#WeNeedDiverseBooks Campaign

Ellen Oh and many other people have gotten together to make some noise around diversity in literature and why we need it. 

According to the tumblr page, here is what will be happening on May 1st:

On May 1^st at 1pm (EST), there will be a public call for action that will spread over 3 days. We’re starting with a visual social media campaign using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks. We want people to tweet, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, blog, and post anywhere they can to help make the hashtag go viral.

For the visual part of the campaign: 

• Take a photo holding a sign that says “We need diverse books because ___________________________.” Fill in the blank with an important, poignant, funny, and/or personal reason why this campaign is important to you. 
• The photo can be of you or a friend or anyone who wants to support diversity in kids’ lit. It can be a photo of the sign without you if you would prefer not to be in a picture. Be as creative as you want! Pose the sign with your favorite stuffed animal or at your favorite library. Get a bunch of friends to hold a bunch of signs. 
• However you want to do it, we want to share it! There will be a Tumblr at http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/ that will host all of the photos and messages for the campaign. Please submit your visual component by May 1^st to weneeddiversebooks@yahoo.com with the subject line “photo” or submit it right on our Tumblr page here and it will be posted throughout the first day. 
• Starting at 1:00PM (EST) the Tumblr will start posting and it will be your job to reblog, tweet, Facebook, or share wherever you think will help get the word out. 
• The intent is that from 1pm EST to 3pm EST, there will be a nonstop hashtag party to spread the word. We hope that we’ll get enough people to participate to make the hashtag trend and grab the notice of more media outlets.
• The Tumblr will continue to be active throughout the length of the campaign, and for however long we need to keep this discussion going, so we welcome everyone to keep emailing or sending in submissions even after May 1^st.

There will also be more happening on May 2nd and 3rd. If you would like to be involved please head to their tumblr page http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com to find out more. 

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. Jen Vincent over at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye from Unleashing Readers decided to put a children's and YA spin on it and they invite anyone with an interest to join in. You can participate by creating your post then visit one of their sites to add your site. Finally, visit at least three participant blogs and comment to spread the love.

If you want to know more about what I am reading, visit me at my Goodreads shelf. Images via Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

Previous Week: 

Geisel Award Books

I have been continuing the Geisel Challenge with Mr. Schu and Colby Sharp. Little Mouse is my favorite. I love his expression and one very special moment in the story when he has a sudden hilarious realization. Of course any book featuring underwear is popular in my library. The others are also fun. 

How did this even happen you wonder? Well, I went to Barnes & Noble to buy some books and had to read a few while I was there. Some were library books too, but I also went to the CCBC Choices presentation at our local CESA. It was fun to connect with Megan Schliesman and Merri Lindgren that day. They are amazingly knowledgable about children's and YA lit. You can see some of their presentation in the following videos:

2014: Great New Books for Younger Children (Birth - Grade 5) from South Central Libary System on Vimeo.

2014 Great New Books for Older Children & Teens (Grades 6 - Grade 12) from South Central Libary System on Vimeo.

It was also fabulous to get to spend time cruising the books and reading some of them. I adored Beekle, Puddle Pug, The Raven and the Loon, Mooncakes, Wild Berries, Benjamin Bear in Bright Ideas and one that isn't pictured called Trouper. Many of the others were also excellent. It was a great week for picture books.

Poetry

Forest Has a Song was a quiet and sweet book. Tap Dancing on the Roof was humorous and quirky. I loved this Korean form of poetry that was new to me. Now Sheba Sings the Song by Maya Angelou was beautiful. I picked it up because I recognized the title from an excerpt in Ashley Bryan's ABCs of African American Poetry that I read earlier in the month. The portraits that the poem responds to are amazing and the words are powerful. It is written for older readers in mind not your pre-school set.

Non-fiction

While at CCBC Choices I went to a session about the Common Core and the we learned about using literary non-fiction to teach about the author's craft of lyrical writing. The instructor, Billie Finco, used the book Have You Heard the Nesting Bird in the lesson. It is a beautiful book and could also be used to teach about onomatopoeia or any number of things. I would love to see it paired with Mama Built a Little Nest or Look Up! 

