Christopher Paul Curtis by Wendy Lamb

Wendy Lamb gives us background and meaning behind the works of Christopher Paul Curtis such as The Watson's Go to Birmingham and Bud, Not Buddy. Why were these books so well received when they are about issues that many children don't fully understand or are unfamiliar with?
According to Lamb, Curtis makes his characters real. Children can relate to them on a personal level. His main characters in the two books are both young boys, they are both growing up in times of struggle, and they are both humorous. Curtis incorporates the humor and innocence of children into his stories in order to catch the attention of his readers; otherwise issues like the South in the 1960's and the American Great Depression may be hard to swallow or even hard to understand.
"Each book is carried along by the exaggerated tone and the heightened childlike energy of the voice, and by the tension created when Christopher sets each boy up against a great, dark force: the bombing, the depression, racism. In Bud, Not Buddy the rules are funny and to the point, but they also show us what inspired them--Bud's hard, hard life in the hands of strangers." (Lamb, 400)
Christopher takes social issues like the ones above and lets his readers explore how these issues and troubles of the times affect everyday people. Readers are also introduced to other important trends of the time period like music. Above all, Curtis implements the importance of family into his novels; "family is the goal; family is the salvation; family is Bud's right and he must demand it from the world." (Lamb, 400)

I agree with Wendy Lamb's portrayal of this author. While reading the novel Bud, Not Buddy, I was reminded of old history lessons from years ago as well as taught some new things about the way things were. Bud does have an intense sense of child humor that starts out in the very first chapter. The story is told from his account and he is faced with trials and tribulations that many kids would crumble against. Christopher Paul Curtis takes issues like homelessness, poverty, racism, etc. and makes them easy to understand and fun to learn about.
Lamb, Wendy. "Christopher Paul Curtis." The Horn Book 2000: 397-401

A Reflection on Homelessness by Me

As I completed this project I had a lot of thoughts on the ideas of homelessness in children's literature. The main characters in my chosen literature are all children. They are children filled with hope. Hope was an underlying feeling in all the books that I chose. In Bud, Not Buddy, Bud was filled with the hope that he would someday meet his father and have a home that he wouldn't have to run from or worry about being sent away. Andrew in Fly Away Home hopes that he will someday be able to move into an apartment again with his father and they won't have to blend in with airport crowds anymore. In The Lady in the Box, Ben sincerely hopes that Dorrie will one day have a key to her own apartment and that her box will be a thing of the past. In December, there is more of an underlying idea of faith. Simon believes that the Christmas angel December helped him and his mother slowly rise out of poverty. Through reading the articles I came to the decision that issues like homelessness are important to introduce to children. Each article and book that I read did something to empower a young audience. Bud was strong and never gave up. Andrew helped save money so that he too could add to the privilege of one day having a home. Ben and Lizzie started small by leaving food for Dorrie and then got more aggressive on the issue by helping out in a local soup kitchen. December invoked the idea to never give up faith and that no matter what happens there may always be someone less fortunate that you are able to help.
In all the books, the feeling of sympathy arises for the young characters and while reading I was really touched and affected by all the different situations. The articles helped explain this and made the point that these issues can really affect students. Students who are introduced to these topics can be more open-minded to the realities of the world around them.
Finding hope when surrounded by hopelessness is what I was constantly reminded of while reading. The characters are strong willed and persistent and even though all of the stories didn't end happy; there is the hope in those that didn't that the characters will someday be better off.

