” it is still difficult to source and purchase diverse literature of the quality and quantity necessary.

 

Looking at the collection, the teacher librarian (TL) walks several tightropes simultaneously – balancing curriculum needs with literacy needs with pleasure “fast food” reading needs as well as parental and societal expectations and biases makes for interesting tension. All while ensuring that literature can fulfil its destiny without losing a generation of potential readers. Personal observations reinforced the need for positive role models and personal – particularly peer –recommendations (Marcoux & Loertscher, 2009). Attempts to transform a physical library space were documented in a number of blog posts summarised here. Both Travers and Travers (2008) and Elizabeth and Selman (2012) cast an important biopsychosocial developmental lens on the subject of literature in schools.

 

With respect to the digital experience, as a colleague remarked to me “we are the first generation of teacher librarians and parents dealing with the internet, and we don’t know what we’re doing or what the long term effects will be”. Of course there are more than enough naysayers (Carr, 2013; Mangen, Walgermo, & Brønnick, 2013) and cheerleaders (Cornis-Pope & Woodlief, 2000) to balance each other out and the jury is out on the matter. At the end of the day it is important to meet the students where they are – whether that is in the land of text, live or digital and embrace the benefits of interaction, self-directed learning with creative opportunities (Anstey & Bull, 2006).

 

Finally, as they say – the proof of the pudding is in the eating – or in this instance, the proof of the learning is in how it can be applied in the teaching and promotion of literature in schools. Changing the culture in any learning environment is a slow process, where one has to learn to trust one’s instincts and trust the students, alternate between catching one’s breath in horror and outrage at the utterances of some teachers and parents while being in awe of the skill and depth of understanding and good practice of others, all moments from each other. It’s quite a ride.

 

 

References:

Anstey, M., & Bull, G. (2006). Defining multiliteracies. In Teaching and learning multiliteracies : changing times, changing literacies (pp. 19–55). Newark, Del: International Reading Association.

Carr, N. (2013, January 5). Don’t burn your books—print Is here to stay [WSJ.com]. Retrieved 22 May 2014, from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323874204578219563353697002

Cornis-Pope, M., & Woodlief, A. (2000, Fall). The rereading/rewriting process: Theory and collaborative, on-line pedagogy. Retrieved 17 January 2016, from http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/ReReadingTheorychapter.htm

Elizabeth, T., & Selman, R. L. (2012). The role of social development in elementary school curricula: Past, present, and future. Saperstein Associates. Retrieved from http://www.sapersteinassociates.com/downloads/2012_Elizabeth_and_Selman_SD_Whitepaper.pdf

Haven, K. F. (2007). Story proof: the science behind the startling power of story. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved from EBook Library

Mangen, A., Walgermo, B. R., & Brønnick, K. (2013). Reading linear texts on paper versus computer screen: Effects on reading comprehension. International Journal of Educational Research, 58, 61–68. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2012.12.002

Marcoux, E., & Loertscher, D. V. (2009). The role of a school library in a school’s reading program. Teacher Librarian, 37(1), 8–14,84.

Smolen, L. A., & Oswald, R. A. (Eds.). (2011). Multicultural literature and response: Affirming diverse voices. Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved from EBook Library

Travers, B. E., & Travers, J. F. (2008). Children, literature and development: Interactions and insights. In Children’s literature: a developmental perspective (pp. 2–17). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

This book should die …

Our library has just received a big shipment of books and I need to make some space so that the new books don’t get lost.  On Friday I therefore did a little exercise with my Grade 6 students that I called “this book must die”.

Since many of them had either read “The Hunger Games” or “American Sniper” or seen the movie, we discussed it in terms of “what are the survival skills needed” by a book to ensure it’s continued existence on the shelves and “which books are a library / librarian / students’ friends and which are enemies“.  The students came up with some great ideas, and showed real insight into the dilemmas and choices facing a librarian.  It was also wonderful to see how much more “literarily” mature they had become, with groups of students arguing that books such as the “Rainbow Fairies” and “Horrid Henry” series shouldn’t be in our collection, that they were formulaic with no qualities, and with other students equally passionately defending them – including some boys arguing that their younger sisters loved Rainbow Fairies and had the right to read them until they knew better!  I wish I’d video’d them to show to parents who enter long convoluted arguments with me about introducing more “classics” (i.e. the books of their book deprived youth) at a younger age to my students.  They proved the case of “free voluntary choice” of books for students and that if you trust your students they’ll rise to the occasion.

Although I asked them to focus on fiction, a couple brought some very outdated nonfiction books to my attention (think moustachioed librarians straight out of the 80’s), and one even brought a more recent book on scuba diving where all the information wasn’t current anymore to my attention.

I also let them had a go at the “hallowed hall” of literature circle kits – they did ask.  And there definitely were a very strongly felt sentiments about text that they were expected to read either as a class or in small groups.  Luckily the “class texts” passed muster (I suspect because the teachers have actually read them – either with the students or independently or even as a read-aloud), but the smaller sets of 4-6 books had three books that will need to be eliminated.  The “deal” I made with them is that if even one student came to the passionate defence of a book, it would stay.  We had a long discussion about whether or not “award winning” books had any kind of immunity from weeding – again I loved their perceptive comments about the fact that most of the awards originated in America and this didn’t necessarily reflect their world view, interests or priorities.

Besides arbitrary titles that weren’t particularly important, the following ‘text set’ books, some of which are award winning by “important” authors were condemned:

Stowaway – Karen Hesse.  60 students unanimously said they’d struggled through it hating every minute and that it had no redeeming features whatsoever in their eyes.

Criss Cross – Lynne Rae Perkins – they found it boring, found no connection to their lives

The Heaven Shop – Deborah Ellis – I promise I didn’t say a word about this. But their sentiments echoed my privately held sentiments exactly.  It was superficial, it was written by an outsider, it had too many coincidences so they felt they could no longer suspend belief.

After 3 exhausting but exhilarating classes the exercise was completed.  Then yesterday my Grade 5 classes came for library class and their first question was ‘Ms. please can we also do “this book must die’?” – don’t you love it when a library lesson echoes in the school hallways?

The right to write

One of the most difficult aspects of my last assignment on multicultural and diverse literature (MCD) was coming to grips with the extent to which all literature, including MCD literature is dominated by white and/or western based authors.  When I have more headspace I’d like to write an article on what kind of criteria one could apply to assess the legitimacy of authors to tackle MCD themes – aka “the right to write”. It would be a set of guidelines that librarians and even teachers and students could use to critically look at existing literature and to use when deciding what books should be purchased and/or included in curricula activities.