Scraps is another fabulous book by Lois Ehlert. Her illustrations are always so engaging. I highlighted Grandfather Gandhi on Non-fiction Picture Book Wednesday. Philip Reid Saves the Statue of Freedom would be a nice companion with Brick by Brick to highlight the contributions of African Americans in the history of the White House. Diversity in Youth Literature was a nice intro level professional book about the need for diversity in children's lit and ways to find and evaluate what is out there already. As I suspected, This Star Won't Go Out required tissues, but I was glad to learn more about the beautiful and inspirational Esther Earl.

One other book that I read was Three Years and Eight Months by Icy Smith. I had never heard about the Japanese occupation in Hong Kong so this was quite educational. The book is based on events experienced by her relatives during the occupation. You can learn more about it in the video below. Icy also shares her desire for more diverse literature to be available for children.

Speaking of diversity in children's literature, if you are interested in promoting diverse lit, please visit the We Need Diverse Books Campaign page to find out how you can help.

Middle Grade

I Wanna Be Your Shoebox is a fun middle-grade coming of age book with a girl who is facing many changes including the terminal illness of her grandfather, a dating mother and a possible move. 

The Coming Week:

I am still listening to A Lion Among Men on a Playaway when walking the dog or doing other tasks. The Fire Chronicle is the CD in my car. I didn't get to Caminar this week like I thought I would, but it is next. I wish you wonderful week of reading.

Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on Saturdays where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every day. Here are some of my celebrations from the week in no particular order.

1. I got to attend a session of the CCBC Choices. This is a time when the CCBC brings copies of the books that they have chosen as the best of the previous year. It is a wonderful opportunity to see and even read many of those books and evaluate them for purchase. It's also a chance to chat with colleagues about books. It's a Nerdybookclub type of event.

2. Our spring break stretched to Tuesday and I had the house to myself since my daughter's school district went back a day earlier than we did. It was a treat to be able to wake up when I felt like it, watch a movie and then walk my dog leisurely on Tuesday morning when I would normally be teaching. It felt like I was getting away with something.

3. Our trees have buds on them!!! The grass if finally becoming green and I saw daffodils.

4. I got three really large boxes of books at school. It is so fun to unpack them. A large chunk of this order was biographies of women. Earlier this year I realized that not quite a third of our biographies were of women and so am working to even that out a bit.

5. I got to meet with the architects to go over the plans for our school building remodel. It was interesting to hear about and dream about the possibilities for the new library space.

6. Oops! I had to jump back in and mention Poem in Your Pocket Day. My pre-K class got to Skype with a class in Missouri and there were poems being read all over the school. You can see snippets of them here

I hope you had much to celebrate this week.

Poetry Friday

I love this poem duet - or I guess the correct terminology is poem in two voices. Happy Friday! 

Non-fiction Picture Book Wednesday

Alyson Beecher over at Kid Lit Frenzy hosts a Non-fiction Picture Book Challenge and has a roundup every Wednesday. I am giving it a try for the first time.

Here are some of the best non-fiction picture books I have read in the past week or two.

Grandfather Gandhi by Arun Gandhi & Bethany Hegedus and illustrated by Evan Turk is a picture book memoir. I have upper grade teachers asking for memoirs for their literature units and this is one I can certainly hand to them enthusiastically. The text has a positive and powerful message about anger and the illustrations are fabulous.

Mama Built a Little Nest by Jennifer Ward and illustrated by Steve Jenkins is another book with fantastic illustrations. Steve Jenkins always wows me. The book is set up to have a simple rhyming text as one portion paired with a paragraph or two of informational text about each of the types of birds and the varieties of their nest styles. I found it fascinating.

Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator by Sarah C. Campbell and illustrated by Sarah C. and Richard P. Campbell is exactly what narrative non-fiction for young readers should be. It is compelling and tells a story filled with facts, but not so many that it is overwhelming or boring for young readers. It won a Geisel honor and I would love more books like this.

