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Ronell @ Work (@MisterWhitaker) | Twitter

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The latest Tweets from Ronell @ Work (@MisterWhitaker). HS English, Tech Coach. Infinitely likable, hardly retweetable. #teachcomics #edtech Comics Education Outreach https://t.co/bBNsedfyXO. Chicago

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Eric Kallenborn (@comics_teacher) | Twitter

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The latest Tweets from Eric Kallenborn (@comics_teacher). Support comics in the classroom! Comics Education Outreach Co-founder. 365 Graphic Novels reviews in 365 days. See website below. Instagram: @comics_teacher. Chicago

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The latest Tweets from Elisa Gall (@gallbrary). verbs: reading, teaching, learning, librarianing.... motto: be the glue, not the glitter. pronouns: she/her/hers thoughts: my own. evanston, il

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Ms. de León takes a learning opportunity for kids and couches it in enough chase sequences and fistfights to almost make you forget how much information is crammed into this little package. Prepare for exciting nuance!!
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A Fuse #8 Production - A School Library Journal Blog

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Ms. de León takes a learning opportunity for kids and couches it in enough chase sequences and fistfights to almost make you forget how much information is crammed into this little package. Prepare for exciting nuance!! READ FULL POST " Your average celebrity doesn't write a children's book and then almost immediately win a Stonewall Award.

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Betsy Bird. ﻿Children's Author. Librarian. Reviewer.

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Betsy Bird. ﻿Children's Author. Librarian. Reviewer.

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Let's Get Busy [All the Wonders] podcast with Betsy Bird and Julie Danielson

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Let's Get Busy [All the Wonders] podcast with Betsy Bird and Julie Danielson

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Wild Things! (Ep. 69) with Betsy Bird and Julie Danielson

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Betsy Bird ( @FuseEight ) and Julie Danielson ( @SevenImp ), authors of Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children's Literature ( @Candlew...

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A celebration of my favorite picture books for kids.

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Mr. Kallenborn. The Other Comic Book Teacher 

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Mr. Kallenborn. The Other Comic Book Teacher 

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Mr. Kallenborn: The Other Comic Book Teacher

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Please keep up with all of my old Graphic Novel Reviews here as I quest for 365 in 365 days!

Unofficial Image Comics Week continues with a crazy title that I'm sure, if you have not heard of it, after my review, if you are a strange bird that likes yourself some interesting story, you'll go snatch it up!

Author(s): John Layman, Rob Guillory

Publisher: Image (2009)

Age Rating: 17+

Alright, here's the deal Tony Chu is a detective with a very unique ability, an ability that only a small amount people on the planet possess: he can see the history of anything he eats...except beets.

That's it; have fun; go read!

Kidding! But not really...

That's pretty much all you need to know about Chew. The concept is sick good; the writing and art are both interesting and brilliant. This book does its job when it comes to complex execution. The pages blend with detailed, cartoon-like drawings from Rob Guillory that read as elevated and rich, dabbling in the absurd, while accompanying much of the foreground art with minimalist backgrounds and touches of color for emphasis.

Keep it away from kids though. This is an "R" rated book. People eat people and swear a lot.

Oh, also chicken is illegal in this universe, so people sell Black Market cuts of chicken meat. Bet you've never seen that before.

Oh, and there's a food critic that writes so well that the reader (in the comic, sorry) can actually taste the food as she describes it on the page: Tony's dream since he's made ill at the thought of seeing the history of EVERYTHING (except beets) he eats. Her words are the only way he can enjoy a decent meal.

Chew has ended at issue 60, so if you are in for the long haul, the complete story is out there. I'm not quite there, but that's another binge for my post 365 day adventure.

Happy reading!

Eric

Twitter: @comics_teacher

Instagram: comics_teacher

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The Comics Education Outreach Pop Culture Classroom

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Mr. Kallenborn: The Other Comic Book Teacher - We all read pictures...why am I one of the only ones that sees it?

