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Children’s Literature and Poetry Depicting Children in the African Diaspora

by Michelle Grace-Williams and Julia López-Robertson, University of South Carolina

One essential strategy for eliciting meaningful engagement with children’s literature featuring Blacks is simply to share the literature (Harris, 1997, p. 49).

Over the next few weeks we aim to critically discuss texts that could be used in the classroom to validate the experiences of children of the African Diaspora; Black children of African ancestry located in the United States of America, the Americas and other parts of the world.

African Diaspora Continue reading

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A Different Kind of Bug: Epidemics Part 4

By T. Gail Pritchard, Ph.D., University of Arizona College of Medicine


In this last blog for the month, I want to share some books that deal with other kinds of epidemics, notably: bullying, obesity, substance abuse and suicide. These books are not pretty in nature, they do not necessarily have “happy” endings, and they are often connected to each other. They offer a glimpse into contemporary behaviors occurring in epidemic proportions among our youth. Continue reading

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Catching a Bug: Reading about Pandemics, Epidemics, and Outbreaks, Part 3

by T. Gail Pritchard, PhD, College of Medicine, University of Arizona


This week, the books presented cover the “what if?” scenario: What if a naturally occurring virus swept through the world killing most of its inhabitants? What if scientists engineered a virus and it got out of control? What if a virus killed all the adults? What if one country unleashed a deadly virus on another? What if an alien virus appeared? All of these scenarios have been the subject of young adult novels. Here are a few to add to your reading list: Continue reading

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Catching a Bug: Reading about Pandemics, Epidemics, and Outbreaks, Part 2

by T. Gail Pritchard, PhD, College of Medicine, University of Arizona

This week, the focus will be on specific pandemic, epidemic, and outbreak historical events captured in picture books and chapter books. Frischknect, Lepper, and Cyrklaff (2008) note, “infectious diseases have played a substantial part in shaping the history of humanity” (p. 995) and “it is often an issue of wrong information” (p. 996). Further, they state, “The dramatic effects of lacking information can be seen in many historical contexts, e.g. the spread of the Plague in medieval Europe, the accidental import of smallpox and measles into the Americas, the deliberate release of infectious agents, or the recent spread of HIV in much of Africa” (Frischknecht, p. 997). Continue reading

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Catching a Bug: Reading about Pandemics, Epidemics, and Outbreaks

by T. Gail Pritchard, PhD, College of Medicine, University of Arizona

http://columnfivemedia.com/work-items/good-infographic-outbreak-%E2%80%94-deadliest-pandemics-in-history/

This past summer, I took a course in global health. Not surprisingly, a great deal of the course focused in infectious diseases in developing nations. As part of our readings, lectures, and discussions, the origins of many of these diseases, the pathways to treatment and/or cure, and the impact on world history was featured. Of course as we covered various infectious diseases from cholera to HIV/AIDS, from malaria to polio, and from small pox to yellow fever, I made connections with children’s and young adult books I have read, Continue reading

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Muslim Voices: Strengths/Weaknesses of Picturebook Portrayals II

by Seemi Aziz, Tucson, Arizona

Looking at the picturebooks left in this text set I came to realize that they have some strong stereotypes about Muslims that add as well as take away from the stories as representatives of the myriad of Muslim cultures.

In Jeanette Winter’s Nasreen’s Secret School & The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq the main premise is of representing strong female Muslim characters. To this end the stories are appropriate and successful. While they shows the protagonist as strong, the peripheral characters are shown as oppressed or oppressive. Further the enemy or the occupiers are not named or differentiated. Continue reading

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Muslim Voices: Strengths/Weaknesses of Picturebook Portrayals

by Seemi Aziz, Tucson, Arizona

After looking at the 11 picturebooks in this collection I came away with the realization that these books merely covered a few regions that Muslims occupy as well as a handful of situations. These limited portrayals provide only a window of restricted representations. For instance, the necessary voices of children living in the Western countries are represented in books that come across as didactic and may turn off the audience in western countries even if the content is culturally relevant. Amira’s Totally Chocolate World and Mobin-Uddin’s My Name is Bilal are two such examples. Continue reading

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Exploring the Authenticity of Muslim Voices in Elementary Grade Books

By Seemi Aziz, Tucson, Arizona

As I work on a project evaluating the authenticity of Muslim Voices in text I have been surprised by the number of books out there that are both of quality and taste. As an educator scholar of the Muslim Voices Project, being conducted under the auspices of the Humanities Council New York, I helped suggest and select the following list – still in need of some abridgement. As I read and evaluate the list I will share my thoughts about some of them in this forum. The list along with a short descriptor is as follows: Continue reading

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Story & Place: Discovering the Rio Grande Valley through Literature, Part 4

by Janine Schall, University of Texas-Pan American

In the past three weeks I’ve shared a number of books set in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) and written by RGV authors. These books feature the culture and traditions of the mostly Latino, working class population in this geographical region along the Texas-Mexico border.

The border is both a physical and mental construct, present in the lives of all RGV citizens. To the south, a physical barrier is formed by the Rio Grande River and the increasingly militaristic presence of customs agents and border patrol. Continue reading

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