Helping Children in a New Era

Exactly 55 years ago today, I sat in front of a black and white television set in my parents' basement and listened to John F. Kennedy ask us to think about what we could do for our country. I can't remember why I was not in school that day; I must have been home sick, since my parents would never let me stay home for any other reason. And my memory of that day has been conflated with the much clearer memories of November 22, 1963, when I was several years older and all of us were transfixed by the horror of JFK's assassination.

There is a very different kind of individual being sworn in as president today. This is not a political discussion. The facts of the election speak for themselves and the results of the popular and electoral votes are well known. Whatever your political views, it is good to see that our nation's strong history of peaceful transition of power has held sway, and that the checks and balances of our democracy will likely help balance out the impact of a new approach to governing.

The  most important thing that parents can do in this time of change is to be aware of their own state of mind, especially any anxiety they may be feeling, and to help their children cope with the different tone and policies of our new national leadership.

One excellent tool to help parents address a wide array of issues with their children - from respecting the views of others to social change and civic engagement -- is a book list created by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Reach Out and Read. The list is broken down by age groups and was created specifically to deal with issues families might face after the contentious election.

There are also a number of practical articles and blogs that look at how parents can help their children deal with a different political climate and with the anxiety that might trigger. One blog, from The Huffington Post, includes a suggestion from psychologist Dr. Nancy Mramor common to many commentators, who often characterize it as "Put on your own oxygen mask first."

Dr. Mramor notes, "Making peace with uncertainty and finding ways to temper your own stress levels may be the most important key to being a good parent ... “If parents get the care that they need for themselves,” she added, “then they’re going to be able to be better parents for their children.”

Teachers may find resources from Teaching Tolerance helpful in their classrooms and these may be useful for parents as well. And parents may find that some of the tips in a CNBC post-election blog, based on research supported findings, can help them to be less anxious, and thus more able to help them help their children.

Top Five Resources for Special Education Teachers

There is an abundance of exceptional, well researched literature out there for teachers who work with diverse students to draw from. However, I find that there are a select few texts that I refer back to regularly for clarification, insight or strategies. I have culled and whittled down my bookshelf to my top five picks, and described the merits of each text:

1. Exceptional Lives: Special Education in Today's Schools (7th Edition) by Ann Turnbull, Rud Turnbull, Michael L. Wehmeyer and Karrie A. Shogren

Exceptional Lives provides a detailed, robust description of the different disability categories and federal special education laws. This excellent text is a foundational "read and return to" resource for any teacher working with diverse learners. Throughout the text, the authors use the framework of three guiding themes: Inclusion, Partnerships, and Universal Design for Progress.

2. Assistive Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities by Amy G. Dell, Deborah Newton and Jerry G. Petroff

This text discusses how assistive technology can be used to achieve the ideals of universal design for learning and differentiated instruction. The authors do not focus on disability categories; they reject one-sized fits all approaches by focusing on providing strategies and tools for specific needs. However, technology is changing rapidly and any book written about technology can become obsolete quickly. Thus, one of the merits of this resource is that the text comes with an accompanying website that the authors update with new tools and advancements in the latest research. 

3. Universal Design for Learning in the Classroom: Practical Applications (What Works for Special-Needs Learners) by Tracey E. Hall, PhD, Anne Meyer, EdD, and David H. Rose, EdD

This practical text describes the underlying principles of universal design for learning (UDL), and details tangible ways to use UDL to meet the needs of diverse students across age levels. This book has the power to equip teachers with the skills required to develop classroom goals, assessments and learning materials that use UDL. The book is cross curricular and provides examples and strategies for reading, writing, science, mathematics, history, and the arts. 

4. The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind by Daniel J. Siegel, MD and Tina Payne Bryson, PhD

Although traditionally a parenting book, the principles of The Whole Brain Child are equally as valuable for teachers working with diverse learners. The book is a simple, practical resource that features twelve strategies for helping kids thrive in the face of common childhood challenges. The text hinges on the current medical and psychological understanding of child cognitive development and describes how a child’s brain is wired. The book explains how to use the understanding of a child’s brain to promote pro-social behavior in children. Drs. Siegel and Bryson also publish the The Whole-Brain Child Workbook: Practical Exercises, Worksheets and Activities to Nurture Developing Minds to help educators and parents deploy the twelve strategies.

5. Smart but Scattered: The Revolutionary "Executive Skills" Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential by Peg Dawson, EdD and Richard Guare, PhD

Often learners with special needs struggle with the important executive functioning skills required to sustain focus, follow directions, complete tasks and regulate their impulses. Smart but Scattered is a great resource for both parents and teachers to help children learn the important skills of organization, time management, problem solving and coping with their emotions. The book provides simple assessment tools to help evaluate your students' strengths and challenges accompanied by activities and strategies to help build their deficient skills.

Picture Books That Celebrate Latino Culture

Some of childhood’s earliest lessons come from the pages of books. Trips to the bookshelf can expose kids to new information and ideas and teach them vivid lessons about life, all without having to leave home. It is too bad, then, that most of the picture books children see and hear feature characters that look the same. Kids of color love reading books about diverse characters, but young readers of any race or ethnicity can benefit from picture books that value the experiences of non-white characters.

To diversify the reading list of children in your life, here are some picture books we love that feature Mexican and Mexican-American characters. Race and culture are major themes in some, while others are simply stories in which the characters’ ethnic background is not underscored. Some of the books contain Spanish words, which children will enjoy learning; others are bilingual so that the whole text is presented in both English and Spanish side-by-side. For extra fun, we recommend helping kids look for cognates, or words that are the same or almost the same in both languages, such as “diaro” and “diary” in My Diary From Here to There.

Our list is roughly organized from less sophisticated themes to more complex themes. We recommend reading these books to children below third grade or so.