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Please keep up with all of my old Graphic Novel Reviews here as I quest for 365 in 365 days! Unofficial Image Comics Week continues with a crazy title that I'm sure, if you have not heard of it, after my review, if you are a strange bird that likes yourself some interesting story, you'll go snatch it up!

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Ronell Whitaker. The Comic Book Teacher. 

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Ronell Whitaker. The Comic Book Teacher. 

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I am a high school English teacher and Educational Technology Coach in the Chicago area. I believe in comics, and I like to think that comics believe in me.

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I've been teaching for over 10 years, and I've been teaching with comics for the past seven. But my journey to becoming the Comic Book Teacher started when I was a kid. When I started second grade, I was part of a school-busing program that took kids like me from what we might now call "at-risk" surroundings and put us in a more successful school. This was especially tough for me because I was way outside of my neighborhood, and I knew no one. I felt like an alien.

Until one day in science class when we were learning about the human body, and my teacher asked, "What is the human body made up of?" Hands went up all around me with answers of "hair" or "skin" or even "muscles." Before I knew it, my hand went up, too. You see, I might have felt out of place most times in school, but I had been consuming a steady diet of Spider-Man, X-Men and The Incredible Hulk. And if there was any topic I felt confident in, it was science. The teacher called on me and I said, "The human body is made of atoms, molecules, cells and stuff that's controlled by genes that come from your DNA." My teacher had a shocked expression on her face, confirmed what I said and then went on to talk about skeletons and muscles.

Now, even though my teacher's lesson that day was about the human body, what I learned was that the comics I loved so much were actually teaching me things I could use in class! However, while my confidence in class was growing, I still was struggling to find friends. I'd sit at the lunch table with other kids, bring out my X-Men comic and read while I ate. Yet again, comics came to my rescue. One of the boys in my class saw what I was reading, came over and asked if he could see it.

We began talking about how cool Wolverine was and argued about whether Batman could beat Superman in a fight. In short, we became fast friends. This was my first experience with one of the other pluses of comics: community building.

When I became a teacher, I knew I would use comics in my classes because of how I had benefited from them, but I also knew that comics had some other superpowers. Yes, comics are engaging, but they also allow reluctant readers to build confidence in comprehending and inferring. My students who once felt like they were missing out on what was going on are now "in on the secret," and they are often the ones who feel empowered to lead discussions. Comics can help students become successful in areas in which they weren't previously successful.

Comics also are more current than traditional classroom reading options, which leads to more relevance in the material. Broader representation is easier to find in today's comics than in short stories and novels on the recommended reading lists in many schools. Comics are where I send students who never see themselves in stories. This is why a few colleagues, the education directors at Pop Culture Classroom and I started the Comics Education Outreach program. We want to get comics, especially social justice-centered comics like March and Persepolis, into as many classrooms as possible through our lending library of comics and graphic novels.

I start off every school year by telling kids a little about myself. Inevitably, when I mention how much I love comics, I always get a bunch of kids who light up with surprise and delight. Then they ask the question they didn't know they'd get to ask a teacher: Do you think Batman could beat Superman in a fight?

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I've been teaching for over 10 years, and I've been teaching with comics for the past seven. But my journey to becoming the Comic Book Teacher started when I was a kid. When I started second grade, I was part of a school-busing program that took kids like me from what we might now call "at-risk" surroundings and put us in a more successful school.

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A few years back, I read Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen of the Harvard Negotiation Project. Given the important, difficult conversations that have been taking place recently in the children's literature world (and elsewhere), I thought it was worth revisiting my notes on the book (as well as this helpful guide). Paraphrasing and sharing does not make me an expert on this-I'm learning just as much as the next person. But I do think it is important to remember that this discourse is healthy and necessary.

The authors posit that people tend to make three big errors when having difficult conversations:

1. Assuming you know everything

2. Hiding your own feelings OR getting so emotional you let your feelings loose in ways you later regret

3. Acting as if your identity/lens is separate from the issue at hand

Stone says that they key to engaging in difficult conversations is to "Shift your thinking from I need to explain myself or deliver a message to I need to listen and learn..."

