This August, Michele Ebersole and Yoo Kyung Sung give their takes on “Rethinking conceptual otherness in history: Exploring untold histories in the U.S. and global communities.” They begin the discussion with A Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice. This week they consider Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxua. In the coming weeks, they will discuss Gaijin: American Prisoner of War by Matt Faulkner and Lion Island: Cuba’s Warrior of Words by Margarita Engle.
Math In Children’s Literature
By Susan Corapi, Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL
I teach Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum to preservice teachers. The course covers literacy in various content areas at the middle and high school levels. One of my goals in this class is to help students understand the literacy practices embedded in their various disciplines. This gives them a better understanding of how they can support middle and high school students in their attempts to read discipline-specific texts as a mathematician, scientist, historian or musician might read them. I also want them to experience using literature to work across disciplines, collaboratively building unit plans that support critical thinking in their content area.
Illustration from Really Big Numbers by Richard Evan Schwartz.
MTYT: A Diamond In the Desert
This August, Michele Ebersole and Yoo Kyung Sung give their take on “Rethinking conceptual otherness in history: Exploring untold histories in the U.S. and global communities.” They begin the discussion with the book A Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice. In the coming weeks, they also consider Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxua, Gaijin: American Prisoner of War by Matt Faulkner and Lion Island: Cuba’s Warrior of Words by Margarita Engle.
WOW Recommends: The Rooster Who would Not be Quiet!
Book of the Month, August 2017
The Rooster Who would Not be Quiet! by Carmen Agra Deedy with illustrations by Eugene Yelchin
This allegoric tale demonstrates the power of resistance when a rooster challenges a unjust law. Even when the mayor chops down the rooster’s favorite tree, imprisons him, separates him from his family, and puts him in the dark, the rooster will not obey. The lively illustrations and text combine to demonstrate how injustice can be overcome. Don’t miss the essential Afterward. -Recommended by Marilyn Carpenter
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Booklist Focused on Poverty and Hunger
By Deborah Dimmett, The University of Arizona
I discuss issues concerning poverty and hunger in the last WOW Currents post and include a request for readers to share titles of picture and chapter books in children’s literature that explore these issues. Upon my recent return from Haiti, I further explore books that focus on these critical global problems.
MTYT: The Snurtch
We continue our conversation about the portrayal of emotional and behavioral disabilities in picturebooks, specifically characters who wrestle with childhood depression, anxiety, and outbursts. In the first three weeks, we looked at The Red Tree, Virginia Wolf, and Jack’s Worry. This week Maria and Megan take on The Snurtch by Sean Ferrell and Charles Santoso.
MTYT: Jack’s Worry
We continue our conversation about the portrayal of emotional and behavioral disabilities in picturebooks, specifically characters who wrestle with childhood depression, anxiety, and outbursts. In weeks one and two, we looked at The Red Tree and Virginia Wolf. This week, we offer our take on Jack’s Worry by Sam Zuppardi.
MTYT: Virginia Wolf
We continue our conversation about the portrayal of emotional and behavioral disabilities in picturebooks, specifically characters who wrestle with childhood depression, anxiety, and outbursts. Last week, we looked at The Red Tree. This week, we offer our take on Virginia Wolf by Kyo Maclear and Isabelle Arsenault.
Suggest Books to Explore Hunger and Poverty
By Deborah Dimmett, The University of Arizona
This week I am in Caracol, Haiti, working at a camp that is an industrial park partially financed by USAID after the 2010 earthquake. It is hours away from Port-au-Prince where the earthquake occurred and is an attempt to provide factory jobs and low cost housing to Haitians. The industrial park was not constructed without controversy. Haitians who work for the textile factory work long days at a rate of $5 a day. They have to purchase their home, pay for all utilities, and eat with whatever income is left. It’s difficult to imagine how they manage and even more difficult to understand the logic of neoliberal trade agreements that allow large companies like Levi-Strauss to pay so little to those who have few means for their daily sustenance. In fact, meals are sparse, often with little nutritional value but high in carbohydrates and fat so that people can sustain a long work day on only one meal.
Interior illustration from SéLavi by Youme (Cinco Puntos Press, 2004)
MTYT: The Red Tree
This month we are continuing our conversation about the portrayal of disabilities in picturebooks (see August 2016 and February 2017). Our focus in the following discussions is on emotional and behavioral disabilities, so we will look at characters who wrestle with childhood depression, anxiety, and outbursts. The books we discussed last August and February won the Schneider Family Award for the Portrayal of the Disability Experience. The titles discussed this month, beginning with The Red Tree, have not won that award, but they could have!
