{"id":96,"date":"2019-07-26T16:59:57","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T23:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/?p=96"},"modified":"2019-07-26T17:10:59","modified_gmt":"2019-07-27T00:10:59","slug":"assignment-2-curation-of-childrens-literature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/2019\/07\/26\/assignment-2-curation-of-childrens-literature\/","title":{"rendered":"Assignment 2: Curation of Children’s Literature"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Big Idea: Books have the power to bring people together and change the world.<\/p>\n

I work at an IB school and we are constantly reminded that it is our goal to create globally-minded students who are empathetic, caring, and willing to make change in the world.\u00a0 We are always running units that teach about social justice issues such as clean water, war and conflict, gender inequality, and much more.\u00a0 However, what I find is that while students are able to research and present on a given topic, most don\u2019t change their behaviour in any way.\u00a0 It makes me wonder how much was actually learned.\u00a0 For example, a few years ago I had a group of students complete a research project on plastic waste.\u00a0 They did a wonderful job.\u00a0 After they presented, many parents complimented them on how detailed their work was.\u00a0 I ran into that group after school at Starbucks.\u00a0 They were celebrating after doing such a good job on their project.\u00a0 Each of them had a drink in a plastic cup with a plastic straw.\u00a0 Eliminating plastic straws was one of the main points in their project!\u00a0 Genuine learning goes beyond memorization of facts.\u00a0 It leads to a change in perception, attitude, and behaviour.<\/p>\n

It is my belief that we can use literature to help students with this genuine learning experience.\u00a0 Books provide an immersive experience that can\u2019t be provided with research, lectures, or presentations.\u00a0 A good book draws students in, and what they read sticks with them long after the book is finished.\u00a0 I was inspired by Said\u2019s 2015 article \u201cCan children\u2019s books help build a better world?\u201d\u00a0 The article states that reading has the power to bring people together: \u201cFiction lets us experience another existence as if it was our own because readers bring stories to life in their own minds, each in their own way\u201d (Said 2015).\u00a0 It is this power of reading that has led me to search for books that can help me teach my students in a way that will hopefully inspire them to change the world in some small (or big) way.<\/p>\n

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I started my search with a traditional novel.\u00a0 Being a seventh-grade teacher, novels are mostly the types of books that I have taught in the past.\u00a0 I had recently seen a discussion on a talk show recommending books to teens and To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em> was debated.\u00a0 I was reminded of how uncomfortable that book can be for some.\u00a0 I went in search of an alternative book to use to teach about race issues and The Hate U Give<\/em> by Angie Thomas was recommended to me.\u00a0 In my opinion, this is a much better book to teach students about race relations these days because it is set in modern day, is told from the perspective of a black person, and has main characters whose ages are similar to those that will be reading it.<\/p>\n

The Hate U Give <\/em>led me to search for other books with diverse casts of characters.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t necessarily want a book that had an overt message about race or prejudice.\u00a0 I was just looking for stories with characters from different backgrounds doing normal things with each other.\u00a0 That in itself sends a powerful message.\u00a0 Exposing children to books with characters from different cultures positively interacting with each other makes them more comfortable with interacting with people of other races themselves (Aaronson and O\u2019Brien, 2014).\u00a0 I was reminded of Cinder<\/em> by Marissa Meyer which features an extremely diverse cast of characters including many people of colour and several disabled characters.\u00a0 I like this book because it is a sci-fi take on the Cinderella story told in a Star Wars <\/em>style epic tale that just so happens to feature people from all over the world (and moon). \u00a0This is the perfect book to teach along with any fairy tale or fractured fairy tale unit.<\/p>\n

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there wasn\u2019t any shortage of books dealing with social justice issues.\u00a0 However, I wanted to find something Canadian for a couple of reasons.\u00a0 First, I think it\u2019s important to support Canadian authors.\u00a0 Second, I think it\u2019s important for kids to read about things they are familiar with.\u00a0 Dodger Boy<\/em> by Sarah Ellis takes place in 1970\u2019s Vancouver where thirteen-year-old Charlotte meets Tom, a draft dodger escaping the Vietnam war.\u00a0 The book teaches about topics such as conflict and war, civil disobedience, censorship, and much more.\u00a0 As Charlotte learns about these issues and begins to form her worldview, I think it will make the readers think about their own beliefs as well.<\/p>\n

I next looked for a book where I could find my own culture represented.\u00a0 I think that people have underestimated the power and demand for cultural representation in all forms of media.\u00a0 Look to the success of Black Panther<\/em> and Crazy Rich Asians<\/em>.\u00a0 We have our own cultures represented in stories so that we can see ourselves in the characters and have our stories told.\u00a0 \u201cMulticultural literature is much more than telling the story about an individual in a particular place or time; it is a story of a group\u2019s experiences that reflect their history, their current existence, and their future\u201d (Turner, 2016).\u00a0 I came across two books.\u00a0 The first was See You in the Cosmos<\/em> by Jack Cheung.\u00a0 It features a Filipino American boy journeying across America, recording what life is like, and wanting to launch his golden iPod into space.\u00a0 I thought that this would be a good book to pair with any space-themed unit.\u00a0 The second book I found I had already read.\u00a0 It is a graphic novel called American Born Chinese<\/em> by Gene Luen Yang.\u00a0 I was particularly engaged with this book because it told what it meant to be Chinese in three different ways: the Chinese myth of the Monkey King, a Chinese kid adapting to America, and Chinese stereotypes we have to deal with.<\/p>\n

Graphic novels are actually where I learned about diversity and prejudice.\u00a0 I spent much of my childhood hanging out at 7-Eleven reading X-Men comics off the rack.\u00a0 Those comics dealt with \u201cmutants\u201d being persecuted against for being different.\u00a0 Garrison and Gavigan (2019) found that graphic novels show higher numbers of racial diversity than traditional books.\u00a0 This makes them ideal as tools to teach social justice issues.\u00a0 In addition to that, the added visual component of the format has several advantages over simple text.\u00a0 Boerman-Cornell et al. (2017) call the interplay between the visuals and text picture\/text hybridity.\u00a0 They say that this combination of words and pictures helps students to create meaning in a new way and has the following benefits:<\/p>\n