Out of the Box: Critical Literacy in a First Grade Classroom by Christine H Leland, Jerome C Harste, & Karen Smith

This article approaches a concept called critical literacy through the analysis of a first grade teacher's use of books on social issues in her first grade classroom. Kim Huber had been a first grade teacher for sometime when a graduate class persuaded her to venture away from happy books and turn instead to books that dealt with important and difficult social issues such as homelessness and racism. The idea presented Kim with an entirely new learning experience that enabled her to really get to know her students on a different level.
The article highlights the effects of introducing critical literacy to a classroom. For instance, Kim was nervous to read books like The Lady in the Box to her first graders. She was not fully convinced that it would do anything for them. However, when she participated in a program that introduced books like The Lady in the Box and other books on social issues to her children she was pleasently surprised with what she found.
She first started to notice a heightened awareness of social issues like homelessness. When Kim read The Lady in the Box to her students their school was hosting a food drive with a contest among classrooms of who could bring in the most cans. Before reading the story the children had stopped bringing in cans with the class total being under 100; after the book was shared, the students brought that total to over 200. "What was even more impressive to me was the change in the children's attitudes. Instead of looking to win they were now focused on helping others." (Leland, 260)
Kim noticed more development in this classroom more than she ever had in previous classes. She noticed changes in their writing, artwork, peer relationships, and the overall classroom atmosphere. She had never seen something take such an effect on her students and it all started with introducing them to social issues.
The article is a great example of why social issues are so important to classroom curriculum. Books on the topic such as The Lady in the Box enhance the learning process as we saw with Kim's class. They encourage students to go beyond just reading and figure out what's between the lines of text. The article does a wonderful job expressing the importance of the introduction of social issues early in the academic process. If students are introduced to these kinds of issues they develop a sense of compassion for the characters in the books that can travel to similar individuals in reality.
"These children do not all have tidy happy endings in their lives. Using critical texts opens their eyes and my own to world issues. This helps create understanding and provides connections for kids whose lives do not fit what they think is normal-such as the family of four with both parents and a dog in the backyard."(Leland, 267)
The experience illustrated in this article seems like a wonderful and rewarding one to try. The article itself can serve as a learning experience to teachers anywhere who are looking to enhance the critical literacy skills that they possess as well as those that their students do.
Leland , Christine H, and Jerome C Harste and Karen Smith. "Out of the Box: Critical Literacy in a First Grade Classroom." Language Arts 82(2005): 257-268.

Social Issues: Connecting Children to Their World by Elizabeth Strehle

Elizabeth Strehle's article uses homelessness as an example of a social issue that we need to introduce our children to. Children have preconceived notions of the world around them but if they aren't given the opportunities to discuss and explore this world, their learning will never be enhanced. Children are full of questions that they are longing to get answered. When they hear of things on the radio; such as tragic things happening, questions form and brains start working. Children are just as much a part of the world as adults and they are wrapped up in its reality just like we are. The difference is that they are still confused and trying to sort it all out. According to Strehle, we can help sort out this confusion through literature. "Literature is powerful! A book can reflect life as we know it and allow us to understand the world of others." (Strehle, 213)
Strehle's article effectively illustrates how to utilize children's literature to help explain the reality of social issues. Books can serve as discussion starters for certain issues that children may have questions about.
Strehle uses the books Way Home by Libby Hathorn and Smokey Night by Eve Bunting to help explain the point she is trying to make. "I decided to select two picture books written by different authors, linked by inner city settings and realistic characters, to explore the theme of homelessness, to discover how a teacher might enhance the understanding of social issues through literary discussions." (Strehle, 214) She summarizes each book and highlights important points in each to explain what each book can do for a reader exploring social issues.
I can appreciate the idea of using literature to enhance understanding. Social issues can sometimes be a difficult topic of discussion but Strehle offers an effective and approachable way to introduce them to students. Expanding on ideas is important in itself; expanding on issues that children have preconceived notions on is another something that can really be beneficial. By allowing students to discuss and explore real world topics like homelessness we are broadening their horizons and opening their minds to the world around them.
Strehle, Elizabeth. "Social Issues: Connecting Children to Their World." Children's Literature in Education 30(1999): 213-220.

