Books & Resources

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‘Señor Calavera still isn’t scary’

by Julia López-Robertson, Tiffany LaBrooy, Kirstin Wade & Jamie Yobs, University of South Carolina

Book jacket for Just a Minute by Yuyi MoralesThis week a group of students read Yuyi Morales’ beautiful stories, Just a Minute and Just in Case. Just a Minute is a witty tale of Grandma Beetle who gets a surprise visit by Señor Calavera, a skeleton who has come to inform her that it is “time to go.” Grandma Beetle says she will go in “just a minute” after she sweeps one house, boils two pots of tea, makes three pounds of corn into tortillas… and on and on until she gets to ten where she informs her grandchildren that Continue reading →

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The Spirit of Tío Fernando: A Day of the Dead Story

By Julia López-Robertson, Deanna Futrell & Shirley Geiger, University of South Carolina

Book jacket for The Spirit of Tío Fernando by Janice LevvyIn class we talk a lot about helping our students take a more global view of society; we want them to see beyond the borders of our city, state, and finally our country. One way that we can begin this process is by exposing them to quality children’s and young adult literature representing a variety of viewpoints, cultures, and people and then inviting them to examine and discuss these books. How can sharing children’s books (specifically about the Day of the Dead) help in raising awareness and developing an understanding of a culture different than one’s own? Continue reading →

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El Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead: A Cultural Exploration

by Julia López-Robertson & Lillian Reeves, with Nicoleta Hodis, Lisa Stockdale, Ashlye Rumph-Geddis, Mary Jade Haney & Amy Bartholomew, University of South Carolina

A gift for Abuelita: Our entrée into El Día de los Muertos

Book jacket for a Gift for Abuelita by by Nancy Luenn El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) has its’ origins more than 3,000 years ago when the Aztec Indians, who inhabited Mexico, spent four months each year honoring the dead with ceremonies and rituals. With the arrival of the Conquistadores in the 16th century came the elimination of the already established Aztec traditions and their replacement with the Spanish beliefs and traditions which followed the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. Rather than completely accept the Spanish traditions, the indigenous peoples resolved to mesh “ancient traditions with those of the church” (Arquette, Zocchi &Vigil, 2008, p.8) and the result is el Día de los Muertos. Continue reading →

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Adolescents, Adolescent Novels, and Authors Writing the Edges

By Holly Johnson, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH

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“If you are not living on the edge,
you are taking up too much room.”

–Jayne Howard

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As I explained at the beginning of the month, I wanted to explore and share my thoughts about a number of books that 1) have characters on the edge of something 2) have their readers on the edge of something, or 3) have brought to the fore topics that reside on the edge of something.  The books I shared are excellent pieces of work that have the potential to shift the discourse with adolescents, but this may only be done if we recognize that—in reality—most of us are on the edge of something, and if we aren’t, well, maybe we should be. Actually, that’s probably the best thing about working and reading with adolescents.  They are venturing out and testing the edges and we can be there with them! But we often need some tools to facilitate young adults’ learning, and the books I have highlighted can be a great start. But if there is hesitation about some of the books I have already mentioned in the last three weeks, perhaps we start with the books that show just how many of us are on the edge. Continue reading →

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Adolescents, Adolescent Novels, and Authors Writing the Edges: Choices

By Holly Johnson, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH

Book Cover for Crossing the Tracks“I loved everyone who said yes to the world and
tried to make it better instead of worse,
because so much of the world was ugly—
and just about all the ugly parts were due to humans.”