Stone also provides tips, in the form of 5 steps, for tackling tough conversations:

Step 1 is to reflect on the "3 conversations" that actually occur when discussing something difficult. The first is what happened to prompt the discussion, the second is what feelings are evoked relating to the topic, and the third is how one's identity effects reactions and responses. Thinking about all of these ideas will inform how you engage and interact with the other person.

Step 2 is to consider your purposes for engaging and decide whether the conversation is worth having. Questions to reflect on include:
" What do you hope to accomplish by having this conversation?" and
"Do you need to raise the issue to achieve your purpose?"

Step 3 is to approach the issue "as if a third, neutral person is looking on." The idea is to promote collaborative problem solving by trying to see the two viewpoints as objectively as possible and consider the differences between them.

Step 4 is to explore both stories. Acknowledge the other person's feelings and perspectives while sharing your own. Ask questions, listen, and paraphrase to assure understanding. Be open-minded and willing to reframe your assumptions as you learn more.

Step 5 is to work together to develop solutions. Stone reminds readers that one-way relationships rarely last. Keep communication open and develop strategies for moving forward together.

Other advice in the book includes using the word "and" to highlight how two truths can coexist. (For example, I find this book beautiful AND I find it problematic.) Sometimes scheduling a conversation for a later time/date is helpful. (I think social media has made this challenging -perhaps some of these conversations need to be prompted on social media but continued on the phone or face-to-face.) The book shares that "people are most likely to change when they don't HAVE to," and that statements like "I feel" and "to me" and "I believe" are a big deal (as they show that you aren't rushing to judgment).

To me (see what I did there?), 🙂 the big takeaway is that these conversations are not easy: they take commitment and courage. In them, we are always listening, evaluating our stances, shifting perspectives, and growing. There is rarely a single "right" answer. But with practice, these difficult conversations can become second nature. As I say to my students, practice makes better.

I bought Stone and Heen's newest book, Thanks for the Feedback, but haven't had a chance to read it yet. If you've read these books or anything similar, I'd love to hear your ideas.

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A few years back, I read Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen of the Harvard Negotiation Project. Given the important, difficult conversations that have been taking place recently in the children's literature world (and elsewhere), I thought it was worth revisiting my notes on the...

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Comic books are everywhere. Customers are purchasing them, readers of all ages are devouring them, teachers are using more and more of them in their classrooms, and they're winning awards like crazy. Some people have applauded recent book-award committees' open-mindedness to the comics format, while others remain conflicted. The recurrent question of whether ALA should sponsor a graphic novel award has taken up energies and attentions, with extra considerations to the Caldecott criteria and how a picture book is defined. Many claim that comic books and picture books have strong differences at their cores, and that the kidlit world needs to keep the two separate in order to protect and uphold that which distinguishes each from the other. We don't see it this way. We believe that comic books and graphic novels (which we'll refer to as "comics" from here on out) are picture books, and that there are many types of picture books, from those for the earliest readers to those intended for young adults and beyond.

The Caldecott criteria define a children's picture book in part as "one that essentially provides the child with a visual experience." In Children's Picturebooks: The Art of Visual Storytelling, Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles write that a picture book is "defined by its particular use of sequential imagery, usually in tandem with a small number of words, to convey meaning." According to comics theorist Scott McCloud (inspired by the work of comics legend Will Eisner), comics have a similar definition: they are "sequential art." Definitions aside, picture books (including comics) share characteristics: they use the momentum of the page-turn, they have moments where text and image are interdependent (if there is text at all), and they afford readers the opportunity to construct meaning when words and images clash.

Picture books (including comics) come in various sizes, genres, styles, page lengths, color palettes, and intended audience age ranges. A single title can fall into multiple categories. Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant's Geisel-winning You Are (Not) Small is both a picture book and an easy reader in the same way that Eleanor Davis's Stinky, which was a Geisel honor book and an Eisner Award nominee, is both an easy reader and a comic. A book's nominal literary format doesn't limit its ability to succeed in another.

