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[CCBC-Net] Books about the Middle East
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From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman>
Date: Wed, 07 May 2008 10:42:36 -0500
Thank you to those of you who've gotten us started in talking about books for children and teens about the Middle East.
We've certainly noticed a significant increase in the number of books about this part of the world coming into the CCBC. It's a welcome growth in publishing, and includes books for readers of many ages, from picture books for children to young adult novels. (A caveat--the numbers are always relative. Twenty is significant in one year if previous years saw five or six.)
Too often children know of this part of the world--if at all--because of headlines they see, conversations they overhear. Some children and teens today know of it because they have family members, parents or aunts and uncles, who are serving in the military and that part of the world has become very relevant to their everyday lives. Other children and teens, of course, may have come to the United States from parts of the Middle East, and still have family living there. It is part of who they are.
On the one hand, books are a way to turn overwhelming news into an understanding of its implications for individual lives. On the other, they are more simply a way to become familiar with another place. Books that illuminate the impact of conflict and strife and war are important. So, too, are books that provide readers here with a picture of landscapes that are inhabited by children in other parts of the world, or that reflect the rhythm of their daily lives.
In addition to knowing what books about the Middle East you find especially compelling, it would be interesting to know how you've shared/used them with children, and what their responses have been.
Just this week I read the new picture book by James Rumford, "Silent Music" (Neal Porter Books / Roaring Brook Press) to a class of second and third graders. The story is about a boy in Bagdhad who is passionate about learning to write Arabic. He has the heart of an artist, and so for him the calligraphy is not just about communication but also the beauty of the characters and what they represent. I chose it first and foremost because I knew most of the students in the class have been learning cursive writing--what a great connection for them in a story about a child in another country. And then there is the fact that the boy loves soccer--another great connection. I appreciated the grounding in the boy's daily life, but it is a life that has been affected by the war, and his understanding of the hard work of achieving peace. When I explained before reading the book that the story was set in Iraq and asked the kids if they could tell me anything about that country, the one thing they knew for certain was that there is a war going on there. This book affirmed that but also, I hope, gave them a glimpse of so much more through a child so very much like them.
Megan
Date: Wed, 07 May 2008 10:42:36 -0500
Thank you to those of you who've gotten us started in talking about books for children and teens about the Middle East.
We've certainly noticed a significant increase in the number of books about this part of the world coming into the CCBC. It's a welcome growth in publishing, and includes books for readers of many ages, from picture books for children to young adult novels. (A caveat--the numbers are always relative. Twenty is significant in one year if previous years saw five or six.)
Too often children know of this part of the world--if at all--because of headlines they see, conversations they overhear. Some children and teens today know of it because they have family members, parents or aunts and uncles, who are serving in the military and that part of the world has become very relevant to their everyday lives. Other children and teens, of course, may have come to the United States from parts of the Middle East, and still have family living there. It is part of who they are.
On the one hand, books are a way to turn overwhelming news into an understanding of its implications for individual lives. On the other, they are more simply a way to become familiar with another place. Books that illuminate the impact of conflict and strife and war are important. So, too, are books that provide readers here with a picture of landscapes that are inhabited by children in other parts of the world, or that reflect the rhythm of their daily lives.
In addition to knowing what books about the Middle East you find especially compelling, it would be interesting to know how you've shared/used them with children, and what their responses have been.
Just this week I read the new picture book by James Rumford, "Silent Music" (Neal Porter Books / Roaring Brook Press) to a class of second and third graders. The story is about a boy in Bagdhad who is passionate about learning to write Arabic. He has the heart of an artist, and so for him the calligraphy is not just about communication but also the beauty of the characters and what they represent. I chose it first and foremost because I knew most of the students in the class have been learning cursive writing--what a great connection for them in a story about a child in another country. And then there is the fact that the boy loves soccer--another great connection. I appreciated the grounding in the boy's daily life, but it is a life that has been affected by the war, and his understanding of the hard work of achieving peace. When I explained before reading the book that the story was set in Iraq and asked the kids if they could tell me anything about that country, the one thing they knew for certain was that there is a war going on there. This book affirmed that but also, I hope, gave them a glimpse of so much more through a child so very much like them.
Megan
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 608/262-9503 schliesman at education.wisc.edu www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/Received on Wed 07 May 2008 10:42:36 AM CDT
