Debates & Trends

Decorative WOW Currents Banner

Between Trends and Reality: Revisiting Reviews and Discussing Cultural Authenticity

By Yoo Kyung Sung, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

December is not only the last month of the calendar year, but it also holds a special significance for academia as it marks the end of yet another semester. Most importantly, though, December is a time for reflecting upon the past year’s events and for valuing family, friends, and other acquaintances in our lives. I thought, then, I would ask myself what I recall that was most interesting, delightful, and even troublesome in terms of children’s literature around the world. What stands out for me is cultural authenticity — the trendy hot key phrase of the 90’s that, while seeming to have become a semi-retired hot issue, still remains an unresolved tension in children’s literature today.
Continue reading →

Decorative WOW Currents Banner

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 →

Decorative WOW Currents Banner

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 →

Decorative WOW Currents Banner

Banned Books Week: Old Favorites

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

.
.

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).

.

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.

Continue reading →

Decorative WOW Currents Banner

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.

Continue reading →

Decorative WOW Currents Banner

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 →

Decorative WOW Currents Banner

An Ode to Children’s Literature: The Power of Reading for Fun

by Monique Storie, University of Guam, Latte Heights, GU


Colorful covers,
Worlds of words yet unseen brings
the chance for new friends

On a small island, the prospect for finding new books is limited to the local small bookstore chain (about the size of the average Circle K), online, and sometimes the local Kmart. This summer, we had the luxury of going to the mainland. Going stateside brings the excitement of visiting family, playing tourist, and shopping. In our family, shopping means looking for clothes, technological gadgets, gizmos, AND BOOKS! Continue reading →

Decorative WOW Currents Banner

Pollyanna? Encyclopedia Brown? Which Reader Are You?

Monique Storie, University of Guam, Latte Heights, GU

 

. . . I am beginning to understand what our teachers were trying to get us to appreciate when we doing literary analyses in high school. . . Why did their efforts make it seem like a reader could only enjoy the story by examining its literary elements?

This summer, I had the luxury of engaging in literature explorations with others who are enthusiastic about children’s literature. One of the novels we shared, Between Shades of Gray (Sepetys, 2012), shocked me Continue reading →

Decorative WOW Currents Banner

Intense Books, Dystopia, and the Guy Reader

Monique Storie, University of Guam, Latte Heights, GU

 

. . . I unconsciously considered them the literary equivalent of going to an action-packed movie, e.g. lots of action but not much story.

 

At the same time that Ethan was immersing himself in all things Hunger Games, my husband, who was half a world away, saw firsthand how these same books were creating a whirlwind of excitement among his non-reader friends. Not being able to read the book himself (the libraries and bookstores were all out and we have not progressed to e-readers yet), he watched with fascination as one book created such fervor and caused so many guys to drop their computer games and read. He described it like a wildfire that jumped from one location to another and could not be contained.
Continue reading →

Decorative WOW Currents Banner

Israeli Children’s Books: A Parent Perspective Beyond the Holocaust

by Charlene Klassen Endrizzi, Westminster College, New Wilmington, PA

ghetto fighters, a parent perspective beyond the holocaust

 

“I do not want Israelis to be remembered simply for the Holocaust. I want others to understand the richness of our unique 5,000 year old Jewish culture.”

Sima, mother of a recently commissioned nineteen year old Israeli soldier, shared these thoughts as we surveyed a Holocaust exhibit at my college last year. Over time her statement enabled me to re-conceptualize my images of Israel, no longer focused on the World War II genocide but instead aimed toward a more holistic representation.
Continue reading →