by Yoo Kyung Sung, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
“President Putin.”
“The Cold War.”
“James Bond, 007!”
“Gymnastics.”
These are response from my students when asked what they know about Russia. Their knowledge about Russia is based on recent events with typical historical Hollywood representations: Continue reading
by Yoo Kyung Sung, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
December has always been my month to contribute to WOW Currents. In many ways, it has become a special month for me since it is at the end of the year and offers me, like everyone else, an opportunity to reflect on the past twelve months. As we mentally “write our stories” at years end, our reflections often lead us to revise what some of these recurring and evolving “stories” might look like in the next year. We share and connect through these stories. They are an important medium that enriches the many facets of our lives.
As I surveyed new historically based titles, some of those “old” histories have taken on a new patina. Continue reading
by Andrea García, Diana Collins and Melissa Tuller, Hofstra University.
We close our writing for the month of November sharing our exploration of Salt: A Story of Friendship in a Time of War by Helen Frost. This is the final book I chose for a text set focusing on Global Explorations in Verse, which I used in my graduate children’s literature course this semester. As we consider our Thanksgiving celebrations this week, we feel this story provides an appropriate backdrop to consider the relationships between Native Americans and Americans from a historical perspective. Helen Frost’s novel in verse explores the complexities of friendship, when sociopolitical issues threaten to destroy the loyalties and the trust built amongst friends. Continue reading
by Andrea García, Keith Donnelly, and Michele McGuinness, Hofstra University.
Our writing for this week will take us to explore Home of the Brave, by Katherine Applegate (2008). This is the third book in the text set I created focusing on Global Explorations in verse for my children’s literature graduate course. In this story, we meet Kek, an 11-year-old refugee boy from Sudan, who is relocated to Minnesota escaping the civil war in his country, after witnessing the death of his father and brother. Unaware of her mother’s whereabouts, Kek joins his aunt and cousin in the U.S., and begins a memorable journey into learning to live in a different culture and in a different language. In this unforgettable story of hopefulness and resilience, Applegate makes use of spare free verse to tell Kek’s immigration story. Continue reading
by Andrea García, Brooke Bendernagel, and Lindsey Brooks, Hofstra University.
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Confessions of a Non-Native Speaker A poem by María Alegre I confess, |
by Andrea García, Amanda Lev and Oddette Williams, Hofstra University.
Planning for teaching children’s literature in my graduate Literacy Studies program at Hofstra University provides me with the perfect opportunity to select books that invite readers to take on a global perspective. For the current fall 2014 semester, I was particularly drawn to selecting children’s literature featuring stories from different times in history; books that would allow us to engage in critical conversations about the everyday lives of strong characters, whose experiences could help shape our understandings of our ourselves and others. I also wanted to share novels written in free verse because Continue reading
by Samantha Smigel and Julia López-Robertson, The University of South Carolina
We end our blog this month with a look at ¡Juventud! Growing up on the Border (Saldaña, 2013), a collection of short stories and memories from a variety of authors. Each author shares their growing up experiences with readers. Comprised of short stories and poems, so much can be said with so few words. The poetry and stories in this book are mesmerizing as each one reveals small moments to which all readers can relate. The words share memoirs, love, and family traditions from different perspectives and cultures. I [Samantha] felt as though I was in each of these families, making connections, relating to some of the events, all the while gaining perspective and compassion. Continue reading
by Deborah Dimmett
There is an abundance of young adult (YA) literature that lends itself to exploring issues of social justice. Introducing young adults to nonfiction books about societal and global dilemmas can be a very exciting way to engage youth in problem-based learning through literature. One issue that has local, national, and global implications deals with huge influx of unaccompanied and undocumented children from Central America. Continue reading
by Deborah Dimmett
Books about Haiti had a slight resurgence in the area of children’s literature after the 2010 earthquake. However, few books have made it in print in the language Haitian children know best – Creole. It has been easy for publishers to overlook this market for many reasons. Among them is that those in Haiti who can afford to purchase books are fluent in French as well as Creole. But Haiti’s population is estimated at nearly 10 million, nearly all of whom speak Creole with approximately 10% who are actually fluent in French. This raises the question as to why books in Creole are not nearly as plentiful as books in French. In a country where adult literacy has been stagnant at 48.7% Continue reading
by Janine Schall
Although I’ve been interested in children’s books with LGBT characters for over a decade, for a long time that actually meant children’s books with gay or lesbian characters. While picture books with characters who transgress gender roles have been around since the 1970s and picture storybooks with explicitly lesbian and gay characters have been around since 1989, a transgender character wasn’t introduced until 2008 in 10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert. Continue reading