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TABLE OF CONTENTS
WELCOME TO MRA TODAY 2025
Letter from the 2024-2025 MRA President....04-05
Patricia Crain de Galarce
Welcome from the MRA Today Co-Editors ........06
Elaine M. Bukowiecki and Valerie Harlow Shinas
Update from the 2026 MRA Conference Chair..08
Mary Wall
FROM MY PERSPECTIVE
Navigating the Words and the World: My Journey as a Reading Specialist and PhD Student ...........10
Ashley Houston-King
BOOK REVIEWS | PROFESSIONAL BOOK COLUMN
Practicing Critical Literacies in the Classroom: A Review of Recent Professional Texts in Literacy Education..............................................................22
Susan Flis
CHILDREN’S BOOK COLUMN
The Power of Words Used by 2024 Award-Winning Children’s Book Authors ......................................28
Elaine M. Bukowiecki
MAKING SCHOOL CONNECTIONS
Two Frames of Affective Reading ........................50
Justin Stygles
Language: The Wonderful Web We Weave .........57
Lynne Kulich
Scaling Up: Rigorous Arts Integration and Equitable Literacy in a School for the Arts ..........64
Jennifer Rose-Wood
Using Informational Text and Interactive Read Alouds to Teach Reading in Science Class .......................73
Kathy Renfrew
MRA TODAY 2025
EDITORIAL BOARD
CO-EDITORS
Elaine M. Bukowiecki
Valerie Harlow Shinas
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Nadege D. Okotie
REVIEWERS
Terrie Marr
Mary McMackin
Cynthia Rizzo
Nancy Verdolino
Nancy Witherell
MRA EXECUTIVE BOARD 2024-2025
Patricia Crain de Galarce: President
Adam Brieske-Ulenski: President-Elect
Pattie Kelley: Immediate Past President
Mary Wall: Vice President
Shantel Schonour: Vice President-Elect
Shantel Schonour: Secretary
Sarah Fennelly: Webmaster
Dear Readers,
The first word that comes to mind as I write this MRA Today letter is gratitude. I am deeply thankful for our incredible co-editors, Dr. Val Shinas and Dr. Elaine Bukowiecki, whose dedication and vision make this publication possible. Val has shaped all nine MRA publications featured on our website, pioneering digital, accessible formats, and launching the first MRA Today in 2021. Elaine joined Val in 2022, and together they have reimagined our publications, recently launching the first issue of our MRA Beacon: Journal of Literacy Learning and Research. Their leadership as co-chairs of our publications committee has been a gift, guiding our content contributors, designers, editors, and volunteers with unwavering support and mentorship while expanding our reach and impact.
This issue is brimming with engaging and thought-provoking content because of our contributing authors who generously share their research and practice. Within these vibrant pages, we explore the transformative nature of words across a variety of contexts—from professional book reviews to insights on integrating literacy in the arts. Each article offers practical strategies and fresh perspectives to enrich your practice.
Words have the power to inspire, empower, and transform. They can ignite imaginations, open new worlds, and build bridges of understanding. As literacy practitioners, we know firsthand how words can change lives—not only for our students but for ourselves as well.
In closing, I would also like to thank you—all of our MRA members—who lead, read, write, edit, volunteer, present, and show up with curiosity and compassion. This community, dedicated to literacy for all our students, gives me hope and fills me with gratitude. I invite you to read, reflect, and find inspiration within these pages. Together, let us continue to build a legacy where words transform lives.
With gratitude and hope,
Dr. Patricia Crain de Galarce, MRA President
Call for 2025–2026 Committee Members! Do you have a special interest in the area of literacy? Do you long to work with like-minded professionals on special subjects? Are you brimming with ideas and enthusiasm for special projects? If so, consider joining one of the many MRA committees. Log on to www.massreading.org and search for Committees to find choices and information. If you’d like to join as an active volunteer, or initially as an observer, contact Patricia Crain de Galarce at pcrainde.MRA@gmail.com.
Dear Friends of MRA,
It is with a combination of joy and pride that we share with you this edition of MRA Today 2025. It has been a pleasure to assemble this inspiring body of work this spring and to share the finished collection with you, our members. We have connected the theme of this volume of MRA Today to both the theme of the 2025 MRA Conference and the theme of the 2024/2025 MRA Beacon. Thus, MRA Today 2025 is titled “Powerful Words: Language that Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers,” which mirrors the theme of The MRA Beacon 2024/2025, “The Power of Words: Shining Light on Language Learning and Research,” and the theme of the successful 2025 MRA Conference, “Literacy and Language: Words Empower, Inspire, and Transform.”
The authors of the two book review columns and various articles within the covers of MRA Today 2025 demonstrate so clearly and so well how they impart language that not only inspires, transforms, and empowers but also informs. This volume begins with an inaugural column titled “ From My Perspective” in which the author chronicles her journey as a teacher in a Massachusetts urban school district and her work in a doctoral program at a Massachusetts university. Next, there are two book review columns, the first that reviews four current professional books for educators, and the second that highlights ten children’s/young adult books that were published in 2023 and received prestigious book awards in 2024. The last section of MRA Today 2025 is titled “Making School Connections” and includes four practical articles for the classroom that concern reading, writing, an arts-based curriculum, and the inclusion of literacy into the science classroom.
We hope you will find something in MRA Today 2025 that will inspire your work and life, empower you to try a new strategy in your own teaching, transform your use of words and language, and inform you as an educator.
So please sit back with a copy of MRA Today 2025 in your hands and enjoy the glories of spring – chirping birds, green grass, budding flowers, warm weather, longer daytime hours, and maybe even the crack of the baseball bat. You certainly have a wonderful, literacy adventure in store for you.
Happy Reading!
Elaine Bukowiecki and Val Shinas Editors, MRA Today 2025
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FROM MY PERSPECTIVE
Navigating the Words and the World: My Journey as a Reading Specialist and PhD Student
ASHLEY HOUSTON-KING
Dear Massachusetts Reading Teacher Community,
This piece reflects my journey as a PhD student and reading specialist in 2024. It begins with a glimpse into my identity as a student, teacher, and researcher. It then offers historical snapshots of Black education from the 19th century. Finally, it delves into how Muhammad’s (2020) Historically Responsive Literacies Framework (HRL) can be a model for implementing reading and literacy instruction in today’s classrooms.
In 2016, I began my career as an elementary classroom teacher in the Chelsea Public Schools. I worked with brilliant students and teachers who taught me so much about myself, others, and how the education system operates. I learned the importance of the art of teaching (e.g., modeling, guided practice, classroom discourse, academically productive protocols, and assessment data). I learned how important it is to build strong relationships with families and become a partner, finding ways to work together to support the child in thriving academically, socially, and emotionally. For my own sustainability, I learned how important it is to have one or two co-workers who can be there to remind you that you haven’t lost your mind or make you laugh when you want to cry (you know what I’m talking about!).
I left the classroom in June 2021 (temporarily) after finishing a year of teaching fourth grade during the pandemic. As I’m sure you remember, none of us knew when we would be able to return to school physically. It was a beautiful moment when we reunited after a year apart. Although I would miss teaching, I was thrilled to begin a PhD program, as I had many questions about the education system and was adamant about learning the past to find ways to create change for a better future.
I am in my fourth year at Boston University, studying Language and Literacy in Education. In my studies, I have intentionally taken several courses on Black history because I have many historical knowledge gaps. As a mixed-race Black woman, I can speak to the power of knowledge and learning my ancestors' histories. It has taken me to be in a PhD program to finally learn about Black thinkers besides prominent Civil Rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Jackie Robinson. To know that my ancestors resisted enslavement is powerful because, in school, I was never told this perspective. All I remember learning is that slavery happened, but there were no real details (maybe my history textbook had a paragraph on enslavement).
I never heard about slave revolts in the South or the thriving literary societies throughout the North. Unfortunately, my educational experience is not an anomaly but commonplace. We can look at examples of states’ negligence when it comes to teaching American history. This power of knowledge and learning motivates me to continue my research and share these silenced stories.
Texas, the home of one in ten public school students in the country, has experienced a number of high-profile embarrassments with regard to how schools in the state have taught Black history, particularly slavery. In 2015, the State Board of Education and publisher McGraw-Hill Education came under fire for providing students with a textbook that described how the transatlantic slave trade brought “millions of workers from Africa to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations.” It seemed to many to be a deliberate obfuscation of the fact that Africans were forcibly and violently stripped from their homelands, not people who were just “workers” who simply agreed to come help cultivate North American land. (Hannah-Jones, 2021, p. 203)
Distorted curriculums and textbooks perpetuate deficit-based narratives that share historical inaccuracies and erase historical facts that continue to cause harm to all students. My main research interests are at the intersections of Black education, reading and writing education, Black Girl Literacies, and the literacy practices of 19th-century African Americans. These interests are not just academic pursuits but crucial to understanding and addressing the systemic issues in our education system today. Throughout my coursework, I have spent a lot of time reading, writing, debating, and thinking about the impact of reading laws, policies, and mandates that have historically and continue to impact Black children’s access to an equitable education.
After my first year as a PhD student, I deeply missed being with students and teachers and knew I needed to get back into a school. I didn’t realize how much I would miss the day-today teaching life, and I found my program to be wonderful but lonely. I constantly asked myself questions like, “Who am I?” “What am I doing here?” “Is academia for me?” “Where are the other educators committed to disrupting systemic inequities?” This led to me getting a part-time substitute teacher position at a middle school in Chelsea, where I had the pleasure of spending time with my former students. Although I won’t go into great detail here, being a substitute teacher was my most rewarding and humbling career experience so far. I learned a lot about students’ daily lived experiences as I saw them across multiple classrooms and contexts over the year. The students shared with me so much about their interests in life, hopes and dreams
for the future as well as their anxieties and daily stressors. A major takeaway is that we must bring what students know and value into the classroom. We must take an asset-based perspective of who students are and provide them with rich experiences that help them better make sense of the world around them. Although I loved being a substitute teacher and learned so much, I felt an urgency and a call to return to my reading specialist roots.
I currently work as a reading specialist in Boston, supporting culturally, racially, and linguistically diverse students in grades 4-6 who face challenges in reading and writing. My background as a student, teacher, and researcher fuels my passion for exploring both inschool and out-of-school literacy environments. I aim to understand how young people confront injustice and strive for collective liberation. It’s incredibly empowering to be in spaces, where their voices, histories, literacies, languages, and diverse identities are recognized and celebrated.
Historically Responsive Literacy (HRL) Framework
If you are still reading this letter, I haven’t completely lost you with my brief history over the last decade. As we think about the possibilities of reading and literacy education for students K-20, I find Dr. Muhammad’s (2020) Historically Responsive Literacy (HRL) Framework to be a gift to us all. There are so many exceptional reasons why Dr. Muhmmad is a genius herself. However, her framework provides a clear, cohesive, and exciting framework that centers the lived experiences of Black and Brown children who have been historically marginalized.
Black Literary Societies
Before diving into the framework and learning pursuits, it is essential to know that Dr. Muhammad’s (2020) framework is built upon the genius of Black thinkers within Black literary societies throughout the U.S. Black literary societies were communities that existed throughout history where Black folks gathered for the pursuit of learning and teaching (Porter, 1936; McHenry, 2002; Muhammad, 2020). Dorothy Porter (1936) describes how literary societies were created to serve as institutions for reading and the sharing of important information in accessible ways through “libraries and reading rooms, the encouragement of expressed literary efforts by providing audiences as critics and channels of publication and the training of future orators and leaders using debates” ( p. 557). Dr. Elizabeth McHenry (2002) is another scholar who has written extensively about Black literary societies and the literacy practices enacted within these spaces. McHenry describes how African Americans founded these societies to create
Powerful Words: Language That Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers
spaces for literacy within the community for multiple purposes. She shares that some of these societies even kept minutes of each meeting, documenting the critical issues to members. McHenry highlights members’ stated concern with,
How they felt about themselves and how best to contend with their position in society; how financial assistance might be given to struggling members; how to develop the religious life of the community; how to address the question of emigration to Africa; and increasingly, how to improve educational opportunities for themselves and their children. (p. 45)
These intellectual pursuits were both deeply personal and political. Muhammad (2020) adds that literacy was “no longer just a set of skills to possess but the instruments used to define their lives and the tools to advocate for their rights (p. 9). These literary societies became sites of liberation, power, and fostering agency for individuals to begin to reach their full human potential and pursuits.
Theoretical Framework
Literacy research, standards, and curriculum tend to be rooted in Eurocentric views of learning and teaching (i.e., cognitive theory) that lead to a deficit of perspectives of students of color (i.e., IQ tests). Muhammad’s (2020) expansive view of literacy includes a range of educational theories and scholarship, including cognitive theory, sociocultural theory, critical race theory, and Black feminist thought. In addition to being rooted within the learning pursuits of Black literary societies, Muhammad’s HRL framework directly challenges deficit notions as she roots the framework in asset-based theories from scholars such as Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995), Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practices in Households, Communities, and Classrooms (Gonzalez et al., 2005), and “Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy: A Needed Change in Stance, Terminology, and Practice” (Paris, 2012).
While going through historical documents and analyzing how learning and teaching occurred within these societies, Dr. Muhammad (2020) created four learning pursuits within her HRL framework: (1) identity development (making sense of who I am); (2) skill development (proficiencies in the content they are learning within); (3) intellectual development (gaining knowledge and concepts about the world); and (4) criticality (ability to read a text to understand power, authority, and anti-oppression). This framework responds to the limitations of traditional schooling and urges educators/educational stakeholders to acknowledge, honor, and center
the genius that already exists within students. Muhammad (2020) writes, “Cultivation calls for reaching back into histories to teach in ways that raise, grow, and develop existing genius” (p. 13). She challenges the reader to take a historical lens to learn about the thriving literary societies that centered students on informing our pedagogy and policy decision-making. I will briefly discuss each learning pursuit in the following sections and provide examples of how students, teachers, and researchers take up justice-oriented learning and teaching.
Learning Pursuit #1: Identity Development
Humanizing students is essential to our work as educators, especially for those working towards disrupting unjust systems in which young people live. Who students are, from where they come, and their hopes and dreams matter. Muhammad (2020) defines identity as being made up of the notions of who we are as individuals, who others say we are (both the good and the bad), and who we dream of being. As students navigate their identities and evolve, schools should be a space that nurtures this development, supporting students’ curiosities about themselves and the world and seeking to support this becoming of self. Schools and classrooms should be spaces that nurture and support students in making sense of themselves.
Educators must embrace humility and acknowledge that our students come to our classrooms as whole humans with rich lived experiences upon which we can build. Educators can create literacy assignments that allow students to build upon and use their background knowledge to share with others. Vasudevan’s et al. (2010) research on composing multimodalities storytelling provided an empowering space for fifth-grade students to build upon their background knowledge. Multimodal, digital stories allow students to use various texts (e.g., books, videos, poems, pictures, music) to demonstrate their identities and personhood. Vasudevan et al. state that multimodalities storytelling allows students to narrate stories “through a range of print, visual and auditory modalities…” allowing students “to draw on their knowledge, experiences, and passions nurtured in their home communities to tell new stories and become more deeply engaged in the academic content of school” (p. 443). By engaging students in self-exploration, we create opportunities that reorient how we navigate literacy learning and teaching in the classroom by building upon students’ prior knowledge and histories.