Abuela by Arthur Durros

Just a Minute by Yuyi Morales

What Can You Do with a Paleta? by Carmen Tafolla

My Abuelita by Tony Johnson

The Old Man and His Door by Gary Soto

I Love Saturdays y domingos by Alma Flor Ada

Dear Primo by Duncan Tonatiuh

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto

The Perfect Season for Dreaming by Benjamin Aliera Saenz

Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora

Alejandro’s Gift by Richard Albert

The Gullywasher by Joyce Rossi

My Diary From Here to There by Amada Irma Perez

First Book Offers Incentive to Promote Diversity in Children’s Publishing

Browsing the shelves of a children’s bookstore can be a delightful experience. But just a few minutes in nearly any store or library reveals a disturbing disparity: Though young readers are increasingly diverse, the vast majority of children’s books feature characters that seem cast from the same mold. Most are about white kids from white families. Few characters with disabilities or different sexual orientations appear even as supporting characters, let alone as featured protagonists. According to Kyle Zimmer, CEO of an organization that distributes free books to needy kids called First Book, this is a big problem. It’s harder for children to be enthusiastic about reading when the books available don’t feel relevant to their lives, and this puts millions of kids at risk for lowered reading achievement.

In an interview with NPR, Zimmer pointed out some troubling statistics: In a survey of 3,600 children’s books, only 3.3% starred African American kids and 1.5% featured Latino children. According to Zimmer, research by First Book indicates that kids are far more likely to become enthusiastic readers when they “see themselves” in books. And she adds, importantly, that the benefit of diversity in books extends beyond groups outside the majority; all kids can benefit from reading about the experiences and perspectives of different groups.

Ezra Jack Keat's wonderful books
 feature African American children

To promote diversity in publishing, First Book has launched a new project. Stories For All  offers an incentive to publishers by offering them a guaranteed market for books about characters from under-represented communities and groups. Publishers can present books by unpublished authors that promote diversity to First Book and they will buy 10,000 copies of each of the best ones.

First Book, by the way, is an incredibly worthy organization worth checking out. To date, almost 90,000 classrooms and non-profits have signed up with First Book, meaning that millions of children now have books to call their own. And their programs have been so successful that school personnel report elevated test scores, more literacy activity at home, and tripled interest in reading among kids who get books from First Book. Their call to promote diversity in publishing is just one more expression of the group’s innovative thinking; First Book has dreamed up some very inventive ways to get books into the hands of deserving kids. Their Marketplace sells heavily discounted books to community programs and schools that serve children in need. And their Book Bank is a clearinghouse for publishers’ unsold inventory, allowing excess books to be donated to millions of kids.

If this has got you interested in books about diverse characters, check out our post “Girls of Color Star in Three OutstandingTransitional Book Series” for some suggested titles. We hope these titles will tide you over until Stories for All bears fruit and launches fresh offerings into the market. 

Recommended Reads: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green*

Ages: High school

Plot: Adolescence is confusing. Young love is complicated. Hazel, our protagonist, is more intimately knowledgeable about these truths than most teenagers, as a sixteen-year-old with terminal cancer. A last-minute experiment with a new drug is temporarily holding her cancer at bay, but there is no question that she is living on borrowed time. Hazel is constantly accompanied by a cylinder of oxygen. This makes her unusual. But her relationship with Augustus, an irrepressible boy she meets at a cancer support group when he tags along with a friend, leaves her thrilled, dazed, insecure, and giddy. In other words, she’s also just about as normal as they come. The budding love between Hazel and Augustus is, naturally, doomed from the start. But they find wisdom and meaning and, ultimately, peace despite being impossibly star-crossed, and readers will walk away from the book feeling at once sober and joyful.

Our Take: John Green is one of the most admirable authors for young adults out there because he refuses to shy away from, or even water down, some of the biggest and toughest issues in life - not just life as a teenager, but capital-L-Life. Nowhere is this more apparent than in The Fault in Our Stars. A teenager with terminal cancer? Not featured in a sad side story but as the main character? Of a first-person novel? It doesn’t get much more blunt than that. Just as Green plows full steam ahead into territory that’s tough for adults to broach with kids – no matter that teenagers are talking and thinking about it anyway – he doesn’t hold back in making his books intelligent even though they are written for young people. In fact, maybe their intended audience is the very reason that Green’s books are so unabashedly authentic. We love the respect Green shows teenagers by writing books filled with references to Shakespeare and Dickinson (some identified and some subtle), witty characters, sophisticated vocabulary, and big, complicated, abstract ideas that kids will relish wrestling with. The Fault in Our Stars, as well as Green’s other novels, is the kind of book teens will think about. They’ll talk their friends about it. They’ll reread it, and it will guide them in a way that couldn’t be less pedantic or preachy toward the kind of introspection that teenagers aren’t exactly known for. We doubt that Green is even the smallest bit surprised at the sophisticated reactions his novels evoke in young readers, though. He clearly knows that they are more than capable.

To those worried that a book about the tragedy of a doomed teenager is exploitative or relies on shock value for its power, we simply say: Read it, and read it with an open mind. It’s a valid concern at the outset (one that concerned us, we admit, upon beginning The Fault in Our Stars), but this book is a valuable one both because of and in spite of Hazel’s bad luck.

Adult Content: Green refuses to condescend to young readers by skirting the sensitive topics that play roles in their lives, even if those topics make adults squirm. There is sex in this book (it is not gratuitous, and distracted readers might well miss it), Hazel drinks champagne in one scene, and there is some colorful language. Don’t be shocked. Your high school student won’t be.

