Imagine walking on beach and finding an old camera. When you develop the photos, you see amazing creatures (a blowfish becomes a hot air balloon). Slowly, you discover that the camera has been used by children for many years. Author/illustrator David Wiesner has created an amazing, magical world in his witty picture book, "Flotsam," the winner of the 2007 CALDECOTT AWARD, which was announced Monday, January 21, in Seattle, WA.
CALDECOTT HONORS go to author/illustrator David McLimans for "Gone Wild, an endangered animal alphabet." Every letter features a different animal, and McLimans captures the essence of the animal without contorting the animal into the alphabet shapes. A box on each page tells us facts about the featured animal (habitat, number in the wild, etc.).
CALDECOTT HONORS also go to "Moses, when Harriet Tubman led her people to freedom." Among first and second graders at Jamestown, this was the most popular book. It shows us Tubman's journey to freedom, illustrates her close relationship with her God, and the conviction that led her to help bring other slaves to freedom. The illustrations are rich, moody and powerful. The large format contributes to the strong effect this book has on readers.
Monday, January 22, 2007
What is "appropriate" literature in the Jamestown library?
FOR PARENTS:
An observant parent recently pointed out "Evvy's Civil War" by Miriam Brenaman, which her 4th grade daughter had been reading. While the book gamely addresses the challenges of being a girl during the American Civil War, it also delves into dark realms in it's treatment of the plight of being a slave girl. Brenaman writes that she wanted to show today's girls (and boys) what it was like to be constrained so severely, simply by accident of birth. Benaman's depiction is engaging, and earned a number of enthusiastic reviews when it was published. Nevertheless, I pulled it from the library and offered it to a middle or high school library, and here's why: the book deals with issues (rape being the primary one) in a way that I perceive to be too detailed for the average 10 or 11-year-old. Yes, it's *my* perception. Because there is no hard and fast rule about what should or shouldn't be in an elementary school library, I and my school library colleagues consider the following:
1. Value of the work as literature: is it well written?
2. Value of the content of the material: is it up-to-date? does the work treat the content accurately?
3. Relevance to the curriculum: is the content relevant to our curriculum? if not, does it enrich the curriculum or the body of literature about the subject? This is a teaching library, so our primary focus is on supporting and enhancing the established curriculum.
4. Age and maturity of readers: does the work treat issues in a way that *the average* young child is able understand? At Jamestown we have many precocious readers, children who are capable of reading adult literature. However, their ability to relate to or comprehend more complex emotional material (for example) is limited to their brief life experience. There is so much great literature written specifically for children that for our limited collection I still have many choices without buying material intended for older audiences.
5. Popularity: some materials (e.g., "Geronimo Stilton," "American Girl" series) are in the library because they are fun to read. One of our missions in the school library is to help engender a love of literature and reading. Sometimes these works do not fit into the curriculum model. I estimate that less than 25% of our collection fits into this category.
These are some of the factors that are considered before any book, magazine, DVD or database is added to our collection. I would be happy to talk to anyone who has questions or concerns about this policy, or about any of the choices we make here in the library.
An observant parent recently pointed out "Evvy's Civil War" by Miriam Brenaman, which her 4th grade daughter had been reading. While the book gamely addresses the challenges of being a girl during the American Civil War, it also delves into dark realms in it's treatment of the plight of being a slave girl. Brenaman writes that she wanted to show today's girls (and boys) what it was like to be constrained so severely, simply by accident of birth. Benaman's depiction is engaging, and earned a number of enthusiastic reviews when it was published. Nevertheless, I pulled it from the library and offered it to a middle or high school library, and here's why: the book deals with issues (rape being the primary one) in a way that I perceive to be too detailed for the average 10 or 11-year-old. Yes, it's *my* perception. Because there is no hard and fast rule about what should or shouldn't be in an elementary school library, I and my school library colleagues consider the following:
1. Value of the work as literature: is it well written?
2. Value of the content of the material: is it up-to-date? does the work treat the content accurately?
3. Relevance to the curriculum: is the content relevant to our curriculum? if not, does it enrich the curriculum or the body of literature about the subject? This is a teaching library, so our primary focus is on supporting and enhancing the established curriculum.
4. Age and maturity of readers: does the work treat issues in a way that *the average* young child is able understand? At Jamestown we have many precocious readers, children who are capable of reading adult literature. However, their ability to relate to or comprehend more complex emotional material (for example) is limited to their brief life experience. There is so much great literature written specifically for children that for our limited collection I still have many choices without buying material intended for older audiences.
5. Popularity: some materials (e.g., "Geronimo Stilton," "American Girl" series) are in the library because they are fun to read. One of our missions in the school library is to help engender a love of literature and reading. Sometimes these works do not fit into the curriculum model. I estimate that less than 25% of our collection fits into this category.
These are some of the factors that are considered before any book, magazine, DVD or database is added to our collection. I would be happy to talk to anyone who has questions or concerns about this policy, or about any of the choices we make here in the library.
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