Most importantly, for educators to engage students in identity work, they must also reflect on their own identities. Muhammad (2020) discusses the importance of teachers reflecting deeply and unpacking their histories, identities, biases, assumptions, and tensions
Powerful Words: Language That Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers
with racism and other oppressions they have learned, experienced, and practiced. Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz (2022) theorized the Archelogy of the Self, calling on educators to embark on a racial literacy development journey to genuinely becoming interrupters of racism and other inequities at a personal and systemic level. This model could be a great starting point for educators seeking immediate next steps.
Learning Pursuit #2: Skill Development
There is no doubt about it that skills are an essential part of students’ literacy development. Muhammad (2020) discusses skills and proficiencies interchangeably:
Skills are central to how we do school today and typically define achievement standards. Skills are also significant in designing learning standards that govern teaching and learning in schools, and each content area has its own descriptions and sets of skills. (p. 85)
However, when we focus narrowly on skills and ignore additional components of literacy (e.g., comprehension, writing, reading volume, culturally relevant texts, multimodal text), we continuously perpetuate harm that limits students’ opportunity to learn and grow. Looking closely at what is being measured by these standards and tests, we find that identity, intellect, anti-racism, and criticality are missing from the equation (Muhammad, 2020). One of the most significant issues with standardized testing, rooted in skills, is the omission of authenticity and the high stakes attached to passing the test.
These exams determine life outcomes and youth’s access to other academic and professional arenas. The onus of low scores is placed on students themselves instead of the media, government, schools, instruction, or systems that play a role in student achievement. (Muhammad, 2020, p. 87)
We must ask ourselves: “How can these decontextualized assessments hold so much weight over students’ futures?” “What are we really measuring?” “Who is really to blame for students’ unsuccess at reaching proficiency?”
Learning Pursuit #3: Intellectual Development
Throughout U.S. history, there have always been people who sought intellectualism to
make better sense of the world and work towards a more just society. If you meet and talk with young people, you will quickly realize how much curiosity, knowledge, and excellence sweeps through the room. Muhammad (2020) defines intellectual development as “the understanding, enhancement, and exercising of mental powers and capacities that allow one to better understand and critique the world” (p. 104). This knowledge is what we learn or understand about different topics, concepts, and paradigms. Muhammad shares several ways educators can cultivate students’ intellect. First, she discusses the importance of historicizing issues in school. With so much happening in the world, it is essential for young people to be aware of the social, political, and economic conditions in which they live. Muhammad suggests that we study topics fully and deeply, knowing their history and the multiple perspectives from which people may be speaking.
Also, educators can connect lessons and units to the human condition. Muhammad writes, when learning is connected to the human condition or the social and political problems affecting communities. In addition, when learning is connected in this way, it leads to greater intellectualism, where students can connect knowledge learned to problemsolving. Learning and working to improve the human condition help students foster their emotional intelligence and help to cultivate their hearts. (p. 111)
We must provide students with multiple perspectives and time to discuss with their classmates to further develop their ideas and make larger connections to the human condition.
Additionally, educators can cultivate students’ intellect by engaging students in debates. “The practice of critique is an intellectual exercise. Critiques can also lead to a spirited debate among students in class. It is key that students practice debate as they build intellectual development” (Muhammad, 2020, p. 110). Questions to consider are: “Should there be police aides in schools?” “Should youth have a say in the selection of curriculum and books?” “Should smartphones be used in the classroom for learning?” “Should schools teach African American studies as a required course of study?”
Learning Pursuit #4: Criticality Development
What is Criticality?
Criticality is a fourth learning pursuit of Muhammad’s (2020) HRL framework. Muhammad
Words:
defines criticality as “the capacity to read, write, and think in ways of understanding power, privilege, social justice, and oppression, particularly for populations who have been historically marginalized in the world” (p. 120). Criticality enables us to question the world and its texts to better understand the truth in history, power, and equity. The learning pursuit of criticality is rooted in critical literacies. Critical literacy is a sociocultural perspective on literacy that “uses technologies of print and media of communication to analyze, critique and transform the norms, rule systems and practices governing the social fields of everyday life” (Luke, 2012, p. 5). Critical literacy can allow students to reflect on their identities and the systems they live within to reimagine the future.
Current researchers and educators are utilizing critical literacy to engage students in conversations about critiquing and disrupting the inequitable social, political, and economic systems in which they live. From a sociocultural perspective of literacy, critical literacies offer a lens that enables students to critique the systems within which they learn and live. As Luke (2012) stated, critical reading can lead to disrupting and “unpacking myths and distortions and building new ways of knowing and acting upon the world,” (p. 5). In an article on engaging young people with critical literacies, Love (2014) discusses one of her primary goals: promoting social justice and democratic education by using hip-hop-based education with elementaryaged students. She demonstrated how 5th graders engaged in critical conversations about global warming, shootings, dropout rates, and the death of Trayvon Martin through multimodal texts. Love beautifully utilized storyboarding as a multiliteracy approach to connect students’ written text to visual representations, which allowed students to have the agency to construct their own reality. Through this research, she was able to have students engage in problemsolving and critical thinking and create counter-narratives that reflect their identities and experiences in the world.
Concluding Thoughts
I want to thank you, the reader, for joining me as I reflect on my experiences as a reading specialist and doctoral student. Returning to the classroom has been among my best decisions as a graduate student. It has allowed me to remain grounded in learning and teaching within a school context. My days are busy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Being a teacher allows me to understand the experiences of young people, particularly students experiencing difficulties in reading and writing.
I’d like to conclude with a final thought on the ongoing discussions about how to
support students facing challenges with reading. In the current era of the Science of Reading, we must remember to take an expansive view of literacy, understanding that reading goes beyond decoding. We must fight against narratives describing learning to read as simple, as reading is a complex process within social, cultural, and political contexts. As a reading specialist, I know the importance of explicit and systemic phonics instruction (15-20 minutes daily) in combination with several other factors, including comprehension, fluency, vocabulary development, writing, culturally relevant texts, and much more. I know the importance of supporting students in developing a positive relationship with reading and strengthening their identities as readers. Although I still have much to learn, I am grateful for the experiences I have had so far, leading up to the person I am today. Thank you for taking this journey with me. I encourage you to reflect on your journey as to who you are and how you got to be where you are today. As you reflect on your own journey, I look forward to learning how other educators are working towards disrupting systemic inequities in their learning and teaching. Feel free to email me your story at aahk@bu.edu.
References
González, N., Moll, L. C., & Amanti, C. (Eds.). (2005). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities, and classrooms. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Hannah-Jones, N. (2021). The 1619 project : A new origin story (C. Roper, I. Silverman, & J. Silverstein, Eds.). One World.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491. https://doi.org/10.2307/1163320
Love, B. (2014). What is hip-hop-based education doing in nice fields such as early childhood and elementary education. Urban Education, 50(1), 106-131.
Luke, A. (2012). Critical literacy: Foundational notes. https://doi.org110.1080100405841.2012.636324
McHenry, E. (2002). Forgotten readers: Recovering the lost history of African American literary societies. Duke University Press.
Muhammad, G. (2020). Cultivating genius: An equity framework for culturally and historically responsive literacy. Scholastic.
Paris, D. (2012). Culturally sustaining pedagogy: A needed change in stance, terminology, and practice. Educational Researcher, 41(3), 93–97. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X12441244
Porter, D. B. (1936). The organized educational activities of Negro literary societies, 1828-1846. The Journal of Negro Education, 5(4), 555–576. https://doi.org/10.2307/2292029
Sealey-Ruiz, Y. (2022). An archaeology of self for our times: Another talk to teachers: A teacher
Powerful Words: Language That Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers
educator revisits James Baldwin’s notable 1963 speech and advances the Archaeology of Self[TM], a self-awareness model for equity and action. English Journal, 111(5), 21-. Vasudevan, L., Schultz, K., & Bateman, J. (2010). Rethinking composing in a digital age: Authoring literate identities through Multimodal storytelling. Written Communication, 27(4), 442–468. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088310378217
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ashley Houston-King is a PhD student at Boston University, studying Language and Literacy in Education. Ashley is a reading specialist in a K-6 Boston public school and a former classroom teacher. Her research interests include exploring the intersections of reading instruction, identity, and disrupting anti-Blackness in education. She is interested in studying in-and-outof-school literacy spaces to better understand how youth navigate injustice and work toward collective liberation.
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS FOR THE 2025 MRA BEACON
The MRA Beacon: Journal of Literacy Learning and Research is seeking research or articles that highlight ways to extend literacy learning beyond the walls of the classroom and into the community at large. This might include how educators engage in culturally sustaining practices that uphold and respect the literacies of multilingual learners and their families. The deadline to submit for the 2025 fall/winter edition is August 1, 2025.
The editors seek featured articles or full-length papers discussing research studies or presenting theoretical arguments. Word count: 5,000 - 6,000 words
Please note that your manuscript should be carefully edited before submission and should follow the American Psychological Association (APA 7th) publication guidelines. Direct quotes within the manuscript must include a page or paragraph number in the citation. If citations are used within the text, a reference list must be included at the end of the manuscript.
Please include an abstract and a one-to-two-sentence author biography with your manuscript
Submit your manuscripts at https://www.massreading.org/write-for-us
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Practicing Critical Literacies in the Classroom: A Review of Recent Professional Texts in Literacy Education | SUSAN FLIS
“Critical literacy should not be an add-on but a frame or perspective through which to participate in the world, both in and outside of school” (Vasquez, 2014, p. 3). This quote from Vivian Vasquez (2014) illustrates the need for teachers to adopt critical literacy as a way of being. It is not an item on our planning checklists. Proponents of critical literacy live it, breathe it, and view the world through its lens. That being said, the reality of teaching today is that teachers have more to do and less time to get it done. Even teachers who have knowledge of critical literacies and their essential impact on students can get distracted by the constant demands of district and state initiatives, as well as the expanding needs of their students. Teachers need support to make the transition from theory to praxis.
The professional texts reviewed in this column all provide literacy practices rooted in both critical literacy theory and culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogies. Teachers can read any one of these texts to gain theoretical knowledge, while also using them as resources to help them implement critical literacy practices. These texts could also be used in district-wide professional development to build a school culture of anti-racism and culturally and linguistically sustaining practitioners.
Reading with Purpose: Selecting and Using Children’s Literature for Inquiry and Engagement
Written by Erika Thulin Dawes, Katie Egan Cunningham, Grace Enriquez, & Mary Ann Cappiello Teachers College Press, 2024
In this text, Dawes et al. examine the important concept of purpose in reading. They argue that a reader’s purpose for choosing and reading a book is just as important as what they are reading and what they do with the book. The text breaks down purpose into four categories: Care for Ourselves and One Another, Connect to the Past to Understand the Present, Closely Observe the World Around Us, and Cultivate Critical Consciousness. The authors write that those categories are the four purposes for choosing and reading literature. To introduce each purpose, they open with a classroom vignette to illustrate the why behind the book selection and lesson. Then they expound on the research that provides a foundation for each particular purpose. After each purpose is explained, the authors present invitations to teach with purpose. These chapters break each purpose down into the following sections: text sets, content connections and disciplinary literacies, critical literacies, reading process, visual literacies, writing development, multimodal response, and social-emotional learning.
Powerful Words: Language That Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers
These chapters are a valuable resource for teachers, giving them book suggestions, discussion questions, and interdisciplinary activities to engage and motivate readers.
One of the reasons this professional text stood out to me was because it consistently centers the reader in the discussion. As teachers, we often talk about author’s purpose: “Why did the author write this book? ”What did the author want you to learn?” “Who is the intended audience?” When I was an elementary classroom teacher, I also taught my students to think about why they were choosing the books they chose from our library for their independent reading. However, upon reflection, these conversations seemed more superficial. The answers were things like: “I like the cover,” “I like this author/illustrator,” “This is my favorite genre”. These things are still important for students to understand about themselves; however. this text helped me to see the complexity behind purpose, for both teachers and students. Also, each purpose the authors described was developed through the lens of critical literacies and culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogies, as they seek to build compassionate and justice-oriented readers.
The Anti-Racist Teacher: Reading Instruction Workbook
Written by Lorena Germán Multicultural Classroom, 2024
This is the second edition of Germán’s text, which was originally published in 2020. She is also the author of Textured Teaching: A Framework for Culturally Sustaining Practices (Heinemann, 2021). In The Anti-Racist Teacher: Reading Instruction Workbook, Germán calls reading teachers to engage in antiracist reflection exercises. It is a short text of just 48 pages, but it is a valuable resource for teachers who want to take the anti-racist journey and to be a part of a learning community focused on justice.
In this text, teachers will participate in personal reflection exercises based on research and writing from the scholars Django Paris and H. Samy Alim (Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning for Justice in a Changing World, 2017); Dr. Eve Tuck (“Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities”, 2009); Toni Morrison (Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, 1993); Claudia Rankine (Citizen: An American Lyric, 2014); and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi (How to be an Antiracist, 2022). Germán presents passages and artifacts from each scholar's writings and then poses questions for reflection. The final section of the text presents teachers with antiracist reading strategies and tips. These are feasible practices that all teachers can incorporate into their reading instruction, such as: pause & discuss, focus on minor characters,
build a counternarrative, and teaching sociopolitical context.
What stood out to me about this professional text was the feasibility of enacting antiracist reading practices through the personal reflection exercises and the classroom strategies presented. Germán acknowledges the heavy load on teachers and purposefully crafted a text that makes this essential work accessible, while still being relevant and impactful. This text would be a wonderful tool to use at faculty meetings or professional development sessions for school districts that are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. It is not enough for schools to just state their values in a mission statement. They must take action to operationalize those values. Germán offers a manageable way for teachers and schools to do that work.
Antiracist Reading Revolution: A Framework for Teaching Beyond Representation Toward Liberation
Written by Sonja Cherry-Paul Corwin Literacy, 2024
Sonja Cherry-Paul (2024), co-director of the Institute for Racial Equity in Literacy, wrote this text in response to a student’s question during a virtual author visit. Cherry-Paul partnered with author Jason Reynolds to adapt Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (Kendi, 2017) to Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2021). The student asked, “When can we move beyond representation to liberation?” This powerful question from a young Black girl inspired Cherry-Paul to craft an Antiracist Reading Framework to guide teachers to engage students in transformative reading experiences.
In the Antiracist Reading Framework, Cherry-Paul (2024) describes five characteristics of antiracist teaching. They are center BIPOC in texts; recognize cultural, community, and collective practices; shatter silences around racism; teach racial literacy; and learn about community activists. These characteristics are recursive and interconnected. For each of these characteristics, Cherry-Paul offers book suggestions and discussion guides for teachers. Each discussion guide is broken down into six critical lenses. These lenses are affirmation, awareness, authorship, atmosphere, activism, and accountability. Within each lens, Cherry-Paul includes prompts to develop and extend students’ thinking and pathways to guide teachers in their instruction with the text. She ends each text lesson with a sentence frame that engages teachers in reflection and holds them accountable for continuing their antiracist teaching journey. At
Words:
the end of the text, Cherry-Paul offers toolkits of the critical lenses for older readers, younger readers, and educators.