*the author of Looking for Alaska, which we recently reviewed

Recommended Reads: Looking for Alaska by John Green

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Ages: High school

Awards: Printz Medal

Plot: Our hero is intelligent, skinny, friendless Miles, who chooses to finish his final two years of high school at Culver Creek, a selective boarding school in Alabama. Miles is definitely in for an education: Not only are his classes more challenging than he ever could have imagined, but he is embraced by a group of new friends unlike anyone he’s ever known before. Miles’s awkwardness slowly dissipates as he finds his place in this tight-knit group, made up of his roommate Chip “the Colonel” Martin, exotic and innocently alluring international student Lara, gifted hip-hop freestyle artist Takumi, and mysterious Alaska. Alaska is the most intriguing girl Miles has ever encountered. She is beautiful, witty, worldly, charismatic, and deeply unhappy. She is moody and unpredictable, but also more fun than anyone Miles has ever known. Then the unthinkable happens, and Miles and his friends lean on each other as they struggle to make sense of their lives in its wake.

Our take: Within the first few pages, Miles quotes writer Francois Rabelais’s last words, “I go to seek a Great Perhaps,” to explain his decision to attend boarding school to his parents. This makes it clear from the start that Miles isn’t your average teenager. Or is he? As the book unfolds, young readers will find that while Miles is certainly smart and has some unusual hobbies (he loves to read biographies and memorize the last words of famous people, for example), he’s still a pretty typical kid. He’s embarrassed by his body, overthinks most social situations, and is desperate for a girlfriend. And, like many teenagers, his lack of self-awareness is blended with self-absorption in a way that makes the world feel confusing at times. Miles is able, with the help of his friends and a lot of introspection, to find a measure of peace by the end of the book. Some of his wounds are still raw, but he’s found a way to begin healing himself, and his journey will be especially valuable to kids who have experienced the sting of loss. We particularly love the way Miles’s friendship with the Colonel is developed; while many YA books explore the depth of female friendships, too few portray the range of emotions present in relationships between adolescent boys. This haunting book will captivate almost any teenager.

Adult themes: The teenagers in this book all smoke, swear, and experiment with alcohol. The book contains some sexually explicit material, as well. Concerned parents should read it first, but keep in mind that we’d never recommend anything we thought was inappropriate, and many schools around the country have added Looking for Alaska to their ELA curricula.

Recommended Reads: Between Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys      

Grades: 7 and up

Awards: William C. Morris Debut Award Finalist

Plot: Between Shades of Gray tells the story of a fictional character’s experiences during Stalin’s little-acknowledged attempt to “cleanse” the Baltic region of anti-Soviet populations he considered undesirable. The book opens on a night in 1941 when fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and her younger brother are forced from their home by armed Soviet soldiers and deported. Lina’s gentle, thoughtful father is considered by the Soviets to be a dangerous intellectual, and his family is guilty by association. Lina eventually learns that her father was separately arrested earlier that day and has been sent to a prison camp. Meanwhile, she is loaded into a filthy, crowded train car with her mother and brother and sent to Siberia, where they are forced to fight for their lives in a work camp. The family and other deportees endure starvation, illness, freezing temperatures, cruel guards, and backbreaking labor. Lina struggles to remain hopeful in the face of the very harshest adversity, buoyed by her mother’s incredible love and strength. 

Adult Content: None, though the book relates a vicious period in history and violence is described in the book (not gratuitously). It should be noted that the themes in this book are very stark and some young readers may find them excessively troubling.

Our Take: This book is incredibly harrowing. Although most sixth graders should be able to read the sentences without difficulty, wrapping their heads around the content may not come as easily. We recommend that parents and teachers hand this book only to students who demonstrate a good measure of emotional maturity. Author Sepetys is the child of a Lithuanian refugee, and her burning need to communicate to the world what her father’s motherland endured during the Russian invasion is almost tangible throughout the book. Sepetys did a great deal of research before writing Between Shades of Gray, much of which involved interviewing survivors about their experiences. She shares information about her process and experiences in the back of the book, which makes for a fascinating endnote. Few adults know much about this particularly bleak facet of World War II, which is startling when one considers the scope of Stalin’s destruction; it is estimated that more than six million people were affected by these forced migrations from the Baltics and that over a million people died as a result. Between Shades of Gray will teach readers about this dark chapter of history, and about the indomitable nature of the human spirit and the power of love.

A History of Young Adult Literature

Recently, we enjoyed reading a chronology of young adult literature by CNN's Ashley Strickland that was full of both facts and insights. Some highlights:

Photo: (Duncan) via Flickr, modified

• 16- to 29-year-olds check out more books from libraries than any other age group.

• The first book considered to be written specifically for teenagers, Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly, hit the shelves in 1942.

• In the early days, most books for young adults centered around two themes: sports (for boys) and romance (for girls). This changed in 1967 with S. E. Hinton’s gritty classic The Outsiders, which provided teens with a less rosy, more dramatic and realistic story.

• Through the 1980s and most of the 1990s, most books for adolescents covered the joys and pains of adolescence (romance, heartbreak, divorce, drug abuse, fitting in, being misunderstood, finding one’s place) in similar ways. All that changed when Harry Potter flew onto the scene in 1997, opening the door for more fantasy like the Twilight series. 

This seems to be the era of dystopian novels. Lois Lowry’s The Giver is probably the best-known early offering in this genre, though it came out in 1993 and didn't inspire too many imitators – at least, not right away. Now, however, series like The Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner, and Uglies are flying off the shelves. What is it about this style that young people find so appealing? Perhaps it’s the genre’s ability to blend the fantastic with the realistic. CNN's Strickland postulates that young people prefer books that feel “real,” and dystopian novels can capture the imagination while still presenting characters and situations that feel relatable.

The article also states that theme of transformation and change will always be a hallmark of successful young adult books because it reflects the issues teens confront in their own lives. Young people, it seems, can find comfort in the chronicles of characters also struggling to navigate their changing landscapes. Despite the dark themes in many young adult books, nearly all of the heroes emerge victorious in the end, if somewhat battle-scarred by their journeys. These triumphs, perhaps, give young people confidence that they, too, can be successful.