Have a great week!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. Jen Vincent over at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye from Unleashing Readers decided to put a children's and YA spin on it and they invite anyone with an interest to join in. You can participate by creating your post then visit one of their sites to add your site. Finally, visit at least three participant blogs and comment to spread the love.

If you want to know more about what I am reading, visit me at my Goodreads shelf. Images via Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

The Past Week: 

Geisel Award 

Wolfsnail is so incredible. I have read it with students and they love it. This is a fantastic way to introduce narrative non-fiction. The picture books were great too. Elephant and Piggie have such amusing facial expressions and they are so perfectly child-like. I am so glad that Mr. Schu and Colby Sharp had this idea. I am loving it every week and of course loving their videos about the books.

Middle Grade & Young Adult Fiction

These were all a lot of fun. My Basmati Bat Mitzvah, First Daughter and The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond were both contemporary coming of age novels with interesting characters. I totally enjoyed them. Grasshopper Jungle was an experience that cannot be explained, but was amazing. Death Spiral is an engrossing mystery and I will review it over on Rich in Color sometime soon. Killer of Enemies was a fantastic steampunk story that I loved. It was an excellent batch of reading this week.

Poetry

I love that in the month of April we are reminded to seek out poetry. I hope that I continue this habit. I enjoyed Dare to Dream the most of all of these. I think it was because it is a mix of biography and poetry. Also, the focus is on inspirational people. Birmingham, 1963 was very moving and I also appreciated the poems around thankfulness in Giving Thanks.

Early Chapter Books

These images are from the publisher's website. I just got these in the mail this week. Both of the books were written by Hmong authors. I am always on the lookout for more books that represent the Hmong community. I wrote a post about that over at the Nerdybookclub blog this week. These are great additions to our library because the qeej is an instrument that I know one of our students plays and many of our Hmong students have likely seen and heard it played before. Shoua and the Northern Lights Dragon shares Hmong culture, but more than that it is a fun story that also happens to delve into gender roles. I am excited to share these with my students.

The Coming Week:

I am listening to A Lion Among Men on a Playaway when walking the dog or doing other tasks. The Fire Chronicle is the CD in my car. Diversity in Youth Literature will likely take a few weeks because I am just reading a bit at a time. I had been avoiding This Star Won't Go Out because I didn't want to cry, but I told my students I would finish it over spring break so I am determined to get it done - tears or no tears. Next up is Caminar and then who knows? I still have two days of Spring Break so will just keep reading. Happy reading to you!

Celebrations!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on Saturdays where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every day. Here are some of my celebrations from the week i no particular order.

#1 This little guy has a birthday today. We have had Schatzie with us for nine years now. He is frustrating sometimes now that he decided he likes to bark, but mostly he is adorable.

#2 It is finally our Spring Break. We had yesterday off and we will return to school on Wednesday. That means five days in a row spent with family and lots of time to read.

#3 I had a really long list of things to do before the end of the school day on Thursday and I accomplished them. Whew!

#4 Jim Dale is the reader on the audio book that I just started listening to this week. His voice is so great. It was a wonderful surprise.

#5 I got to write a post for The Nerdybookclub Blog about diverse children's literature. 

Retro Review: Bamboo Among the Oaks: Contemporary Writing by Hmong Americans

Title: Bamboo Among the Oaks: Contemporary Writing by Hmong Americans
Edited By: Mai Neng Moua
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Pages: 205
Availability: On shelves now - published 2002
Review Copy: From public library
Age Level: Adult

Summary:  Of an estimated twelve million ethnic Hmong in the world, more than 200,000 live in the United States today, most of them refugees of the Vietnam War and the civil war in Laos. Their numbers make them one of the largest recent immigrant groups in our nation. Today, significant Hmong populations can be found in California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Michigan, and Colorado, and St. Paul boasts the largest concentration of Hmong residents of any city in the world.