December by Eve Bunting

Simon and his mother are living in house that they constructed themselves. Their home is made out of various scraps of material such as Coca Cola and Clorox boxes. Tonight is Christmas Eve so they have a small Christmas tree top that the lot man gave them which is decorated with odds and ends that they have found on the street. They also have an incomplete nativity scene and two Christmas cookies under the tree. Simon collected cans in order to buy the cookies for him and his mother. On one wall there is a calendar page with an angel on it, a Christmas angel, which they have named December. On this night a woman knocks on the piece of wood that Simon and his mother use as a door; the woman with a rose in her hair asks for shelter. Simon’s mother allows the woman to come in and offers as much hospitality as possible. In the morning the woman is gone and Simon sees the Christmas angel outside his door. He is stunned with disbelief and he can’t figure out if he is dreaming or not. By the following Christmas, Simon and his mother have a new apartment and his mother has a steady job. Simon thinks that things changed because of the way they helped the nice old lady and because he saw December that night; maybe the two are connected…maybe not but when he looks closely at the calendar page, he sees a rose in her hair.

December by Eve Bunting tells the tale of a boy and his mother with no home on Christmas. The story has an ongoing theme of faith. It is an instrument to teach the lesson that there is always someone who needs more than someone else and there is always help to be given even if the amount is small. The story illustrates how faith and hope can keep someone strong. It takes the idea of a homeless family and adds to it the idea that happiness can be found in any situation if there is faith. The picture book inspires kindness within its readers by presenting an uplifting result for a family in need of a better way of life.
Bunting, Eve. December. New York: Harcourt Books, 1997.

The Lady in the Box by Ann McGovern

Lizzie and Ben decide to help a woman who lives in a box at the end of their street. They bring her food and things to keep warm during the winter. The woman, Dorrie, gets asked to move out from in front of the shop where she sits by its angry owner. Now Dorrie is away from the heat that the shop provides her during the cold nights. Ben and Lizzie decide to get their mother to help; Mama goes and talks to Dorrie and finds out what happened that lead to Dorrie’s unfortunate living situation. Mama insists that the shop owner let Dorrie stay and succeeds. She helps her children find ways to help others like Dorrie. The children start helping out in a soup kitchen where the run into Dorrie more often.

The Lady in the Box by Ann McGovern is a touching story that illustrates the innocence of two children in their attempt to help a homeless woman. The book portrays within the two children a curiosity and a sympathy that one can expect from young children being presented with the, possibly unfamiliar, idea of homelessness. Lizzie and Ben’s first instinct is to reach out to Dorrie, the woman in the box. They do so in secrecy for fear that they will get in trouble for interacting with strangers, something that their mother does not allow. Dorrie’s story is one that pulls at the heartstrings; she is a very nice woman who just couldn’t make her financial means work out. The story uses the innocence of children to positively reflect the reality of homelessness in the modern world. It gives its young readers the idea that they can help and be a part of solving this issue or taking the steps to eliminate homelessness in today’s society. The story ends with an overwhelming portrayal of hope.
“Maybe someday, I thought, Dorrie wouldn’t have to live in her box. Maybe she could get a job and a place of her own. She’d have a key just like I have a key to our apartment.” (McGovern, 28)
The compassion that the children feel in this book is something that is felt inside the reader as well. The book does a wonderful job of creating questions and ideas for an underrepresented topic.
McGovern, Ann. The Lady in the Box. New York: Turtle Books, 1999.

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

Andrew and his father live in an airport. Their days are spent blending in so that they don’t get caught and thrown out into the streets. Andrew’s father goes to work everyday and leaves Andrew in the care of the Medinas who are also living in the airport. The Medinas have a boy that Andrew plays with during the day. They help carry people’s bags and sometimes they get tipped for this service. Sometimes Andrew gets angry, sometimes he’s scared of what will happen next, but mostly he just really hopes that he and his father will have their own apartment again someday; then things can be the way they were before his mother died.

