Surveying the landscape of children's and YA literature, this contributed volume shows how books have grown to include the wide range of our increasingly diverse society.
Perspectives and identity are typically reinforced at a young age, giving teachers the responsibility of selecting reading material that could potentially change how the child sees the world. This is the importance of sharing diverse literature with today’s children and young adults, which introduces them to texts that deal with religion, gender identities, racial identities, socioeconomic conditions, etc. Teachers and librarians play significant roles in placing diverse books in the hands of young readers. However, to achieve the goal of increasing young people’s access to diverse books, educators and librarians must receive quality instruction on this topic within their university preparation programs. The Handbook of Research on Teaching Diverse Youth Literature to Pre-Service Professionals is a comprehensive reference source that curates promising practices that teachers and librarians are currently applying to prepare aspiring teachers and librarians for sharing and teaching diverse youth literature. Given the importance of sharing diverse books with today’s young people, university educators must be aware of engaging and effective methods for teaching diverse literature to pre-service teachers and librarians. Covering topics such as syllabus development, diversity, social justice, and activity planning, this text is essential for university-level teacher educators, library educators who prepare pre-service teachers and librarians, university educators, faculty, adjunct instructors, researchers, and students.
This collection of original essays concentrates on the meaning of cultural aesthetics in children's and adolescent literature and uniquely tackles the particular issues teachers face today. Discusses beginning literary patterns of a particular group, stereotypic representations of American cultures, imagery in American adolescent and children's literature, and issues of literary inclusion. Theory and practice come together throughout the three sections of the text.
The banning of Mexican-American Studies and censorship of Chican@-authored books in Arizona were part of a succession of anti-Mexican and anti-Chican@ policies that were enacted across the state and in the education system. The counterstories offered through these classes and literature not only created a sense of cultural inclusion, but ignited a political and activist consciousness among the mostly Chican@ youth, and reinvigorated conversations among educators about the teaching of race, ethnicity, and culture in the classroom, particularly through youth literature. While most work on youth literature has emphasized “multicultural” literature as a means of being inclusive, Voices of Resistance: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Chican@ Children’s Literature recognizes that our present moment--one that is rife with continued anti-Mexican sentiment but that has given rise to our first Chicano National Poet Laureate--demands a more focused study of children’s and young adult literature by and about Chican@s. This collection re-examines how we view multicultural and diversity literature and recognize literature that invites social transformation. Using multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives to critically examine a wide range of Chican@ children’s pictures book and young adult novels, this collection reaffirms Chicano@ children’s literature as a means to achieve equity and social change.
This compelling book emphasizes the critical role of quality multicultural literature and reader response in today's schools and libraries. All students need access to books in which they can see themselves—not just their physical appearance, but their culture and language, as well. Multicultural Literature and Response: Affirming Diverse Voices was written to help teachers and librarians find and use the best multicultural books in the service of reading comprehension and more. Underscoring the necessity of selecting quality literature that authentically, sensitively, and accurately portrays different groups, the book defines multicultural literature and provides a strong argument for its importance in schools and libraries. Expert contributors guide users to multicultural authors and illustrators who portrays U.S. ethnic and cultural groups, and they suggest ways to integrate this literature with writing, fluency development, storytelling, and audiovisuals. Extensive lists of books and websites that feature multicultural literature, as well as of authors, illustrators, and publishers of multicultural literature, make it easy to include such works in programs across the curriculum.
Racially mixed children make up the fastest growing youth demographic in the U.S., and teachers of diverse populations need to be mindful in selecting literature that their students can identify with. This volume explores how books for elementary school students depict and reflect multiracial experiences through text and images. Chaudhri examines contemporary children’s literature to demonstrate the role these books play in perpetuating and resisting stereotypes and the ways in which they might influence their readers. Through critical analysis of contemporary children’s fiction, Chaudhri highlights the connections between context, literature, and personal experience to deepen our understanding of how children’s books treat multiracial identity.
Now is an opportune moment to consider the shifts in youth and popular culture that are signalled by texts that are being read and viewed by young people. In a world seemingly compromised by climate change, political and religious upheavals and economic irresponsibility, and at a time of fundamental social change, young people are devouring fictional texts that focus on the edges of identity, the points of transition and rupture, and the assumption of new and hybrid identities. This book draws on a range of international texts to address these issues, and to examine the ways in which key popular genres in the contemporary market for young people are being re-defined and re-positioned in the light of urgent questions about the environment, identity, one’s place in the world, and the fragile nature of the world itself. The key questions are: • What are the shifts and changes in youth culture that are identified by the market and by what young people read and view? • How do these texts negotiate the addressing of significant questions relating to the world today? • Why are these texts so popular with young people? • What are the most popular genres in contemporary best-sellers and films? • Do these texts have a global appeal, and, if so, why? These over-arching themes and ideas are presented as a collection of inter-related essays exploring a rich variety of forms and styles from graphic novels to urban realism, from fantasy to dystopian writing, from epic narratives to television musicals. The subjects and themes discussed here reveal the quite remarkable diversity of issues that arise in youth fiction and the variety of fictional forms in which they are explored. Once seen as not as important as adult fiction, this book clearly demonstrates that youth fiction (and the popular appeal of this fiction) is complex, durable and far-reaching in its scope.
This important book reconsiders the ways in which families are currently represented and addressed in school curriculum and culture. It addresses such issues as the educational needs of gay and lesbian families, the representation of adoption in children’s literature, and the experiences of homeless students and their families. Includes questions for reflection and discussion at the end of each chapter. “Other Kinds of Families will help teachers to avoid making mistakes in their work with many different types of family diversity, and will provide the knowledge and ideas important to working with all families.” —Carl A. Grant, University of Wisconsin–Madison “Teachers, researchers, and policymakers will find thought–provoking ideas, engaging stories, and practical strategies for including those who have typically been excluded from the conversation. —Sonia Nieto, Professor Emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst “Other Kinds of Families will enlarge your sense of humanity, encourage you to rethink the meaning and importance of our most intimate relationships, and change forever the way you see families—everyone else's and your own.” —William Ayers, University of Illinois at Chicago
What Do You See? A Children's Book About Diversity, Inclusion and Black History. This book helps to build the self-confidence of middle schoolers and girls everywhere!