Thanksgiving friends

The Library Media Center at my school was a former all purpose room including a stage.  23 years ago the school added an L shaped balcony and it became a two story media center.  But we kept the stage.  We remove library tables and set chairs up for an audience when classes have plays.  So for the past week I’ve been hearing the second grade practicing their Thanksgiving play.  “And that was the first thanksgiving!”

Oceanus Hopkins is born!

I’ve been troubled ever since moving from high school level librarianship to elementary as I observe the primary faculty teaching over and over about Columbus, Martin Luther King, George Washington, Lincoln, and Thanksgiving.

The history major in me cringes at the broad generalizations.  The enlightened librarian (Thank you Debbie Reese and others) recognizes total misinterpretations of historical events and peoples involved.  And yet…

They are kindergarten, first, second and third graders.  They are not ready to understand the complexities of the history and the issues surrounding it.  And perhaps I am mellowing with age, but I’ve begun to ponder whether perhaps this is a harmless part of being American. 

What our elementary teachers have done is provide the foundations of American Mythology.  And mythology has a purpose.  It explains events in an understandable way.  It emphasizes important truths and imparts moral messages.  It lays a foundation for national unity. 

Mythology has iconic stories:  When elementary teachers tell the story of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree it is a story that never truly happened.  And it seems ironic that we would teach a moral lesson on telling the truth with a story that is not true, but it is deeply embedded in American mythology.  George Washington had much to admire which students can learn as they get older, but in Kindergarten classes why not let George keep chopping down that tree?

Mythology has moral messages:    Is there anything wrong with just laying a foundational story of faith, courage, friendship and cooperation between cultures as elementary teachers do in the story of the first Thanksgiving?  I find something very right in teaching our kids to take great risk for what you believe, to share what you have with others, and to be thankful.

Mythology has heroes:  When I was in grade school I always wondered how Squanto could talk with the Pilgrims.  Today’s elementary students learn that Squanto was twice taken as a slave to Europe before making his way back to North America.  And he STILL reached out with humanitarian aid to the Pilgrims.  Now THAT is a hero!

The historical stories we tell to elementary students are simplified and sanitized.  That is appropriate.  We create heroes from men with feet of clay; but kids don’t need to know about they clay to know the hero.

In simplifying and sanitizing our national stories we are creating American History mythology which emphasizes our shared moral messages, heroes and the truths we wish to promote through iconic stories.  Perhaps there is strength in this mythology that we weaken with our ever-critical obsession with political correctness. 

I believe in the power of stories so today I coose to watch the second grade play without a critical thought in my head.  The teacher has verified that all facts are true and I’m not going to worry about whether we’re creating Thanksgiving Mythology in elementary school.  I’m going to celebrate it!

The bad news:

If this article doesn’t make you want to scream and beat your head against a wall, I don’t know what does.

• Ugly battle has librarians in Oak Brook turning to Teamsters

Bullying education obviously did not come soon enough for Mr. Xinos!

The good news:

To counteract the bad news story… if this one doesn’t make you remember why you love being a school librarian and what it is all really about, I don’t know what will!

• Boy Lifts Book; Librarian Changes Boy’s Life

Thanks to the ISLMA listserve posts which shared both of these stories with the rest of us!

Every once in a while you get what I am going to call a “Job” year. Not job as in occupation. Job – long o sound – as in the biblical patriarch. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_(Bible)

 Actually, my life hasn’t been nearly as challenging as Job who lost his children, his servants, and his fortune within days.    But it has been one thing after another for a while on both a personal and professional level.

Hopefully by next week I can actually post a book review or two… but for now, let me use this forum to say how fortunate I am to work where I do.  My colleagues are the best, and during the tough times in life they are like family.  My biological family, my church family, and my work family… I am blessed… even in a Job Year.  Especially in a Job Year.

My husband drove from South Carolina to northern Illinois in 12 hours… but it took my parents and I three days to get home from Virginia.  My parents subscribe to the ”get off the Interstate and see something once in a while” school of travel.  Ah… the travel of my childhood!