We’re thrilled that teenagers have so many appealing books to choose from. We’re also happy that so many of them star bold, admirable female heroes. In fact, though there are certainly plenty of new books more likely to appeal only to girls or to boys, an increasing number of novels seem to be equally popular with both genders. We love this unifying trend in literature – the line between men and women’s roles in our culture is becoming increasingly blurred, and it seems appropriate that books are echoing this drift.

Engaging adolescents with compelling young adult literature is a wonderful way to cultivate a love of reading that will last into adulthood. And studies show that reading widely and frequently improves vocabulary, builds background knowledge, enhances empathy, and exercises higher thinking skills. There has never been a better time to be a reading teen!

Great Graphic Novels for the Middle Grades

Finding reading material for kids in the middle grades can be tough, especially when those kids are resistant to reading in the first place. Luckily graphic novels can be a wonderful bridge from picture books to chapter books, and there are a multitude of high-quality offerings for kids in the third through sixth grades. Below are some of our favorites; the humor and outside-the-box style of these gems should entice suspicious youngsters to keep turning pages under the covers long after lights-out!


The Adventures of Tintin series by Hergé – grades 3 and up

These classic books are beloved around the world. Kids will love reading about reporter Tintin’s madcap adventures, which are infused with elements of humor, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, and political intrigue. There are quite a few to choose from, too, so get your student hooked and you won’t have to worry about what she should read next for months. Don’t forget that there is a Tintin movie as well, which would work well as incentive for reading a Tintin book or as a way to whet kids’ appetites before they crack open the paper version.


Akiko series by Mark Crilley – grades 3 and up

Students with an interest in manga will enjoy this series, which is reminiscent of the wildly popular Japanese genre. The books tell about the adventures of ten-year-old Akiko, who dashes around this world and other worlds in a series of adventure stories.






Meanwhile by Jason Shiga – grades 3 and up

Remember Choose Your Own Adventure books? This graphic novel is like that, only better. On the first page, our hero Jimmy must make the seemingly simple decision of whether to have chocolate or vanilla ice cream, kicking off a series of further decisions with different outcomes. How many? The book claims to contain 3,856 possible plotlines! Meanwhile is non-traditional even by graphic novel standards, and may be unique enough to tempt even the most reluctant of readers.



Smile by Raina Telgemeier – grades 3 and up

Unlike many graphic novels, this one is geared toward girls. Sixth grader Raina thinks the prospect of getting braces is bad enough, but when she trips and injures her two front teeth, the series of unpleasant medical treatments, painful surgeries, and embarrassing orthodontia that follows makes plain old braces seem downright appealing. In the background of Raina’s medical drama are crushes, complications with friends, and a major earthquake, making for a fast-paced, rich story. This book serves up a lot of realistic issues in a light-hearted, often humorous format and will be enormously appealing to girls. Smile is not part of a series, but fans will want to check out author Telgemeier’s other, similar offerings.


Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick – grades 4 and up

If you’ve heard of Selznick, it’s probably because of his sensational first book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, an enormous tome filled with complex, mesmerizing art that helps to tell a rich story. Wonderstruck follows the same format, this time chronicling the adventures of friends Ben and Rose as they set out to find the pieces they feel are missing from their lives. Artistic children in particular will be spellbound by Wonderstruck.




Calvin and Hobbes series by Bill Watterson – grades 5 and up

OK, these books aren’t exactly graphic novels, but to call them “comic books” is to sell the series short. Calvin and Hobbes is chock full of sophisticated vocabulary and philosophical quandaries, blended so seamlessly with space adventures, snowball fights, and schoolroom shenanigans that kids won’t know they’re learning. Some of the humor in these strips may be a bit much for younger kids (how many fifth graders are going to double over laughing when Calvin polls “household six-year-olds” to present his father with approval ratings?) but they’ll appreciate a lot of Calvin’s antics.

Banned Books Week Is Here

What do Harry Potter, Catcher in the Rye, A Wrinkle in Time, A Light in the Attic, and Call of the Wild have in common? For one, they’re all great works of literature. And, according to the American Library Association, they’re all frequently challenged books, too.

We think the freedom to read what we choose is worth celebrating! If you’re looking for ways to observe Banned Books Week, which runs from September 22 to September 28 this year, the ALA’s website dedicated to reading and intellectual freedom is a great place to start. Below, we've outlined a few other ideas as well. Happy reading!

Events

Looking for a way to celebrate the right to read in your area? Check out the Banned Books Week Events page for a list of happenings at libraries and bookstores around the country. Don’t see an event near you? Start your own.

Embrace Social Media

Make distracting services like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram work for you by using them as platforms to examine and discuss censorship. Start by reviewing a list of frequently challenged books with students. Help your younger child pick an appropriate book for story time and take teenagers to the library so they can check out a copy of a book that sounds compelling. Then post a picture of your child with her nose buried in these “controversial” volumes. Invite her to write a captions for the picture to share her thoughts about the book or the idea of censorship. If you tweet, be sure to use #bannedbooksweek to ensure your child’s post is associated with this event.

Virtual Read-Out

Speaking of social media, the Banned Books Week organization has established a dedicated YouTube channel to allow readers from all over the world to submit videos in which they explain why the freedom to read is valuable to them and read a short excerpt from their favorite banned book. To add your voice or your child’s voice, visit the site  to learn about the criteria for participation and fill out the form for video submission.

First Amendment Film Festival

Love intellectual freedom but not exactly a bookworm? Consider arranging your own film festival to explore the topic of censorship through film. Alone or with students or friends, watch a selection of fictional films and documentaries from an ALA list, such as Good Night and Good Luck, Inherit the Wind, Smothered, and Tell It Like It Is.