My thoughts so far are around:

  • origin of author or illustrator – birth and residency
  • whether they are cultural / religious insider by residency / descent / marriage
  • time spent living in the region / culture
  • language – I think this is HUGE – language=culture – as a parent of a child who we put in chinese language immersion school at a young age her access to the language = access to the culture and she is no longer as western culturally assimilated as she was before. I’m thinking of Pearl Buck now as well – she is revered in China as someone with a “chinese soul” whereas I don’t think that is given to many other ‘touristic’ writers.
  • Role as gatekeeper or guide – I do think that authors could spend more time in nurturing talent and “passing the baton” rather than blocking the way – there is the balance between accessibility for the western sensibilities – it can’t be too unfamiliar, uncomfortable (I’m even thinking of how my students found Bleakboy “weird” and that’s just Aussie vs. their usual diet of UK / USA – but fortunately they didn’t reject it) but it needs to be authentic – particularly the inner dialogue – we can’t impose western sensibilities about gender rights, individual rights on a collectivist society – my Chinese / Asian friends do not rebel against the fact that their parents chose their study direction, university and career (and sometimes husband) for them, because the assumption is that the parent knows best and has their best interest at heart – not all the stuff we project onto the situation.

Yes, there are the gaps and I agree without the filling by Deborah Ellis etal, our students wouldn’t have the awareness at all – but we’re 10-20-30-60 years on in the case of some issues and STILL the middle class white people are writing and being published. Why? And whose lives are richer / poorer as a result of these works.

Just my random thoughts this morning.  Any comments?

The Power and Potential of Multicultural Diverse Literature

Abstract

This article explores how multicultural and diverse literature contributes to a school library collection through its unique ability to inform, provoke socio-emotional responses and stimulate social justice and reform, while validating the experience and identity of a multicultural and diverse student body. Examples of recently published notable books are provided. Themes and conceptual tools of the genre are introduced and the role, challenges and responses of the teacher librarian are examined.

Introduction

Schools around the world are seeing an substantial influx of diverse students due to migration, immigration and globalisation (Boelens, Cherek, Tilke, & Bailey, 2015), a trend that has long been the norm in international schools. Within international schools, those under the umbrella of the International Baccalaureate (IB) are expected to go beyond literacy and numeracy to equip students with attitudes and values that allow them to become socio-emotionally balanced global citizens (International Baccalaureate Organisation, n.d.). Focusing on the upper years of the IB primary years program (PYP) how can the inclusion of multicultural and diverse (MCD) literature support both the academic and socio-emotional curriculum to meet those ambitions and what can other schools learn from this?

Key issues

MCD literature is defined as works “that reflect the racial, ethnic and social diversity that is characteristic of our pluralistic society and of the world” (Bishop, 1997, p.3 cited in Hinton & Dickinson, 2007). Cai (2002) expands the definition to cover issues of diversity, inclusion, power structures and the ability to transform society by the inclusion of marginalised people of all races.

Conceptual tools

Tschida, Ryan and Ticknor (2014) combine two conceptual tools for an understanding of MCD literature – texts as mirrors, windows and sliding doors (Bishop, 1990) and the danger of the single story (Adichie, 2009). Using these tools, one can be critical towards what has passed as MCD texts (Botelho & Rudman, 2009; Duren, 2000; Robinson, 2013) with many questions raised about the legitimacy of authors who publish MCD works – including the “insider / outsider” debate (Ehrlich, 2015; Mendoza & Reese, 2001; Short & Fox, 2003; Singer & Smith, 2003). Carefully translated books can overcome some of these issues if not overly ‘localised’ for the market into which they are being translated and there tend to be fewer stereotypes (Kimmel, Garrison, & Forest, 2015).

 

To ameliorate the dangers of the single story, MCD literature needs a substantial volume of works of quality and legitimacy. O’Sullivan (2004) provides a sober history of MCD literature, commencing with the post-war idealistic creation of institutions such as International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) and the International Youth Library (IYL) in Munich and ending with damning statistics on “how international is international children’s literature?” – hint – it’s not. Facts that are echoed by annual tallying of books in the USA by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (2015).

 

Power to change

Cognitive literacy theory using scientific research suggests that literature contributes to the socialisation of students, promoting the development of theory of mind through the association of emotion through visual and textual stimuli in a reciprocal relationship between social development and academic performance – MCD literature can play a significant role in this (Biwu, 2014; Elizabeth & Selman, 2012; Nikolajeva, 2012; Rider, 2013). Although many primary school libraries have a multitude of books that portray Begler’s (1998) five F’s – food, fashion, fiestas, folklore, and famous people, these have a touristic superficial view of culture do not provide the mirror or window perspective that sophisticated MCD books provide (Doll & Garrison, 2013).

 

One of the differentiating factors of education in an IB school is the hope that: “our students will help to build a better world through intercultural understanding and respect” (International Baccalaureate Organisation, n.d., para. 2). Equity, social justice and reform is at the heart of multicultural education (Gorski, 2011; Cai and Bishop, 1994, cited in Short & Fox, 2003). Intrinsic to the inquiry cycle of the PYP is “taking action” – students are expected to go beyond researching and understanding to making a difference in the world. However in order to fulfil its literary and pedagogical potential, MCD literature needs to simultaneously be at the right developmental level, to emphasize desirable attributes, be honest and authentic while fulfilling the other usual criteria for quality including well developed plot, skilful illustrations, appealing characters and connection with the reader (Cai, 2002; McNamee & Mercurio, 2007; Nikolajeva, 2012; Oswald & Smolen, 2011).

Themes

The dominant themes in MCD literature can be summarised as: stories from the original culture; bridged cultural experiences: adoption stories; identity or image stories and refugee, migration or immigration stories (Masuda & Ebersole, 2011).

This article focuses on the latter due to topical relevance; pervasive current media coverage; curricula relevance; the fact that most students in international schools have personal experience of relocation; and the reality of schools as “the most public environment in which diverse student populations come into contact with each other” (Tanners, 1997, cited in Lowery, 2011, p. 268). In addition, migration literature has evolved as a unique genre (Bersh, 2013; Hope, 2007; Kimmel et al., 2015).

Value to the collection

MCD literature provides many benefits to a collection. Three of these will be highlighted – the ability to educate, to develop socio-emotional and meta-cognitive skills and to provoke social transformation.

