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Social Justice/SES
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From: Lesley Colabucci <lcolabucci_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:59:32 -0800 (PST)
Hi All,
This discussion has been perfect as I am about to teach "Becoming Naomi Leon" in my undergraduate class on multicultural children's lite rature. I always try to get this discussion pointed in the direction of soc ial class. The mere fact that Naomi lives in a trailer often leads to heart y debate about our own ideas about what middle class looks like. My student s always report not being able to think of any other books where the main c haracter lived in a trailer park. That is pretty significant. Because of th is discussion I've pulled a big pile of picture books that feature characte rs who are clearly not middle class. I can't wait to see how my students re act to these and what connections they make back to Naomi and to their own lives.
Les
Lesley Colabucci, Ph.D. Associate Professor Elementary and Early Childhood Education Millersville University of Pennsylvania PO Box 1002 Millersville, PA 17551-0302
51 Lyte Road 322 Stayer Hall
(717) 871-5462 (fax)
(717) 871-5618 (office)
lesley.co labucci_at_millersville.edu
--- On Fri, 11/4/11, K.T. Horning
wrote:
From: K.T. Horning Subject: Re:
Social Justice in Books for Children and Teens
To: "ccbc-net ccbc-net"
Date: Friday, November 4, 2011, 10:17 AM
Thanks, Lyn, for getting the
conversation started for these first weeks of November
during which we'll explore social issues in books for
children and teens. And, thanks, too, to Jessica Powers and
all the contributors at The Pirate Tree blog for their work
in this area.
I found Jessica's blog post analyzing homelessness as a
theme in picture books to be very interesting in thatshe
was able to sort the books into four main categories: The
Caring Adult; Presenting Only Part of the Story; Open-Ended
Conclusions; and Encouraging Good Deeds.
Jessica also points out that there are two common
strategies used to present difficult topics to younger
readers: (1) using animal characters and (2) setting the
book in the past.
Her entire post can be read here: http://www.thepiratetree.com/2011/10/30/homelessness-in-picture-books/
I have found in general that there is very little published
in the U.S. that shows contemporary families living through
economically hard times, although this year we have begun to
note more middle grade and YA novels that show familiesstruggling to make ends meet just as part of reality, rather
than what the book is about. these are families who seem to
be one paycheck away from homelessness. Examples that come
to mind are "Angry Young Man" by Chris Lynch, "Bluefish" by
Pat Schmatz, and "Camo Girl" by Kekla Magoon.
In American books for children and teens, we rarely see
families that are working class. I remember hearing
the author/illustrator Vera B. Williams talk several years
go about her picture book "More More More, Said the Baby,"
and saying she wanted to depict the character Little Bird
sleeping on the couch because she herself had grown up
sleeping on a couch, and many children do but you never
really see that in books.
Do you feel that class in general is a taboo sub ject in
books for young readers?
---
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Received on Mon 07 Nov 2011 07:59:32 AM CST
Date: Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:59:32 -0800 (PST)
Hi All,
This discussion has been perfect as I am about to teach "Becoming Naomi Leon" in my undergraduate class on multicultural children's lite rature. I always try to get this discussion pointed in the direction of soc ial class. The mere fact that Naomi lives in a trailer often leads to heart y debate about our own ideas about what middle class looks like. My student s always report not being able to think of any other books where the main c haracter lived in a trailer park. That is pretty significant. Because of th is discussion I've pulled a big pile of picture books that feature characte rs who are clearly not middle class. I can't wait to see how my students re act to these and what connections they make back to Naomi and to their own lives.
Les
Lesley Colabucci, Ph.D. Associate Professor Elementary and Early Childhood Education Millersville University of Pennsylvania PO Box 1002 Millersville, PA 17551-0302
51 Lyte Road 322 Stayer Hall
(717) 871-5462 (fax)
(717) 871-5618 (office)
lesley.co labucci_at_millersville.edu
--- On Fri, 11/4/11, K.T. Horning
wrote:
From: K.T. Horning Subject: Re:
Social Justice in Books for Children and Teens
To: "ccbc-net ccbc-net"
Date: Friday, November 4, 2011, 10:17 AM
Thanks, Lyn, for getting the
conversation started for these first weeks of November
during which we'll explore social issues in books for
children and teens. And, thanks, too, to Jessica Powers and
all the contributors at The Pirate Tree blog for their work
in this area.
I found Jessica's blog post analyzing homelessness as a
theme in picture books to be very interesting in thatshe
was able to sort the books into four main categories: The
Caring Adult; Presenting Only Part of the Story; Open-Ended
Conclusions; and Encouraging Good Deeds.
Jessica also points out that there are two common
strategies used to present difficult topics to younger
readers: (1) using animal characters and (2) setting the
book in the past.
Her entire post can be read here: http://www.thepiratetree.com/2011/10/30/homelessness-in-picture-books/
I have found in general that there is very little published
in the U.S. that shows contemporary families living through
economically hard times, although this year we have begun to
note more middle grade and YA novels that show familiesstruggling to make ends meet just as part of reality, rather
than what the book is about. these are families who seem to
be one paycheck away from homelessness. Examples that come
to mind are "Angry Young Man" by Chris Lynch, "Bluefish" by
Pat Schmatz, and "Camo Girl" by Kekla Magoon.
In American books for children and teens, we rarely see
families that are working class. I remember hearing
the author/illustrator Vera B. Williams talk several years
go about her picture book "More More More, Said the Baby,"
and saying she wanted to depict the character Little Bird
sleeping on the couch because she herself had grown up
sleeping on a couch, and many children do but you never
really see that in books.
Do you feel that class in general is a taboo sub ject in
books for young readers?
---
You are currently sub=
scribed to ccbc-net as: lcolabucci_at_yahoo.com.
To receive messages in digest format, send a message to...
ccbc-net-request_at_lists.wisc.edu
...and include only this command in the body of the
message...
set ccbc-net digest
To unsubscribe click here: hT&l=ccbc-net&o=16936705
or send a blank email to leave-16936705-19248560.182405ff2bafe167f6c4a603491fa027_at_lists.wisc.edu
CCBC-Net Archives
The CCBC-Net archives are available to all CCBC-Net
listserv members. The archives are organized by month and
year. A list of discussion topics (including
month/year) is available at http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/archives.asp
To access the archives, go to:
http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/ccbc-net
and enter the following:
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password: Look4Posts
Received on Mon 07 Nov 2011 07:59:32 AM CST