So – this has little or nothing to do with librarianship – but we enjoyed one of our unplanned stops so much that I wanted to recommend it to you.

If you are on I-64 crossing the border between Kentucky and West Virginia, make sure you pull off the road at Kenova, West Virginia.  (Kenova – Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia)  Right downtown is the Griffith & Feil Drugstore and soda fountain.  It was just like the soda fountain of my childhood (and my father’s) at Day’s Drugstore in my hometown.  You can see some lovely photos at:  http://rickleephoto.blogspot.com/2007/07/griffith-feil.html  And you can read more about it at http://www.huntingtonquarterly.com/articles/issue65/ceredo_kenova.php and

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/business/x1103456912/Griffith-and-Feil-continues-family-drug-store-tradition .

I recommend the chocolate soda…. It is made and tastes like it SHOULD be made and taste.

Enjoy the last days of summer.

Today, while presenting in Rockford, a question arose related to “current” titles by British authors; they needed a good list of more modern works to recommend to a faculty member.  I mentioned that there are British awards and perhaps that would be a place to start.  I have searched out the official award sites and linked to them directly below.

• The Carnegie Medal &The Kate Greenaway Medal (For illustration)

  • The Carnegie Medal is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book for children and young people.
    The Kate Greenaway Medal is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people.

• The Guardian Award for Children’s Fiction

  • Given annually by The Guardianfor an outstanding work of fiction by a British or Comonwealth author, which was first published in the United Kingdom during the preceding year. Picture books, and books by previous winners are excluded from consideration

• Costa Book Awards(Formerly The Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year)

  • The Costa Book Awards are a series of literary awards given to books by authors based in the United Kingdom and Ireland. They were known as the Whitbread Book Awardsuntil 2006, when Costa Coffee, a subsidiary of Whitbread, took over sponsorship.  The awards, launched in 1971, are given both for high literary merit but also for works that are enjoyable reading and whose aim is to convey the enjoyment of reading to the widest possible audience.  Categories include First Novel, Novel Award, Children’s book award, Poetry Award, and the Biography Award.

• Smarties Book Prize

  • Discontinued in 2008.  You can read more on Wikipedia, including a list of previous award winners.

• Booktrust Teenage Prize

  •  Be sure to see the page of “longlists” of British titles for teenagers.

If you wish to investigate further on your own, Wikipedia has a category called British Children’s Literary Awards.  Be cautioned that some awards, including the Smarties Award, have been discontinued.

And another word of caution – as a professional library media specialist I would NEVER recommend a book I had not read.  You can point a faculty member or student to a list of books for them to investigate, but I would be certain to issue a disclaimer that you know nothing about the titles and are not necessarily recommending them.  Best practice would be to interlibrary loan the most promising titles so that you can make an informed recommendation!

My impression of British Children’s Literature is that their kids are more mature readers.  The books are often quite advanced in length and vocabulary – something to keep in mind when selecting appropriate books for your students.

As a member of an award steering committee, I also found the award criteria for the prestigious Carnegie medal to be of interest.  If you haven’t thought about what makes a book good, quality literature recently you might wish to read this!

Back soon…thanks for visiting!

-Marcia

When I had to read it as a student I acquired an interlibrary loaned copy.  I used sticky note flags to mark the passages I wanted to note.  With almost twenty flagged passages I quickly knew I had to buy my own copy.  I did.  And I transferred the sticky notes before returning the ILL copy.

Krashen’s book is an overview of research – not just one project which set out to prove what it wished and discounted anything that didn’t support the thesis.  The findings in this book resonate with me.  After 28 years as a school librarian, and almost 45 years as an avid reader, I recognize the good common sense insights in this text!

Here are some of my “sticky note flags”:

“The cure for this kind of literary crisis lies… in an activity that is all too often rare in the lives of many people reading.  Specifically I am recommending …free voluntary reading.  FVR means reading because you want to.  For school-age children, FVR means no book report, no questions at the end of the chapter, and no looking up every vocabulary word.  FVR means putting down a book you don’t like and choosing another one instead.  It is the kind of reading highly literate people do all the time.” (x)

Amen!  Amen!  Amen! 