–Cat, from Shine (p. 290)

In the last few months I have read a number of books that would fall under the category of “social issues realism,” and so often that sub-genre is about the ugly parts of the world. What is so timely about these texts for adolescents is their ability to present young adults, who may just be emerging into the world with their own opinions about the reality they encounter on the news, at the dinner table, or in all the other spoken but not examined arenas of their lives. In essence, many young people have few opportunities to test their theories, hypotheses, and values. Adolescents are on the edge of discovery about the world, its politics, and both the world’s and their own potential. They have so many thoughts, so many questions, and so many opportunities to make a difference, yet they don’t know how much that difference can mean. Continue reading →

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Inspirations for Children’s Books in Saudi Arabia: Part 4: A Part of a Whole

by Nojood ALsudairi, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

The plot of our fourth book, Rammula (Little Grain of Sand), started with an idea of a child looking at a part and judging the whole according to his/her own perception of the part. After many discussions the idea changed to a focus on how the small details that we usually ignore can cause major events. For example, a small nail is the reason for studying a large art work hanging on a wall. The group decided to read some more picture books to develop their idea.

Book Cover for The Black DotAnnuqtatu Assawdaa (The Black Dot) by Waleed Tahir (Egyptian), (2009, Dar Ashorooq, Egeptian) is about a big black dot appearing suddenly on the playground of a neighborhood to disturb children’s play. The children first accept its presence, but then they decide to demolish it with hard work and patience. The group liked the way the writer presented his idea in a simple way. The ending of this particular book inspired them to write about a little piece of grit. They liked the simplicity of the illustrations as well. (See review of this book). Continue reading →

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Inspirations for Children’s Books in Saudi Arabia: Part 3, Thobe Recycling

by Nojood ALsudairi, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

University students meet in small groups to write and illustrate picture books in my children’s literature class in Saudi Arabia. The best of those books are published and distributed through the publishing house of KAU (King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah). Each week, this blog focuses on one of the group’s experiences of producing a picture book and shares the books that inspired the group.

The idea of the book by Effat Basudan, Arwa Alghamdi, Reham Alotaibi, Shuroog Alshehri, and Nisreen Basalim was originally to focus on the feelings of objects. They decided on a t-shirt to be the main character of their book. They discussed many plots such as the feelings of t-shirts when getting dirty, washed, and worn many times. The group agreed that a t-shirt does not reflect the Saudi culture so they changed the character to a thobe (Saudi men’s white dress) and the ideas they discussed eventually led them to write about recycling. Continue reading →

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Inspirations for Children’s Books in Saudi Arabia: Part 2, Misho and His Laughter

by Nojood ALsudairi, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Happy Ramadan.

Students in my children’s literature course in Saudi Arabia work in small groups to write and illustrate their own picture books, some of which are now being published for broader distribution in my country. Each week, the processes of one group are highlighted in this blog along with children’s books from the Arabic world that they found useful in their writing process. One group of students chose the character of the picture book they were working on before deciding on the plot. While watching a YouTube clip of six-year-old Mishaal (M1SH000 as the name appears in YouTube), who was making fun of Saudi children’s books, Tasneem Alqahtani, the group’s illustrator, was inspired by his spirit and comments. She tried sending him good picture books from Saudi but he refused to give her an address telling her that he is in the process of writing his own children’s books now.

The group chose the character of Misho (a nickname for Mishaal) as the basis for their book’s main character. After filling up the character card that we use for all our books, Tasneem drew the main character:

The group had no idea where their plot would go, so they decided to keep on reading children’s books, hoping that an idea would emerge from their readings. Continue reading →

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The Dreamer, Part IV: The Political Nature of Writing

by Carmen M. Martínez-Roldán, University of Texas, Austin

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Is fire born of words? Or are words born of fire?

In this 4th and last blog about The Dreamer I invite a reflection on the political dimension of writing. In the novel, Muñoz Ryan describes three incidents that help the reader gain insights into Pablo Neruda’s view of his vocation as a writer.

When the newspaper office was set on fire, Continue reading →

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Reader Response: Sketch-to-Stretch with The Dreamer

by Carmen M. Martínez-Roldán, University of Texas, Austin

Here are my graduate students’ responses to The Dreamer in sketch format. Each of these sketches is unique and they represent a range of meanings and interpretations reminding us of how we as readers bring to reading our own experiences and histories (Probst, 1990; Rosenblatt, 1976) as readers and individuals.

As it is reflected in the responses to the first two blogs and in these sketches, the Father figure in the story impacted my students’ reading in different ways. Continue reading →