What stood out to me most about this professional text was the concrete, actionable steps that are offered for teachers to engage students in critical literacy and antiracist reading practices. Cherry-Paul (2024) offers many inclusive books for students, along with instructional guides for teachers. Also, her toolkits make this work applicable to all texts. They offer guiding questions for students, as well as text selection considerations and implementation suggestions for teachers. Importantly, Cherry-Paul engages teachers in critical reflection that will sustain the antiracist reading revolution.
Deepening Student Engagement with Diverse Picture Books: Powerful Classroom Practices for Elementary Teachers
Written by Angie Zapata NCTE, 2023
This text is a part of the Principles in Practice Series Children’s and YA Literature Strand published by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and it applies the NCTE’s position statement titled Preparing Teachers with Knowledge of Children’s and Young Adult Literature (CLA, 2018). This statement recommends that preservice and inservice teachers commit to these four principles: know the literature, be readers, affirm diversity and exercise critical literacy, and use appropriate pedagogy. Zapata used this statement to create a critical literature response framework to guide teachers in instructing with inclusive texts.
Zapata’s (2023) critical literature response framework helps students to engage with inclusive picture books. This framework encourages students to respond to literature in ways that are both critical and reflective, allowing them to connect their own experiences with the stories they read. Here are some key elements of the framework:
1. Critical Engagement: Students are encouraged to question and analyze the content, themes, and perspectives presented in the picture books. This involves looking at the underlying messages and considering whose voices are represented or marginalized.
2. Personal Connection: The framework emphasizes the importance of students relating the stories to their own lives and experiences. This helps them see the relevance of the literature and fosters a deeper emotional connection.
3. Collaborative Discussion: Students are prompted to discuss their thoughts and
interpretations with classmates, fostering a community of learners who can share diverse perspectives.
4. Reflective Response: Students are guided to reflect on their own responses to the literature, considering how their backgrounds and experiences might shape their understanding of the stories.
5. Action-Oriented: The framework encourages students to think about how they can apply the lessons learned from the literature to their own lives and communities, promoting a sense of agency and social responsibility.
Through the use of this framework, teachers can cover their literary standards, while also engaging students in critical thinking and building their empathy for others.
What stood out to me about this professional text was the action research/case study approach. It is, of course, rooted in theory and previous research. However, Zapata (2023) offers teachers practical approaches to teaching with inclusive children’s literature. She invites us into classrooms where teachers are engaging their students in critical and reflective literacy practices. This is especially important for teachers who want to enact the critical literature response framework but may not know what that looks like in their classroom.
All four of these professional texts are valuable resources for teachers of literacy. By now educators all know that children need inclusive books in their classrooms and in their hands. We also know that it is not enough to just stock our classroom libraries with inclusive books. As teachers, we must do the work to engage students in critical and reflective conversations about these texts. We know the what and the why and these professional texts provide the how. In a time when teaching seems harder than ever, between the politicalization of literacy instruction and the divisive nature of educational policy decisions, teachers need practical, actionable steps to do this critical work. These four texts provide those steps to all teachers committed to antiracist and culturally and linguistically sustaining literacy practices.
References
Cherry-Paul, S. (2021). Stamped (for kids): Racism, antiracism, and you. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Cherry-Paul, S. (2024). Antiracist reading revolution: A framework for teaching beyond representation toward liberation. Corwin Literacy.
Powerful Words: Language That Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers
Dawes, E. T., Cunningham, K. E., Enriquez, G., & Cappiello, M. A. (2024). Reading with purpose: Selecting and using children’s literature for inquiry and engagement. Teachers College Press.
Germán, L. (2021). Textured teaching: A framework for culturally sustaining practices. Heinemann. Germán, L. (2024). The anti-racist teacher: Reading instruction workbook. Multicultural Classroom.
Kendi, I. (2017). Stamped from the beginning: The definitive history of racist ideas in America. Bold Type Books.
Kendi, I. (2019). How to be an antiracist. One World.
Morrison, T. (1993). Playing in the dark: Whiteness and the literary imagination. Vintage.
Paris, D., & Alim, H. S. (Ed.). (2017). Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world. Teachers College Press.
Rankine, C. (2014). Citizen: An American lyric. Graywolf Press.
Tuck, E. (2009). Suspending damage: A letter to communities. Harvard Educational Review, 79(3), 409427.
Vasquez, V. M. (2014). Negotiating critical literacies with young children (10th ed.). Routledge.
Zapata, A. (2023). Deepening student engagement with diverse picture books: Powerful classroom practices for elementary teachers. NCTE.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Susan Flis worked in elementary schools for over 20 years as a classroom teacher, literacy interventionist, and instructional coach. She is now an Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at Bridgewater State University. Her research is grounded in critical literacy theory and is focused on supporting teachers in instructing with inclusive children’s literature.
CHILDREN’S BOOK COLUMN
The Power of Words Used by 2024 Award-Winning Children’s Book Authors
ELAINE M. BUKOWIECKI
The theme for the 2025 Massachusetts Reading Association (MRA) Conference as well as the theme of MRA Today 2025 concerns language and how authors use words to inspire, empower, and transform their readers. Thus, it seems quite fitting for this Children’s Book Column to highlight and review books and authors who are recipients of important and varied children’s book awards for 2024. There are so many inspiring book awards that it was difficult to single out the 10 that are represented in this column. However, I wanted to choose awardwinning books that represent the diverse students and readers who are found in classrooms today. The 10 books reviewed in this column include picture books, a graphic novel, and young adult novels. The annual book awards represented in this column are the John Newbery Medal, the Randolph Caldecott Medal, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpre Award, the YALSA-ALA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults, the Coretta Scott King Author Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (Picture Book), the American Indian Youth Literature Award (Picture Book), the Boston Globe Award, and the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction.
Each of these award-winning authors illustrates so beautifully and so well how their words empower the reader to strive for new heights as a learner; inspire the reader to be a thoughtful, caring person who accepts all diversity and is respectful of nature and all creatures who live there; and transforms the reader’s thoughts regarding how one’s words, both on paper and online, can impact the lives of all who are effected by them.
The John Newbery Medal
The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
The Eyes & the Impossible by Dave Eggers: Recipient of the 2024 Newbery Award
On the opening page of The Eyes & and Impossible (Eggers, 2023), the author admonishes the reader:
This is a work of fiction. No places are real places. No animals are real animals. And most crucially, no animals symbolize people. It is the tendency of the human species to see themselves in everything, to assume all living things, animals in particular, are simply corollaries to humans, but in this book, that is not the case. Here, the dogs are dogs, the birds are birds, goats are goats, the Bison Bison (p. 8)
Thus, begins the story of Johannes, a free dog and a fast runner, who lives in an urban park by the sea. The park is enormous. Every day, Johannes runs through the park, seeing everything, missing nothing, and reporting all he sees to the park’s three ancient bison, the “Keepers of the Equilibrium.” Johannes tells the reader he was born in the park, along with his four siblings. For some unknown reason, his mother gave birth to her puppies in the park, then taking one puppy with her to her human home and leaving Johannes and his three siblings in the park to fend for themselves. They did just that until one day, Johannes’ three siblings were snatched up by humans, never to return. Johannes then ran freely throughout the park and became the Eyes of the park. He states, “I am strong. I stared right into a solar eclipse and nothing happened. I cannot be defeated. Maybe I’ll never die” (Eggers, 2023, p. 14).
One day Johannes meets Freya, one of three ancient bison who lives in a fenced-in park within the park. The three bison are the Keepers of the Park’s Equilibrium. Johannes becomes the Eyes of the park, reporting to the bison each night at sunset all that is happening in the park. Johannes has four Assistant Eyes of the park – Bertrand, a seagull; Sonja, a squirrel; Yolanda, a pelican; and Angus, a raccoon. They meet each day and report on what they all see happening in the park. Through the years, the Equilibrium of the park is disrupted by humans. Some of the humans are respectful of the nature of the park and its inhabitants; others are not.
However, one day, life began to change for Johannes as he was captured by a gang of thieves, who were robbing money from the cash box at the soccer park within the park and was rescued by his animal friends. Strange and disturbing things were threatening the animals’ freedom in the park such as strange signs (triangles) being erected by the humans and a new, large building, which would become a museum, was being built. Additionally, Johannes rescued a toddler, who fell into the pond at the park, and now hundreds of humans were in the park with large cameras along with animal control officers, animal control trucks, and other other law enforcement officers. For Johannes, “it seemed a clear truth that helping with anything or anyone at any time brought with it a unique kind of burden” (Eggers, 2023, p. 98). Johannes could no longer be free and be the Eyes for the animals in the park. Johannes had to devise a plan to liberate all the animals in the park, who he loves.
While Johannes’ animal friends devise a plan to get Johannes into the museum, and Johannes, himself, devises another plan to free the Bison, Johannes and his animal friends are faced with a new challenge. A new creature has invaded the park, with hundreds of these creatures eating the weeds in an once tulip-filled garden. Joannes and his animal friends have not seen anything like these creatures before, who have long hair, curved horns, and four skinny legs. They are about the size of a large dog, and Johannes later learned from the Bison that these creatures are called goats. These goats frightened Joannes and his animal friends.
However, soon Johannes was befriended by one of the goats named Helene, and Helene had a plan to get the bison out of the park. A herd of goats would go onto a ship, with the bison hidden in between them. The ship would take the Bison far away from the park to freedom.
The ending chapters of the book are exciting, humorous, suspenseful, and emotional as Johannes, Helene, and all the animals and birds in the park (except the ducks) race against time and the humans to free the bison and get them safely to the ship that will be taking the goats and the bison to the “main-land,” far from the island on which the park is located. There are some surprising twists to the plot at the book’s end, where all the animals and birds become heroes in their own way, showing that “Heroes go forth. To be alive is to go forth. So we went forth” (Johannes in the last chapter of The Eyes & the Impossible, Eggers, 2023, p. 249). The language Dave Eggers (2023) employs throughout this book is beautiful, lyrical, passionate, and often humorous as he describes how the ecosystem of the park is being destroyed as the humans take over the life of the creatures of the park, and how the creatures have to fight back to continue to exist.
At various places throughout the book are copies of beautiful landscape paintings to which illustrator Shawn Harris has added a likenesses of Johannes. These landscapes, mostly all painted in the 19th century and hanging in different museums in the United States and Europe, advance the plot and add a new dimension to the adventures of Johannes and the other creatures of the park.
Due to the sophisticated language and word choices in the book, at times, The Eyes & the Impossible (Eggers, 2023), seems best suited for the late-intermediate grade or middleschool reader.
The Randolph Caldecott Medal
The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
Big by Vashti Harrison: Recipient of the 2024 Caldecott Medal
Vashti Harrison (2023) in Big so beautifully and poignantly depicts the power of words, and how words can be positive and uplifting, while at the same time, can be negative and defeating. This picture book tells the story of a young girl (we never know her name), who is born into a loving family, who accepts her for who she is and described her as “compassionate, caring, imaginative, considerate, free, fun, creative, smart, graceful, and nimble” (Harrison, 2023, pp. 5-6). However, since this girl was big for her age, at school and in her ballet class, she was called hurtful names such as “whale, moose, and cow” (Harrison, 2023, pp. 9-10). One day on the school playground, she got stuck on a swing, and her teacher had to rescue her. For the ballet recital, this girl was given the part of a cloud, while the other girls performed as daisies and roses. This girl felt so defeated and cried and cried. The adults and other children made fun of the girl, by saying: “Aren’t you too big for crying?” “Have you tried being smaller?” “Why can’t you just fit in?” (Harrison, 2023, pp. 38-39). The girl did not say anything about these hurtful words for a while, until one day, she returned these harmful words and accepted herself for who she was: “imaginative, creative, and Big” (Harrison, 2023, pp. 42-43).
The exquisite art work in this book, which was created in Procreate and chalk, and the sparse language add so much to this poignant story. For several pages in the book, there are just beautiful pictures that so realistically depict this girl’s true feelings, while allowing the reader to imagine what the girl is thinking. It is interesting how Vashti Harrison (2023) painted the girl in color and large compared to the other children who were painted much smaller and in silhouette. This truly symbolizes how this girl felt being “not herself, out of place, exposed, judged, and invisible” (Harrison, 2023, pp. 16-17) in a world that values small, while she was big.
At the end of the book, is a moving author’s note that begins: “In childhood, big is good. Big is impressive, aspirational. But somewhere along the way, the world begins to tell us something different: That big is bad. That being big is undesirable” (Harrison, 2023, p. 56). The author goes on to explain that she was never a dancer but did get stuck in a swing once.
Harrison (2023) states that while her experience growing up was less overt than the one she depicted in her book, the character’s thoughts and words are the same as her own. Children are subjected to judgments and prejudices that are harmful and have lasting effects. Still the girl in this book was able to recover her self-esteem and return these hurtful words to those who said them. Harrison states she “hopes [the protagonist in this book] will stand as a guide to all who need to see her journey, especially those who are Black girls in big bodies” (2023, p. 56).
Harrison (2023) ends this author’s note by describing the symbolism of the color palette she chose for Big – pink. She states her thinking that she could not wear pink as it was too bright a color and would make her stand out. Thus, she chose the color pink for this book as a way to reject her old thinking. “In color psychology, pink is associated with gentle love, tenderness, and nurturing. Pink flowers symbolize innocence, joy, playfulness, and happiness” (Harrison, 2023, p. 56). Harrison believes these are all the things the young girl in Big deserves. “[The girl’s] body is not a problem that needs fixing….What needs fixing are the implicit biases we all hold” (2023, p. 56).
Besides being the recipient of the 2024 Caldecott Medal, Big (Harrison, 2023) is also a National Book Award Finalist and a Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book. While this book is a picture book with sparse text and, thus, should probably be in the primary-grade classroom, its powerful message would be important for all students to read and discuss.
The Michael L. Printz Award
The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian, who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association. The award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association.
The Collectors: Stories by A. S. King (Editor): Recipient of the 2024 Michael L. Printz Award
In this anthology of stories by 10 young adult (YA) authors regarding collections and their collectors, editor and YA author A. S. King admonished his favorite YA authors to write a story that “[tosses] out conventions, as there are no rules, there [is] no ‘normal,’ and they [can] be as weird as they wanted” (King, 2023, book dust jacket). The result is 10 engaging; imaginative; and sometimes humorous, sometimes healing, and sometimes hurting stories
Powerful Words: Language That Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers
of various collections and their collectors. The authors of these nine stories, along with A. S. King, who wrote the book’s introduction; a story called “We Are Looking for Home;” and the last chapter titled “Who We Are, What We Collect,” are Anne-Marie McLemore, Randy Ribay. David Levithan, Jenny Torres Sanchez, Cory McCarthy, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, G. Neri, Jason Reynolds, and M. T. Anderson. Collectively, these authors are recipients of various book awards and honors and have enthralled YA readers with their writing for many years.