Educate

Students in primary school may be unfamiliar with the history of the countries and regions that their multicultural peers are from and unaware of differentiations between groups, while being affected by public media portrayal (Lowery, 2011). MCD can serve as a conduit for learning and scaffold enquiry provided it is authentic and accurate. Deepening media presentation with personal factual research is highlighted in Drita my Homegirl (Lombard, 2008) where Maxie researches the Kosovo war, and A Long Walk to Water (Park, 2010) which personalises the “Lost boys of Sudan” story. Julie spontaneously researches Mongolia and presents her findings at every opportunity in Unforgotten Coat (Cottrell Boyce, 2011) and even Shocky learns about

Chingas Kahn. Heart of a Samurai (Preus, 2010) weaves in historical information about the early isolation of Japan and the mutual distrust, ignorance and fear between Japan and America whereas The Journey that saved Curious George (Borden & Drummond, 2005) gives an account of fleeing Paris in the second world war.

 

MCD literature has been shown to enhance the reading comprehension of language learners through its culturally familiar material and creating a window to view others engaged in language learning in a non-trivial manner (Hadaway & Young, 2011). In nearly all the texts highlighted the learning of English forms a central theme: “Until you children master English, you must think, do, wish for nothing else” – Inside Out and Back Again (Lai, 2011, p. 132); “the boys weren’t just learning English; they were hiding themselves inside English” – The Unforgotten Coat (Cottrell Boyce, 2011, p. 38). Kasienka’s initial low level of English holds her back academically in The Weight of Water (Crossan, 2011); and Maxie has to grapple with Drita’s poor English in Drita my Homegirl (Lombard, 2008) while for Manjiro, Heart of a Samurai (Preus, 2010), learning English is a matter of survival.

 

Besides the power of story, illustrations contribute to character depth and enhance understanding (Broadway & Conkle, 2011). The use of primary source material to illustrate Heart of a Samurai (Preus, 2010) and The Journey that Saved Curious George (Borden & Drummond, 2005) contributes to the authenticity of the story as well as allowing a segue into aspects of research and information literacy.

Socio-emotional and meta-cognitive skills

One of the unique aspects of reading is its dual role as an emotional and intellectual act and as such it can perform the function of scaffolding children’s ability to care about people, events and concepts outside their current existence (McNamee & Mercurio, 2007).

 

The development of resilience, empathy and theory of mind is articulated as an educational goal by most educational systems and the importance of vocabulary (Bosacki & Wilde Astington, 2001; Figueroa-Sánchez, 2008) and literature in developing theory of mind is well documented (Djikic & Oatley, 2014; Kidd & Castano, 2013; McTigue, Douglass, Wright, Hodges, & Franks, 2015). Although bibliotherapy is a distinct specialisation, from its research we are aware of the power of literature to provoke a socio-emotional response and empathy and to reach individuals who may not be open to other forms of intervention (Djikic, Oatley, Zoeterman, & Peterson, 2009; Gomm, 2012; Johnson, 2012; Montgomery & Maunders, 2015; Riahinia, Azimi, & Seify, 2010). Both William her boyfriend-in-spe and Konoro – her “too black” immigrant-doctor-who-is-a-cleaner neighbour tell Kasienka she has the resilience to save herself – Weight of Water (Crossan, 2011), Manjiro’s mettle is tested on the whaling boat, in America and when he attempts to return to Japan – Heart of a Samurai, (Preus, 2010) and Hà survives fleeing Vietnam and settling in Alabama – Inside Out (Lai, 2011).

 

The deployment of virtual reality (VR) tools such as Clouds over Sidra (Arora & Milk, C., 2015), where one not only observes but is immersed in the experience takes situating students inside a story further, with many authors hailing the ability of VR to enhance empathy. There is some debate around the problems and potential of VR, to promote empathy through mirror neurons (Constine, 2015; Hamilton, 2015; Sutherland, n.d.) as well as its suitability for children (Lewis, 2015).

Social transformation

Good MCD literature promotes higher order thinking and engages students cognitively emotionally and motivationally in order to provide socio-emotional support, and foster bonds and peer relationships between students (Triplett & Buchanan, 2005). Migration themed books can provoke thought and discussion about the respective roles and responsibilities of the ‘incumbent’ versus ‘incoming’ characters. The more successful books show the complexity and ambivalence of these relationships. In Weight of Water (Crossan, 2011) Kasienka, when not being bullied by Clair, is met with exclusion and indifference. Julie, becomes the “Good Guide” to Chingis and Nergu in Unforgotten Coat (Cottrell Boyce, 2011) and finds their presence fascinating but confusing and disruptive to her understanding of the world she lives in. The contact between Maxie and Drita in Drita (Lombard, 2008) is initially enforced by their teacher and gradually evolves into authentic friendship while Hà and Manjiro find friends outside their peer group. Hà is relentlessly bullied by a “pink-colored boy” but taken under the wing of an elderly neighbour, Miss Washington, – Inside Out (Lai, 2011) and Captain Whitfield befriends Manjiro – Heart of a Samurai, (Preus, 2010).

Role of the teacher librarian

The role of the teacher librarian (TL) in selection and promotion of materials and creating an literary environment is well documented (Claasz, 2014; Hinton & Dickinson, 2007; La Marca, 2003), however the curation and provision of MCD literature places unique demands on the TL (Colbert-Lewis & Colbert-Lewis, 2013; Marcoux, 2009; Mestre, 2009). MCD materials in the collection should validate a student’s home cultural experience and language; use technology to facilitate learning and self expression including students’ own writing; create cooperative, interactive learning opportunities and encourage home / school collaboration (Hinton & Dickinson, 2007; Kim, Greif Green, & Klein, 2006).

Availability

The existence of MCD literature faces three substantial barriers. In the first place it does not get published at all, secondly, if it does, it is from an outsider’s perspective and finally once in existence it may not get into the school library or the classroom (Ehrlich, 2015; O’Sullivan, 2004; Tschida et al., 2014). Besides the usual lists and awards such as the Batchelder, Jane Addams or Stepping Stones awards, the TL committed to MCD literature needs to tap into international librarian, author and publisher networks as well as the school learning ecosystem – particularly the parents of non-English speaking students. In addition books may not be available through the usual procurement channels requiring creative solutions.

Suitability

MCD curation involves ensuring the cultural authenticity of the collection including literary qualities, believability, portray of power relationships, response by insiders, origin of the book, accuracy of details, authenticity of values and attitudes, providing the audience personal connection to the story, authorship, perspectives, being at the correct socio-emotional developmental level and relationship to other books in the collection (Masuda & Ebersole, 2011; McNamee & Mercurio, 2007). Combining Selman’s theory on interpersonal understanding with an understanding of the types of books that fit in with cognitive developmental stages, the TL can ensure suitable MCD books are available at every age and stage (Cornett, 2007; Elizabeth & Selman, 2012; Selman, Jaquette, & Lavin, 1977).

