As part of my "History of Children's Literature Publishing" course I'm working on multiple projects over the course of the semester relating to Laura Ingalls Wilder's 1935 novel Little House on the Prairie which is the third book published in what would become the eight book Little House series. This is the first of multiple blog posts that will stem from those projects.
2019 marks the 100th anniversary of Children's Book Week. Held in May since 2008, Children's Book Week seeks to celebrate books for young people and the joy of reading.I dream of bookstore and library events (both planning and attending), although I did attend a great on campus discussion event about diverse literature hosted by the Children's and Adolescent Literature Community. However, since it's almost finals week, and I still live (happily!) in the middle-of-nowhere, the best way I can celebrate Children's Book Week is by sharing a week's worth of my favorite children's books
I’m the middle child in a series of three sisters, and while I don’t know what it’s like to be a twin, I can certainly relate to the sibling relationships that Katherine Paterson and Sundee T. Frazier have depicted in their middle grade books. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out who you are when you feel like you’ve been defined by your siblings for so long. Paterson won the Newberry Award in 1981 with Jacob Have I Loved, and Frazier’s 2010 novel, The Other Half of My Heart, offers diversity to the familiar tale of two sisters. Below is background information, contextual information, reading strategies, discussion questions, activities, and resources to be used for a unit on these two novels. I hope students and teachers alike can find fruitful conversation (and maybe even themselves) in these novels.
2018 was a phenomenal year. I finished my junior year of college, spent the summer in beautiful Maine, started my senior year of undergrad, visited Washington D.C., attended the National Book Festival for the second year in a row, visited Boston, and ended 2018 by rereading the Harry Potter Series in the month of December. I've highlighted some of my literary happenings!Â
When PBS announced the Great American Read, I was excited to see PBS uncover literature in American and let the country decide what the nation’s favorite book is. Based upon a survey, they broke down America’s top 100 books and are narrowing it down to one. The show, as hosted by Meredith Vieira, started on May 22, with a two-hour kickoff episode introducing the books. This will be followed with five themed episodes and a finale in the fall to announce the results of the voting. I streamed the episode the day after it aired, and decide to live tweet the process.
Anyways, because of my live-tweeting and the general position I hold as I walk through life as a bookish person, I have thoughts on this list and what PBS is trying to accomplish. So, I’m going to hit it with some list analysis.
Bookishly Bright 