Skip to main content

Articles of Interest

A few articles around the blogosphere that might be of interest...

Noes from the Horn Book offeres "Five Questions for Matt Phelan" who won the 2010 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction. The first question, "Do you think of The Storm in the Barn as historical fiction?" is very interesting since some think the fantasy element in the graphic novel should diqualify the book as historical fiction. Matt's response:
Yes. I also think of it as a supernatural thriller and a family drama and a Jack tale. But when I was writing it, I only thought of it as a story. It wasn’t until after it was finished that I could step back and try to label it. It was a story first and foremost, even before I decided it would be a graphic novel.

The other articles in Notes from the Hornbook highlight the ALA media award winners.

Another interesting article is from The Big Fresh titled, "Just Because They Can Doesn't Mean They Should: Choosing Age-Appropriate Books for Literature Circles." In this article, a literacy coach sits through an excruciating literature circle where second graders are trying to figure out the meaning of young adult themes in The Giver. She uses the experience to think through how teachers of gifted young readers can provide them with texts that are challenging yet still appropriate.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fun and Inspiration

In this post, I'm sharing a few YouTube videos that have been quite inspiring and some that are just fun. Below is a TED presentation by spoken word poet and teacher, Sarah Kay . You MUST watch it and be inspired! I also watched a documentary titled, Louder Than A Bomb , about the spoken word poetry contest held in Chicago Public Schools. It was also extremely inspiring. Below is the trailer : Finally, does everyone but me know about the book, Goodnight iPad , a parody of the original by Margaret Wise Brown? Hilarious! See the YouTube video below...does it not perfectly capture what goes on in the homes of many of our children today? Reminds me of a colleague who told me she texts her children to tell them to come to dinner. The video below it is in stark contrast, titled: The Joy of Books . Enjoy!
Post a Comment
Read more

NCTE was AMAZING!

I loved NCTE --not the "getting ready to go" part, which I hate, but the actual "being there" part. I learned so much from many great educators and authors. One of the many highlights of the conference for me was the Authors' Blog session, which I chaired. Laurie Halse Anderson, Maureen Johnson, Justine Larbalestier, Barbara O'Connor, and Lisa Yee were all on the panel and let me tell you -- these women are amazing! I didn't have my camera but several of the authors have already blogged about the session--check out Laure Anderson , Barbara O'Connor , Lisa Yee and Justine Larbalestier's blog posts. During the question/answer phase of the presentation, the authors discussed and raise very important issues that I think all teachers should consider. One of the questions I asked was about receiving posts that contained personal information. Children and young adults become very connected to these authors through their books and the authors' blog...
2 comments
Read more