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More Books about Malala Yousafzai

By Seemi Aziz, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

In week three, I explore further trends in books about Malala Yousafzai and issues that lie therein. For this post, I discuss Malala A Brave Girl from Pakistan by Jeanette Winter. This Chicago-based American writer has written extensively about international regions and issues, as well as the regions where Muslims reside, within the genres of fiction and nonfiction. Her famed stories include The Librarian of Basra set in Iraq and Nasreen’s Secret School set in Afghanistan. I also discuss Malala Yousafzai: Warrior with Words by Karen Leggett Abouraya, a journalist turned author who is married to an Egyptian and travels widely.

Malala Yousafzai by Karen Leggett Abouraya cover collage art depicts Malala with other students holding composition books Continue reading →

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Malala Activist for Girls’ Education and For the Right to Learn

By Seemi Aziz, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Most of the books mentioned in the first week of this series on books about Malala Yousafzai were submitted for book awards and considered distinctly above and beyond the run on the mill books that frame the Malala rhetoric by at least the publishers. Each story has the same narrative with various distinctions and have varied illustration distinctions. Malala story’s attraction is undeniable in all of the texts. Her being shot and surviving gives credence to the story as the girl who lived to use her incident to further her cause.

Cover art for Malala, Activist for Girls Education is an illustration of Malala in a bright pink scarf holding a bouquet of flowers and books Continue reading →

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Malala Yousafzai In Books for Children

By Seemi Aziz, The University of Arizona, Tucson

I Am Malala cover depicting Malala in a red floral scarf against a teal backgroundSince Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani heroine who propagates education for women, hit the world stage there has been a huge spotlight on her life and activities globally, especially captured and projected in the arena of children’s books. Her near-death experience at the hands of the Taliban sets her story apart in more ways than one. Her dramatic entry into the global narrative reinforces concerns of women’s oppression and lack of education in Muslim countries and takes it to whole new level. Continue reading →

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Italicizing Non-English Words: The Case of Spanish in Picturebooks

By María V. Acevedo, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
With Rebecca Ballenger, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

I read out loud All Around Us, by Xelena Gonzalez, illustrated by Adriana García, to a class of undergraduate students. When I read, “We eat what we’ve grown-crunchy lettuce, sweet carrots and spicy chiles,” one of my students said, “I love your Spanish accent.” Chiles is the only Spanish word in this picturebook and it is not italicized. The student’s comment made me think of picturebooks that highlight non-English words in one way or another and the implications of this practice to fictional characters and readers.

Cover art for La Princesa and the Pea shows a girl with a crown of flowers sitting atop multiple mismatched mattresses and a surly cat perched on the bed's footboard Continue reading →

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Latinx Picturebook Artists and Muralists

By María V. Acevedo, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, San Antonio, TX

For centuries, muralists from around the world have made art public and accessible for the people. From cavern painting during the Upper Paleolithic times to contemporary graffiti in the streets of Santurce, Puerto Rico, murals have made children, youth and adults stop, notice, think and even act. This post explores the power of murals and muralists in Latinx picturebooks.
Banner with 3 covers from blog Continue reading →

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Reflections for Mother’s Day, Motherhood and Significant Caregivers

By María Acevedo-Aquino, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, San Antonio, TX

When I think about Mother’s Day, I think about individuals with an extraordinary capacity for nurturing, protecting, guiding, knowing, caring and loving. I also think about my mom living far away; my sister who will become a mother very soon; one of my former preschool students who lost his mom when he was 4 years old; my friend Sonia, her wife, and their baby Oscar; Dani, who awaits in a foster care residency in Spain to go back home; and, a dear friend who recently lost her son. I think about the numerous complex stories that shape personal and collective views of motherhood and days like Mother’s Day. Through this post, I hope to offer questions, rather than answers, and opportunities for dialogue, instead of a list of concepts to teach.

Julian Is a Mermaid Cover featuring a child posed with an arm in the air and wrapped in a sheet at the waist and a headdress of flowers Continue reading →

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Literacy Is All Around Us

By Maria Acevedo-Aquino, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, in collaboration with graduate students

When conversing with graduate students about their experiences as early childhood educators and caregivers, they often describe curricula that supports views on literacy reduced to reading and writing. These perspectives tend to overlook the multiple ways in which children, make sense of their world and construct meaning in a daily basis. While this argument is not new, the process for integrating learning experiences in the classroom align with expansive ways of thinking about literacy is a persistent struggle. This post offers learning experiences that highlight broader views on literacy to further explore the picturebook All Around Us written by Xelena Gonzáles with illustrations by Adriana Garcia.

All Around Us cover features girl meditating on circles with a portion of a rainbow visible in the upper right corner Continue reading →

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Classroom Connections Using Multimodal Artifacts

By Priscila Costa, Asiye Demir, Lauren Hunt and Julia López-Robertson, University of South Carolina

All the Stars Denied and Buried Beneath the Baobab TreeIn our 5th and final post in this series, we would like to provide teachers with ideas for how students can respond to the reading of the two novels we have been discussing– All the Stars Denied (McCall, 2018) and Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree (Nwaubani, 2018). As you might remember from reading the first article in this series, we are educators with many years of teaching experience at different settings with diverse student populations, and we see various possibilities for the use of these two texts. It has been an educating journey for each of us as we worked together to design strategies that can be implemented in classrooms at various grade levels and at various contexts. Before we present you with instructional ideas, we would like to share with you some of our personal thoughts. Continue reading →

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Using Stories to Teach Life Lessons in the Classroom

By Asiye Demir, Lauren Hunt, Priscila Costa and Julia López-Robertson, University of South Carolina

Buried Beneath the Baobab TreeBuried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani (2018) tells the story of a girl who was kidnapped and forced to marry one of the militants of Boko Haram in Nigeria. Through the storyline of the novel, we witness their living standards, culture and religious practices. Last week we talked about our responses to this novel and since we are a diverse group of people, our responses were varied and had different aspects. Our group is made up of four teachers who have profound experiences with English language learners and other diverse student populations and as such this week we will approach our blog from the perspective of classroom applications. Continue reading →

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Patriarchal Societies and Oppression of Women

By Lauren Hunt, Asiye Demir, Julia López-Robertson and Priscila Costa, University of South Carolina

Buried Beneath the Baobab TreeFor the next two blogs our discussion will focus on Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree, by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani. This story is based on the experiences of girls captured by the extremist group, Boko Haram in Nigeria. Nwaubani (2018) writes, “since 2009, the terrorist group Boko Haram has been fighting an armed insurgency with the aim of creating an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. More than twenty thousand people have been killed and over two million displaced by the fighting” (p. 293). Boko Haram has wreaked havoc on Nigeria and its people, and the group received worldwide media coverage when they kidnapped 276 girls from a Chibok school. According to the BBC News, “Boko Haram was targeting [the girls] because of their opposition to Western education, which the militants believe corrupts the values of Muslims.” Nwaubani’s novel brings to light the struggles of the Nigerian people, especially its women, as a result of Boko Haram. Continue reading →