In the first lines of A.S. King’s (2023) Introduction to The Collectors: Stories, the author presents the reader with an incomplete list of things one can collect. This incomplete list includes: “crystals, lies, math tests, kittens, scraps of paper with things written on them, books, antiques, enemies, punctuation, friends, rumors, cars, feelings, baseballs, stepmothers, trophies, knowledge, joys, earbuds, anger, office supplies, judgments, conquests, opinions, prophecies, dryer lint” (p. 1). This list described with a touch of humor reminds readers that collecting involves more than just collections of animate objects. The author states there is a science of collecting and is “ubiquitous, usually harmless, and normal, and not to mention, profitable” (King, 2023, p. 1). People of all ages are collectors and collect things for various and different reasons. Collections represent the creativity of the collector.
King (2023) goes on to tell the reader that he is a collector of weird ideas, weird stories, and weird questions that led to the writing of The Collectors: Stories. He then invites the reader on a journey through this book to read and enjoy the stories these 10 YA authors have penned.
The first story in The Collectors: Stories (King, 2023) is called “Play House” and is written by Anna-Marie McLemore. Miranda Asturias is the collector in this story. At first, she collected glass bluebirds and fancy aprons. However, to escape the life her mother now had without Miranda’s father, Miranda began to collect other items from her and her mother’s house and stores them in the garden shed along with her glass bluebird and apron collection. This story has an unexpected twist to it at the end.
The second story in The Collectors: Stories (King, 2023) is called “The White Savior Does Not Save the Day” by Randy Ribay. Perdita Padilla is the collector in this story. She is a teenager and collects anything connected to the White Savior television show: White Savior figurines, White Savior posters, White Savior t-shirts, and scripts of the White Savior television show. While in a shop, waiting to purchase the last script for the White Savior television show, through a series of surprising events, Perdita becomes the next White Savior. This is a perfect story for the science-fiction enthusiast and reader.
David Levithan’s “Take It from Me” is the third story in The Collectors: Stories (King, 2023). This time the story is about a non-binary child who stole from other children’s and relatives’ collections to make his own collection of purloined artifacts. He always stole the least important items in the collections that he knew the collectors would not easily miss. Some of these stolen items was a spoon, a Pokeman card, a baseball card, a pony figurine, a sticker from a banana, a coin, an ashtray, a ceramic basset hound, a Christmas ornament, and a vintage Beanie Baby. At the end of this story, this collector decided to keep only a few stolen items, throw some items away, and return others to their rightful collectors.
“Ring of Fire” by Jenny Torres Sanchez is the fourth story in The Collectors: Stories (King, 2023). Lucia, a young girl is the collector in this story, and the items she collected had to do with fire: a matchbook, a candle, a lighter. This unintentional collection started the night Lucia’s mother died. The meaning of each of these items is explained throughout the story, leading to a fire that Lucia starts in her bedroom.
The fifth story, “Museum of Misery” by Cory McCarthy, is very abstract and is a story the reader needs to use critical reading skills in order to understand it. The story is told in pictures with limited text. The items being collected are words representing biases. The reader, therefore, needs to venture through this imaginary museum in order to confront these biases.
e.E. Charlton-Trujillo’s “La Concha” is the sixth story in The Collectors: Stories (King, 2023). The protagonist and collector is this story is Mia Hermana, a Mexican girl, who collects various items and stores them in jars in the bottom of her closet. This story revolves around Mia’s fractured family, and how this collection is a distraction from everything happening in this family.
The ”Pool Bandits” by G. Neri is the seventh story in The Collectors: Stories (King, 2023). The collectors are four high school students in 1976 who practice and succeed at vertical skateboarding in empty swimming pools in a southern California community. They collect and empty swimming pools illegally in order to hone their skills as vertical skateboarders.
The eighth story in The Collectors: Stories (King, 2023) is titled “We Are Looking for Home,” and is written by the editor of this book, A. S. King. It is a story of life and follows several boys through the growth process. They collect many things: memories, information, photographs, joys, and miseries. They are constantly looking for home - for true meaning in life- and are still
Powerful Words: Language That Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers
searching for this meaning at the end of the story.
For the ninth story in The Collectors: Stories (King, 2023) entitled “A Recording for Carole Before It All Goes,” author Jason Reynolds tells the story of a young girl and her relationship with her grandmother, who is very slowly loosing her memory to Alzheimer’s disease. Although not directly stated, the narrator of the story is a collector of family names that all begin with a “C.”
The last story in The Collectors: Stories (King, 2023) is titled “Sweet Everlasting” and is written by M. T. King. It is a story about the demon Flaelphagor and the different souls he took through time and in various places in the world.
The last chapter in The Collectors: Stories (King, 2023) is titled “Who We Are, What We Collect.” The chapter contains brief biographical sketches of each of the 10 authors who wrote a story for this book. The reader learns these authors have all received numerous awards for their writing through the years and also are collectors of different things such as rare recordings of classical music, images, gadgets, pieces of machinery, contemporary art, ceramic tiles from places they family had visited, bad memories, original art from illustrators of his books, books, and small magical things.
The authors of the 10 stories in The Collectors: Stories (King, 2023) took A. S. King’s prompt most literally, “to write a story about a collection and its collectors [and to] toss out conventions as there were no rules…no ‘normal,’ and [they] could be as weird as they wanted” (King, 2023, pp. 2-3). These authors absolutely heeded King’s words and wrote stories that are imaginative, thought-provoking, and abstract. Because of this, The Collectors: Stories (King, 2023) is best suited for the late-middle-school and/or secondary school reader.
The Pura Belpre Award
This award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.
Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir by Pedro Martin: Recipient of the 2024 Pura Belpre Award
Mexikid (Martin, 2023) is a graphic memoir about the author’s experience one summer as he and the 10 other members of his family pile into the family’s Winnebago to travel 2,000 miles to Mexico to bring their mysterious and Mexican-Revolution-era Abuelito (grandfather) home to live with them. However, Pedro’s Abuelito has a mission of his own and will not leave Mexico until the mission is complete.
As the adventure begins, Martin (2023) explains that he is a Mexikid, who was born in the United States to parents from Mexico. There are 11 people who live in a house that was built for 5. The reader learns the older children were born in Mexico in an adobe barn, while the younger children were born in a hospital in the United States. All the children had to learn both Spanish and English, and both languages are spoken in the home. Life can be at times chaotic, especially at mealtime and when guests are in the house. As a surprise, Pedro’s family is upended a bit when his father informs the family they will be driving that summer to Mexico to bring their grandfather home to live with them. While there are mixed feelings from family members about this trip, the family is on their way to Mexico.
After shopping for clothes and other items for their trip to Mexico, Pedro’s family is on their way. The older children drove in Pedro’s father’s pick-up truck, while the younger children are in the motor home with their parents. The entire family communicates with each other by means of CB radios. The reader does not know too much about the older children’s trip. However, for the younger children and their parents, there are many challenges of living in a vehicle traveling at 55 miles per hour. It is at the California-Mexico Border, the motor home is searched by unscrupulous border guards, who seized a lot of family’s possessions they were bringing to Mexico.
Following this harrowing experience with the border guards, the family is on their way again. They travel through mountainous terrain to finally arrive at Pegueros, their parents’ hometown. Here they learn their grandfather was a hero at the time of the revolution between the Catholic church and the government. They finally are reunited with their grandfather.
Once at their grandfather’s home, Pedro and his family learn their grandfather had a mission to accomplish before he will return with the family to the United States. This goal was to recover their grandmother’s remains that were buried in a cemetery that was decaying and quickly sinking into a rising river that ran under the cemetery. With a dramatic description that is presented in words, pictures, captions, English, and Spanish, the family recovers their grandmother’s remains that they safely placed in a new coffin their father had made.
With their grandmother’s remains safely interred again in a new cemetery, Pedro, his grandfather, and the rest of their family begin their adventure back home to California. Pedro’s father decides the family should take the scenic route home via the Baja Road. After safely crossing the Mexico-California border with no incidents with the border guards, the family crosses the desert and puts their motor home on a ferry to take the family to Cabo San Lucas, the southernmost point in Baja, California. The family enjoyed the sun, ocean, beach, and food of Cabo San Lucas for a few days and then begin to venture north to Los Angeles, California, where they spend some time with other relatives and celebrate the legacy of their grandfather’s life. Back on the road once again, the motor home hits and injures a deer that was crossing the road. Although Pedro tried to save the deer’s the life, the deer dies. The family finally does arrive home safely and are welcomed to a joyous Mexican celebration.
As with any graphic novel, the story is told equally with narrative, pictures, and speech bubbles. The writing is both humorous and poignant, at times, with text often written in Spanish with English translations. This book presents such an enjoyable reading experience that students, grades three-five, should have fun reading this book. It is so clear after finishing Mexikid (Martin, 2023) that Martin definitely deserved the 2024 Pura Belpre Award. Mexikid (Martin, 2023) is also a 2024 Newbery Honor Book.
Martin (2024) concludes Mexikid with a section describing his real-life family through pictures and text. The reader learns all about Pedro’s family, especially his grandfather, who lived to be 107 years old. Following Pedro’s family story, Martin (2023) includes a segment titled “Some of Your Questions Answered” (pp. 314-315) as well as a list of “Love & Acknowledgements” (p. 316) to the members of his family.
The YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults
YALSA’s Award for Excellence in Nonfiction honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a Nov. 1 – Oct. 31 publishing year. The winner is announced annually at the ALA Youth Media Awards, with a shortlist of up to five titles named the first week of December.
Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater: Recipient of the 2024 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults
Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed (Slater, 2023) is a true account of how a post on social media, started by a young high-school student on a private Instagram account, had disastrous repercussions for all who were involved and effected by this account. This post containing racist and sexist memes was originally posted to make a high-school student’s friends laugh. Then a few other students found out about the account, and soon everyone knew. Ultimately, no one in the small city of Albany, California, known as “Smallbany” (Slater, 2023, p. 1) to its residents due to its size, was safe from the fallout of the account’s discovery.
The book is divided into 15 parts, with each part subdivided into different titled sections. In Part 1, titled “Before” (Slater, 2023), the different Friend groups are introduced as well as the city of Albany, California. The reader learns that Albany has just under 20,000 residents and is bordered by the city of Berkeley on the south and east, San Franscisco Bay on the west, and by the town of El Cerrito on the north. The city is proud of its schools and happily reports that all students who graduate from the city’s high school go on to attend four-year colleges/ universities. The city’s demographics show 50% of the residents are White; more than 25% are Asians; 13% are Latinx; and 4% are Black, with this percentage shrinking. The students involved in the different Friend groups in this book’s case reflect the city’s demographics, with an additional dimension – several students are biracial. The students’ Friends groups reflected the racial tensions in the community but still they persisted as friends. “It was a struggle, sometimes, how to behave about race in Albany” (Slater, 2023, p. 24). Yet, the post that was posted on Instagram tore the Friends groups and their members apart.
The next several sections of book focus on the private Instagram account and the post one high-school student posted that was blatantly raciest and sexist. While this Instagram account was originally private to the high-school student who created it, soon a few friends learned about it and followed and commented on it. Some of those students who responded to this original post made offensive comments that were equally racist and sexist as the original post. Soon the whole school knew about this Instagram account and responded very emotionally to it. The police were called regarding this Instagram account but could not do anything about it since nothing illegal was done. Finally, the school administration had to decide what to do about the student who started this Instagram account and the other students who followed it. All students directly involved in the Instagram account received a varying number of days of suspension. The student who originated the post was eventually expelled from the school. The aftermath regarding the Instagram account devastated the school’s population as well as the lives of all the citizens of Albany. There was much debate as to whether or not the 13 students
Words: Language
involved in this Instagram account should be allowed back in school at all.
Sections 7 through 15 of Accountable (Slater, 2023) present the aftermath of this private Instagram account and its repercussions for those students affected by this account as are account followers and victims of the postings, their families, their school, their teachers, the school and school district administrators, and the entire community of Albany, California. With much detail and research, Slater (2023) describes the varying perspectives of the students and their families involved in this account and the aftermath caused from this account. In the beginning, some of the families of the followers and victims of this account tried to unite in a group to attempt to deal with the effects of this account. The school tried an intervention to bring the account’s followers and victims together in one forum, which ended in disastrous results. The principal of the high school where these events took place was reassigned to another position in the school district. Various lawsuits ensued by the families of the followers, who felt their children were unjustly punished for their participation in this account and by the families of the girls who were victimized by this account. A national conversation resulted regarding race, culture, and social media and what really constitutes Freedom of Speech, the First Amendment. At the conclusion of the book, the reader learns about the lives of some of the followers of this Instagram account and the lives of some of the girls who were subjects of the account. “It wasn’t easy, it didn’t happen in a straight line, but in the end, each of them found a path through it. On the other side, life was waiting for them” (Slater, 2023, p. 444).
Slater (2023) concludes Accountable with four sections: “Some Numbers: Online and Real-World Hate Among Young People” (p. 451); “A Note on Sourcing” (pp. 453-454), stating she (Slater) was able to speak with the vast majority of the people directly involved in the events described in this book; “Acknowledgements” (pp. 455-457), statements of thanks to the various people instrumental in this book’s publication; and “Endnotes” (pp. 459-480), additional information and sources regarding topics discussed in specific sections/subsections throughout the book. Slater states that “her aim for this project was to tell a complicated story from multiple perspectives” (p. 453).
Due to the length of this book (480 pages), the book’s content, and some of the language used, Accountable (Slater, 2023) is best suited for the high-school audience. The subject and events described in this book should lead to rich discussions regarding race, social media, and Freedom of Speech.
The Coretta Scott King Book Award
The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. The award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and honor his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.
Nigeria Jones: A Novel by Ibi Zoboi: Recipient of 2024 Coretta Scott King Book Award; National Book Award Finalist, 2024
Freedom is the main theme throughout this young adult novel, and it manifests itself in various ways for each of the main characters in Nigeria Jones (Zoboi, 2023). For Kofi Sankofa (Nigeria’s father), he is seeking freedom from White supremacists and is seeking freedom from all the injustices against Black people that have occurred in the past and present.. For Nigeria, her cousin (Kamau), her aunt (Sharon), and her mother (Natalie), they are seeking freedom from the Movement, a Black separatist group based in Philadelphia that Nigeria’s father leads. Members of the Movement live in Freedom House, a communal house, where everyone is vegan, and the children of the Movement are homeschooled. Everyone participates in traditional rituals to connect them to their ancestors. Nigeria’s father is trying to establish Freedom School for all children in the Movement to be homeschooled. Nigeria’s brother is named Freedom, as he was born on the Fourth of July (Independence Day). Even the different sections and chapters of the book are organized as the United States’ Constitution, complete with a preamble, articles, and amendments. At the end of the novel, Nigeria shears her dreadlocks (locs) and gives herself a “buzz” cut. She also changes her name from Nigeria to Enitan. Both of these acts illustrate Nigeria shedding her past and freeing herself from the weight of her hair and her father’s Movement.