Show Your Colors

Turn freedom into a fashion statement! You can make this simple by helping kids use fabric paint to design their own tote bags or t-shirts promoting the idea of the right to read or their favorite banned book. Alternately, you can turn to the pros. Some of our favorite banned book products include a bracelet  made of tiles displaying the covers of various banned books; a tote bag from New York’s iconic Strand bookstore; and a large selection of bookish merchandise from Out of Print, including t-shirts, phone cases, stationery, and more.

Recommended Reads: Wonder by R.J. Palacio

We continue our occasional Friday series, Recommended Reads, which looks at book recommendations for children and young adults, with R.J. Palacio's critically acclaimed Wonder.

Ages: 8 and up (Note: Most eight-year-olds will be able to read the words in this book and understand the plot, but it’s appropriate for kids through middle school as well; the themes are that complex and compelling.)

Awards: Wonder has received laudatory reviews and awards too numerous to list, but which can be found on the website of its publisher, Random House.

Plot: Wonder tells the story of August Pullman, a pretty typical ten-year-old—on the inside. But Auggie was born with a dramatic facial deformity, so serious that he has never been able to go to school because he’s been in and out of the hospital for surgeries (27 of them so far) and needed constant medical attention. But the year he turns ten, he nervously enters a school for the first time on the first day of fifth grade. Auggie’s year is rough in a lot of ways. All he wants is to blend in, but with a face like his, that’s impossible. Some of the other kids tease him behind his back, and most others simply avoid him. But gradually Auggie’s sweet disposition, intelligence, grit, and wicked sense of humor start to win over some of his classmates.

Our Take: Holy cow. Stop whatever you’re doing and read this book. Now. Buy a copy for every kid you know. In fact, buy a copy for every adult you know, too. Wonder is one of the most compelling books we’ve read in a long time. This story is sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, and always uncannily real - so real that it’s difficult to believe that R.J. Palacio is a normal-looking adult woman and not a boy with craniofacial abnormalities. Auggie is brave but still very human and fallible, as are his parents who struggle to walk the line between shielding their son from the cruelty of the world and being over-protective. Very vivid portraits of other people in his life, like his sister and kids in his class, accompany Auggie’s in this character-driven book.

The first part of Wonder is told in first-person from Auggie’s perspective, but then, without warning, the narrative is taken over by various family members and friends before turning back to Auggie again. The result is a rich, nuanced portrait of Auggie’s experience, allowing the reader to walk around in Auggie’s skin but also to come to know him from the more objective perspective of others as well. This is the kind of book that will cause kids to wrestle with big, abstract themes like compassion, indifference, friendship, popularity, growing up, and fitting in versus standing out. Auggie’s attitude as he plays the tough hand life dealt him is inspirational. As it turns out, he’s a beautiful person.

Recommended Reads: Down the Rabbit Hole

Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams 

Ages: 10 and up

Awards: Nominated for the Edgar Award, a prize awarded by the Mystery Writers of America for distinguished work in the mystery genre.

Plot: Thirteen-year-old Ingrid has a lot going for her. She’s a star soccer player and a great actress -- so good that she lands the leading role in an upcoming community production of Alice in Wonderland. But Ingrid’s life turns complicated when a pair of her shoes goes missing and turns up in a crime scene! A local woman has been murdered, and it turns out that Ingrid was the last one (other than the killer, of course) to see her alive. Anxious to avoid dealing with the police, lest they get the wrong idea about her involvement, Ingrid puts her pluck, smarts, and sleuthing skills (learned through an obsessive reading of Sherlock Holmes’s mysteries) to work to track down the killer. The end is suspenseful and satisfying, and readers will be hooked from the first chapter.

Adult themes: There’s not too much that’s overtly objectionable in this book. Ingrid shares her first kiss with Joey Strade, but it’s an innocent scene that’s fittingly charming and awkward. On a darker note, Ingrid’s brother Ty is working out a lot, building muscle fast and behaving increasingly aggressively, but the suspicion that he may be using performance enhancing drugs is not broached overtly until the second book in the series.

Our Take: Ingrid is ridden with just enough teeny-bopper angst to make her believable, but enough wit, courage, and poise to make her likeable to both adults and kids. The mystery is well-paced and, even for an adult reader, full of enough twists and turns to make the solution tough to guess until near the end. We’d expect nothing less from bestselling mystery author Peter Abrahams; though this is his first novel for young people, he’s clearly a seasoned craftsman of the genre. The suspense in this book is well-balanced with quirky, ironic humor, however, which is an unexpected touch in a mystery that should especially appeal to young readers. Bookish types will appreciate the clever literary allusions that pepper the book, from the more obvious references to Sherlock Holmes and Alice in Wonderland to the more subtle Shakespearean references. Readers will love following Ingrid’s search for the truth in this novel, all the way to its nail-biter ending.

Sequels: Down the Rabbit Hole is the first of a three-part series called Echo Falls Mysteries. Its sequels are Behind the Curtain and Into the Dark.

Connect with The Yellin Center on Goodreads

We have written quite a few posts referring our readers to outside sources that help young readers find books they’ll love. Now, we’re proud to point you toward a resource of our own! If you have a Goodreads account, you can sign up to follow The Yellin Center and take advantage of our large list of recommended titles!

About Goodreads

Goodreads, for those who don’t yet use it, is an online networking site for book lovers. After creating a free account, users have lots of options. They can add friends to get updates about books their connections are reading and learn about what books their friends loved and hated. The site is also a great way to keep track of book lists; users can search for books by title or author or by browsing themed lists created by other users, then save books that they've read or books they want to read. Completed books can be rated, and users can even write their own reviews. It’s also possible to create share-able lists (some titles are “Zombies!” and “Books a Middle Schooler Should Read”) using the Listopia function. One the most fun aspects of this feature is that other users can vote on the books in your list, which will rank the titles accordingly. Each user will have the option of using pre-named shelves (Want to Read, Currently Reading, and Read) and also adding shelves they name themselves.