 

The TL needs to constantly be vigilant as the criteria of suitability changes with increased cultural awareness and as research into MCD literature is published. Fortunately today more sophisticated and relevant MCD works are being published that can replace dated and unsuitable material. Part of the role of the TL involves the diplomatic ‘re-education’ of teachers who may automatically reach to favourites from their youth that have subsequently been condemned by cultural insiders as prejudiced, or portraying stereotypes or negative cultural images (Short & Fox, 2003). Extreme sensitivity should be shown towards ‘insider’ readers of books in the collection and the TL needs to make teachers aware of ‘insider’ reviews of the books included as curriculum resources (Doll & Garrison, 2013).

Curriculum

In the past, literature was relegated to language / arts programmes. Due to its multi-faceted benefits to inform, enhance understanding and critical thinking and to change perspectives and encourage social action, it is now infused through the entire curriculum. Besides encouraging reading and ‘evangelical outreach’ TL’s need to be embedded in curriculum development (Loertscher, 2002 cited in Hinton & Dickinson, 2007). A five phase model of integration of MCD literature into the curriculum is suggested, commencing with traditional literature moving towards contemporary fiction, biography and poetry (Smolen, Oswald, & Jenkins, 2011) while Bersh (2013) and Barone (2011) and all the authors in Multicultural Literature and Response: Affirming Diverse Voices (Smolen & Oswald, 2011) encourage the creation of literature sets along MCD themes to enhance the curriculum as well as suggestions for response activities and give excellent examples of these.

Accessibility

The role of the librarian goes beyond identification and acquisition of books, to ensure the promotion and accessibility of books in this genre and their integration into the curriculum and pleasure reading opportunities of students. In addition to curating lists of books that meet the criteria for the learner profile or attitudes, matched to the unit of inquiry (UOI) these books need to be selected and distributed to classrooms in time for the relevant UOI, or put on display as appropriate in the library. Teachers’ limited time and experience in selecting literature or ambivalent attitude to reading (Cox & Schaetzel, 2007; Cremin, Mottram, Bearne, & Goodwin, 2008) should not be allowed to form an additional access barrier to MCD books for students. Besides books in the collection, virtual curation of books, multimedia texts, materials and resources should be made accessible through the online learning platform, curriculum planning system, library blogs or library guides.

 

A small collection of books that meet the MCD criteria is no longer sufficient – every book should be scrutinized in order to ensure its potential to: validate experience and identity; appreciate other cultures; understand socio-political factors; critically examine the society we live in and prevent and reduce prejudice (Hinton & Dickinson, 2007).

 

Conclusion

The provision of MCD literature in a school library can be likened to an exciting quest – the librarian as the hero surmounting the barriers of accessibility and availability while warding off demons of the single story, stereotypes and negative portrayal. Ensuring suitability and reaching for the holy grail of a learning community of readers embracing the benefits of global citizenship, and ultimately the creation of the next generation of diverse multicultural authors and illustrators.

 

 

References

Adichie, C. N. (2009, July). The danger of a single story [Video talk]. Retrieved 15 December 2015, from https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en

Arora, G., & Milk, C., (Directors). (2015). Clouds over Sidra [Virtual reality film]. Vrse. Retrieved from http://vrse.com/watch/id/21/

Barone, D. M. (2011). Children’s literature in the classroom engaging lifelong readers. New York: Guilford Press. Retrieved from EBook Library

Begler, E. (1998). Global cultures: The first steps toward understanding. Social Education, 62(5), 272–275.

Bersh, L. C. (2013). The curricular value of teaching about immigration through picture book thematic text sets. The Social Studies, 104(2), 47–56. http://doi.org/10.1080/00377996.2012.720307

Bishop, R. S. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, 6(3). Retrieved from https://www.psdschools.org/webfm/8559

Biwu, S. (2014). Cognitive literary science: Developments and perspectives. Style, 48(3), 411–424,449–450.

Boelens, H., Cherek, J., Tilke, A., & Bailey, N. (2015). Communicating across cultures: Cultural identity issues and the role of the multicultural, multilingual school library within the school community. Presented at the ‘The school library rocks’ IASL 2015, Maastricht, Netherlands.

Borden, L., & Drummond, A. (2005). The journey that saved Curious George: the true wartime escape of Margret and H.A. Rey. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Bosacki, S., & Wilde Astington, J. (2001). Theory of mind in preadolescence: Relations between social understanding and social competence. Social Development, 8(2), 237–255. http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9507.00093

Botelho, M. J., & Rudman, M. K. (2009). Critical multicultural analysis of children’s literature: mirrors, windows, and doors. New York: Routledge.

Broadway, F. S., & Conkle, D. M. (2011). The power of illustrations in multicultural picture books: Unfolding visual literacy. In L. A. Smolen & R. A. Oswald (Eds.), Multicultural literature and response: Affirming diverse voices (pp. 67–94). Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved from EBook Library

Cai, M. (2002). Defining multicultural literature. In Multicultural literature for children and young adults: reflections on critical issues (pp. 3–8). Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.

Claasz, A. (2014). Contemporary realistic fiction for young adults. ACCESS, 28(2), 50–57.

Colbert-Lewis, D., & Colbert-Lewis, S. (2013). The role of teacher-librarians in encouraging library use by multicultural patrons. In C. Smallwood & K. Becnel (Eds.), Library services for multicultural patrons: strategies to encourage library use (pp. 73–81). Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.

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Cornett, C. E. (2007). Integrating the arts. In Creating meaning through literature and the arts : an integration resource for classroom teachers (3rd ed., pp. 94–134). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice-Hall.

Cottrell Boyce, F. (2011). The unforgotten coat. Somerville, Mass: Candlewick Press.

Cox, R., & Schaetzel, K. (2007). A preliminary study of pre-service teachers as readers in Singapore: Prolific, functional, or detached? Language Teaching Research, 11(3), 301–317. http://doi.org/10.1177/1362168807077562

Cremin, T., Mottram, M., Bearne, E., & Goodwin, P. (2008). Exploring teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature. Cambridge Journal of Education, 38(4), 449–464. http://doi.org/10.1080/03057640802482363

Crossan, S. (2011). The weight of water. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Djikic, M., & Oatley, K. (2014). The art in fiction: From indirect communication to changes of the self. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 8(4), 498–505. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0037999

Djikic, M., Oatley, K., Zoeterman, S., & Peterson, J. B. (2009). Defenseless against art? Impact of reading fiction on emotion in avoidantly attached individuals. Journal of Research in Personality, 43(1), 14–17. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2008.09.003

Doll, C., & Garrison, K. (2013). Voices of experience: Promoting acceptance of other cultures. In J. C. Naidoo & S. P. Dahlen (Eds.), Diversity in youth literature: opening doors through reading (pp. 3–15). Chicago, Ill: ALA-Ed.