The different characters is this book are beautifully written and developed. Nigeria is a teenage girl needing to leave the Movement and Freedom House for a better education at Philadelphia Friends School, an exclusive, private school founded by William Penn and the Quakers. Nigeria’s mother had secretly sent in an application for Nigeria to attend this school, and Nigeria’s father is completely opposed to Nigeria attending there, as he wanted her schooled at Freedom School as part of Freedom House and the Movement. Both Nigeria’s cousin, Kamau, and Sage, a White girl whose mother is a midwife, attend Philadelphia Friends School. Nigeria, who is extremely bright thrives at this school. Finally, at the end of the novel, Nigeria’s father accepts Nigeria’s new life, although he will be part of the Movement forever.
When the novel begins, we learn Nigeria’s mother has left Freedom House and the Movement for a better life, and Nigeria’s mission is to find her. We do not learn until the end of the novel, what tragically happened to Nigeria’s mother. Nigeria’s mother played an important role in the Movement and Freedom House as she organized all the records for the Movement and was the scribe for all of her husband’s, Kofi Sankofa, writing. With Nigeria’s mother not at Freedom House, it was Kofi’s expectation that Nigeria take over her mother’s work. Toward the end of the novel when Nigeria is going through her mother’s belongings, she finds a novel her mother wrote, titled A Black Girl’s Constitution. Nigeria plans to publish this novel.
Aunt Sharon, Kofi’s sister and Kamau’s mother, has been estranged from her brother and the Movement for many years. At the end of the novel, she is the peacemaker, who makes amends with her brother and brings the entire family back together for a Thanksgiving celebration, complete with turkey, gravy, and all the fixings. Although Kofi will always be associated with the Movement, he accepts his family members who left it.
Nigeria Jones (Zoboi, 2023) is beautifully written with lyrical language at times that makes the reader realize why this novel received the 2024 Coretta Scott King Award and was a 2024 finalist for the National Book Award. Due to the length of this book and the complex relationships among the characters, this book is appropriate for the middle-school reader.
Asian/Pacific American Award of Literature (Picture Book)
The Asian/Pacific American Award promotes Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage and is awarded based on literary and artistic merit. The award offers three youth categories including Picture Books, Children’s Literature, and Youth Literature. The award is administered by the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association, an affiliate of the American Library Association.
The Truth About Dragons: Julie Leung, Author; Hanna Cha, Illustrator: Recipient of the 2024 Asian/Pacific American Award of Literature; Caldecott Honor Book
This is a beautiful and poignant picture book about a young boy searching for the truth about dragons. The story begins late one night as a young mother tells her young son that she wants to tell him about the power of magic that lives within him. She, thus, sends her son on an epic quest to learn the truth about dragons. As the reader later learns, the boy departs on two separate journeys, each guided by one of the boy’s grandmothers.
On the first quest, the boy wears a red cloak and sturdy boots and travels deep into the heart of the forest, where he finds a yellow cottage perched on stilts in a boggy swamp in which his first grandmother lives. She tells the boy that dragons are fearsome and fire-breathing, with wings like a bat’s, a body like a lizard’s, and piercing horns upon its head. The dragon lives deep underground, hoarding piles of gold, which many a knight has failed to capture. The illustrations that grace this adventurous story are as ominous as the description of this dragon.
Then the boy is sent on a second quest guided by his second grandmother to discover, once again, the truth about dragons. In this other forest, the boy travels through towering bamboo branches framed by a sticky mist adhered to jagged mountains. The boy follows ninetailed foxes, who become ghostly maidens at nightfall. If the boy loses the trail, he is directed to speak with the white rabbit that lives on the moon with the moon goddess. Soon the boy discovers an airy palace overlooking a towering waterfall. There he meets a wise woman (his second grandmother) who tells him that dragons are majestic creatures of air and fire, with bodies like a serpent, including five claws on each leg and a flaming pearl embedded in their chins. These dragons rule the skies and rivers and command the rain to fall and the floodwaters to rise. The illustrations that accompany this adventure are light and airy as the description of this dragon.
At the end of this story, the boy returns to reality, and his bedroom, and his mother. The boy’s mother admonishes him that, while he could choose only one adventure to seek the truth about dragons, that both journeys represent his two grandmothers and this is for him to always treasure.
As with all picture books, the illustrations guide the story as much as the author’s words. As previously alluded to, the illustrations match so beautifully the tone of the adventure and the grandmother sharing the truth about dragons. The beautiful water colors in this book certainly illustrate the reason for this book to have been awarded the Caldecott Honor Book Medal.
The Truth about Dragons (Leung & Cha, 2023) is most deserving of the 2024 Asian/Pacific American Award of Literature and truly should be enjoyed as a read aloud book by children in prekindergarten through first grade.
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American Indian Youth Literature Award (Picture Book)
Awarded biennially, the American Indian Youth Literature Award identifies and honors the very best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of North America. Books selected to receive the award present Indigenous North American peoples in the fullness of their humanity.
Forever Cousins: Laurel Goodluck, Author; Jonanthan Nelson, Illustrator: Recipient of the 2024 American Indian Youth Literature Award (Picture Book)
Forever Cousins (Goodluck & Nelson, 2022) is the story of two cousins, Amanda and Kara, whose families belong to the same Native Tribal culture and who, when the story begins, live in the city. Amanda and Kara enjoy being little girls with their favorite colors being pink (Kara) and purple (Amanda). They both love sunflowers, powwow dancing, and chokeberry jam on toast. The girls are inseparable.
One day Kara’s dad announces that their family is moving back to the Rez (Reservation) to live in their Native Nation. Kara and Amanda are devastated that they will not be seeing each other every day but look forward to the family reunion on the Rez that coming summer.
The family reunion does take place, and it is exciting for Amanda, Kara, and their entire family to be back on Native lands and to enjoy all the Native American traditions of their ancestors. Although Amanda and Kara have been apart for a year, they quickly go back to being close friends (and cousins) and enjoy sharing secrets in the loft, playing tag in the cornfield, and jumping off logs for a swim in the lake. Soon, it is time for Amanda’s family to depart and go back to their life in the city, while Kara and her family will remain on the Rez. As Amanda and Kara say goodbye and go off to separate lives, they know in their hearts they will be “forever cousins.”
The simple text and engaging, almost cartoon-like, illustrations allow for this book to be a perfect read aloud for kindergarten-grade-one students.
While the story itself is a story of friendship between two young girls, it is the author’s note at the end of the book that describes the true meaning of this story. In this two-part author’s note, Laurel Goodluck (2022) writes about her own intertribal Native American family, living in the San Franscisco Bay area. She explains that just like Amanda and Kara in Forever
Cousins (Goodluck & Nelson, 2022), some of her cousins and their families remained in the city, while others moved back to the Reservation. She then discusses the history regarding Native American Reservations, and how these Reservations were created when Native Nations were promised goods and services by the United States government in return for land promises made to the Indigenous People. These promises were almost never upheld.
Goodluck (2022) goes on to explain in the second half of her author’s note that Native families moving to the cities was a result of the federal Indian Relocation Act of 1956. Life in cities was often difficult for these Native people, as without proper training, these people often fell into poverty and faced much discrimination. Goodluck ends her author’s note by stating that her parents were fortunate when they were relocated to the San Franscico Bay area, as they did receive vocational training through the Haskell Institute, a post-high school vocational and business institution in Lawrence, Kansas.
While the plot and illustrations in Forever Cousins (Goodluck & Nelson, 2022) will keep primary students’ interest in the engaging story of two cousins, it is Goodluck’s (2022) author’s note at the end of the book that gives this book a deeper meaning.
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
First awarded in 1967, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award honors young adult and children’s literature published in the United States (can be written or illustrated by citizens of any country). Winners are honored in three categories: Picture Book, Fiction and Poetry, and Nonfiction. Occasionally, a book will receive a special citation for its high quality and overall creative excellence.
The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, A Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity: Jonathan Day, Author; Art by Brett Helquist: Recipient of the 2024 Boston GlobeHorn Book Award; Also, Recipient of the 2024 Robert F. Sibert Medal.
It is Monday, August 21, 1911, and the masterpiece portrait, the Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo da Vinci, is missing from the gallery of Italian Renaissance paintings in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. While the reader knows in the opening pages of this narrative nonfiction book, written by Nichalas Day (2023), who stole the painting and the reason for the theft, the Paris police are completely baffled by this crime. Who stole the famous painting and why it becomes the mission of the Paris police and the world as the mystery of this art theft
Powerful Words: Language That Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers
becomes an international issue involving so many different sources and people.
In The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, A Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity, Nicholas Day (2023) takes the middle-grade reader on an exciting adventure through art and world history, as the world’s greatest detectives and police agencies try unsuccessfully to solve this crime. The reader learns early on in this book that the Mona Lisa is a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy silk merchant, who lived in Renaissance Florence, Italy in the late 1400s to 1500s. It was not uncommon at all in this period in European history for wealthy men to commission famous artists to paint portraits of their wives.
While the Mona Lisa was considered a beautiful painting and an Italian Renaissance masterpiece before it was stolen, the theft of this painting made it an international celebrity. There were multiple rumors as who the thief or thieves was/were, and the suspects ranged from infamous burglars, to international gangs of thieves, to billionaires who lived at the end of the American Gilded Age. At the end of the book, when the actual thief of the Mona Lisa confesses to the crime and produces the painting, this simple solution to this crime is not good enough for the international press, and a “conspiracy theory” regarding the theft of the Mona Lisa is concocted and believed by the world.
The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, A Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity (Day, 2023) is divided into 13 parts, with alternating chapters describing the theft of the Mona Lisa and the life of Leonardo Da Vinci as well as the history and life in Renaissance Italy. The reader learns that Leonardo was born from humble parentage and was indeed a genius regarding inventions in mathematics and engineering as well as a brilliant artist. However, due to Leonardo’s genius and brilliance, he would often get lost in his thoughts and rarely finished any work of art he started. It even took him many years to finish painting the Mona Lisa that he was commissioned to paint. At the same time the reader is learning about the life and work od Leonardo da Vinci, they are also learning about the history of Renaissance Italy, which was indeed an era of enlightenment, while at the same time, a tumultuous era in which to live. The art work of Brett Helquist (2023) that is placed strategically throughout The Mona Lisa Vanishes (Day, 2023), captures, in a comical way, the theft of this famous painting as well as the history of Europe and the world from the 1400s to modern times.
Nichlas Day (2023) conducted an immense amount of research for the writing of The
Mona Lisa Vanishes, which is documented in a last section of this book titled “Sources.” These sources are divided into general titles Day employed when researching and writing this book and then further divided into the research Day completed as he wrote specific chapters in this book.
While The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity (Day, 2023), is a fast-paced, enjoyable, and exciting reading experience, due to the amount of historical knowledge the reader is asked to bring to this reading task, the book seems suited for readers in the fourth and fifth grades.
Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction
The Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction is an annual American children’s book award that recognizes historical fiction. It was established in 1982 by Scott O’Dell, author of The Island of the Blue Dolphins and 25 other children’s books, in hopes of increasing young readers’ interest in the history that shaped their nation and their world. Eligibility for the award requires that a book be written in English for children or young adults, published by an American publisher, and the author must be a United States citizen. The award is recognized in the United States by publishers of children’s literature and young adult literature, the American Library Association, and the Assembly for Literature of Adolescents.
Bea and the New Deal Horse: L. M. Elliott: Recipient of the 2024 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction.
In a historical fiction novel, the author creates a fictional story and weaves into it actual facts regarding a specific period in history or a certain historical event. In doing this, the author conducts extensive research to make certain that the historical aspects of the novel are accurate and true. Bea and the New Deal Horse (Elliott, 2023) is an exemplary, informative, and enjoyable example of a historical fiction novel that is written for students in the intermediate grades.
Elliott (2023), in Bea and the New Deal Horse, tells the poignant, and sometimes humorous, story of two young girls, who are abandoned by their father in the hayloft of a barn at the farm of a friend of his wife because he can no longer care for his daughters. It is the time of the Great Depression in the United States, and the father, once a prosperous banker, has lost
everything in the stock market crash of 1929. Thirteen-year-old Beatrice (Bea) and eight-year old Vivian (Viv) wake up one morning in the hayloft of the barn at the farm of Mrs. Scott, a firm yet caring horsewoman, who lives in the rolling hills of northern Virginia. The father leaves a note with his daughters, hoping they would understand that he could no longer care for them and also hoping that Mrs. Scott, whose daughter was the college roommate of this man’s wife, would take them into her home and care for them as her own.
With beautiful, descriptive language, (Elliott, 2023) creates characters who are truly realistic and are representative of people who lived in northern Virginia during this period in history. There is Mrs. Scott, the owner of this farm, who was once a prominent and prosperous horsewoman, and is now faced with mounting debt and foreclosure of her farm due to an extensive drought in Virginia and the dire circumstances the Great Depression brought to all those people living in this area. There is Malachi, Mrs. Scott’s African American servant, who fought bravely in World War I for the United States and now faces discrimination of being a Black man living in the segregated South. There is Ralph, the aging stable hand, who cares for Mrs. Scott’s beloved horses and who befriends Bea and Viv. And there are Beatrice and Vivian, who try so hard to be helpful to Mrs. Scott and who hope to be accepted into her house and heart.
As the plot of Bea and the New Deal Horse (Elliott, 2023) unfolds, the reader learns how Bea once lovingly had a pony of her own and becomes a most capable horsewoman under the tutelage of Mrs. Scott, a most capable horsewoman herself. Bea helps to tame one of Mrs. Scott’s horses, a beautiful but troublesome chestnut, with the hope of winning first place in a horse show that will be taking place in a neighboring community to Mrs. Scott’s farm. The reader also learns Malachi, Ralph, and the entire northern Virginia area have important roles in this endeavor.
Elliott (2023) completed a tremendous amount of research when writing Bea and the New Deal Horse, which she documents in a section of the book titled “Author’s Note and Thanks.” The reader learns about Black Tuesday, the day the stock market crashed and the tremendous hardships the Great Depression caused for all people living across the United States. We learn about Frsnklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and his promise of a “New Deal” to put Americans back to work when he became President of the United States. We learn how Malachi represents the brave African Americans who served in World War I and how they were promised their bravery would be rewarded when they returned home to the United States. (It never was!) We learn about the race riots of the summer of 1919 and the Bonus Army that marched to Washington,
D.C. to get the bonuses they were promised for serving in World War I. And we learn about the 1930 and 1932 droughts that brought Virginia “to its knees.”
Just as FDR’s “New Deal” brought hope to all Americans that life would get better following the Great Depression, so does Elliott (2023) provide a hopeful ending to Bea and the New Deal Horse. The reader knows the life will now be better for Bea, Viv, Malachi, and Ralph, and that one should never give up hope, even in the direst of times. Bea and the New Deal Horse (Elliott, 2023) is a beautiful example of a historic fiction novel and most deserving of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction.
Final Thoughts
As described above, these 10 award-winning children’s literature books and their authors truly illustrate the power of words, and how words can inspire, empower, and transform the reader. It was an enjoyable reading experience to read and review each of these books, and it is my hope that the MRA Today 2025 readers will find the opportunity to share these books with their own students. Happy Reading!