The Yellin Center on Goodreads

Our Goodreads account is designed to share our favorite books with a wide audience. After “friending” us you can browse through our list of more than 350 (and growing) titles. We've placed our books on shelves according to reading level, genre, and theme, and included other information such as whether there is a movie adaptation of the book available. We also have shelves for books that are great for reading aloud, books about parenting, books about teaching and learning, and books about the brain. And we've actually read all of the books on our list, which means we can confidently stand behind our categories, ratings, and reviews.

We hope you’ll investigate our page and take advantage of this resource! Feel free to share it with others, and let us know what titles we should check out next.

Recommended Reads: Classic Humor for Young Readers

Our Recommended Reads series continues today with a look at some classic humorous series for young readers.

New offerings to the overflowing children’s books genre abound, and some of them are worthy indeed. But with all these flashy newcomers, it can be easy to forget about some of the time-tested classics whose humor will continue to motivate and appeal to children even decades after they were originally published. Below are some of our favorite series, which are as delightful and relevant today as they were when they first hit the shelves. Of note, while girls will certainly enjoy the books below, they will be particularly appealing to boys.

The Nate the Great series, by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, illustrated by Marc Simont
Ages: 6 and up

Believe it or not, this boy detective made his debut in 1972! Along with his trusty dog Sludge, Nate the Great solves more than twenty mysteries in this wonderful series. The narration is in first person, allowing readers to enjoy Nate the Great’s cool, Sam Spade-like detachment. The deadly serious tone of the writing contrasts brilliantly with the fun illustrations and decidedly undignified situations in which Nate finds himself, making the books laugh-out-loud funny. Children will enjoy attempting to solve the surprisingly tricky mysteries alongside this great sleuth.

The Fox series, by Edward Marshall, illustrated by James Marshall*
Ages: 6 and up

This easy-to-read series, which debuted in 1982, is the brainchild of the incomparable James Marshall, who gave us the Miss Nelson and George and Martha series, among others. The books chronicle the exploits of Fox, a somewhat devious youngster who loves nothing more than skateboarding with “the gang.” Alas, Fox’s plans are often thwarted by the demands of school and helping out around the house. Fox often attempts to skirt obligations like minding his younger sister Louise or shopping for items on his mother’s endless grocery list, but things usually don’t turn out quite the way he plans. Kids will love reading about his hilarious antics, and the tongue-in-cheek illustrations add to the humor.

The Time Warp Trio series by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith
Ages: 7 and up

We agree that you can’t judge books by their covers, but with titles like Knights of the Kitchen Table, Your Mother was a Neanderthal, and Viking It and Liking It, kids will be hooked before even opening these enjoyable chapter books. Scieszka’s series, complete with funny illustrations, tells about the adventures of Joe and his friends Sam and Fred. Joe’s magician uncle sends him a mysterious book for his birthday that allows the three to travel through time. They visit places/eras like Medieval England, Renaissance Italy, the Stone Age, and Ancient Egypt, and even flash forward in time to the year 2095 for madcap escapades that always nearly end in disaster and always definitely end in laughter. The first book in this series was published in 1991, but all of the titles remain timelessly enjoyable. While your kids may not have a magician for an uncle, they can have just as much fun as the Time Warp Trio by traveling back in time with these series!

*Interesting Fact: Marshall’s full name was James Edward Marshall. He wrote the Fox books as Edward Marshall but illustrated them under his more well-known name, James Marshall.

Poetic Language for Tots

Chris Drumm

When it comes to reading poetry with kids, start young! Even little ones who are still developing language can benefit enormously from hearing poetic language. The rhythms and rhymes in poetry draw kids’ attention to the sounds and patterns in English. This translates to oral language development, and to an important awareness for language sounds (called phonemic awareness) that’s a precursor for reading skills. Exposure to poetry builds vocabulary as well. But perhaps most importantly, poetic language written with kids in mind encourages children to be playful with language and emphasizes the fun aspects of literacy. Milton and Chaucer use some great poetic language, but if you’d rather start your little one with something a bit more child-friendly, here are some ideas:

• Read nursery rhymes to your kids. The simple language is full of appealing rhythm and rhyme. 

• Sing songs like Raffi’s "Willoughy Wallaby Woo" or "The Name Game." Kids will get some great practice with a skill called phoneme manipulation; that is, they’ll practice substituting sounds in words to make new words, which is important for developing reading skills later. They’ll get a good giggle out of using their names and names of their friends and family in the songs, too. 

• Tongue twisters aren’t exactly poetry, but they help hone kids’ attention to language sounds. Try "Peter Piper" or the classic woodchuck twister, or challenge your kids to say, “She sells seashells by the seashore.” 

• Read a rhyming book to your children. Some of our favorites are Llama, Llama, Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney, Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino, Pirates of the Sea! by Brandon Dorman, Hide and Sheep by Andrea Beaty, The Napping House by Audrey Wood, Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate, Moose on the Loose by Kathy-Jo Wargin, and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. Try pausing right before a rhyming word and challenging your kids to guess what word completes the rhyme. 

Highlighting Audiobooks Makes It Easy to Follow Along

We often recommend that struggling readers make use of audiobooks. Listening to books does more than simply allow weak readers to access information. The benefits of audiobooks are many and varied: they expose listeners to literary language, improve decoding skills and word recognition, increase vocabulary, and model fluent oral reading. We have an extensive list of audiobook resources on our website - and recently collaborated with Learning Ally, a nonprofit which is among the leading producers of audiobooks for students with learning challenges (as well as visual impairment).