Picture books (including comics) are worthy of serious analysis. Whether they're full-fledged graphic novels or thirty-two-pagers, whether they're for teens or toddlers, rendered digitally or hand drawn, we evaluate comics using the same questions we ask when critiquing all picture books. We don't ignore the pictures or read the text in a vacuum. We look at the styles used by the artists and question if they feel appropriate to the stories' themes. We consider how each book does its job given its audience, genre, and format.

And so it surprises us when picture book-loving colleagues say that reading comics feels like foreign territory. We've thought long and hard about what conventions might feel exclusive to comics-and perhaps intimidating to picture book traditionalists - and have arrived at two: paneled layouts and visual text features (the latter including word balloons, thought bubbles, and the like). By spotlighting how these conventions are used successfully in a variety of books (including true-blue comics and picture books not classified as such), we hope to show that through close reading they can be recognized and understood by even the most reluctant comics reader.

Paneled Layouts

A panel often represents one moment in time, defined by a border. The sizes, shapes, and relationship of panels within a page and the relationship of that page to what came before and comes after are all part of layout. Panels can guide the reader through a story so subtly that they go unnoticed, while others are intended to be seen, emphasizing setting, characterization, and more. To illustrate this point, we will highlight compelling panel use in three picture books: a comic, a wordless picture book, and an easy reader.

In Nadja Spiegelman and Sergio García Sánchez's comic, Lost in NYC: A Subway Adventure, innovative page layouts inform readers about the characters' roundabout paths, the city, and its subway. In a scene featuring narrow vertical panels running the length of the page, the two main characters, en route to the Empire State Building, hold on to the tall, skinny gutters as if they were subway poles. In moments of the story when the characters are in the midst of the chaos of New York City, time and movement are not expressed through numerous panels or page-turns; instead, the story advances via multiple images of the same characters thinking, talking, and moving about within one double-page spread. This complex, winding layout reinforces the kinetic energy of the setting as well as the characters' experience of being overwhelmed by it.

A mixture of panels and full-page illustrations are used in JonArno Lawson and Sydney Smith's wordless picture book Sidewalk Flowers. As a child picks wildflowers, shares them with others, and brings color to a black-and-white urban landscape, information is relayed through the ebb and flow of color between panels. This is especially effective in a scene featuring three panels stacked from top-to-bottom across a page. A distant house in the middle of the center panel (peach-colored, it is the first use of color on a building) cues readers that more color will be forthcoming after new flowers are picked; predictions are confirmed in the bottom frame by a sidewalk speckled with blues, reds, and oranges. The use of many panels within a single page allows for subtle shifts in color to be recognized immediately, as images can be compared simultaneously. In this instance, the paneled layout focuses readers' attentions on a shift that might have gone unseen over the course of several page-turns.

In Mo Willems's Elephant & Piggie easy readers, whole pages function the way panels in a comic do. In I Will Take a Nap!, for example, the page-turns and gutters imply passage of time in an immediately connected sequence. In a scene in which Piggie reveals to Gerald that the two are actually in a dream ("if you are not napping, how can I be floating?"), her statement - divided between two connected word balloons - crosses the gutter, bridging the gap between two separate moments as she begins floating away. Because the size of the pages is consistent, the passage of time between pages can be intuitively understood. This predictable, linear, left-to-right reading experience is akin to reading a newspaper comic strip, and it frames the brisk pace and page-turning dynamic that emergent readers crave.

Visual Text Features

Many think of visual text features - including word balloons, captions, thought bubbles, and sound effects - as the meat and potatoes of comics. Visual text features can elevate dialogue and establish atmosphere - pulling readers further into the narrative. The following three books - a young adult comic, a nonfiction picture book, and a traditional picture story book - include visual text features that achieve this effect.