Books Reviewed in This Children’s Book Column
Day, N. (2023). The Mona Lisa vanishes: A legendary painter, a shocking heist, and the birth of global celebrity. Random House Studio. Eggers, D. (2023). The eyes & the impossible. Alfred A. Knopf. Elliott, L. M. (2023). Bea and the New Deal horse. Katherine Tecen Books. Goodluck, L., & Nelson, J. Forever cousins. Charlesbridge. Harrison, V. (2023). Big. Little, Brown and Company. King, A. S. (Ed.) (2023). The collectors: Stories. Dutton Books. Leung, J., & Cha, H. (2023). The truth about dragons. Henry Holt and Company. Martin, P. (2023). Mexikid: A graphic memoir. Dial Books for Young Readers.
Slater, D. (2023). Accountable: The true story of a racist social media account and the teenagers whose lives it changed. Farrar Straus Giroux. Zoboi, I. (2023). Nigeria Jones. Balzer & Bray.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Elaine M. Bukowiecki is a professor emeritus, College of Education and Health Sciences, at Bridgewater State University, where she taught (and still teaches) courses in the graduate programs in reading. While working full time at Bridgewater State University, Elaine was coordinator of the graduate programs in reading for eight years; department chairperson of counselor education for seven years; and editor of The Graduate Review: Graduate Journal of Research and Creative Scholarship, College of Graduate Studies, for eight years. Elaine is past president of the Massachusetts Reading Association (MRA) and past president of the
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Two Frames of Affective Reading JUSTIN STYGLES
What is reading like? What is reading like for you in terms of comfort, security, and relaxation?
Or is reading the belaboring, through, seemingly decodable words and phrases that follow one after the other, but you visualize nothing but a blank page? Or is reading fraught with anxiety or agitation that runs like electrical currents through your body because you’re consumed with everything around you but reading?
Now, think of a time when...
• You couldn’t stop reading because you couldn’t wait for the next moment.
• You read something that aligned with an experience you had.
• You had to stop reading because you were frustrated or angry with the content.
• You learned something from reading you didn’t know before.
• Reading changed your mind about something.
• You read something and realized your life couldn’t be that way.
• You read something that you didn’t think you would enjoy.
Is reading the excitement you feel by connecting with the characters? Perhaps you have an intense feeling when you identify yourself in a book or the fascination of learning something previously unknown? What about the overwhelming feeling you have to talk to someone about what you’ve read? To create? To write after (or during) your reading?
The conditions above describe affective reading. I describe “affective reading” in I Hate Reading (Stygles, 2022) as the emotional and physiological response to reading. More succinctly, the way emotions are tended to while reading and your physical responses or state of being during reading.
Affect and affective reading are interesting considerations regarding reading. There is no clear way to measure affect because it’s subjective, and different for every reader, meaning every experience is different. In other words, affective reading is not definitive for generalized purposes. Affective response and physiological states for readers may change daily, including the day’s events, stressors, demands, and relationships leading to ever-changing reading experiences. This is not to mention one’s self-concept or self-efficacy (or lack thereof).
You might infer that confident readers who reveal strong self-perceptions might experience positive affect while reading. Presumptively, they feel good reading, don’t experience anxiety, and are likely to be physically expressive while reading, such as smiling, laughing, or crying.
Readers experiencing shame do not feel comfortable reading. They are anxious, concerned about expectations, and behave appropriately (because there is a way readers behave). These readers lack affect while reading or have no emotional response. Some say they read the words but gloss over them because reading is “boring.”
As readers mature, we know from our own experiences, our reading experiences are not polar. By this, I mean that reading experiences are not ALL positive or negative. There is a lot of in between when we consider our given emotional state at any point in a day. For instance, there were several nights I couldn’t read, overwhelmed with stress and other concerns. At the same time, another person dives into a book to cope with stress and other distractions. There are times (though far less frequently) when I could read all day and didn’t want to step away from reading. I felt good reading. Reading felt good. There were times I couldn’t sit down for more than 90 seconds before I had to attend to the next responsibility.
Again, there is no consistency to each individual’s affect. What we need to recognize is that our affective state has a significant influence on our comprehension. Many readers believe comprehension is straightforward; it’s the result of reading.
If we go back to the representations described above, we can see how much more reading is a multi-faceted process or experience that impacts comprehension. For the sake of this discussion, comprehension has an emotional component, though unmeasured concerning cognition. Authentic reading occurs when a reader is moved, influenced, and inspired by a text. For this to occur, an ability to comprehend must be in play. When we identify with a story or empathize, our reading interest peaks and comprehension is scaffolded. While some say this is the invocation of background knowledge, our perceptions driven by emotion influence how and what we comprehend.
Comprehension is also influenced by our emotional state of reading, the affective state. The auspices of affective reading are the trust and security required to be read safely, lost in the book, and relaxed in a contemplative state. We can all think of a time when we understood more of what we read, engaged in a text more, or “talked to the book” when distractions or attending to the needs of others didn’t deter us.
The problem is, the affective state of a reader is seldom considered when teaching students to read. Maturing readers interpret reading as a requirement or demand, an actionable step that must be done, like doing dishes. A student must have a sense of the reading process. The effectiveness of a reading process is contingent on the student’s ability to attend to the text, which embodies their affective state. We also know that true engagement with a text –loving engagement with a text – evokes some emotional response, and a student has to have an appropriate affective state to harness their affect.
Creating Space for Affective Reading in the Classroom
Traditionally, from the first day of school onward, students learn that quietness is essential to independent reading in the classroom. As we know, this is a behavior, with no assigned effect size. There is the assumption that the quieter students are, the more they read. Until they’re not. Affect is stunted by silence. One cannot laugh, cry, or question. If they do, everyone else pays attention. For neurodiverse students, the art of staying quiet could expend all cognitive energy they may have to be compliant before reading.
Like many colleagues, I too often tell my students to stay quiet during reading. It’s largely automatic and a weak appeal to the class as they know I’m working with other students. I extend my request by asking students to give others the space and quiet they need to read. However, I’m making a critical mistake for some readers. I’m confusing readers because, on one hand, I am asking them to be quiet. On the other, I am asking students to respond emotionally, which requires an audible response. This creates confusion and frustration as readers are uncertain how to comply with expectations. If I do this too many times, calling students out for failure to comply, they begin to internalize shame because “I can’t do anything right.”
The fact is, whether we are reading fiction or nonfiction, we have physical responses such as excitement, contempt, laughter, or anger that can be felt within our bodies and/or seen in our faces. In such cases, we are dealing with affective responses. Have you ever had someone say, “That book must be good” without them knowing what you are reading? That’s because your affect is responding to text, a sure sign that you are engaged with text.
Shame and Affective Reading
Independent reading can be difficult for a reader’s self-perception. For avid readers, who love reading to retreat from the world, independence is perfectly fine. For mature readers,
Words: Language That Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers
who are still dependent on feedback and developing their identity, independent reading is analogous to isolation. As much as we want readers to launch ahead into the (presumed) comforts of independent reading, sending them into the world of independent reading too soon may have consequences.
One of those consequences is figuring out and navigating independent reading alone like they’ve assumed an ability because students picked up a book. Second, when reading alone, you only know what you know. Though comparisons can be detrimental to readers, they’re also mirrors to gauge oneself.
The most important consequence is no one with whom to share reading. Children love discovery and sharing with respected adults. When left alone to read volumes, that volume of rereading is not likely shared but kept to oneself. While this may work for accomplished readers, it deters struggling readers.
For example, students find interesting facts, have epiphanies while reading, or a prediction fails to come true because of a plot twist. While the emotional reaction might be there, the loneliness and lacking opportunities to share invite maturing readers to question the purpose of reading. Is it, or could reading be that intrinsically comforting? For struggling readers, such a thought doesn’t make sense and generates shame. Maturing readers are supposed to embrace the windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors that bring them into text. They’re supposed to see themselves in text, but what happens when no one’s there to see them celebrate the connection. Let’s not forget those who read nonfiction. What happens when they learn new facts or discover contrasts to what they knew previously? Have you ever had that happen? What happens when there is no one to tell? The affect is excitement. The desire is to connect with someone. Maturing readers learn to stifle their affect when there is no one with whom to turn to and share. This, in turn, disengages students, leading them to abstain from reading altogether. It’s not that students don’t want to read, they just haven’t reached the developmental stage of life where they are independent, and reading or learning from text is a form of self-gratification. For our students, loneliness should not be synonymous with independent reading.
The next question is, are readers able to describe these moments? Can maturing readers name the books that evoked their affect on an emotional level? If not, students are not likely to experience a level of metacognition that supports their comprehension, or awareness of their affective responses that invite joy and enable comprehension. When students can identify the
moments, share the moments, and own the emotions that coincide with their reading, they are on the path to becoming lifelong readers.
Physiological Reading – An Assumed Aspect of Aesthetic Reading
We want readers to enjoy the experience of a space that invites relaxation and thinking. For many readers, the physiological nature, or physical comfort and sense of security, is nearly impossible. Be it neurodivergence, anxiety, incessant distractions, or a life that doesn’t permit slowing down, many readers face struggles with simply settling in and finding comfort in reading.
Reading on the school bus, at the kitchen table while dinner is cooking, and sometimes in the classroom are not spaces that promote physiological reading and important elements connected to enjoyment or aesthetic reading. If reading for pleasure, a near-meditative state supports engagement. If reading to learn, say reading a manual or professional text, a reader requires an emotional state not consumed by distractions or perseveration. Depending on the reader’s personality, how one manages oneself through active meditation or passive meditation. in other words, how one sorts out and manages distractions so they can focus on reading, is largely self-regulated, but a necessary element of the reading process. Quietness is often an attribute of an environment that promotes relaxation, thinking, and a meditative state. However, many of us cannot afford such experiences.
Several pressures weigh on readers including anxiety, anger, fatigue, (i.e. reading for extended periods), and distractions (i.e. Where do I need to be? What would I rather be doing?). If any of these conditions threaten a student’s emotional or physical space, their transaction with reading is at risk. For example, Kevin reads every day at home for thirty minutes. He has to read, in his room, right after school because he has basketball practice from 6-8. Most boys who play sports look forward to games and practice (of course, if they aren’t, we need to factor in anxiety). Practice, the drive to do well predominates their thoughts. Yet, they have to sit. And read. Before dinner. This creates frustration.
Readers, as intentional as they may desire, default to reading to complete an assignment, rather than take away lifelong learning. Shame enters the picture when the readers are called out or questioned about their reading or held accountable (in a negative sense) when they cannot control what afflicts them internally or the figures that control their lives. Just the idea alone of reading and being interrupted or told they’re not reading correctly can be anxietyprovoking. This is when we know shame encompasses our readers.
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Conclusion
Reading should be enjoyable for everyone. However, it’s never as easy as just having a book. Several attributes go beyond foundational skills and cognitive measures. Most of these are not taught in school, perhaps assumed, or expected without understanding the reader’s previous experience from the toddler years till now.
In the end, we cannot limit our instruction to foundational skills, answering questions, and promoting independent reading. We must dive deep into our students’ experiences as readers and be willing to walk through the “external” factors that directly impact a student’s ability to read and self-perseive.
References
Stygles, J. (2022, September). I hate reading. Corwin Literacy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Justin Stygles is a grade-five, English language arts and social studies teacher at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School in Brunswick, Maine. He is the author of the book, I Hate Reading (2022).
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Language: The Wonderful Web We Weave
LYNNE KULICH
One of my favorite reading memories is of my adult daughter when she was three years old. Before bedtime, I always read aloud to her, and I can still see us cuddled together while I read Charlotte’s Web (White, 1952). As you are likely aware, toddlers are inquisitive, and this reading experience with my daughter was ripe with conversation. Kaitlin could not yet recognize all her ABCs; however, she was building language comprehension skills, i.e., vocabulary, syntax, and content knowledge, which are necessary for reading comprehension. I remember explaining Charlotte’s miraculous messages woven in webs above Wilbur’s pen like “Radiant” and “Humble” and why Fern was so distraught. We created wonderful memories while Kaitlin was preparing to become a reader.
Why Language Comprehension Matters
Like most state education agencies, MA DESE has leveraged the Science of Reading to adopt evidence-based reading instruction policy. The Science of Reading is not a curriculum, an instructional practice, or an assessment. Instead, The Reading League defines it as a body of evidence-based research on how students learn to read and write (Brandi, n.d.). This research is not new and was shared broadly more than two decades ago (Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read: Reports of the Subgroups | NICHD - Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000). Unlike speaking and listening, which are innate to brain function, reading and writing are highly complex skills and cognitively demanding, requiring the coordination of numerous higher order thinking skills to execute well. This explains why reading and writing must be taught, and achieving automaticity does not happen overnight.
Learning to decode written words by orthographically mapping phonemes to graphemes is the first step towards automaticity (Ehri,1995). While systematic and explicit phonics instruction is necessary as part of the decoding domain – think Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986) – so too, is language comprehension. In fact, decoding language comprehensionreading comprehension-, and one factor without the other does not amount to much. Language comprehension is the ability to make meaning from written and oral language, and students who can decode texts must leverage vocabulary, syntax, and content knowledge for texts to make sense. While we need to systematically and explicitly teach students to decode, we need to be equally vigilant about teaching students to develop language comprehension skills.
“Children’s knowledge of spoken language is the most important determinant of early reading success,” (Seidenberg, 2017, p. 239).
Educators often wonder if there is an order of operations. In other words, should we teach decoding skills first, and then shift focus to language skills? If we look at the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tummer, 1986), we can see that both skills can and should be taught in tandem. In fact, language comprehension skills are developing before students enter the classroom. At birth, we are exposed to oral language and environmental print. Before we utter our first words, or step one foot in a classroom, we have been adding language to our “webs,” strand by strand. Not all spider webs share the same patterns – some are purse webs, while others are funnel webs. Like spiders, children weave different webs based on their culture and linguistic backgrounds. The challenge for educators is to analyze each web structure, acknowledge differences as assets, not deficits, and add to the students’ linguistic “strands” of knowledge, while teaching students to orthographically map letters to sounds. We cannot wait until students are fluent readers to address language skills. It is language skills such as syntax that enable students to read with appropriate prosody or expression. If we want students to “read to learn,” then they will need language skills.
The Challenges Students Face with Language Comprehension
Beginning readers usually have language comprehension skills that exceed the demands of simple texts. In later years, complex texts begin to exceed the limits of a child’s language comprehension skills, and difficulties with reading comprehension often ensue. In fact, much of the variance in eighth-grade reading scores is due to language comprehension, not decoding (Adlof et al., 2006).
The following examples highlight how vocabulary, syntax, and content knowledge are necessary for students to decode and comprehend the most complex texts. The first sentence is simple and easily decodable, given the single-syllable words and single punctuation mark. In contrast, the second sentence is complex with multisyllabic words, commas, and advanced vocabulary. Students will need language comprehension skills to understand the complex text they have decoded.
Simple Text Complex Text
The frog hops.