Duren, E. B. (2000). Critical multiculturalism & racism in children’s literature. Multicultural Education, 7(3), 16–19.

Ehrlich, H. (2015, March 5). The diversity gap in children’s publishing, 2015 [Web Log]. Retrieved 13 December 2015, from http://blog.leeandlow.com/2015/03/05/the-diversity-gap-in-childrens-publishing-2015/

Elizabeth, T., & Selman, R. L. (2012). The role of social development in elementary school curricula: Past, present, and future. Saperstein Associates. Retrieved from http://www.sapersteinassociates.com/downloads/2012_Elizabeth_and_Selman_SD_Whitepaper.pdf

Figueroa-Sánchez, M. (2008). Building emotional literacy: Groundwork to early learning. Childhood Education, 84(5), 301–304.

Gomm, R. J. (2012). Content analysis of 50 picture books for Latino immigrant children: Implications for supportive bibliotherapy. Brigham Young University. Retrieved from http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3939&context=etd

Gorski, P. C. (2011, May 20). Equity and social justice from the inside-out: Ten commitments of a multicultural educator [Web Log]. Retrieved 15 December 2015, from http://www.ideas-idees.ca/blog/equity-and-social-justice-inside-out-ten-commitments-multicultural-educator

Hadaway, N. L., & Young, T. A. (2011). Supporting English language learners’ literacy development with culturally relevant books. In L. A. Smolen & R. A. Oswald (Eds.), Multicultural literature and response: Affirming diverse voices (pp. 286–308). Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved from EBook Library

Hamilton, R. S. (2015, August). Generating empathy through virtual reality [Web Log]. Retrieved 14 December 2015, from http://www.thespace.org/news/view/rachel-segal-hamilton-virtual-reality-empathy-amnesty

Hinton, K., & Dickinson, G. K. (2007). Integrating multicultural literature in libraries and classrooms in secondary schools. Columbus, Ohio: Linworth Pub. Retrieved from EBook Library

Hope, J. (2007). Flightlines: exploring early readers for children about the refugee experience. FORUM, 49(3), 289. http://doi.org/10.2304/forum.2007.49.3.289

International Baccalaureate Organisation. (n.d.). How IB is different. Retrieved 17 December 2015, from http://www.ibo.org/benefits/why-the-ib-is-different/

Johnson, D. R. (2012). Transportation into a story increases empathy, prosocial behavior, and perceptual bias toward fearful expressions. Personality and Individual Differences, 52(2), 150–155. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.10.005

Kidd, D. C., & Castano, E. (2013). Reading literary fiction improves theory of mind. Science, 342(6156), 377–380. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1239918

Kim, B. S. K., Greif Green, J. L., & Klein, E. F. (2006). Using storybooks to promote multicultural sensitivity in elementary school children. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 34(4), 223–234.

Kimmel, S., Garrison, K., & Forest, D. (2015). ‘Immigrants of us all’: Experiencing migration and movement through Batchelder Award-winning translated books. New Review of Children’s Literature and Librarianship, 21(2), 113–132. http://doi.org/10.1080/13614541.2015.1078621

Lai, T. (2011). Inside out & back again. New York: Harper.

La Marca, S. (2003). The enabling adult: The role of the teacher-librarian in creating a reading environment (PhD Thesis). University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.

Lewis, T. (2015, February 3). Samsung Gear VR: Virtual reality tech may have nasty side effects. Retrieved 14 December 2015, from http://www.livescience.com/49669-virtual-reality-health-effects.html

Lombard, J. (2008). Drita, my homegirl. New York: Puffin Books.

Lowery, R. M. (2011). Representations no representation: Exploring Middle East children’s literature. In L. A. Smolen & R. A. Oswald (Eds.), Multicultural literature and response: Affirming diverse voices (pp. 267–283). Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved from EBook Library

Marcoux, E. (2009). Diversity and the teacher-librarian. Teacher Librarian, 36(3), 6–7.

Masuda, A. M., & Ebersole, M. M. (2011). The journey continues: Exploring the literature of Asian and Pacific Island cultures. In L. A. Smolen & R. A. Oswald (Eds.), Multicultural literature and response: Affirming diverse voices (pp. 154–193). Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved from EBook Library

McNamee, A., & Mercurio, M. L. (2007). Who cares? How teachers can scaffold children’s ability to care: a case for picture books. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 9(1).

McTigue, E., Douglass, A., Wright, K. L., Hodges, T. S., & Franks, A. D. (2015). Beyond the story map: Inferential comprehension via character perspective. The Reading Teacher, 69(1), 91–101. http://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1377

Mendoza, J., & Reese, D. (2001). Examining multicultural picture books for the early childhood classroom: possibilities and pitfalls. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 3(2).

Mestre, L. (2009). Culturally responsive instruction for teacher-librarians. Teacher Librarian, 36(3), 8–12.

Montgomery, P., & Maunders, K. (2015). The effectiveness of creative bibliotherapy for internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors in children: A systematic review. Children and Youth Services Review, 55, 37–47. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.05.010

Nikolajeva, M. (2012). Reading other people’s minds through word and image. Children’s Literature in Education, 43(3), 273–291. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-012-9163-6

O’Sullivan, E. (2004). Internationalism, the universal child and the world of children’s literature. In P. Hunt (Ed.), International companion encyclopedia of children’s literature (2nd ed., pp. 13–25). London ; New York: Routledge. Retrieved from EBook Library

Oswald, R. A., & Smolen, L. A. (2011). Introduction to multicultural literature. In L. A. Smolen & R. A. Oswald (Eds.), Multicultural literature and response: Affirming diverse voices (pp. 1–15). Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved from EBook Library

Park, L. S. (2010). A long walk to water: based on a true story. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Preus, M. (2010). Heart of a samurai: based on the true story of Nakahama Manjiro. New York: Amulet Books.

