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MashUps: Beauty in Genre Blending

By Holly Johnson, University of Cincinnati

I recently read that “the mashup is the New Black” (Corbett, 2012). Nice way of explaining the beauty of combining genres to create new and exciting stories that allow young people (and the rest of us) to engage in fantasy and atmospheric realism, to follow vampires through high school, and to revisit the classics with a zombie twist. Steampunk, paranormal romances, the genetic thriller, and the historical supernatural are new ways of seeing the world, transacting with literature, and engaging ourselves in a good read. Continue reading →

Authors' Corner
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Inside Out and Back Again: About Thanhha Lai

By Carmen M. Martínez-Roldán, Teachers College, Columbia University


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“If someone is different from you, go stand next to her and observe. That person just brought another world to your door without you having to travel.”

-Thanhha Lai

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This Sunday, November 18, a group of teachers, librarians, and teacher educators had the pleasure to hear award-winning author Thanhha Lai talking about her novel Inside Out and Back Again.

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A Collaborative Read Aloud: Magic Windows/Ventanas Mágicas

By Carmen M. Martínez-Roldán, Teachers College, New York

Reading Time: Magic Windows/Ventanas Mágicas (1999) by Carmen Lomas Garza

In this entry I share a vignette of a bilingual pre-service teacher’s and a second-grade bilingual student’s engagement with Garza’s book Magic Windows/Ventanas Mágicas during a read aloud in an after-school program. During reading time, some teacher candidates, such as Diana, observed that when the books they had chosen for the children seemed too long, it helped facilitate the discussion of the book and the entire reading event, in general, when the teacher candidate and the child took turns reading, thus distributing the role of reading between the two. Continue reading →

Authors' Corner
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Hurricane Dancers: The Power of the Read Aloud

By Prof. Carmen M. Martínez-Roldán & Elizabeth Morphis, Teachers College, New York.

In this week’s blog, Elizabeth Morphis, a university student taking my Latino literature course, conducted a read aloud of the book Hurricane Dancers by Margarita Engle with six fifth grade students at a New York City public school. Here she shares some highlights of her experience. We hope that other teachers or readers will feel inspired to offer their thoughts regarding the use of historical fiction and of verse to reflect on the complexities of historical events.
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Banned Books: Some Explanations

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

I began this month’s blog during Banned Books Week discussing one of my early encounters with using challenged and banned books. As October comes to a close, I thought it was fitting to visit some recent banned or challenged books and why they have come under fire.

banned books, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Harris and Me Continue reading →

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Banned Books Week: Old Favorites

by T. Gail Pritchard, Ph.D., The University of Arizona

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There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing. (Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451).

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I started reminiscing about books I’ve read featuring book burnings, book challenges, and book bannings. Two immediately came to mind: Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Le Guin’s Voices.

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Banned Books Week: Beverly Naidoo

by T. Gail Pritchard, Ph.D., The University of Arizona

As we wind up Banned Books Week (September 30-October 6, 2012), I found myself wondering about children’s books banned and/or challenged in other countries, and thus began searching for titles. I knew Journey to Jo’burg had been banned in South Africa, so I decide Beverly Naidoo and her first novel would be my first step in investigating banned/challenged children’s literature world-wide.

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What’s Your Banned Books Story?

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

banned books story, Daddy's RoommateGiven that it is Banned Books Week (September 30-October 6, 2012), I decided that in this first blog of October I would revisit a very public encounter I had with banned books, my “banned books story.” As an assistant professor at a small state college in western Kansas, I happily taught undergraduate and graduate children’s literature courses and various methods courses. I began my children’s literature courses with “Wandering and Wondering”: I would have about fifty books spread across the tables and students would spend about 30 minutes browsing through these books, knowing they would be sharing their discoveries. Continue reading →