The bright, green frog with its shiny, slimy skin croaks and leaps from a cool rock nestled in a swampy bog.
Systematic and Explicit Strategies to Support Language Comprehension Development
How can we better prepare students to comprehend those challenging texts? Like Charlotte’s webs, there are artful practices we can implement daily with students. Let us explore three of them.
Read Alouds
Students need systematic and explicit experiences with language that require them to make sense of new ideas. This skill develops daily as we read aloud rich, complex texts that feed students' vocabulary and advanced text structures. When we read aloud to students, we upload vocabulary and rich sentences into their heads to create a foundation from which students can inevitably leverage to tell and write stories of their own (Trelease, 2006). Reading aloud texts too difficult for readers to independently decode is the scaffolding these readers need to access texts and develop necessary language skills.
Narrative and informational read-alouds expose students to complex syntax, rich vocabulary, and new content knowledge they may not otherwise experience. Narrative readalouds introduce and reinforce literary language, story elements, and character development. Similarly, informational read-alouds provide content-rich vocabulary in math, science, social studies, music, etc. These texts, read aloud, also help develop reasoning skills, especially for students not yet able to independently access the content. Texts beyond students’ decoding skills, but within their comprehension reach, make perfect read-alouds.
Looking to take your read-alouds to the next level? Check out Maria Walther’s (2019) Ramped Up Read-Aloud: What to Notice as You Turn the Page. In her interactive read-aloud book, she provides ready-made lessons, aligned to grade-level standards, created specifically for each diverse text included. Here are guidelines to follow when designing an interactive read-aloud:
• Choose texts rich with ideas and language
• Preview interesting, unfamiliar, and high utility words
• Use parenthetical explanations
• Plan for places for student dialogue and conversations
• Check for understanding
• Support active listening skills
• Include a written response activity
Dialogic Reading Conversations
Dialogic conversations are authentic and intentional verbal interactions that allow students to express their opinions and experiences about a topic, while weaving in new vocabulary gleaned from a text. Although these conversations are organic, consider the following to ensure systematic implementation.
• Is the text you have selected engaging enough for students to discuss?
• How can you repeat and expand on what students say, adding new concepts and vocabulary from the text?
• How often are students engaging in conversations about texts?
Are students reluctant to join a conversation? No worries! You now have an opportunity to explicitly develop their skills and encourage participation. Try out this technique called PEER (Whitehurst, 2024).
• Prompt students to say something about the book. (“Where is the frog?” “On a rock.”)
• Evaluate the response. (“That’s right…”)
• Expand the response by rephrasing and adding information to it. (“The slimy, green frog is sitting on a rock in the bog.”)
• Repeat the prompt to students and ask them to respond again with more details.
Words of the Week
It is true that children learn new words implicitly from their environments, but we need to explicitly teach strategic words students aren’t likely to encounter on their own, in the absence of direct instruction. Charlotte, with her advanced vocabulary, was one smart spider who spent
time “schooling” Wilbur and his barnyard friend, Templeton, about the meaning of words like “crunchy,” and why “radiant” should, instead, be woven into her web. Charlotte’s short, scripted messages saved Wilbur, and vocabulary development can be just as impactful for students.
Explicit and systematic vocabulary instruction should include morphology, or the study of the formations of words. Specifically, we need to teach students that words may have pieces and parts, i.e., prefixes, roots, and suffixes, which carry meaning and help students comprehend. For example, take the word “disease.” The prefix /dis/ means not, none, or apart. When we add /dis/ to the beginning of a word, the new word has the opposite meaning. “Disease” means “not at ease.” Have students apply their knowledge of this prefix to define other words such as “disband, disinfect, and dislocate.” Send them on a scavenger hunt to “discover” other examples to define and share with their peers.
Direct vocabulary instruction should be part of your daily practices, including contentspecific lessons for math, science, etc. One way to make vocabulary stick is to introduce words of the week. As you plan for your lessons, consider explicit instruction for words that are highand low-frequency, as well as words with multiple meanings based on context. Also consider the needs of multilingual learners and any students with language and/or learning disabilities. Follow the suggestions below to select the most appropriate words to introduce and apply throughout your lessons for the upcoming week.
1 Select five content-specific words to display throughout the classroom or school.
2 Introduce each word in a complete sentence and display the definition(s).
3 Identify and interpret prefixes, roots, and suffixes.
4 Students practice spelling the words and writing them in complete sentences.
5 Intentionally, use the words in sentences throughout the week.
6 Play word games like Wordo! “What word means ‘lack of grace’?” (disgrace)
7 Encourage and recognize students for “random acts of vocabulary” as they are speaking throughout the week.
Conclusion
When educators create language comprehension opportunities, they expose students to new concepts and language structures that help students begin to independently access written language through reading complex texts.
While Charlotte was infamous for weaving new webs overnight, language comprehension skills continue to develop cumulatively over time, given the right educational environment. Each ring of a spider’s web is connected and anchored to the center, which is the foundation holding the web intact. Without language comprehension strands, decoding is not enough to weave that reading comprehension web. Like phonics, let us strategically weave language comprehension into our daily practices.
References
Adlof, S. M., Catts, H. W., & Little, T. D. (2006). Should the simple view of reading include a fluency component? Reading and Writing, 19(9), 933–958. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-006-9024-z
Brandi L. (n.d.). What is the science of reading. The Reading League. https://www.thereadingleague. org/what-is-the-science-of-reading/#:~:text=The%20science%20of%20reading%20is%20 a%20vast%2C%20interdisciplinary
Ehri, L. C. (1995). Phases of development in learning to read words by sight. Journal of Research in Reading, 18(2), 116–125. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.1995.tb00077.x
Gough, P. B., & Tunmer, W. E. (1986). Decoding, reading, and reading disability. Remedial and Special Education, 7(1), 6–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/074193258600700104
NICHD - Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: Reports of the subgroups | Www.nichd.nih.gov https://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/product/247
Seidenberg, M. (2017). Language at the speed of sight : How we read, Why so many can’t, and what can be done about it (p. 239). Basic Books.
Trelease, J. (2006). Read-Aloud Handbook. Turtleback Books.
Walther, M. P. (2019). The ramped-up read aloud: What to notice as you turn the page. Corwin Literacy.
Whitehurst, G. J. (2024). Dialogic reading: An effective way to read aloud with young children. Reading Rockets. Www.readingrockets.org. https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/earlyliteracy-development/articles/dialogic-reading-effective-way-read-aloud-young-children
Children’s Literature Cited
White, E. B. (1952). Charlotte’s web. Harper & Brothers.
Powerful Words: Language That Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Lynne Kulich has over 30 years of experience in education, working directly with students, families, educators, and researchers. Her studies include early literacy and multilingual learners. She is a former professor, curriculum and instruction director, data coach, and classroom teacher. She earned a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction and a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Akron, and a bachelor’s degree in foreign language education from The Ohio State University. Dr. Kulich is an author, researcher, consultant, and presenter at international and national education conferences, and the lead author of The Fluency Development Lesson: Closing the Reading Gap, which is a number one new release on Amazon. Before joining Renaissance Learning, Dr. Kulich worked with the Georgia Department of Education FLES Program and the Ohio Principal Mentoring Program, and she is a member of the Ohio Literacy Association Transition Board.
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Create a seamless bilingual experience that strengthens skills in both languages and guides Grades K–2 students on their path to biliteracy, preparing them to thrive in a multilingual world.
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Scaling Up: Rigorous Arts integration and Equitable Literacy in a School for the Arts
JENNIFER ROSE-WOOD
Teaching in a Dream School
I teach ELA in a unique urban school, Boston Arts Academy (BAA), the city’s only public arts school for the visual and performing arts. It is an incredible place to work, and my dream school; on any given day, I can hear students singing in three-part harmony as they walk down the hall, tap my feet to a five-piece band crushing a funk song, or admire exhibits of stunning visual and fashion art in displays mounted all over the building. I often joke that I don’t want to grade the student quizzes I receive bedecked with dazzling doodles; instead, I’d rather frame them.
With a few exceptions–notably English Language Learners and Asian American students–we demographically reflect Boston’s school-age population and are a global majority school, with approximately 46% Latino students, 35% African American, 14% White, 4% multi-racial, and 2% Asian American. Economically, 64% of our students are low income. For entry, students audition to enter BAA in one of five majors: dance; theatre; music; visual arts; and our newest program, multimedia entertainment production; they are accepted solely based on the strength of their audition and/or portfolio. In order to be as equitable and arts-focused as possible, neither grades, test scores, nor recommendations are used to select students for entry. The result is that the school accepts students who possess a truly wide range of academic strengths and needs. Our school is and has always been fully inclusive, so students take all their academic classes together and are not tracked by ability. We are therefore tasked to teach them with the most inclusive, rigorous, responsive, and creative methods that we can.
The Fulfillment of Making Things
From my previous teaching experience in a different district, I knew that teaching with the arts was uniquely engaging; I additionally understood that teaching with the arts particularly benefited marginalized students and students who had not consistently experienced school success before. As one example, students who had shown no interest in studying Shakespeare leapt at the chance to memorize and perform scenes from the Bard’s marvelously screwball comedy Twelfth Night (Shakespeare, 2004). They worked together to develop scripts, interpret their characters, devise costumes, and block scenes. The results were excellent, not to mention hilarious. This increased engagement is confirmed in research on arts integration. In their
2014 article, “Cultivating Common Ground: Integrating Standards-Based Visual Arts, Math and Literacy in High-Poverty Urban Classrooms,” authors Marisol Cunnington et al. describe how “artintegrated instruction … has been associated with larger achievement gains for academically struggling students and students socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. … Research has also documented the positive impact of arts integration on students’ cognitive skills and attitudes towards learning” (p. 6). There are many reasons for this, but I believe one of the most profound is that young people–like all humans– feel deeply fulfilled by making things.
Unfortunately, when I began teaching English in the large bureaucracy of Boston Public Schools, I joined an urban district that is categorically subjected to an excessive number of standardized tests. Think what you like about standardized tests, but I think we all can certainly agree they do not engage students or even meet their stated goal of improving classroom achievement. In this context, I had to prepare my students to perform their best on standardized tests, while also challenging them to do excellent and creative literacy work–two goals that (ironically) are not aligned. It was a tall order.
Visualizing the Fantastical
My fellow 9th - grade teacher and I had chosen the Afro-Futurist novel Akata Witch by the brilliant Nigerian American writer Nnedi Okorafor (2017) as the centerpiece of the freshman curriculum this past year. We selected it because Akata Witch falls into the popular genre of fantasy; it is built around culturally generative themes of teamwork, humility, neurodiversity, and self-discovery. It positively reflects our students’ identities and critically builds their knowledge base, and it lends itself well to developmentally appropriate conversations about how physical traits and characteristics such as skin tone, accent, and style can be stereotyped and misinterpreted. The novel is a coming of age story that the tells how Sunny, a Nigerian American teen with albinism, learns that she is a powerful and magical “Leopard Person” after two new friends, Orlu and Chichi, reveal to her that they are too. Together with another friend, Sasha, they must join forces to secure their positions in the Leopard Society and defeat an evil serial killer who is murdering children.
Artistically, Akata Witch (2017) brims with startling and original imagery, which is another key reason we chose it. We guessed that our students would be compelled by the strange and wonderful scenes described of juju spells, fantastical environments, and magical objects and animals, but we also knew that this imaginative world would cognitively stretch our students, and not just because fantasy is inherently a challenging genre. A core reading skill that students
haven’t always explicitly been taught is being able to mentally visualize what they read. In their 1997 classic study of reading strategies, Mosaic of Thought, Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmerman explain the significance of visualization:
Understanding, attending to, and developing a personal awareness of the sensory and emotional images that arise from reading give students the flexibility and capacity to experience an added depth of interpretation. It allows a passionate, individual response and makes the text memorable by anchoring it in personal experience. (p. 140)
Keene and Zimmerman (1997) emphasize the importance of “personal” and “individual” imagery which is deeply rooted in prior knowledge and experience. For Black and Brown students in urban schools, being taught the strategies to tap this prior knowledge is an especially critical tool since they have not always been invited to bring their experiences into their learning. Zaretta Hammond furthermore explains in her seminal 2015 book Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain,
The power of culturally responsive teaching to build underserved students’ intellective capacity rests in its focus on information processing. … It is precisely explicit information processing that is too often left off the equity agenda for low performing students of color, preventing them from becoming truly independent learners. (p. 124)
Although Hammond is here focused on low-performing students, I would argue that explicit information processing is critical for all students, especially since we know that nowadays students are spending less time reading traditional literary texts. Hammond goes on to describe half a dozen different culturally responsive methods that she recommends to facilitate, such processing, and includes the use of visuals in her inventory, noting that “Recently, neuroscience has confirmed that the use of nonlinguistic representations increases brain activity and aids information processing” (p. 135). This endorsement is consistent with her analysis that culturally responsive instruction by definition is multi-sensory and interactive.
Scaling Up: A Spectrum Not Just a Skill
While Hammond (2015) and Keene and Zimmerman (1997) all confirm the importance of visualizing as a reading strategy, they do not envision a spectrum of skill acquisition: the possibility that students can move from more or less proficiently visualizing accurately for the purposes of comprehension, to visualizing imaginatively for the purposes of artistic creation.
Words: Language
This is the work that graphic novelists and illustrators do on a daily basis, and as young artists themselves, my students are intrigued and motivated by the work their fellow creators are engaging in. As I conceptualized our Akata Witch (2017) unit, I wondered if we could scale up from visualizing individual scenes for comprehension, to illustrating a whole chapter for the purposes of creation? I knew this would help students meet the first three important reading standards in our Massachusetts ELA Framework (MA Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education [MA DESE], 2017):
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what a text states explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of a text. 3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
Visually, students would not be able to interpret a full chapter if they could not understand it explicitly and implicitly, nor would they be able to illustrate the chapter without grasping theme and character development. I also knew that the multifaceted, multisensory nature of this project could lend itself well to differentiation, which is critical for providing full access and enabling equitable achievement. After discussing these ideas with my fellow ninthgrade colleague and broadly sketching out a plan together, I decided that this unit would be the one to immersively integrate with the visual arts, and, thus, a pilot was born.1
Superpowers & Superchallenges
I named the unit “Superpowers & Superchallenges” since this is a central theme in Nnedi’s (2017) novel and also because we hoped to give students the opportunity to explore and write about their own superpowers and superchallenges or strengths, talents, and dis/ abilities. We began with an explanation of why we would be emphasizing visual thinking and reading comprehension, explaining to the students that when you visualize fully, you not only can more fully understand but also more fully enjoy what you read. We also discussed the risk
1 One of the classes I taught with a co-teacher, Ms Williams, as it was scheduled with a higher than average number of students who had individualized education plans with reading goals. When I use the pronoun “we,” I’m referring to lessons taught in that class.
of coming up with stereotypical images due to not proficiently visualizing and/or due to lack of prior knowledge. So as an important launch to the unit, we began with a weeklong “prequel” project, where students worked in pairs to create informative posters explaining concepts and traditions in the book that we anticipated they would know little about, but which were central to the book’s themes. These subjects included albinism, juju, spirit masks, and masquerades, particularly those specific to Igbo culture in Nigeria. After creating their posters, students had to teach their topic to the class, and the listeners took notes on and then were quizzed about what they had learned.