In this groundbreaking anthology, first- and second-generation Hmong Americans -- the first to write creatively in English -- share their perspectives on being Hmong in America. In stories, poetry, essays, and drama, these writers address the common challenges of immigrants adapting to a new homeland: preserving ethnic identity and traditions, assimilating to and battling with the dominant culture, negotiating generational conflicts exacerbated by the clash of cultures, and developing new identities in multiracial America. Many pieces examine Hmong history and culture and the authors' experiences as Americans. Others comment on issues significant to the community: the role of women in a traditionally patriarchal culture, the effects of violence and abuse, the stories of Hmong military action in Laos during the Vietnam War. These writers don't pretend to provide a single story of the Hmong; instead, a multitude of voices emerge, some wrapped up in the past, others looking toward the future, where the notion of "Hmong American" continues to evolve.

In her introduction, editor Mai Neng Moua describes her bewilderment when she realized that anthologies of Asian American literature rarely contained even one selection bya Hmong American. In 1994, she launched a Hmong literary journal, Paj Ntaub Voice, and in the first issue asked her readers "Where are the Hmong American voices?" Eight years later, this collection -- containing selections from the journal as well as new submissions -- offers a chorus of voices from a vibrant and creative community of Hmong American writers from across the United States.

Review: Typically I am only reviewing children's and young adult materials so I want to make it clear that this is written for adults though I am sure that mature young adults may also be interested. I read this book years ago, but pulled it out again recently because I was looking for some Hmong poetry to share at our school. I remembered that there were poems in this collection and I thought that possibly I could at least use a few lines from one of the poems. I did find what I was looking for in the poem "Walking Manifesto #2" by Pacyinz Lyfoung. It is prefaced with this statement, "For the First People, who never appear in any Asian American history because we too forget that before any of us--white, black, yellow--came here to argue race issues and our rights, they were here first" (p.55). Even my younger students could understand and appreciate this poem which is ultimately about peace, justice and equality.

The many voices and variety of formats in the book combine to make a spectacular collage of Hmong experiences. As readers we are fortunate to have this text available to us. There are so many ways of life in America. Sometimes we don't see the diversity within a cultural group. This book provides us that opportunity. It also lets us know that there are uncountable ways to be Hmong American beyond these examples and that over time there are still changes. This book also reminds us that we each have a story to tell no matter our heritage. We yearn to tell our stories  and publication of this book helps magnify the voices so that they can be heard by many more people. I so appreciated that the authors shared themselves with us.

This is a fantastic work and I would highly recommend it to anyone. 

If you would like to hear some of the poems and learn more about the book, please watch the book discussion below.

Poetry Favorites

In honor of Poetry Month here are a few of my favorite poetry books. 

What are some of your favorites?

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. Jen Vincent over at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye from Unleashing Readers decided to put a children's and YA spin on it and they invite anyone with an interest to join in. You can participate by creating your post then visit one of their sites to add your site. Finally, visit at least three participant blogs and comment to spread the love.

If you want to know more about what I am reading, visit me at my Goodreads shelf. Images via Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

The Past Week:

Geisel Books

If you haven't heard yet, Colby Sharp and Mr. Schu are at it again with their Saturday videos for the Geisel Challenge. It's always fun to hear their responses to the books especially when they can do a video together. I really love There is a Bird on Your Head which was the winner for 2008. Elephant & Piggie are the best. Their facial expressions make me belly laugh. It was cool to see two non-fiction texts in the group too. Bumblebee Bat is in a question and answer format and would be a perfect non-fiction book to share with young students and I agree with Colby that it would make an excellent mentor text for nonfiction writing. Vulture View has a great eeew quotient. We are informed that they enjoy food that reeks. First the Egg is a miracle of design and is also a circular story. Jazz Baby is a ton of fun with all kinds of onomatopoeia going on and inspiration for making noise and moving. I am having a blast with this challenge.