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Of course, decoding skills and word recognition are best improved when a listener follows along with a written text. Seeing the word while hearing it can enforce a student’s letter-sound associations and sight word recognition. But following along can be difficult for struggling or emerging readers.

Fortunately, there are several services that highlight each word of a digital book as it is read by the device. In this format, the reader listens while looking at an electronic version of the text on a mobile phone, tablet, or computer. The audio track is synced with the words on the page so that each word is highlighted as it is read, allowing readers to follow along easily. Here are a few of our favorite options:

For Beginning Readers

• A subscription to the One More Story website allows readers to choose from a large library of quality picture books. Little readers can listen to and read along with a book of their choosing; favorites like The Snowy Day, Stellaluna, The Poky Little Puppy, How I Became a Pirate, and many more are displayed on digital pages with the original illustrations. For kids who are ready, echo reading mode is available, and kids can choose to hear tough words read aloud for them with a click of the mouse.

• Also subscription-based, Lerner Publishing offers a collection of 237 interactive, highlighting books for readers from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade. Lerner’s digital library  lacks the beloved picture books you’ll find at your local bookstore; instead, their offerings are illustrated, cross-curricular books with titles like Do You Know About Amphibians? and A Mink, a Fink, and a Skating Rink: What is a Noun? Still, most of the text is entertaining and the pictures are both appealing and instructive. Quizzes in the form of games or interactive activities are available at the end of each book.

For Everyone

• Amazon’s partnership with Audible.com has yielded Immersion Reading for Kindle Fire users. After purchasing the Kindle and Audible versions of a book, readers can simply tap the Play icon to begin the professional narration, and words on the screen will be highlighted for them in real time as they listen. All Kindle Fire devices come with this capability. Visit Audible’s FAQ page  for more information.

• Users of the accessible media distributor Bookshare can purchase an app called Read2Go to enable real-time highlighting of any book in Bookshare’s library as they listen. The app can be used on any iDevice.

Reading Club – No Girls Allowed!

Research continues to show that boys have more trouble reading than girls and, even more troubling, that boys’ reading skills are worsening. Instead of wringing his hands, inimitable children’s author Jon Scieszka (the genius behind The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, The Time Warp Trio series, and other much-loved books) took action. Guys Read, a website rich with resources for bringing books to boys, was the result.

The homepage states, “research…shows that boys will read – if they are given reading that interests them,” and the site puts its money where its mouth is by offering a huge, diverse list of all kinds of books that, according to the site, “guys have told us they like.” The list is divided into categories, some familiar (Historical Figures, Funny) but many that are delightfully unexpected (Dragons, Mysterious Occurrences, At Least One Explosion). The lists are not categorized by reading level, alas, but there is a list called “For Little Guys” that should be helpful for guys who are early readers. Older guys will have to click on titles that seem appealing to them to find information about the book’s genre, how many pages it has, and what ages the book would be most appropriate for. They can even rate the book if they've already read it to help other guys. The lists are huge and varied, ranging from picture books like Jumanji to the wonderful tomes that make up the Redwall series. In addition to all these suggestions, Guys Read selects a Book of the Month, which is featured on the homepage. Looking for another way to find great titles for guys? Check out the “This Guy Reads” section, which features male authors’ lists of favorite books.

Jon Scieszka

The site provides resources even if a guy isn't in a reading mood. “Guys Listen” contains a list of audiobooks that might catch a guy’s fancy. And “More Stuff for Guys” includes drawing lessons, comics, and a link to an archive of back issues of National Geographic magazines.

Whether the guys in your life are book lovers or reluctant readers, they’re sure to love Guys Read.


Above images CC by Jon Scieszka

Recommended Reads: Seeds of America Trilogy

We continue our Recommended Reads feature, where we highlight books for children and young adults, with the Seeds of America trilogy of historical novels by Laurie Halse Anderson, published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

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Seeds of America by Laurie Halse Anderson

Chains - (originally published in 2008)
Forge - (originally published in 2010)
Ashes - (due to be released in book format March 1, 2013)

Awards: Chains was a National Book Award finalist and winner of the Scott O’Dell Historical Fiction prize. Forge was named a Junior Library Guild Selection, a Kirkus Best Book for Teens, and a YALSA 2011 Best Book for Young Adults. It also appeared on the Horn Book Fanfare List of the best books of 2010.

Plot(s): Isabel is introduced in Chains as an orphaned slave girl in New England left to care for her mentally handicapped younger sister Ruth. Although her mistress swore to free Isabel when she died, documentation of this fact is difficult to track down after the old lady’s death and Isabel and Ruth are sold to a family in New York. Here, Isabel meets Curzon, slave of a Patriot master, who persuades Isabel to supply the rebel forces with damning political information about her cruel Tory masters in exchange for her freedom. Alas, the would-be Americans care as little for the fate of a slave girl as do her masters, and despite the information she provides, Isabel finds that she must act for herself if she ever wants to be free. But Curzon, who has fought in the first few battles of the Revolutionary War in his master’s place, is dying of illness and starvation in a British jail, and Isabel decides she can’t leave him behind. She stages an ingenious and daring escape, and the book ends as both set foot on the shore of New Jersey, free at last.

Unfortunately, freedom was not that simple for escaped slaves. In Forge, the narrative is taken over by Curzon, who reports that Isabel has flown the coop in search of Ruth and he is on his own. Under the guise of a free man, he joins the Patriot army yet again, in exchange for food and pay. Things are going, if not smoothly, at least somewhat tolerably for Curzon until his captain announces that the troop’s next move is to head for a winter camp, a place called Valley Forge. Curzon endures the blistering cold and aching supply shortages with his fellow soldiers until he runs unexpectedly into his former master and is pressed into servitude again. The only positive outcome of his re-enslavement is his reunion with Isabel, who has also been recaptured and forced to work for the same man. This time, it’s Curzon who, with the help of his friends in the army, arranges a successful escape for the two friends. Ashes, the final installment of the series, promises to continue the story of these two protagonists.