Once we started reading the book, we modeled visualizing by reading out loud and drawing what was read, making sure to include key details but also emphasizing that each individual reader imagines scenes differently.
It helped that the beginning of the book is intensely visual and suspenseful, featuring a compelling scene in which the main character stares into a candle and glimpses a strange and apocalyptic vision. As you can guess with visual arts majors in the room, quite a few of the students could do a much better job than we as teachers could! However, we also took pains to explain that as students developed their visualizing skills through drawing, the goal wasn’t initially to make beautiful art but to diagram or sketch what was in their heads. This was drawing as thinking, not as creating, yet.
As the unit progressed, we asked students to visualize short chunks of texts and occasional paragraphs. We always required labeled details so that students could specify what was what in their drawings, which was a key assessment tool but also provided a way for students to compare and contrast their different visualizations. Next, we scaffolded up to students visualizing larger chunks of text and multi-paragraph sections, often with students working in pairs with one given the role as “reader” and the other as “visualizer”; the reader would orally read out loud, and the visualizer would draw what they imagined. While both tasks involved reading comprehension, the two different roles differentiated the task to build on different students’ strengths. Eventually, we assigned visual “summaries,” which required students to retell large sections of text in the form of a storyboard, featuring key scenes with labeled details. Students were then quizzed by having to summarize all or most of a chapter; we differentiated and provided students with longer or shorter chapter sections to draw, while still focusing on key plot events and centering Nnedi’s (2017) wonderfully vivid descriptions. Grade-wise, students performed about the same or better on these visual summaries as on traditional written summaries. As a diagnostic, however, the visual summaries revealed more
Words: Language
of the students’ individual sense-making because we could literally see more of how they were or weren’t integrating details, events, and themes in the story.
The Project: At the Top of Bloom’s Taxonomy
Finally, it came time to bring everything together into the summative assessment of the unit, which was a collaborative, creative graphic novelization of a full chapter from the book. Students were given both a lot of choice and a lot of structure for this intensive three-week project. They chose their chapter, chose the events to represent, chose the graphic style, and chose the jobs they would play as creators. Structurally, we provided daily task lists, job descriptions, project timelines, and book format; they also had to draft the entire project by sketching it out in a “blue book” (small exam notebook) before receiving their permanent books, which were 5x7 colorful blank books. The students worked mostly in pairs, but also we created a handful of trios in order to provide more support or challenge to individual groups.
The project was rigorous. Students had to distill complex chapters that averaged around 20 pages down to 20-30 key sentences that they then had to artistically interpret. They then had to design captions, panels, and page format. They had to build in transitions between panels to ensure readability and smooth narrative flow. They had to design a compelling cover, compose a thematic analysis of their chapter, and write an artist’s statement, detailing their creative and collaborative process. All of these tasks hit many of the top two tiers of Bloom’s (1956) Taxonomy: “Create” and “Evaluate.” By developing and constructing a new work for which they had to make many judgment calls and selections, they extended their foundational knowledge of the book not only as careful readers but also as artists and designers. At the end of the unit, in a survey we gave, between 75%-76% of the students reported that they had improved their reading skills. They also made beautiful works of art, as you can see.
This is not to say that the project was perfect, and if I were to do it again, we all had lots of ideas how it could be improved. Most obviously, working with an actual graphic novelist or artist would have improved the project tremendously. While I have read many graphic novels and studied a little about the graphic novel writing process, I know next to nothing about making one. It would have been a much more useful resource to the students to be able to have scaffolded lessons delivered by an actual practitioner rather than the small collection of Youtube “How-to” videos I threw together. Due to our current schedule structure at Boston Arts Academy, academic and arts teachers are not free at the same time to meet for the purposes of collaborating on curriculum. While some long-serving staff have been able to collaborate, working under previous more interdisciplinary-friendly schedules, there is currently no scheduled time in place for this complex and time-intensive work. Additionally, the project added on a long coda to what was already a lengthy unit. At nearly 400 pages, Akata Witch (Okorafor, 2017) turned out not to be the class favorite my colleagues and I were hoping for, and some students expressed the wish to be able to do the project on their own creative stories, or else move on to another unit. If I teach a graphic novelization unit in order to help students improve their reading skills again, I would prefer to do it with a shorter text or perhaps with a collection of short stories.
Unusual Persistence
I mentioned at the start of this article the fulfillment of making things. The satisfaction inherent in the act of creation engages students in challenging literacy tasks at an unusually high level. I have seen time and again the unusual persistence and motivation that artsintegrated projects elicit in my students, particularly students who have been marginalized and have internalized negative ideas about their so-called low academic abilities. One standout example of this from this project was a young man who I’ll refer to as D. D. had refused to read in class for much of the year. Despite struggling with reading, D. loved to draw and
demonstrated growth in his visualization skills over the course of this unit. In the first weeks of the project, D. came up with a set of wonderful images for the beginning of his chosen chapter. However, his partner was absent for a few days and D. lost momentum, grew overwhelmed, and stopped working on the book. After such a promising start, he and his partner turned in an incomplete and non-passing project on the day it was due. However, when I took a close look at the incredible quality of his work on the first segment, I had a feeling he could be convinced to put more time in and make a finished chapter. I was correct, and it didn’t take an argument at all. All I had to do was tell him how beautiful his work was and urge him to think about how good it would feel to finish drawing the story. It was the best work he did all year.
The students’ strong performance on this unit speaks to an indisputable fact: it is past time that we stop pushing aside arts-integrated projects to the end of the school year or saving them for “fun days” before vacations. Students can do more rigorous work and achieve more equitably when we can incorporate the complex, multi-sensory approaches to texts that arts-integrated projects require of them. In so doing, we can create more joyful, beautiful, and memorable learning experiences for our students. And who wouldn’t want that?
References
Bloom, B. J. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals (1st ed.). Longman Group.
Cunnington, M., Kantrowitz, M, Harnett, H, & Hill-Ries, A. (2014). Cultivating common ground: Integrating standards-based visual arts, math and literacy in high-poverty urban classrooms. Journal for Learning through the Arts, 10(1), 1-24.
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE. (2017). English language arts and literacy curriculum frameworks. https://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html.
Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching & the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Corwin.
Keene, E., & Zimmerman, S. (1997). Mosaic of thought: Teaching Comprehension in a reader’s workshop. Heinemann.
Literature Cited
Okorafor, N. (2017). Akata witch. Speak. Shakespeare, W. (2004). Twelfth night. Folger Shakespeare Library.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jennifer Rose-Wood has been teaching ELA in Massachusetts for 25 years. She currently teaches 12th-grade English at Boston Arts Academy, Boston’s only public high school for the arts.
Powerful Words: Language That Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers
MAKING SCHOOL CONNECTIONS
Using Informational Text and Interactive Read Alouds to Teach Reading in Science Class | KATHY RENFREW
I start with my standards; what I need to teach. Next I figure out a phenomenon that works with the standards. The phenomenon needs to be something about which a child is curious and intrigues them, something they want to know more about, something they want to figure out. So, what does that mean for science and what does that mean reading and writing? Let’s try to figure that out. I greet students as they come into the classroom. The first thing they do is read the chart.
Today is Thursday, Sept 27, 2024.
Welcome to our learning space.
1. Find a new friend and tell them something you like about doing science.
2. In your science notebook, write Floating Magnets on top of page.
3. Write/draw any ideas or questions that the words floating magnets bring to mind.
As the day begins, students are presented with a phenomenon and are asked to notice and wonder. I write the word phenomenon on the whiteboard and say:
• Good morning. I have a new phenomenon for you to figure out.
• Let’s all say phe-nom-e-non together. How many syllables are in this word?
• My new phenomenon is this magnetic toy, and I want to show you something I just discovered. I can make the magnets float. What do you notice? What do you wonder?
• Watch this and spend a moment to think about what’s happening and then spend a few minutes recording: one thing that you noticed and one thing you wondered about on the sticky notes.
• Turn and learn by listening to your elbow partners’ observations and wonderings.
:Circulate and listen for about two minutes. Allow students to share. Record their thinking on a char:. “I heard students say…”
• In a few minutes you will be exploring this phenomenon with your partner.
Students have four donut magnets and a pencil, and they investigate to see if they can determine what is causing the magnets to float.
This lesson continues exploring non-contact force using magnets. Students investigate and make and record observations. They draw a model of what they think is happening. They might even record an initial explanation for what they think is happening. All of this is happening in the student’s science notebook, which will later become a text for them to read; that’s for the next article.
Powerful Words: Language That Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers
This lesson began with a phenomenon, the floating magnets. This idea of starting with a phenomenon is supported by Recommendation #5 of the Science and Engineering in Preschool Through Elementary Grades, The Brilliance of Children and Strengths of Educators (Clements, 2021).
Students were engaged in science and literacy from the moment they entered the classroom. They were provided reading and writing instruction from the time they entered the classroom. Reading and writing were interwoven into the fabric of the lesson.
In the next science session, we want to remind students of where they have been and where they will be going. This routine is intentionally and artfully planned by the teacher but happens in partnership with the students. Students are asked where they have been and what they think we need to investigate next to move on further.
Say to the students:
• What do we know about the floating magnet toy so far? (Accept all responses)
• While you were investigating the magnet toy yesterday, I heard you saying magnets don’t always float; sometimes they stick together. I also heard one of you mention poles. What do you notice about the word poles? (it has 2 vowels, 3 consonants) What does the c-v-c-e-c formation tell you? (that the e is silent and the o says its own name) What does the s at the end of the word tell you? (there is more than one pole.)
• We will learn more about the words in today’s lesson. We will also explore some more magnets and find out why sometimes magnets float like the magnets on the toy and sometimes they pull together. Our reading for today will get us started.
One caution as we start this next part of the lesson; engaging with informational text too soon will bring a complete stop to students’ interest in figuring out the phenomena.
This next session begins with the language the student used in the previous session: poles, attract, repel. Students will read a short piece of informational text, where they will see those words. The words are not new or foreign to students because they have already engaged with them during the previous session. They may not know the meaning of the science word yet, and that’s okay.
For this instruction to occur, planning was intentional, and decisions are ready to implement:
• Will the piece be read together as a class, with partners, or as individuals?
• How will I interact with students while they read?
• How will the students interact with the piece of text?
• Will students have the opportunity to interact with the magnets as they read?
• Will they circle and highlight certain words?
• What outcomes am I expecting?
I chose this text to be a teacher read-aloud first, followed by students' partner reading.
Following partner reading, the students will then individually read the piece of informational text and annotate using the tool for close reading in science. This gives students exposure to this text three times. The teacher reads the whole piece, and the students have the opportunity to read to their partner before reading it themselves. This is an example of an interactive read aloud for sense-making.
What does it look like?
The teacher is stopping to think aloud, modeling what good readers do, rereading and being very intentional about where to pause and ask a question.
This image is very different for the mostly accepted method of I-R-E , a teacher initiating a question, one student responding with an answer, and a teacher evaluating the response. When teachers implement interactive read alouds to students, they are modeling fluency and comprehension strategies and are helping students build vocabulary.
Now that students have had a chance to interact with the text, continue the lesson by reminding the students of our question: How do those floating magnets work? Read aloud the following pages to the students. Remember reading aloud is teaching reading. Students listen to the teacher reading fluently and with the appropriate tone for the text.
Say to the students:
• Listen closely as I read some passages from other books about magnets. Notice the illustrations as I show them. Thinking about information from these texts can help us figure out how the magnets float on the toy.
• Page 18-21 Magnets Push, Magnets Pull by David Adler (2018)
Words: Language That Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers
• Pages 18-22 Is It Magnetic or Nonmagnetic by Trudy Rising (2012)
• Pages 10-15 Magnets Push, Magnets Pull by Mark Weakland (2021)
Ask students to turn and talk about what they have just read. Have them jot on a sticky note something new they heard that will help them explain the floating magnets.
Students have read three different pieces of text, all by different authors. The authors all communicated similar concepts in slightly different ways. Ask the students which text they preferred and explain their choices. (Answers will vary)
Now that students have investigated and read about magnets pushing and pulling, I would ask them to respond to the following question in writing: “When or where do magnets push or pull?” “Use examples from the text as evidence to support your thinking.”
You might provide some sentence starters or frames as scaffolds.
Magnets push when . I know magnets push when because the text said
When students have finished writing their explanations, they should read their explanations aloud to a partner. Explain to the students that often when we read aloud something we have written, we want to make small revisions.
This was a science lesson I taught using nonfiction interactive read alouds.
` Reading aloud is teaching reading. Reading is all about interacting with language. When we read aloud, we use language to model fluency. Students interacted with the floating magnets, the informational text, their peers, and their teacher. The students read along with the teacher, read the text to a classmate, and constructed an explanation with evidence from the investigations, the conversations, and the text.
Reading aloud to children both at home and in school has long been called out as the single most important instructional strategy for developing successful readers (Anderson et al., 1985). However, not every read aloud is of the same value. For reading aloud to be a critical instructional strategy, it must be interactional (Shedrow & Stoetzel, 2021).
This lesson provided instruction in multiple ELA standards from the Massachusetts English Language Arts and Literacy Framework (2017) including RF.3.4: multiple reading of the text to increase fluency. There was direct instruction of reading informational text including RI 3.7, which includes using text features and photographs to clarify meaning. Students asked and answered questions demonstrating understanding of a text by using evidence from the text to answer questions. The language of the students was further developed with the acquisition of vocabulary specific to the science lesson being taught (L.3.4). Students wrote explanations of how the magnetic toy worked.
I can justify teaching parts of this lesson during my ELA block. I am also very confident teaching it during an extended science block. Whether I teach it in the ELA or science block, I am teaching both science and reading simultaneously.
References
Anderson, R. C., Hiebert, E. H., Scott, J. A., & Wilkinson, I. A. G. (1985). Becoming a nation of readers. National Academy of Education.
Clements, D. H. (2021). Science and engineering in preschool through elementary grades: The brilliance of children and the strengths of engineering. The National Academies Press. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. (2017). ELA and literacy framework. www.doe.mass.edu.frameworks.ela
Shedrow, S., & Stoetzel, L. (2021). Making the move online: Interactive read-aloud for the virtual classroom. The Reading Teacher, 74(6), 747-756.
Children’s Literature Cited
Adler, D. (2018). Magnets push, magnets pull. Scholastic. Rising, T. (2012). It’s magnetic or not magnetic. Crabtree Classics. Weakland, M. (2021). Magnets push, magnets pull. Capstone Press.
Words: Language That Inspires, Transforms, and Empowers
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kathy Renfrew is a retired elementary school teacher/educator/learner who has been privileged to hold many roles in her career. She taught grades K-5, was a state science coordinator , and coach. Kathy is an advocate for quality instruction in all disciplines, especially science and literacy. Kathy continues to work as an education specialist for the Wade Institute for Science Education, writing curriculum, coaching, and consulting.
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