In the YA comic March: Book Two by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, word balloons and sound effects don't merely communicate what is said or overheard; they also enhance meaning through their physicality. In moments of duress, word balloons become buzz saw-edged, while cold dismissals received by civil rights workers appear frozen over, like icicles. When Aretha Franklin sings "America" during the 2009 presidential inauguration, the lyrics dominate the double-page spread, contained within curvy, robust, heavy-lined word balloons that convey her emotive performance. Powell runs the "BRRRIIINNNNG" of a ringing telephone and the "VRROOMM" of a speeding pickup truck off the page, representing sounds that carry. When fire hoses are used against civil rights protesters, it is not the streams of water or the protesters that are reflected in Bull Connor's glasses; it is letters in the sound ("FFSSHHHHHHHH...") of the water. The sound effect no longer just supports the action; instead, it is an integral part of the action. How a sound effect is illustrated can carry as much meaning as the letters or words chosen to express the sound.

Borderless word balloons, with color-coded stems connecting text to each character, carry moments of dialogue in Mara Rockliff and Iacopo Bruno's nonfiction picture book, Mesmerized: How Ben Franklin Solved a Mystery That Baffled All of France. The absence of attributives (such as "he said" and "she said") throughout the book allows for seamless transitions between conversation and exposition in the true tale of how the scientific method was used to debunk Dr. Franz Mesmer's pseudoscience. On a twisting and turning banner that weaves through a double-page spread, behind a character's leg and out over a bridge, the murmurings of a crowd are featured ("HA HA HA MESMER HA HA HA BZZ BZZ BZZ"); part of the banner is blocked, evoking moments when one hears only bits and pieces of what is being said in a large group. When Franklin's "blind"-test methodology is explained, the process is described within labels on old-timey medicinal jars and tubes. This presentation not only communicates the facts but also adds context and brings the historic setting to life.

In Audrey Vernick and Matthew Cordell's picture book, First Grade Dropout, thought bubbles house the young protagonist's memories, including the embarrassing moment when he accidentally called his teacher "Mommy." While these memories are communicated mostly through pictures (and are sometimes enhanced by word balloons and sound effects of their own), the present-tense narration occurs in the form of traditional expository text. This approach clearly separates past and present, and it allows readers to interpret all that the boy remembers, thinks, and does. When a chorus of obtrusive "HA! HA! HA!"s spread across the page in multiple colors and sizes, the sound effects reinforce the boy's inescapable shame. The "HA!"s break free from their thought-bubble boundary: the boy's feelings of humiliation cannot be contained. Here, visual text features provide added insight into the character's state of mind.

Comics might be where paneled layouts and visual text features are most commonly found, but these features are not unique to comics. The conventions (and definitions) of picture books and comics overlap greatly because they are part of the same whole. That's why it is hard for us to separate comics from the rest of the picture book world. As Charlotte Zolotow wrote in the March/April 1998 Horn Book Magazine, "There are all sorts of picture books. There is a place for them all." Zolotow was writing about diversity in content rather than format, but we like to think that the spirit is the same. The picture book umbrella is broad. That's a good thing, because even though they may not know it, those who evaluate picture books have the skillset to read comics critically. They only need to recognize the value of their experiences, approach every work with an open mind, and think outside the panels once in a while.

From the November/December 2015 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

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Comics Are Picture Books: A (Graphic) Novel Idea

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Comic books are everywhere. Customers are purchasing them, readers of all ages are devouring them, teachers are using more and more of them in their classrooms, and they're winning awards like crazy. Some people have applauded recent book-award committees' open-mindedness to the comics format, while others remain conflicted.

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Graphic creators take on politics, from immigration to women's rights

In the first issue of Occupy Comics (Black Mask, 2014), writer Alan Moore claims the word cartoon comes from the Italian word cartone, or cardboard, a reference to the caricatures of political opponents that 17th-century Italians scrawled on cardboard boxes. They could be seen by everyone and understood even by people who were illiterate.

Whether or not that story is accurate-cardboard boxes weren't invented until the 19th century-it is true that historically, comics have been an excellent means for engaging with politics and current events. To take a famous example, in an 1831 caricature, French artist Charles Philipon depicts the head of King Louis Philippe morphing into a pear, in four stages.