Riahinia, N., Azimi, A., & Seify, S. (2010). Librarians’ participation in bibliotherapy treatment of distressed students. In M. Kocójowa (Ed.), Biblioteki, informacja, książka: interdyscyplinarne badania i praktyka w XXI wieku (Vol. 7, pp. 484–491). Kraków: Wydaw: ePublikacje Instytutu INiB Uniwersytet Jagielloński. Retrieved from http://skryba.inib.uj.edu.pl/wydawnictwa/e07/n-riahinia.pdf

Rider, N. A. (2013). The perils of empathy: Holocaust narratives, cognitive studies and the politics of sentiment. Holocaust Studies, 19(3), 43–72.

Robinson, J. A. (2013). Critical approaches to multicultural children’s literature in the elementary classroom: Challenging pedagogies of silence. New England Reading Association Journal, 48(2), 43–51,88.

Selman, R. L., Jaquette, D., & Lavin, D. R. (1977). Interpersonal awareness in children: Toward an integration of developmental and clinical child psychology. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 47(2), 264–274.

Short, K., & Fox, D. L. (2003). The complexity of cultural authenticity in children’s literature: Why the debates really matter. In D. L. Fox & K. G. Short (Eds.), Stories matter: the complexity of cultural authenticity in children’s literature. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English.

Singer, J. Y., & Smith, S. A. (2003). The potential of multicultural literature: Changing understanding of self and others. Multicultural Perspectives, 5(2), 17–23. http://doi.org/10.1207/S15327892MCP0502_4

Smolen, L. A., & Oswald, R. A. (Eds.). (2011). Multicultural literature and response: Affirming diverse voices. Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved from EBook Library

Smolen, L. A., Oswald, R. A., & Jenkins, S. (2011). Integrating multicultural literature into the curriculum. In L. A. Smolen & R. A. Oswald (Eds.), Multicultural literature and response: Affirming diverse voices (pp. 17–57). Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved from EBook Library

Sutherland, A. (n.d.). The limits of virtual reality: Debugging the empathy machine. Retrieved 14 December 2015, from http://docubase.mit.edu/lab/case-studies/the-limits-of-virtual-reality-debugging-the-empathy-machine/

Triplett, C. F., & Buchanan, A. (2005). Book talk: Continuing to rouse minds and hearts to life. Reading Horizons, 46(2), 63–75.

Tschida, C. M., Ryan, C. L., & Ticknor, A. S. (2014). Building on windows and mirrors: Encouraging the disruption of ‘single stories’ through children’s literature. Journal of Children’s Literature, 40(1), 28–39.

It can’t get any worse … can it?

Deep into my readings on this topic and it’s not making me feel particularly cheerful.  The statistics are appalling.

On the one hand one should be glad that there are enough people who care enough to keep count. On the other, it doesn’t appear that the counting leads to any measurable improvement.

Here are the statistics from 2002 to 2014 from Cooperative Children’s Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison.  And to take note of their criteria – it’s only the diversity of the United States that is counted – i.e. African / African Americans; American Indians; Asian Pacifics / Asian Pacific Americans and Latinos. The diversity in the rest of the world? Well who is counting? Who cares? Or are we just not able to access it?  What about the glory of the international librarian networks? Or are we really just still in our bubbles?

Looking at the translation scene in the USA via the Batchelder Awards; Garrison, Forest and Kimmel (2014) remark how:

“A brief skim of the most recent winners and honors shows that most of the books derive from European languages including French, German, and Dutch. The story settings show somewhat broader geographic diversity including places throughout Europe as well as Asia, Africa, and South America. Garrison and Kimmel (in press) found that a composite Batchelder Award winner or honor from the years 1997-­2013 would be a realistic fiction novel set in Western Europe featuring a male protagonist and dealing with a serious topic like World War II.” (Garrison, Forest & Kimmel, 2014, p. 72).

The absolute skewness in publishing is highlighted in this (dated, but probably still relevant and apparently not recently updated) dichotomy:

“While children’s literature from so-called developing countries hardly ever reaches European and American readers, a recent survey revealed that 80 per cent of books for children set in non-European and non-American cultures are written by European and American authors (Fremde Welten 2001) (O’Sullivan, 2004, p.20)…Alongside these countries which only export children’s books while almost failing entirely to import any are those which provide a market for the global corporations – 70 to 90 per cent of books available to reading children in non-European/American cultures are by European or American authors – but whose own books rarely cross the linguistic, political or cultural divide to partake in the Western market (O’Sullivan, 2004 p.22).”

Other low points include the depiction or even existence of racially / culturally mixed children or people (Chaudhri, 2013) – whereas the reality that is strikingly obvious the moment you walk into any (international) school is that this type of diversity is real and in a school near you.

Onwards and upwards… it can’t get any worse after all.

References:

Chaudhri, A. (2013). Growing up mixed/up: Multiracial identity in children’s and young adult literature. In J. C. Naidoo & S. P. Dahlen (Eds.), Diversity in youth literature: opening doors through reading (pp. 95–123). Chicago, Ill: ALA-Ed.

Garrison, K. L., Forest, D. E., & Kimmel, S. C. (2014). Curation in translation: Promoting global citizenship through literature. School Libraries Worldwide, 20(1), 70–96. 

O’Sullivan, E. (2004). Internationalism, the universal child and the world of children’s literature. In P. Hunt (Ed.), International companion encyclopedia of children’s literature (2nd ed., pp. 13–25). London ; New York: Routledge. Retrieved from EBook Library

Activity ETL402: Children’s literary awards

One of the things we’ve been looking at as a class are the various children’s literary awards.  I’ll not dwell on the usual Caldecott / Newbery / Kate Greenaway type award, but would like to highlight a few of the awards the class suggested that particularly relate to socio-emotional or multi-cultural issues, as that is the direction that my interest is falling.

  • The Batchelder Award is given to the most outstanding children’s book originally published 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.

     

    Green Earth Book Awards

    “The Green Earth Book Award is the nation’s first environmental stewardship book award for children and young adult books. Over 80 winning and honor books have been honored since 2005. The award continues to garner attention from the literary world as an esteemed award, bringing recognition to authors, but more importantly, providing the award-winning books to children.”

    Schneider Family Book Awards

    This is awarded to “an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences”. It is divided into teen, middle school and children’s sections. Books are selected by a jury consisting of seven members of the American Library Association.

    Hans Christian Anderson Awards

    The Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international recognition given to an author and an illustrator of children’s books every second year. The recipient is selected by a jury of international children’s literature specialists.

    This award is made biennially by the South Australian State Group of the Psychologist for Peace Interest Group. The Children’s Peace Literature Award encourages the dissemination of information related to peaceful means of resolving conflict and promoting peace at the global, local and interpersonal level. There are books judged in 2 categories-Junior readers and Books for Older readers. The books are judged on the extent to which they promote peace as well as literary merit.

