Language Arts - Volume 84, Issue 3, 2007

Two first-grade teachers and a university researcher study children’s inquiry-oriented responses to literature to better understand how children’s experiences during read-alouds (and in related, later conversations) help them enlist others in their efforts to make sense of race.The authors argue teachers should be making spaces for children’s curiosities about race, and teachers should be inquirers alongside children as they make meaning of complex issues of diversity.

The author contrasts picturebook retellings of Native tales with the original stories to illustrate that selecting Native American folktales for use in the classroom is a more complex task than simply pulling a book off the shelf.

This article explores the limited and inconsistent use of nonfiction books in classrooms and offers a visual model for analyzing fiction and nonfiction texts that disrupts the traditional binary of fact and fiction and helps assure that students are exposed to the full range of high-quality literature.

Caroline Ward, Coordinator of Youth Services at The Ferguson Library in Stamford Connecticut, comments on the policies and projects currently in place in public libraries around the country. She points out that the Association of Library Services to Children makes it clear that children’s librarians must do more than simply provide age-appropriate service. Children’s librarians must also be advocates for their clientele both within the library and the larger society. Several examples of this advocacy are cited.

The authors consider recent research that examines characteristics of the unique visual and literary art form of picturebooks and the ways in which readers respond to these books before exploring the means by which this research informs best classroom practice.

Poet and novelist Nikki Grimes talks about her background, her influences, her life as a writer, and her thoughts on sharing poetry with children.

The overwhelming use of commercially produced reading programs in elementary classrooms suggests that literature, beyond abridged versions in anthologies, is not necessarily valued. The reviewers have sought out professional resources that successfully argue the contrary by making compelling arguments for: (1) integrating an arts-based approach to literature as part of a comprehensive literacy program, (2) using literature to prompt and support children’s inquiries of the world in a classroom guided by critical literacy; and (3) maximizing the connection between literature and literacy by developing students’ passion for reading.

The reviewers have selected books that acquaint students with exceptional writing, allow them to hear beauty, cadence, and precision of language, and explore the world through the lives and experiences of the characters.

The author reflects on the role of reading and the power of children’s literature to help children and families heal after the Hurricane Katrina disaster.