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting takes an issue like homelessness that is hard to understand and puts it in a child-friendly form. Andrew is a small boy who has a hardworking father but ends just don’t meet. There is hope though; there is hope that one day they will have enough money saved to get a home of their own again. Then there will be no more switching terminals to avoid looking familiar, no more carrying bags in exchange for change to keep in a tennis-shoe, and no more washing up in the bathroom at four o-clock in the morning. The book presents its young readers with things to think about and question. It invokes a sense of sympathy and hope as well. It takes a sensitive approach to educating students on the reality of something that they don’t encounter on a day-to-day basis.
Bunting , Eve. Fly Away Home. New York: Clarion Books, 1991.

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

Bud, not Buddy, is a 10-year-old orphan who is on the run during the American Great Depression. His last foster home was too much for him; they were rude, crude, and there was no way he was staying. The only thing Bud carries with him is his suitcase, full of all his priceless possessions. In the suitcase are flyers advertising the band of Herman E. Calloway. Bud just knows that the flyers are pointing him to his father; so finding Mr. Calloway is what he sets out to do. He struggles on the way when it comes to finding food and places to sleep. He winds up in one of the infamous Hoovervilles for a little while before continuing on. Lefty Lewis, a nice old man who takes him straight to Herman E. Calloway’s club, picks him up on his journey when he is unsafe territory late at night. Coming face to face with Calloway starts an emotional roller coaster ride that lands Bud right where he wants to be. He figures out who he is, finds a place to call home, and puts his past to rest.

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis is a thought-provoking novel that provides an accurate view of the times during the Great Depression. It portrays being on the run as a scary and exciting adventure. It also teaches its readers about the hardships that can come from being on your own with no place to go. It portrays the idea of homelessness as one that can be overcome with the feelings of hope and strength. Children can relate to the novel on several different fronts. The novel is from Bud’s point of view; his thoughts, feelings, and humor are all on a child’s level. It makes references to grown-ups in the way that a child would make them

“RULES AND THINGS NUMBER 87
When a Adult Tells You They Need Your Help
With a Problem Get Ready to Be Tricked-
Most Times This Means They Just Want You to
Go Fetch Something for Them.” (Curtis, 103)

The novel will give any child a learning experience that they can enjoy and relate to on their terms. Curtis has provided his readers with something personal and educational. He admits that his only regret in the writing of this novel is that he waited too long to get more information from the most valuable sources, his grandparents. The book has radiating themes of family, strength, hope, faith, and love; there is something for everyone to enjoy and take away.

Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud, Not Buddy. New York: Yearling, 1999.

If I Were a Boy

I don't know if anyone has heard this version of If I Were a Boy by Beyonce but I found it to be very stereotypical and gender bias. I'm sure this is the point of the song but listening to it made me think of how stereotypical we actually are toward the opposite gender. Think of other songs like Ciara's Like a Boy and Eamon's I Don't Want You Back; all of these completely degrate and and tear down the opposite gender. I just think its sad that this is what we use musical talent for.

Here are the Lyrics for Beyonce's song with R. Kelly
If I were a boy

Even just for a day

I'd roll out of bed in the morning

And throw on what I wanted and go

Drink beer with the guys

And chase after girls

I'd kick it with who I wanted

And I'd never get confronted for it

Cause they'd stick up for me

If I were a boy

I think I could understand

How it feels to love a girl

I swear I'd be a better man

I'd listen to her

Cause I know how it hurts

When you lose the one you wanted

Cause he's taking you for granted

And everything you had got destroyed

If I were a girl

Even just for a day

I'd get out of bed in the morning

And take forever to get ready

Complain to my friends

As if they got a man

They talk about you cause they're jealous

And I just stay and listen to it (I should get rid of them)

If I were a girl

I don't think I'd understand

How it feels to love a boy

I swear I'd be a better woman

I'd listen to him

Cause I don't know everything

I would always try to tell him that he needs to treat me better

Like I don't gotta change at all

If I were a girl

It's a little too late for you to come back

Say it's just a mistake, think I'd forgive you like that? (I don't)