Reading improves spelling.  (More than direct instruction!) (16) 

They obviously didn’t use me in one of the studies.

Reading is the most often mentioned flow activity in the world.  Flow is the state people reach when they are deeply but effortlessly involved in an activity. (29) 

Flow….zone… whatever it is.  I hear nothing, I see nothing when I read a novel.  I did not read for pleasure when my children were little.  It wasn’t safe for them. 

Bedtime reading is recommended!  (32) 

I knew it!  My trusty under-the-covers flashlight and I knew it! So did my mom, despite her chastising, “Marcia Ann!  It is one in the morning!  Are you still reading?”

Those who read more, know more.  (35) 

This required research?

Studies show that reading is good for you.  “The research however, supports a stronger conclusion:  Reading is the only way, the only way we become good readers, develop a good writing style, an adequate vocabulary, advanced grammatical competence, and the only way we become good spellers.”  Direct instruction not required!  (37) 

You want to learn to read?  Read!  I was once asked what kind of speed reading course I had taken.  “None,” was my reply.  “I just read A LOT.”

Better school libraries result in more reading.  (58)

Oh yeah!  Un-hunh!  Get down!!!!!!  (We librarians knew this)

Teachers should also read along with students during SSR!  (85)

I promote this with young teachers!  Please sit down and read with your class when you are scheduled in the library.  We have a new language and reading teacher this year.  “I get to read, too?”  she said. “Well then I can’t wait for Friday!”

Children read more when they see other people reading. (85)

Funny.  The PE teacher has recently found what he likes to read – sports biographies and stuff by the ESPN guys.  (I couldn’t name you a one of them! – but he likes it!)  This teacher has noticed his two boys will sit down to read when he does at home.  “I guess this doesn’t surprise you, does it?” he asked me last week.  NOPE!

Children read more when they have time to read.  (85) 

Does Suzy really have to have an activity every evening after school?  Make your child choose between soccer, dance, and gymnastics.  Limits are healthy!

The data supporting Accelerated Reader does not exist.  (121) 

I’m doing my happy dance!!!!!!

Television doesn’t prevent reading.  (146) 

That one’s a surprise, isn’t it!

This is a book I heartily recommend to teachers and librarians.

The Power of Reading is… READING! 

Read it!

The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research. 2nd Edition.  Stephen D. Krashen, 2004.

If there is a black hole in publishing for young adults, it is good fiction books for middle readers.  Those average readers in grades four through six are neglected.  It is hard to find something well written and interesting, but not too hard for them.  “Paint the Wind” is the perfect book for this age:  the plot is interesting but not complicated; the characters are believable and realistic; the conflict is realistic but dramatic enough for the middle reader; and the setting and story details are unique but not overly exotic.

At 316 pages this is no “baby book”, but chapters are short, the font is not tiny, and best of all, the white space is more than adequate, making this accessible to average readers and a fast read for a good reader.  Occasionally the narrator changes from the main human character, Maya, to the main horse character, Artemisia.  This can be difficult for young novel readers but Ryan has Artemisia’s words/chapters always appear in italics, again, making this an accessible book.  I considered it a bonus, too, that the chapters in Aretmisia’s voice were kept to a minimum.  (It made it more credible…who really knows what a horse thinks anyway?)  Pam Muñoz Ryan balanced it perfectly.

The book finishes with a terrific glossary and two pages of information for further reading.  I always wish they put the glossary at the front of a book, however, since I think young readers discover it too late.  But perhaps putting it in the front would discourage readers…

Horse girls are going to love this book.  Librarians know who I mean… every few years we have a student (always a girl) who won’t read anything but books and novels about horses.  (I never withdraw horse novels, no matter how tattered, because the horse girls will read anything and everything.)  There is plenty of satisfying detail about riding and caring for horses included in the narrative.  And of course the wonderful glossary is there for non-horse people in case they care what a currycomb is!  Another bonus is the names of artists woven throughout the narrative.  The reader can ignore this extra detail or appreciate it further.  This again makes ”Paint the Wind” a great book for the varied reading abilities found in middle grades.