Picture Books

I was out of town for an EdCamp on Saturday and I read a lot of these picture books when I went to visit the library in Eau Claire. I like to visit a bookstore or library when I visit someplace. It was a great day since they were having a book sale there, but they also had some fun books on display. I love sunflowers so to be like the SUN made me smile. The Favorite Daughter got tears out of me. His daughter Yuriko is being teased at school and her name is being mispronounced. She is feeling a bit caught between cultures. The story is taken from Allen Say's past and is made more special because it includes real photographs of his daughter. I think it is an excellent book to share on its own, but especially to demonstrate the mixed-race experience as one that can be difficult, but also has rewards. Mama Built a Little Nest was a fantastic non-fiction text about the various kinds of nests that birds create. The text has two parts. One section is a brief rhyme and then the other part is a short bit of information about each bird. Gobble You Up is an adaptation of a trickster tale from Rajasthan in India. It would pair well with There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly or other trickster stories and the art is gorgeous.

Poetry

I found How I Discovered Poetry to be fascinating. I usually enjoy memoirs and to have it in the form of sonnets made it doubly impressive. I reviewed it over at Rich in Color on Friday. Poems to Learn By Heart is another nice anthology. I can't help but wish that she included a few more accessible poems and didn't rely quite so much on the classics. I really appreciated the new one done by young people "Voices Rising." The book seems to be published for young people, but it is a little on the high end for elementary students. I adored John Muth's artwork, but again it really looks like it is for little kids, but the poems inside are not at least not that they would likely read on their own. It could be great when used by parents or teachers with their children though one or two poems at a time.

Middle Grade

I read this because Mitali Perkins was coming to the area to speak. I shared her visit and a picture here. Rickshaw Girl is a great example of a young girl pushing up against prescribed gender roles in her community with additional themes of family and friendship. I loved it and am so happy that I ordered it for the library. 

Young Adult & a Crossover

The Port Chicago 50 had my jaw dropping. It reminded me of the feeling I had as I read Courage Has No Color.  It's amazing how many indignities that people have faced as a result of racism. What is more mind-blowing is the response that many people in power have when they are called to account. They don't even deny the injustice, but refuse to do anything about it because it would be too difficult to change the situation or it's always been this way and they aren't going to rock the boat. I think that students would be moved by this text for sure.  Luka and the Fire of Life was a romp through the world of story in the guise of a video game. Rushdie wove in a wide variety of mythologies from all over the world. It's the first time I made it through one of his books. Perhaps that is because I listened to it or more likely because it was written for a younger crowd. House of Purple Cedar was about a Choctaw family and many of the more interesting episodes of their lives generally from the granddaughter's perspective. I wrote this on Goodreads, "Tim Tingle is a fantastic storyteller and brought me into the lives of Rose and her family. There were some harsh situations, but there is also a lot of love and some humor too. The primary issues that come to light are racism and domestic violence. The overarching theme though is one of family and love of many kinds."

The Coming Week:

I just started Killer of Enemies by Joseph Bruchac and I am part-way through Death Spiral. I plan to start Grasshopper Jungle after those. I have a lot of bookstacks around the house to dig into and I should have a little extra time since we have a five day weekend for the holiday. I am hoping that means that I will have many, many books to share next week. Happy reading!

Sunday Stacks

Gigi McAllister has a post today about the various bookstacks in her home and she asked us about ours. I have too many to simply reply in her comments so figured I would quickly pop a few pictures up here and post a link.

These are beside my bed. I just started Killer of Enemies today & Grasshopper Jungle is up next.

These are the amazing stacks of books that I got yesterday when I visited a public library while I was in another town. They had a $5 bag sale and I fit 31 books in there. A few of them are in my school bag, but these are for me at home. :)

These two are books that I got from a publisher and an author. 

I want to read this, but I got all teary just reading the back cover.
 I bought it, but haven't had the guts to dive in yet.

I read these recently for two different book clubs.

This is my library stack. It's a good thing we can renew books online.

This is my bag of things going back to the library tomorrow.

I have so many piles and I am looking forward to the long weekend coming up so I can dig in to some of these lovelies.