If you thought I would wait for you,

You thought wrong (I did wrong)

But you're just a boy

And you're just a girl

You don't understand

No you don't understand

How it feels to love a girl someday

You wish you were a better man

You don't listen to her

And you don't listen to him

You don't care how it hurts (you don't care how I feel)

Until you lose the one you wanted

Cause he's taking you for granted

And everything you had got destroyed

But you're just a boy

And you're just a girl

Celebrity Book Critique

"Celebrity books are one of the great negative features of children's publishing in the 21st century. If I were still a publisher, as I used to be, none of these manuscripts would make it past my slush pile."-Anita Silvey

While web surfing at work I came across an interesting article by Ed Pilkington. The article is a rather harsh critique on celebrity authors of childrens' books. The cocky attitudes that celebs have about their ability to write are almost laughable. Madonna is heavily targeted for this flaw. An introduction to one of her more recent books alludes to this attitude; the book begins with "If you haven't heard of the English Roses by now...then you are either: a) living under a rock, b) living on the moon, c) away with the fairies. If you fit the description of a, b, or c, then I am happy to clue you in to what the rest of the world already knows." Seriously? Although her English Roses series has done well, is it really necessary to flaunt it like that?
Pilkington describes Madonna's introduction as "self serving, self satisfied, and downright smug." He's right though isn't he? I kind of feel like an introduction like that in a children's book can have negative effects on a child's self-esteem. It basically screams "Where have YOU been...this is what all the COOL kids are doing!" Although Madonna's books are best sellers on two continents, I feel that she could learn a lesson in humility.
As we all know Celebrity Authors are climbing up the best sellers list; but how much credit do they actually deserve? Various editors are appalled with the celebrity attempt to get into the literature field.
"'I don't hang out at celebrity haunts that much,' says Julie Just, the children's book editor of the New York Times, 'but if I did I would love to ask these famous people what they think they are doing.'"
They are accused of doing this for reasons like needing extra cash (HA!), or wanting to widen their fan base, or simply because they think that the bedtime stories they have told their kids over the years are something fabulous. Apparently in the widening fan base idea celebs are not helping their case due to certain people such as Gloria Estefan who provides a copy of her new single inside her published work...really Gloria?
These are children; children deserve the best that we can offer them! Beefing up your bank accounts and searching for new fans are not the way to open the eyes of children to the reality and wonder of the world around them. Why do these hidden agendas have to be existant. There are people who do this for a living because they enjoy it, they love their audience, and THEY KNOW HOW TO DO WHAT THEY DO!!!
There are certain aspects to children's books that are written by celebs that note the literatures low quality nature. There are lots of rediculous character names, because celebs just can't seem to keep it simple (simple also meaning sticking to a single profession!). The English Roses books are a huge target again for this reason (Come ON Madonna!). Don't rediculous distracting names take away from the underlying meaning of the story...maybe that's a good thing in the case of celebrity authors.
Celebrities are also known to grasp onto a moral point and basically just cram it down the young reader's throats. Whatever happened to discussion? What happened to coming to different meanings of a book based on the brilliant minds of the young readers? They also tend to go "eco" when they can't think of a reasonable outcome or lesson in their stories.
This article really opened my eyes to what children's literature should include. Children are not stupid. If you give them a well written piece of literature with an abstract, underlying meaning, I'm sure that group discussion and brainstorming can get them to the right conclusion(s) the book is trying to get across. Also, children don't know celeb names past the ones they come in contact with through Disney. If widening your fanbase is what you want I think you should look elsewhere. Children do not need to be subjected to bad literature just because your music career is winding down.
Now, not all celebrity books are bad; Jamie Lee Curtis has been praised for some of her work. However, I can't ignore the fact that some bestseller celebrity books are such simply because of the name on the by-line. Some of them are funny, colorful, and well illustrated but they are "also in large part, unforgetable." The beginning is forgotten before the ending has arrived.