Readers may want to visit Ryan’s website:  http://www.pammunozryan.com/paint.html

The name Maya, according to the novel, means ‘a journey about to begin’.  “Paint the Wind” is a journey worth taking.  I recommend it for grades 4-7 especially.

Igraine is a wonderful fantasy for young readers.  It contains satisfying adventures and all the magical elements you could wish for – yet it remains uncomplicated.  I challenge those who claim, “I don’t like Fantasy,” to try this title! 

Magical royal parents, a talking cat (when in the mood), and an enchanted castle are all classical elements, but Funke makes it all fresh!  Pimpernel Castle is guarded by gargoyles who make horrible faces at strangers and eat cannon balls and crunch burning arrows when necessary.  Stone lions guard as well; like fierce stone doorbells they roar and bare their teeth for strangers but purr like cats for family.  Giants, dragons, all make their appearances yet the story remains unique with imaginative and original elements such as the Singing Books of Magic. 

One of the strengths of science fiction and fantasy are the clear definitions of good and evil.  Funke introduces very satisfying villains in the persons of Osmund the Greedy and Rowan the Heartless.  Obviously our heroine Igraine is one of the good guys, but her help comes from a very unlikely hero, The Sorrowful Knight of the Mount of Tears (or Sir Urban of Wintergreen).  Goodness and fair play triumph, of course; yet another reason to recommend fantasy to young readers.  Fantasy and science fiction can explore many moral themes without seeming didactic.

Igraine the Brave is a top notch fantasy – fresh and funky!  or should that be Funke-y!

I prefaced the reading of the book by discussing how steam engines were the first great power machines and how they were replaced with gas, electric and diesel motors.  Again, I do not supply this information, but lead students to it with questions.  “Do we run our cars with steam today?  No.  What do we use?” 

I also pulled down a map or a globe in each class and used them to provide background on canals.  Showing them what a long and dangerous trip it once was to round the tip of South Africa or South America led to the idea of major canals.  I explained canals as a shortcut for big ships.  Again, I let questioning lead the discussion.  Students easily picked the isthmus of Panama on the map as a logical place for a canal.  I emphasized proportions and reminded them that, although the map looks tiny, it represents the whole world; the canal was a pretty big job to dig.  We looked at the Panama and Suez canals, and then I mentioned the world had many smaller canals such as the nearby Illinois and Michigan canal.

With the groundwork laid we began reading.  The book begins with Mike and the steam shovel’s career highlights:  digging the great canals, cutting through the mountains for the railroads, lowering hills and straightening curves for the highways, and smoothing out the ground for airfields.  One first grader raised his hand at this point in the book, commenting, “they’re really wrecking a lot of nature, aren’t they?”   A modern child’s take on the old classic! 

The students responded positively to this old title, just as they did with Ducklings and Little House.  The older elements of the book like the constable, telegraph boy, and milkman date the book but do not detract.  And human nature is timeless - Henry B. Swap’s ‘rather mean smile’, the school children being distracted from their lessons by the fire truck, and everyone in town thinking their idea is the best.  The students readily noticed correlations with The Little House in the artwork, such as the sun and the personification of the steam shovel.  They also insisted they saw the Little House in this earlier title’s pictures.  

A running joke in the book is that Mike claims Mary Anne can dig as much in a day as 100 men can dig in a week, although he isn’t actually sure that is true.  It was a first grader in another class who broke into the story and said, “Why doesn’t he just try!”  “Maybe he will,” I said.  We turned the page, and sure enough Mike and Mary Anne began trying to dig that cellar in one day.  The readers/listeners want Mike and Mary Anne to succeed.  Several of the classes actually clapped at the end!

I’m left wondering, is it the happy endings in these old books that illicit this response?