Education Commons^™

Creating Children’S Literature Teac 854: Fall 2019 Tuesday 5 – 7:50 Pm, Judy Diamond

Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education: Department Information

Participate in the experience of becoming a published children’s book author. What are the elements to writing a successful children’s book? Class members will develop and evaluate original stories targeted to a particular young audience. The stories can be written for print or digital formats, and they can be text-based and/or illustrated, including comics. The class will access appropriate print and digital publishing venues, and stories will be submitted for publication by the end of the semester.

Instructor: Judy Diamond PhD, Professor and Curator, University of Nebraska State Museum

Navigating Award-Winning Nonfiction Children's Literature, Jennifer M. Smith, Marla K. Robertson

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Nonfiction children's literature has changed in recent years, including an increase in organizational, design, and text features. The authors conducted a content analysis of 112 nonfiction award-winning and honor books from 2000 to 2018 to examine how the books have changed over time. The authors discuss the patterns, changes, and complexities found in nonfiction children's literature and provide text sets and guiding questions for classroom instruction and exploration of three features that appear in books in a variety of ways and may be challenging for students: atypical text, graphics with information, and supplemental expository information.

Diversity In Children's Literature, Kendra Fix

Education: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Teachers have the opportunity to make small, yet important decisions to incorporate materials and methods in their current classrooms to support students who are underrepresented, and to minimize the disconnect between the changing student population and the teacher population. While there are programs, websites, and statements about these materials, one of the easiest implementations for current teachers is through the books in classroom libraries. In 1990, Rudine Sims Bishop described books to be windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors for young people. Children need to see themselves reflected in books like a mirror. On the other hand, children need books …

Paper: Beware The Cat In The Hat: How Children’S Literature Is A Reflection Of A Bleak Society, Lucy Kebler

Womanist Ethics

Children’s literature is full of messages that are relayed to children. Unfortunately, many of these messages are involve cultural appropriation. Others involve harmful interpretations of sexuality, consent, and identity. This essay explores why classics such as Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat, and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie. All these books present different problematic material, which must not only be revaluated based on content, but also on the way it is taught and relayed to children. Along with the books listed above, this essay also looks …