Ed Pilkington's full article can be found here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/nov/03/booksforchildrenandteenagers.familyandrelationships

Literacy Follow Up

So today in my TE 401 lecture something interesting happened. We've been focusing on a particular author who writes a lot of multicultural books for children. According to the definition, she would be considered an outsider to many of the books that she writes. The author is Eve Bunting and today I got to discuss Going Home, A Day's Work, and Smokey Night. Anyways, while we were discussing the girl that reviewed my project that I recently blogged about said that she thinks about me when she reads books like this because my project taught her so much about the Insider/Outsider debate. I thought it was really cool that she actually remembered something about it. So AGAIN; I just want to thank you for giving me so much to reference through blogging and class discussion:) You guys are great!!!

The books we're focusing on are pretty good in terms of multicultural literature. The school I'm placed in actually did a school wide unit on Bunting books last year and she's gotten several awards for her work. The author herself doesn't have a website but I'm pretty sure you can find some good info if you Google: Eve Bunting.

Some of them include:

A Day's Work

Smoky Night

Cheyenne Again

Fly Away Home

Going Home

Lambda Literary Awards Revisited

So I missed the class on the Award Jigsaw and didn't realize we blogged our answers. This is my research fashionably late...

The website where I found my information was http://www.lambdaliterary.org/. There were numerous websites with information on the award but this one seemed to be their homepage.

I believe this award was started in the late 1980's. They focus on celebrating LGBT literature. They change their guidelines based on feedback every year with the goal of becoming the most prestigious award possible that can be awarded to LGBT books and authors.

Guidelines:

-Reprints are not eligible as well as new editions of a past book. Also not eligible are books that have been republished by a different publisher than the original.
-Books can be submitted in only one category. An exception to this is bisexual and transgender because these books are underpublished.
-If the transgender category receives 10 or more submissions of fiction and also 10 or more submissions of non-fiction, then the category will be split into fiction and non-fiction.
-The rule above goes for the bisexual category as well.
-The awards are based primarily on LGBT content. Sexual orientation of the auther is second in priority.
-The book being submitted must be published in the U.S. in the year it is submitted.
-You may self-publish a piece of work.
-Books MUST be published in English. They may be translated copy as long as it is published in the year it is submitted.
-Electronic Books are not eligible.

The books are judged on their content of LGBT related subjects. It doesn't seem that the author must be LGBT. There is a board of trustees that revises and produces the guidelines and I believe they also are in charge of selecting the winners.

Becoming Naomi Leon

So I just finished Becoming Naomi Leon and I really just enjoyed it so much. I really got into it and was absolutly shocked at the mother's behavior. The reunion with their father really started to pull at my emotions. Ahh geez I'm such a nerd. REALLY excellent, for those who didn't get it read in time for class I really recommend finishing it and putting it in your classroom.
I had a hard time figuring out what to ask for my question and am still thinking about it. But there were so many things to think about. So much went into this book, from the chapter titles to the whole mess of different cultures introduced.
At first I really didn't like it. I thought maybe it wasn't realistic but just the trials and tribulations the characters went through and the positive attitudes they tried to keep really made it better for me. At first I was like hmmmm...is this realistic? As I read though I realized that perhaps it isn't realistic and this doesn't always happen with a happily ever after but that still makes you think. It opens up so many questions and topics for discussion. Readers can go journey to a discussion about people with disabilities, alcohalism, a look at the Mexican culture, identity searching, ideas and topics on the subject of a broken family, and finding one's confidence. All of these characteristics can be looked at through one book.
REALLY, REALLY GOOD READ:)
Can't wait for class!!!

