There are many practical reasons for knowing about family history. It can help people to make medical decisions, inspire intellectual curiosity, or cause us to search for long-lost rich uncles. But I think there is something deeper within our collective psyche that calls us to search for greater knowledge of where we come from andContinue reading “The Power of Personal History”
Tag Archives: Children’s Literature
Making Peace with Stories
Joseph Bruchac has written a number of extraordinary books for children and young adults that have brought the stories of Native American people to a wide audience of readers. Peacemaker will be released in January 2021 and, while the story takes place centuries ago, I feel like it is a perfect message for our times.Continue reading “Making Peace with Stories”
Sticking Together
Most of the recently published material that I read comes from the library and, at least right now, I haven’t been making as many library trips as I used to. This has afforded me the opportunity to revisit some of my favorite books from the past that reside on bookshelves at home. One rediscovered treasureContinue reading “Sticking Together”
A Literary Celebration of Eid
**Thank you to NetGalley and ABRAMS Kids for the opportunity to review this Advance Reader Copy. This book will be released on May 5, 2020. When I was younger, one of my favorite parts of the Jewish holidays were all of the books and stories that went along with them. Hanukkah was one holiday withContinue reading “A Literary Celebration of Eid”
American Dreamers
When Mia Yang’s parents decided to immigrate from China to the United States, they were convinced it was because they would have endless economic opportunities and would be free to pursue their dreams. Friends and colleagues had written home about their success and sent money to family members in China. This was the opportunity ofContinue reading “American Dreamers”
Undeniable Courage
I have written about several books that contain brief biographies of courageous individuals across history. I am particularly fond of these books because I think they can inspire future, deeper study of the people profiled as well as the causes they champion(ed). There are many wonderful books that fit into this specific category of juvenileContinue reading “Undeniable Courage”
Representing the 14%
We need more books for children and young adults that feature main characters with disabilities. This seems evident even without statistics, but just to provide a bit of context: The most recent figures that I could find which specifically focused on children’s books featuring characters with disabilities were from the Cooperative Children’s Book Center inContinue reading “Representing the 14%”
Not Alone
Lynne Kelly dedicates her book, Song for a Whale, to everyone who’s ever felt alone. This is the perfect way to introduce a story that highlights the experiences of an underrepresented group, while also reflecting the thoughts of children from every background. Kelly’s book centers around Iris who is twelve and the only Deaf studentContinue reading “Not Alone”
Picturing Home
Home is a bit of an abstract concept. While the dictionary defines home as the place where someone lives, people have been expanding that definition for many years. We have all read things or said things such as: home is where the heart is, home away from home, or home is the people who loveContinue reading “Picturing Home”
Essential Conversations
A recent article in the journal Language Arts addressed the importance of sharing children’s books about death and grief in elementary classrooms (Husbye, Buchholz, Powell, & Zanden, July 2019). Often, as educators, we like to have a deep understanding of topics that we are going to discuss with our students. Death is one issue thatContinue reading “Essential Conversations”
Teaching Social Justice with Children's Books 