For decades, editorial cartoons were the only comics that engaged with the news of the day. But as the graphic novel medium has become more popular, creators are using it for ambitious books about politics, international affairs, and other issues. For example, Brooke Gladstone and Josh Neufeld's The Influencing Machine (Norton, 2011) depicts how the media works and where bias can creep in; Kate Evans's Threads (Verso, 2017) is a firsthand report from the refugee camps of France; and Pratap Chatterjee and Khalil Bendib's Verax: The True History of Whistleblowers, Drone Warfare, and Mass Surveillance (Metropolitan, Oct. 2017) is a critical look at the way big data is gathered, used-and misused. In addition, graphic memoirs such as Brigitte Findakly and Lewis Trondheim's Poppies of Iraq (Drawn & Quarterly, Sept. 2017) bring students directly to the global issues in the news.

Online, creators use short comics to provide context on an issue, such as Andy Warner's Failed State, a depiction of four decades of war in Afghanistan, and commentary, such as Adam Bessie and Erik Thurman's essay on school choice and segregation.

Meanwhile, in an age when the tools for creating media are available to everyone, comics are talking back: the events of the past year have energized a number of creators to self-publish anthologies, often by crowdfunding, that address current issues. These projects make for interesting reading-and provide a model for students who want to make their own comics.

Although written for general audiences (not specifically for teens), such online comics and graphic novels are powerful tools to help students understand and think critically about the news. Ronell Whitaker, an English teacher at Harold L. Richards High School in Oak Lawn, IL, had his class read March: Book One (Top Shelf, 2013), the first volume of John Lewis's graphic memoir, coauthored with Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate Powell. "It was great timing, because President Trump had recently gotten into a war of words with Lewis, and he [tweeted] something to the effect of 'What has John Lewis done for civil rights?' " Whitaker says. "We made that one of our guiding questions as we read the book, and students kept coming back to that tweet and comparing it with Lewis's work in the civil rights movement. It led to awesome discussion."

Eric Kallenborn, an English teacher at Alan B. Shepard High School in Palos Heights, IL, also used the "March" series in class. "Many of our kids had a difficult time with the election," he says. "['March'] allowed me to demonstrate the power of a movement in the face of tumultuous times."

"Kids are eager to engage in analysis and discussion of topics that they may not get to chat about with family or friends," adds Kallenborn. "Sometimes we search for people to have deeper conversations with. I try to make my classroom a place where those things can happen." Graphic novels that Kallenborn uses regularly in class include Josh Neufeld's A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge (Pantheon, 2009) and Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon's Pride of Baghdad (Vertigo, 2006).

Political viewpoints; immediate impact

Most comics about current events have a point of view, and more often than not, it's on the liberal side of the political spectrum. Journalistic comics with a conservative slant are rare, something that conservative commentators have noted. On the other hand, "most of the time, [these works] tell a story of a person or a time [in the midst of] an injustice," Kallenborn says. "It's hard to argue against fair and unbiased treatment of people."

A controversial scene is an opportunity for conversation. "I try to keep my classroom a place of intelligent discussion, because I try to see all sides of an argument," he adds.

The visual aspect of comics allows creators to present complex information easily-and skip lengthy descriptions. It also provides an immediacy that prose alone can't. When investigative journalist Chatterjee began to research how intelligence agencies collect, use, and misuse data from citizens, he decided to show his work-literally. Chatterjee teamed up with artist Bendib to produce Verax: The True History of Whistleblowers, Drone Warfare, and Mass Surveillance.

" Verax breaks down a fantastically complex story and makes it accessible to all," says Riva Hocherman, executive editor at Metropolitan Books. "The connections between government, intelligence agencies, tech companies, journalists, and whistleblowers are complicated and tangled. What better vehicle for simplifying the story-without sacrificing the detail-than comics? It's hard to think of a better way to show how the mechanics of electronic surveillance work than illustration."