     

Conversations and thoughts about diversity in literature

I’ve plunged into the abyss of reading 1,000’s of articles for my current course and next assignment. Well, not 1,000’s – my Evernote count tells me 333.  Nice number.  I’m also engaged in conversations, in real life with colleagues and ex-colleagues and online with my peers and people I’ve been introduced to by people who know I’ve entered this specific rabbit warren.  Not that I know what this specific rabbit warren is or where it’s leading to.   I have but a vague notion of where I think I’m directed, and until I’ve waded through those 333 thoughts that are other’s takes on 10,000’s more thoughts may I have an inkling of what my own thoughts may be.

Conversations?  The idea that access to diverse / multicultural literature can be thought of as a venn diagram (thank you Katie Day).  That perhaps we need to make sure that there is a minimum level of overlap between the world of the book/writing (it needn’t be a book) and the world of the reader. That idea of “personal connections” – below is this concept at a simplistic level

venn_dia
Image created by Stuck (2015)

 

Autobiography would be the ultimate overlap, while perhaps some of the literature we attempt to invoke on our students result in two circles that never meet – and thereby the student rejects not only the book itself – the physical manifestation, but the idea behind? I put that as a question – since as Maya Thiagarajan pointed out to my last post – we are planting seeds – in the hope (and what is literature for if not to provide hope (Michaels, 2004) that they will take.  The conversation led me to Ass. Prof. Rhoda Myra Garces Bacsal of the NIE (National Institute of Education in Singapore) who is doing some fascinating research on just this topic, and has this great blog that led me to the the International Youth Library Munich (which has a fellowship for anyone who’s interested!)

So what are my thoughts? They are not yet in a coherent form, but the revolve around the ideas of socio-emotional development; developmental stages of children, the need for many or few books that point to moral lessons or anecdotes or examples of that aforementioned development.  About what should drive that choice and how the collection should be curated and culled to fit the needs of your specific population, or even the specific needs of a specific child.  About the knowledge and ability of teachers to do so. Through Cremin & Mottram (2008) writing on the literary knowledge of  teachers with the idea of the ability of teachers to recommend books to individual readers and the personalisation and matching of readers to texts, I stumbled on Cox & Schaetzel (2007) writing about the characteristics of “teachers as readers in Singapore: Prolific, functional, or detached?”

I know in my library I have large lists of books curated to fit into the PYP learner profile (principled, caring, balanced, thinker, knowledgeable, communicator, inquirer, open-minded, risk taker & reflective) and the PYP attitudes  (empathy, respect, appreciation, curiosity, enthusiasm, integrity, independence, confidence, creativity, commitment, tolerance & cooperation).  10 elements of the learner profile and 12 attitudes, – can a child realistically be expected to remember all 22, let alone apply them?

My lists were created way back when by who knows who, and are added to each year as we buy new books.  What does the fact that we have 63 books in the list about “creativity” versus 15 books on “integrity” say about us as a school, the library as a repository of culture, the publishing industry as a disseminator of socio-cultural, value based literature?  What is the right number of books to have anyway? 5 – 10 -50 – 100? Or maybe just one.  Just one book that will really make a difference*. How many can our teachers / teacher-librarian absorb so as to be what we want them to be – and is that prolific or functional or impassioned, or perhaps just effective?

When I dig into the books I also wonder about that little venn diagram thing.  Not having red pajamas is the least of my concerns. So much of my multi-cultural literature originates in the USA where multi-cultural is taken to mean Latino, Hispanic, African American, Native American or Asian-American. And the idea of a good tale entails the involvement of baseball or snow or backyards or pets or farms. None of those are part of my students’ current realities. Or even past realities.  While reading I often ask my privileged third culture kids how many of them have ever been to a working farm, how many have a pet larger than a hamster? If I’m lucky I’ll see one or two hands raised, plus a plethora of those desiring a dog or cat or pony. They don’t fit neatly into cultural boxes either. Parents and grandparents are not a homogenous identifiable category, but rather a blend of East and West, of language and religion. Of nationality and residency and movement. That picture book of a black child with a baseball bat in his hand does not get borrowed, no matter how often I put it out on display. Am I allowed to say that?  I say that a little in despair.  One of my students researched Ebola in Africa – he presented his findings to me and I asked if he’d ever been to Africa. He hadn’t and it was obvious. His generalisations and thoughts and ideas even after weeks of so-called research were primitive and naive with all the characteristics of the “dangers of the single story“.  I was torn between keeping the tone positive, remembering he was 11 and shouting “you have no idea” (sometimes I feel very African, even if I’ve not lived there for the last 25 years).  A colleague just got back from Nigeria – she has a Nigerian partner, she’s travelled elsewhere in Africa. I asked her if it was anything like she’d pictured. No she said. Not at all. Not in any picture she’d had of what it may be like.

Travel. Travel through literature. Are our travels through literature too limited, too stereotypical, too simplistic, too attempting to be unique while still being representative and universal?  Or is it a symptom of supply and demand where one reality is more publishable as it more closely reflects (our / the editor’s?) presumptions about how things are? See Michael’s (2004) discussion on the near-past “reality” of YA fiction in Australia in this respect. Certainly anyone reading that genre from that location for a period of time would have a very distinct view of growing up in Australia as an adolescent that is no less horrifying than being a child in Deborah Ellis’ “The Heaven Shop“.

Back to reading.

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* One of my G3 teachers has been reading “People of Sparks” to her class during the UOI on migration – that is one book that sure has made a difference – to their understanding of migration and hopefully to their empathy around the topic.

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References:

Cox, R., & Schaetzel, K. (2007). A preliminary study of pre-service teachers as readers in Singapore: Prolific, functional, or detached? Language Teaching Research, 11(3), 301–317. http://doi.org/10.1177/1362168807077562
Cremin, T., Mottram, M., Bearne, E., & Goodwin, P. (2008). Exploring teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature. Cambridge Journal of Education, 38(4), 449–464. http://doi.org/10.1080/03057640802482363
Michaels, W. (2004). The realistic turn: Trends in recent Australian young adult fiction. Papers: Explorations into Children’s Literature, 14(1), 49–59.
Stuck, A. (2015). Connecting to prior knowledge. Retrieved 5 December 2015, from http://www.ohiorc.org/Literacy_K5/strategy/strategy_each.aspx?id=000008

if you name it will it come?

