WOW Dozen: Children’s Books for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage

By Stephanie E. Mahar, Washington State University

Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month occurs every May. The U.S. Congress officially acknowledged the history and contributions of Asian American communities in the United States in 1977. Representative Frank Horton of New York and Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii spearheaded the commemoration to be observed for the first ten days of May. The celebration was initially marked for one week but was later extended to a full month-long tribute, starting in May 1990. May also commemorates the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to the United States in 1843. Additionally, May marks the transcontinental railroad’s completion on May 10, 1869, which Chinese immigrants primarily built. This WOW dozen contains an assortment of 12 picturebooks and middle grade books to honor and celebrate the cultures of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander people. Continue reading →

Authors’ Corner: Mitali Perkins

By Rebecca Ballenger, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Mitali Perkins writes books for readers to explore crossing borders. Her work explores the themes of poverty, immigration, child soldiers, microcredit and human trafficking and is based on her experience living overseas and her study of Political Science at Stanford and Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley. WOW spoke to Perkins about a new movie based on an old book, code switching, her expanding career and connecting with readers. Continue reading →

MTYT: Between Us and Abuela

By Michele Ebersole, University of Hawaii, Hilo, HI, and Yoo Kyung Sung, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

This month, Michele and Yoo Kyung give their takes on rethinking cultural and physical borders in children’s literature to understand today’s global politics through history. They begin their series with Between Us and Abuela: A Family Story from the Border by Mitali Perkins and Sara Palecios.

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CERCLL 2018 Summer Institute

CERCLL offers a professional development opportunity in the form of a 3-day summer institute, Reading Globally: Critical Issues in Global Literature for Children and Adolescents.

Participants will explore current trends in global literature for children and adolescents, examine critical issues and approaches to analyzing these books, and experience strategies for critically engaging with global literature. We will use the Worlds of Words collection to immerse ourselves in a wealth of global literature as well as to delve deeply into key books to develop our own critical understandings and to consider how to invite students into a critical reading of the word and the world. An additional component will be interactions that pair classic, well-known texts often used in elementary and secondary classrooms with global children’s and adolescent literature to expand the curriculum and include global perspectives.

The institute will be interactive and include presentations by experts in global literature and authors of global books along with time for browsing and reading books, engaging in literature circles, and discussing classroom connections. There will also be breakout sessions where participants share their work with global literature with each other.

Mitali Perkins will join us on Monday, June 25, and Duncan Tonatiuh will join us on Tuesday, June 26, to interact throughout the day and present on global issues related to their books. Mitali Perkins writes middle grade novels that cross global cultures, including You Bring the Distant Near, Rickshaw Girl, Bamboo People and Tiger Boy. She was born in Kolkata, India, lived in many places around the world, and currently resides in San Francisco. Duncan Tonatiuh is an author/illustrator who is both Mexican and American, growing up in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. His artwork is inspired by Pre-Columbian art, particularly that of the Mixtec codex. His picturebooks include Danza, The Princess and the Warrior, Funny Bones, Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote, Diego Rivera and Salsa.

Continuing Education Certificates are provided for the institute for a total of 18 hours.

Registration Information:
Registration is limited to 60 people. Until May 31, the fee for the institute is only $100 and includes lunch. (The registration fee increases to $140 on June 1st.) You may register as an individual or for a group.

For more information, visit: http://cercll.arizona.edu/2018/03/19/2018-summer-institute/