Adult Themes: Slavery and war are gruesome topics, and it is to Anderson’s credit that she does not shy away from some of the uglier aspects of life for the people who actually lived during Isabel and Curzon’s fictional existence. While the violence and cruelty are never gratuitous, particularly sensitive readers may want to read these with an understanding adult who can help them grapple with some of the darker chapters in United States history. 

Our Take: Is there anything better than a good work of historical fiction? Yes, if it’s one of a three-part series and you know you have two more novels to enjoy! Isabel and Curzon are so three-dimensional that even history-averse readers will find themselves fascinated by Anderson’s rendering of their world. In Forge in particular, the irony of a country fighting for a freedom that it denies to its slaves is fully explored, setting the stage for stimulating critical thought and discussion. Anderson begins each chapter of each book with a real quotation from a concurrent primary source that echoes the chapter’s themes. Additionally, extensive sections found in the back of both books explain which characters were fictional and which were not, the meanings of authentic words from the period which appear in the text, and other interesting information. Seeds of America showcases the very best kind of historical fiction: the kind that makes historical events feel relevant to readers more than 200 years later.

Winners of the 2012 Children’s Choice Book Awards

The start of a new year inspires the publications of many "best of" lists. One of our favorites is the Children’s Choice Awards, a list of outstanding new books selected annually by 12,500 children around the country who choose what they like best from over 500 of the year’s best offerings. And (drum roll, please) the results for 2012 are in!

The Children’s Choice Awards are a nationwide search for the best books out there, chosen by the people who matter most: the kids themselves. Organized by the International Reading Association and cosponsored by the Children’s Book Council, Children’s Choices aims to help young readers find books they will enjoy. Between 20 and 30 books are presented for each of three levels of readers: Beginning Readers (kindergarten through second grade), Young Readers (third and fourth grades), and Advanced Readers (fifth and sixth grades).

The same principle is behind Teachers’ Choices, which identifies about 30 books selected by education professionals as excellent choices for curriculum use. And teens can peruse the Young Adults’ Choices list to learn which new novels their peers liked best. Each list presents the titles in alphabetical order, a brief description of the book, and a picture of the front cover.

Access all three children's lists, in age order. Maybe you’ll want to show them to a reluctant reader in your life, choose the perfect gift for a special child, or get some ideas for your own reading!

Motivating Reluctant Boys to Read

Most teachers will tell you that when it comes to motivating their students to read, boys are a much harder sell than girls. We've certainly met lots of boys who are voracious readers, but we agree that when we ask kids if they read for fun, boys are more likely to scoff, “No!”

This aversion to reading is a problem. In the younger grades, pleasure reading builds important fluency skills. And, as they get older, kids acquire more and more of their vocabularies from the words they encounter in text rather than from words they hear in conversation.

A recent article* in The Reading Teacher caused us to reflect on our experiences in language arts classrooms and libraries over the years. While it can be tough to engage boys in literature, here are some considerations we've found to be helpful when making reading recommendations:

Genre

Many boys seem to like books that are action-packed or funny. Some parents shy away from offerings like Captain Underpants, and this is understandable. Still, we like to see boys engaged in reading, even if they’re reading silly books. All too often, boys find themselves forced to read the kind of “classics” embraced by their parents and teachers. This can lead to listless reading and hostility toward reading in general, which is a scary prospect. Graphic novels and humorous books, frivolous as many adults consider them, may be just what’s needed to spark a boy’s interest in reading. (We've seen boys enthralled to discover Roald Dahl for the first time, so don’t forget that his canon includes many funny stories. And Calvin and Hobbes is practically unparalleled in its use of sophisticated vocabulary.) Another genre often not considered by adults or by boys themselves is non-fiction. Boys seem to be keen to learn about things that interest them and this tendency should be whole-heartedly embraced. Offer boys factual books like the wonderful Eyewitness series, developmentally appropriate magazines about topics that fascinate them, and, if they’re ready, newspaper clippings. Pleasure reading should be just that – the chance for boys to read what they enjoy. Let them experience more traditional literary experiences at school while they build a love of reading at home.

Topic

Boys tend to gravitate more toward books about sports and action-packed adventures. Sports books by authors like Matt Christopher (grades 3 and up) and Mike Lupica (grades 5 and up) indulge boys’ fascination with athletics, and most of them teach important lessons about sportsmanship, fairness, and perseverance. Adventure books abound as well. Malcolm Rose’s Traces series for instance (grades 5 and up), chronicles the adventures of prodigy Luke Harding, the youngest person ever to qualify as a forensics investigator, as he attempts to solve crimes based on evidence the criminals left behind. Boys love these realistic, adventurous novels. They also seem to be particularly captivated by survival stories. Point boys toward My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (ages 8 and up) and the Hatchet series (grades 4 and up) by Gary Paulsen. Many boys also find science fiction enticing. Start with futuristic reads like Feed by M.T. Anderson (ages 14 and up) and The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (ages 12 and up).

Choice

Boys (and girls, for that matter) should be given plenty of choice when it comes to picking out their leisure reading material. Parents and teachers should feel free to offer plenty of suggestions, but a boy is most likely to be engaged in the texts he chooses himself. And engagement in text is critical for building comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary skills. After all, aren’t those the reasons we want kids to read independently in the first place?


*Senn, Nicole. (2012). “Effective Approaches to Motivate and Engage Reluctatnt Boys in Literacy.” The Reading Teacher, 66(3).

Photo: Katie Hiscock / Creative Commons