One of the questions I have about diversity in literature is “who does it serve”?  I know the “mirrors, windows, doors” argument but sometimes I wonder how much my relatively, well probably actually absolutely privileged mainly expatriate international school students buy into it all.  Or for that matter any student of privilege.  My “Iqbal” or “Fatima” will never have seen the inside of a sweat shop carpet factory and there may even be the risk that their parents, family or friends do own one or know someone who does and that a cognitive dissonance arises as they know these people to be “nice” or even “good” in their understanding of that word.

As much as I read “Cry the beloved country” and “Triomf” or any other book of fiction or nonfiction or where the two entwined, it never struck me that this was my reality, my country, my people until I had left South Africa and taken a physical and emotional distance that allowed the intellectual and factual truth to sink in and shatter who I thought I’d been. Even now 25 years ago, I wonder at how little I wondered and how my questions were stifled. A chance remark in a conversation with an old friend of how her mother was involved with the Black Sash. She was my friend at the ages of the students I’m teaching now – up to the age of 13 when she relocated. I had no idea. Do they have any idea of the political consciousness or ideology of their parents?

At what point does having diverse literature fulfill more of a function that is the equivalent of having dolls and toys of colour and different ability?

Then I think about my collection of “third culture kids” – an identity that only really was named with the publishing of the book of the same name in 2010.  TCK is not yet a “genre” like LGBTQ, although books are emerging on booklists as “suitable” for this market. Many are “moving / relocation” repurposed books and the original source ones don’t look very professionally produced.

I wonder what the lag between naming a group and the creation of a literature to fit it is in years?  Perhaps someone has done a study on this.

The best of times, the worst of times

After reading the Zipes (2009) chapter two quotations sprang to mind:

  • “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” (Oscar Wilde) and
  • “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” (Evelyn Beatrice Hall)

The former quote with reference to the idea that children’s’ “literature” is being replaced with an inferior commercialised foundling and the latter with the idea that mass market popular children’s fiction should be sneered at and dismissed as inferior.

 

I don’t think this can or should be answered simplistically.  Thinking back to my own childhood their was one “canon” of literature and it was largely British and did not at all relate to my reality of growing up in South Africa where the seasons were different, there was no snow at Christmas and most children were not exiled to boarding school.  All children marched in literary goose-step either accessing the “classics” or not reading at all, unless it was to read comics that were sneakily and furtively peeked at and condemned by so called “educated” adults.

 

Now I like to think that there is a book for every child, and also a debate about whether there should be a book for every child or whether there are universal themes that surpass the necessity to differentiate to this extent. And I think it is as important an argument as the one that Zipes (2009) is making about the commercialisation of children’s literature – in fact they probably are intertwined – diverse voices are presumed not to have a buying audience therefore don’t get published and therefore are presumed not to have a market ad infinitum.

 

The start was the facebook link of Edith Campbell to a Huffington Post article (Nichols, 2015) and the response from Meg Rosoff  (Flood, 2015) to which Edith Campbell wrote a longer blog post (Campbell, 2015).

 

I think both of them have valid points – the universality of literature vs. diversity and immediacy.

 

I must also admit that I’m getting increasingly annoyed by white middle class authors such as Deborah Ellis and Gloria Whelan. Rosoff escapes my annoyance as she writes unabashedly about her own reality. Although I rationally know that if they’d not written their books perhaps the stories would never have been written, it really annoys me that they have carte blanche and the publishing opportunities to tell the stories of other peoples and cultures as white middle class women.  Why is it that this is possible? I find it so presumptuous – both on the author’s part that they think they can depict the inner lives and thoughts of these girls and women – sometimes without even having travelled to the country or even had a conversation with their “subjects” and on the publishers – what makes them think that in a nation of over 1 billion people (India, the place that Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan is set) there is no other writer who could tell it better?  Here is an excellent review of someone else who had similar thoughts to me (‘Kelly’s review of Homeless Bird’, 2015).

 

To throw the gauntlet – what is actually worse? Unashamedly commercial series such Geronimo Stilton or the Rainbow Fairies or the more insidious books such as Homeless Bird or The Breadwinner – that win prizes such as the National Book Award resulting in frequent use in classrooms and the appearance on booklists of “must haves” to meet curriculum and diversity goals (‘Kelly’s review of Homeless Bird’, 2015)?

 

I know that Deborah Ellis does a significant amount of work in championing the rights of women in Afganistan – and that the profits of the sale of her books go to fund her work (Ellis, n.d.).   But still I wonder – shouldn’t these authors be working with people to write their own stories and see them come to be published?

 

Another area I’m particularly interested in right now is the “legitimisation” of graphic novels. Personally I am not a fan of them, but when I see how they are devoured by students and how they are a “gateway drug” for some of my reluctant readers, I just keep on buying them and pushing them.  There are some great resources for the use and promotion of graphic novels for all ages.

My current dilemma is which direction to take for my first assignment? Diversity and multi-culturalism or graphic novels. Will have to have a think and research around and about that.

References:

Alverson, B. (2014, September 8). Teaching With Graphic Novels [Journal]. Retrieved 26 November 2015, from http://www.slj.com/2014/09/feature-articles/the-graphic-advantage-teaching-with-graphic-novels/#_

Campbell, E. (2015, October 11). SundayMorningReads [Web Log]. Retrieved 26 November 2015, from https://campbele.wordpress.com/2015/10/11/sundaymorningreads-107/

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. (2015). Using graphic novels in education. Retrieved 26 November 2015, from http://cbldf.org/librarian-tools/using-graphic-novels-in-education/

Ellis, D. (n.d.). Get Involved. Retrieved 26 November 2015, from http://deborahellis.com/get-involved/

Flood, A. (2015, October 13). Meg Rosoff sparks diversity row over books for marginalised children [Newspaper]. Retrieved 26 November 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/13/meg-rosoff-diversity-row-books-marginalised-children-edith-campbell-large-fears

Kelly’s review of Homeless Bird. (2015, March 7). [SocialReading]. Retrieved 26 November 2015, from https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/362348600?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1

Nichols, J. (2015, October 5). This book Is creating a space for queer black boys In children’s literature [Newspaper]. Retrieved 26 November 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/large-fears-childrens-book_560ea3b3e4b0dd85030bae51?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices

Scholastic. (2015). A guide to using graphic novels with children and teens. Retrieved 26 November 2015, from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/guide-using-graphic-novels-children-and-teens

Slate, B. (2010). You can do a graphic novel – Teacher’s guide. Retrieved from http://www.penguin.com/static/pdf/teachersguides/you_can_do_a_graphic_novel_TG.pdf

Zipes, J. (2009). Misreading children and the fate of the book. In Relentless progress: the reconfiguration of children’s literature, fairy tales, and storytelling (pp. 27–44). New York: Routledge.