Combining Class Content

Hey everyone:)

I had this project due in my TE 401 class for the literacy portion of it. The project entailed training myself on a new form of digital literacy and then to use that literacy to teach another kind of literacy...if that makes sense. Anyways, I chose to make a digital scrapbook, or a "Scrapblog," on cultural literacy. Based on a lot of things we've been talking about in this class I thought it would be a good way to relate the two. I chose to focus a lot on the Insider vs. Outsider debate. I explained what it was and offered questions and ideas and put my opinion into it as well. I decided to reference the TE 448 blog and went over a lot of your responses to the Insider/Outsider articles and ended up devoting a whole page to some of your opinions. I referenced 4-5 blogs and gave those I used credit;-)

I'm posting the link to my project below as well as a few other resources I found in my research. I actually found some really great references and opinions of what quality multicultural literature is. It was really kind of interesting to take what I learned in this class and apply to another one.

ScrapBlog:

http://http://www.scrapblog.com/709003D9-4012/1A79E253-44C6

A really great source for multicultural literature:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/multiracial.htm

The site above is basically a site made for teachers with a question and answer section with author's such as Joseph Bruchac, Gary Soto, Patricia Polacco, etc. They all share their advice, ideas, and opinions on how to judge and pick out quality multicultural literature. Each of the site's featured author's provides a list of Top 10 Books for their particular culture group which I thought was really cool considering a lot of us always have the question "What would be good in my classroom?" running through our heads.

Another thing that may be fun is playing around with the Digital Scrapbook idea. It may be a fun alternative to Facebook posting. You can also print the pages you make if you choose to make one.

Just something I though you would all enjoy:-)

Blaska's Collection and Al Capone Does My Shirts

After reading Al Capone Does My Shirts and a couple of the articles from the course-pack I became very interested in the idea of Blaska's Collection. First of all, I liked how she chose to not isolate her collection on its own shelf. She chose her books and then divided them in libraries based on other content that didn't focus on the disability of the book's characters. I think this is an excellent idea. Any child (with or without a disability) could be searching for a book related topic and come across one in Blaska's collection and not only be educated on its topic but also on a small subset of multicultural literature.
I began to wonder if Al Capone Does My Shirts would fit the criteria for the collection. I believe that Al Capone Does My Shirts falls into the category of books with characters whose disabilities may be integral or peripheral to the plot, but which are not stories about the disabilities. In Al Capone Does My Shirts, we are introduced to Natalie as a child who is different, but her actual condition is never actually stated. After reading the author's note I found out that Natalie's condition was a form of Autism but in the time period that the book was set in, Autism was not yet a known diagnosis. The category I believe the book falls in is underrepresented according to Blaska.
After searching the SCSU Juvenile a couple of times, trying a couple of different things, I did not find the book. A couple of questions popped up in my head though. Is the collection that Blaska has compiled strictly children's books? Is Al Capone Does My Shirts too recent to be in the collection yet. I'm not really sure but I would love to find out more about this topic. I agree with the article by Sandra Williams et. al. that children begin to and should learn about their likenesses to others at a young age. A collection like Blaska's could be very useful in any school library and should go far beyond the use of just research for SCSU's education program as I'm sure it does.

Lambda Literary Awards/Empress of the World

I didn't get to join class the other day because I was sick but I wanted to blog a little on my topic for the awards research. I researched the Lambda Literary Award and I'm sure it was stated that this award is presented to books with LGBT content. While reading up on this award I remembered a book I read in my TE 348 class for our groups Choice Book Talk. Empress of the World by Sara Ryan is the story of a girl going through a confusing time in her life. Over a summer she has her first romantic relationship with another girl. It was the first book I had ever read on this topic and I found the book really good if anyone is interested. I searched the booklists of past finalists and winners of the Lambda Literary Award but didn't see it on any of the lists and was kind of disappointed because I found its perspective and the story very good.

The author wrote a sequel to the book call The Rules for Hearts which I'm assuming is probably equally as engaging and entertaining. I haven't been able to find it though and I've looked a couple of times. I've always been interested on how to bring this topic into the classroom and this book I feel was a really good discovery. I bought it for my collection during my semester in TE 348 and plan on buying the other one as well if I can ever find it.