Banned Books Week: Graphic Novels

Celebrating freedom of expression, this is a list of Graphic Novels that have been Banned and Challenged. Have you read them?

Graphic Novelty²

Banned Books Week this year runs from September 22nd- 28th, and I’d like to take this time to shine some light on how many graphic novels have been challenged over the years. The site Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is an outstanding resource on how to fight censorship and this particular page guides you through specific cases of challenged comics and graphic novels.

As a librarian, it is important that we provide books on ALL topics for ALL people. While sometimes we might choose not to order a book or to place a book in a location that we feel is age-appropriate, patrons should have full access to books that they wish to read. I have read many challenged books, in all genres, over the years and am a better person for it. The following five graphic novels are but a few that have been challenged over the years.

Batman:…

View original post 548 more words

How We Talk to Our Kids

A reminder that we need to provide our children with positive messages….

Empty Nest, Full Life

I’ve spent a lot of my adult life with little kids. I was blessed with three kids of my own, and now I am the daycare provider for my two grandchildren.

In between those lucky adventures, I’ve also been a teacher, a speech pathologist and a babysitter for a few extra kids.

I’ve been to dozens of professional development classes, countless meetings about child development and a ton of visits with friends and their kids.

In all that time, I’ve learned a lot.

Lately I’ve been thinking about the way we talk to our kids. I’ve been paying attention to what we adults say to our children in everyday interactions.

I’m not impressed, truthfully.

Let me put it this way. Let’s pretend that the words we say to our kids every day were said to us instead.

Pretend that you are about to head off for a day at work…

View original post 646 more words

Catastrophes and Connections: On Anxiety by Matthew Landis

I can’t help but think that this is a timely book especially for those of us raising children in these interesting times

Nerdy Book Club

“Maybe you should stop writing this book,” my wife said.

This was three years ago while I was drafting my forthcoming novel, IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS I KNOW IT(Sept 24, Dial/Penguin).

I was also stockpiling water in our basement in the event that Kim Jung Un made good on his stratosphere EMP strike and sent the United States into the Dark Ages. I’d just told her about the water.

“Maybe I should,” I said.

My book centers on 13-year-old Derrick Waters at the start of his eighth-grade year. Like me, he’s stockpiling goods. Well, that’s not exactly accurate; he’s actually prepping hardcore for the Big One. For the past six months, he’s been converting his backyard shed into a legit fallout shelter in order to survive the Yellowstone caldera eruption—an event he and his doomsday blog, APOCALYPSE SOON!, believes will happen on September 21st, nineteen days…

View original post 700 more words

Diversity in Children’s Books in 2018

Link to JPG & PDF files: Diversity in Children’s Books 2018 – Dropbox Folder
Full citation: Huyck, David and Sarah Park Dahlen. (2019 June 19). Diversity in Children’s Books 2018. sarahpark.com blog. Created in consultation with Edith Campbell, Molly Beth Griffin, K. T. Horning, Debbie Reese, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, and Madeline Tyner, with statistics compiled by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison: http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/pcstats.asp. Retrieved from https://readingspark.wordpress.com/2019/06/19/picture-this-diversity-in-childrens-books-2018-infographic/.

Better Practices for Reporting on Extremists, Antagonists, and Manipulators Online

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Photo by Markus Spiske temporausch.com on Pexels.com

Photo by Markus Spiske temporausch.com on Pexels.com

Photo by Lisa Fotios on Pexels.com

 

This is a long report, but I recommend you take the time out to read it.

Information Disorder: The Essential Glossary

Produced by Claire Wardle with research by: Grace Greason, Joe Kerwin, Nic Dias and published in July 2018 this is a useful tool for teaching information literacy.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s “Learning to Read”

Very soon the Yankee teachers

   Came down and set up school;

But, oh! how the Rebs did hate it,—

   It was agin’ their rule.

Our masters always tried to hide

   Book learning from our eyes;

Knowledge did’nt agree with slavery—

   ’Twould make us all too wise.

But some of us would try to steal

   A little from the book.

And put the words together,

   And learn by hook or crook.

I remember Uncle Caldwell,

   Who took pot liquor fat

And greased the pages of his book,

   And hid it in his hat.

And had his master ever seen

   The leaves upon his head,

He’d have thought them greasy papers,

   But nothing to be read.

And there was Mr. Turner’s Ben,

   Who heard the children spell,

And picked the words right up by heart,

   And learned to read ’em well.

Well, the Northern folks kept sending

   The Yankee teachers down;

And they stood right up and helped us,

   Though Rebs did sneer and frown.

And I longed to read my Bible,

   For precious words it said;

But when I begun to learn it,

   Folks just shook their heads,

And said there is no use trying,

   Oh! Chloe, you’re too late;

But as I was rising sixty,

   I had no time to wait.

So I got a pair of glasses,

   And straight to work I went,

And never stopped till I could read

   The hymns and Testament.

Then I got a little cabin

   A place to call my own—

And I felt independent

   As the queen upon her throne.

A lesson plan for this poem can be found here.

Why Diverse Texts Are Not Enough

Photo by kat wilcox on Pexels.com

 

“As literacy teachers, we have one of the most powerful resources available to fight against hate and bias: We have stories.” This informational blog post from Tricia Ebarvia made for some thought provoking reading. Tricia includes some great starting points to start the hard work of creating truly diverse libraries and classrooms.

The Mediterranean – Refugees

Photo by Joey Kyber on Pexels.com

Liz Derouet reviews The Mediterranean. It’s an incredibly powerful picture book (17 words long) that needs to be in every secondary library.

Engaging teens with reading

Photo by Renato Abati on Pexels.com

Photo by Kaushal Moradiya on Pexels.com

 

The National Library of New Zealand has an amazing array of tools that you can use to engage teens with reading. Please explore their website here, if you’re an Educator, Librarian, Parent or interested in helping our next generations become literate.