Comics also allow the author to include diagrams, maps, and other visual aids to explain issues clearly. In Economix: How Our Economy Works (and Doesn't Work), in Words and Pictures (Abrams, 2012), writer Michael Goodwin and artist Dan Burr take readers on a quick trip through the history of economics, from the Middle Ages to the present. They post updates on their website, often using diagrams to explain economic concepts.

Personal stories: living the news

First-person accounts of surviving a disaster or living in a war zone can help students understand and empathize with the experiences of others. "In the teen room, YA readers seem to respond strongest to graphic memoirs like [Liz Prince's] and [Cece Bell's] especially if they identify with the protagonists," says Thomas Maluck, teen services librarian at the Richland Library in Columbia, SC. In the hands of a skilled storyteller, first-person books about global events are compelling reading in their own right. Because they show, rather than tell, what a place is like, they put readers in the center of the action.

Poppies of Iraq, for example, is Findakly's account of her childhood in Mosul, Iraq, and her return to the vastly changed country as an adult. Short vignettes of small incidents at school and at home build to a larger picture of Findakly's family, their lifestyle in the early 1960s, how repeated government coups affected her and her family, and how the country deteriorated over years of war.

In Kobane Calling (Lion Forge, Oct. 2017) the Italian cartoonist Zerocalcare chronicles his trip to Syria with an organization that works with the Kurds there. Zerocalcare has a cartoony style and a foul mouth, and he maintains a self-deprecating sense of humor, even when writing about this serious subject. Kobane Calling shows the human side of the Syrian conflict.

Kate Evans keeps herself in the background in Threads: From the Refugee Crisis, a graphic novel depicting her experiences as a volunteer in the refugee camp in Calais, France. Instead, she focuses on what those in the camp have to say-where they came from, why they left their homes, and what their lives are like now. Evans also chronicles the lives of the volunteers who work hard to improve living conditions in the camps, only to see their efforts frustrated by the French government, which bulldozed the refugees' improvised homes and intercepted food deliveries to the camps. In one scene, French soldiers threw baguettes on the muddy ground and stomped on them-ostensibly for reasons of safety and order.

As a teenager stuck in a small town in Mexico in 1998, Tony Sandoval made the impulsive choice to cross the border illegally into the United States to be with his girlfriend. In Rendez-vous in Phoenix (Magnetic, 2016) he describes his three attempts to enter the country, putting his safety in the hands of complete strangers and twice ending up in custody; the third time he made it across. It's a compelling look at the realities of crossing the border.

Right now on the Internet

A number of newspapers, including the New York Times and the Guardian, commission nonfiction comics as part of their news coverage. In fact, a recent issue of the New York Times Magazine was entirely in comics format, with most of the stories adapted from articles that had previously run in the magazine. The Nib website specializes in short-form comics, both opinions and journalism, and Fusion (Fusion.net) makes frequent use of comics as well. Often, the information is similar to what one would read in a news article or op-ed, but presented in visual form. In addition, longer stand-alone pieces such as Michael Keller and Josh Neufeld's Terms of Service: Understanding Our Role in the World of Big Data provide an in-depth look at a single topic in a format that is widely accessible.

"I think a lot of people are really visual learners, and comics can help boil down and explain some pretty complicated topics," says Andy Warner, a frequent contributor to the Nib who has produced comics on everything from North Korea, with Morgan Pielli, to where emojis come from. For his more topical comics, Warner says, "I read and listen to a pretty huge amount of news and political media. I try to anticipate what might be coming into the news in the next few weeks and create a story surrounding that. I'm aiming to make complicated stories and ideas accessible."

While political cartoons are alive and well at the Nib and other sites, Shannon Wheeler has compiled fanciful cartoons based on President Trump's tweets in the book Sh*t My President Says (Top Shelf, August 2017).

How true is it?

In terms of accuracy of information, comics should be approached with the same scrutiny as any other medium. Regarding bias, in some ways it's easier to evaluate comics: the medium's storytelling nature means that the creator is often part of the story, making partiality more obvious. It's also key to determine (and it's not always obvious) whether the story is fiction or nonfiction.

