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Sibert Award Discussion
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From: Hollis Rudiger <hmrudiger>
Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 15:03:23 -0600
Megan I think you hit it when you emphasized that for AAP, readers are
"pulled in" and IFW is "highly visual." Dare I say that for our non-readers they are as compelling as Web sites?? ;)
Both of these books encourage readers to use all of their senses. The information is not presented inasmuch as it's gathered and organized and offered.
A "good" reader would definitely appreciate Jim Murphy's narrative style, but there is so much more to the story in the primary source documents he includes. A great reader IS pulled in because there is so much cool stuff to look at, like the obituaries and city records. My favorite picture is the one of a patient getting his blood drawn by the barber. he has the craziest miserable grimace on his face. You can smell putrid flesh, you can hear the screams of the sick, and the muffled voices of the politicians. You can feel the exhaustion of the physicians. There is a heck of a lot of information in the pictures, and as a teacher,I would want to be able to encourage older students to actively read those pictures. A great constructivist lesson would be to give the kids some of the primary sources first, before the book, and have them try and "be historians" and figure out the mystery. The book would be pure joy as they compare what they gleaned with Murphy's research. This book should be on summer reading lists, and science and history teachers should be doing collaborative units with it. (And A Northern Light too. I'm not willing to give up the unit I'd do on that novel!)
Vicki Cobb is more explicit: She writes: "A Note to the Reader- This book is designed so that your child can make discoveries." She wants the book to offer learning opportunities rather than have the book itself be a learning opportunity. She connects the book with the reader's every day life. Two traits of progressive teaching.
I do wish she had said, "Dear Reader, this book is designed so YOU can make discoveries," or that she had written "Dear Parents" if she was going to refer to children in the third person. The way she has it now might give a child the idea that s/he is not a reader (active) but rather the audience. Less progressive. Her tone is conversational, curious, and familiar. I like this line:
""Air is made of a gazillion tiny balls floating in space." Oh, I am thinking. That helps! I like the shape of the text, and the way the wind affects the little girl's hair. (I also like her very fashionable outfit. Who says you can't be a scientist and hip?)
Hollis
Hollis Rudiger, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706
hmrudiger at education.wisc.edu Voice: 608&3930 Fax: 608&2I33 www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
We know that people are still taking advantage of the start-of-the-month announcement period, but let's also turn our attention to the 2004 Sibert Award. Next week, we'll start our discusison on graphic novels.
The 2004 Sibert Award went to An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy
(Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Company). There was one Sibert Honor Book: I Face the Wind written by Vicki Cobb, illustrated by Julia Gorton
(HarperCollins).
Last December when we talked about favorites of the year, An American Plague was mentioned a number of times. And it came up again as we talked about the Newbery Award in February as it was one of the Newbery Honor Books.
On the Sibert Award page on ther American Library Association web site, Murphy's use of myriad primary source materials is lauded, as is his
"compelling narrative [that] pulls readers into the crisis, illuminates the community's responses, and shows the best and worst of humanity."
I Face the Wind is a highly visual book for children, with a dynamic layout of the informative text that suggests the force of the wind. The description of the book on the Sibert web page particularly comments on the interactive nature of work: " 'I Face the Wind' " asks the young to think like scientists as it leads them through experiments and observations about wind. Cobb's simple text and Gorton's dynamic illustrations invite participation."
I hope many of you have now had the chance to read one or both of these books, and to share them with children and young teens. What are your thoughts about "An American Plague" and "I Face the Wind"?
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
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Received on Fri 02 Apr 2004 03:03:23 PM CST
Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 15:03:23 -0600
Megan I think you hit it when you emphasized that for AAP, readers are
"pulled in" and IFW is "highly visual." Dare I say that for our non-readers they are as compelling as Web sites?? ;)
Both of these books encourage readers to use all of their senses. The information is not presented inasmuch as it's gathered and organized and offered.
A "good" reader would definitely appreciate Jim Murphy's narrative style, but there is so much more to the story in the primary source documents he includes. A great reader IS pulled in because there is so much cool stuff to look at, like the obituaries and city records. My favorite picture is the one of a patient getting his blood drawn by the barber. he has the craziest miserable grimace on his face. You can smell putrid flesh, you can hear the screams of the sick, and the muffled voices of the politicians. You can feel the exhaustion of the physicians. There is a heck of a lot of information in the pictures, and as a teacher,I would want to be able to encourage older students to actively read those pictures. A great constructivist lesson would be to give the kids some of the primary sources first, before the book, and have them try and "be historians" and figure out the mystery. The book would be pure joy as they compare what they gleaned with Murphy's research. This book should be on summer reading lists, and science and history teachers should be doing collaborative units with it. (And A Northern Light too. I'm not willing to give up the unit I'd do on that novel!)
Vicki Cobb is more explicit: She writes: "A Note to the Reader- This book is designed so that your child can make discoveries." She wants the book to offer learning opportunities rather than have the book itself be a learning opportunity. She connects the book with the reader's every day life. Two traits of progressive teaching.
I do wish she had said, "Dear Reader, this book is designed so YOU can make discoveries," or that she had written "Dear Parents" if she was going to refer to children in the third person. The way she has it now might give a child the idea that s/he is not a reader (active) but rather the audience. Less progressive. Her tone is conversational, curious, and familiar. I like this line:
""Air is made of a gazillion tiny balls floating in space." Oh, I am thinking. That helps! I like the shape of the text, and the way the wind affects the little girl's hair. (I also like her very fashionable outfit. Who says you can't be a scientist and hip?)
Hollis
Hollis Rudiger, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706
hmrudiger at education.wisc.edu Voice: 608&3930 Fax: 608&2I33 www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
We know that people are still taking advantage of the start-of-the-month announcement period, but let's also turn our attention to the 2004 Sibert Award. Next week, we'll start our discusison on graphic novels.
The 2004 Sibert Award went to An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy
(Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Company). There was one Sibert Honor Book: I Face the Wind written by Vicki Cobb, illustrated by Julia Gorton
(HarperCollins).
Last December when we talked about favorites of the year, An American Plague was mentioned a number of times. And it came up again as we talked about the Newbery Award in February as it was one of the Newbery Honor Books.
On the Sibert Award page on ther American Library Association web site, Murphy's use of myriad primary source materials is lauded, as is his
"compelling narrative [that] pulls readers into the crisis, illuminates the community's responses, and shows the best and worst of humanity."
I Face the Wind is a highly visual book for children, with a dynamic layout of the informative text that suggests the force of the wind. The description of the book on the Sibert web page particularly comments on the interactive nature of work: " 'I Face the Wind' " asks the young to think like scientists as it leads them through experiments and observations about wind. Cobb's simple text and Gorton's dynamic illustrations invite participation."
I hope many of you have now had the chance to read one or both of these books, and to share them with children and young teens. What are your thoughts about "An American Plague" and "I Face the Wind"?
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
~ ~ ~ To send a reply to the entire CCBC-Net community,click on...
mailto:ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu To send a request to remove your address from the mailing list, click on...
mailto:ccbc-net-unsub at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 02 Apr 2004 03:03:23 PM CST