Some graphic novels include bibliographies and other resources, allowing readers to follow up and use the book as a springboard for further research. Hocherman says, "Much of the information [in Verax] is drawn from published documents, reporting, documentaries, and interviews, and these have been fact-checked."

Chatterjee also does scrupulous research. "I've been a reporter for 32 years. I don't take anything at face value. I look for multiple sources and contrarian views to my own." He also develops a wide network of resources on all sides of the issues he covers.

Warner, who often makes comics about the Middle East, has a degree in Near Eastern Studies from Cornell University and an MFA from the Center for Cartoon Studies. "For research, I do a pretty deep dive," he says. "I start out online and find some solid sources, then check out a bunch of books from the library and speed-read them, and finally try to log an interview with a trusted authority on the subject. Since I create comics on a wide range of topics-from giant fighting robots to ISIS-I can't be an expert on everything. Figuring out who to trust and how to communicate what they're saying about something is a big part of the job."

Taking it to the streets

Comics have always had a subversive streak. Starting with the rise of the Occupy movement, creators have used crowdfunding and other methods to produce works-usually anthologies-responding to the issues of the day. One of the first was Occupy Comics in 2014, funded via Kickstarter. Françoise Mouly, publisher of TOON Books and cofounder of Raw magazine, and her daughter, Nadja Spiegelman, launched a comics anthology called With the slogan "Women's voices will be heard," the self-published first issue included comics by Lynda Barry, Roz Chast, and a 13-year-old girl, among others. Activists distributed 58,000 free copies at the Women's Marches across the country the day after the 2017 presidential inauguration. A second issue is in the works. Comics for Choice, available this fall, is an anthology of stories about abortion and a fund-raiser for the National Network of Abortion Funds.

Meanwhile, the anthology APB: Artists Against Police Brutality (Rosarium, 2015), edited by Bill Campbell and Jason Rodriguez, features comics and essays designed to spark a conversation about police treatment of people of color, in the wake of the killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and others.

While not all the material in these anthologies is appropriate for high schoolers, they point to a way for teens to get involved in current affairs. Platforms such as Tumblr and Instagram, along with crowdfunding tools, let creative teens make their own comics and amplify their voices beyond their immediate circle. There's precedent for this: during the civil rights movement, an organization called the Fellowship of Reconciliation published and distributed the comic Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, which told the story of the Montgomery bus boycott and offered advice for those taking part in acts of civil disobedience. The comic was one inspiration for Lewis's "March."

That's right: a comic book helped change the world. With better tools than ever before, today's creators and readers have the opportunity to do that again.

Current Events BOOKLIST

CAMPBELL, Bill, John Jennings, & Jason Rodriguez, eds. APB: Artists Against Police Brutality. Rosarium. 2015.

Gr 10 Up -A collection of comics, essays, and stand-alone art that takes the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamar Rice, and others as a starting point to examine the American justice system and structural racism-and expand the conversation around these issues.

CHATTERJEE, Pratap. Verax: The True History of Whistleblowers, Mass Surveillance, and Drone Warfare. illus. by Khalil Bendib.. Metropolitan.

Gr 11 Up -Chatterjee, an investigative reporter, looks into the use of mass surveillance by U.S. intelligence services, and its misuse in drone warfare, where bad data has resulted in the killing of innocent civilians. The process-oriented approach is similar to the structure of the podcast Serial: the book depicts Chatterjee following the thread of his investigations, but it also cuts away for scenes with Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers.

CHIKWANINE, Michel & Jessica Dee Humphreys. Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls Are Used in War. illus. by Claudia Dávila. Kids Can. 2015.

Gr 5-9 -Chikwanine was kidnapped from his home in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the age of five by a militia group. He was drugged and forced to kill his best friend, but incredibly, he escaped after a short time and was reunited with his family. Chikwanine tells a highly violent but never graphic story, and the end matter includes background information and resources for those who want to help.

CUNNINGHAM, Darryl. The Age of Selfishness: Ayn Rand, Morality, and the Financial Crisis. Abrams. 2015.

Gr 10 Up -Cunningham starts with a biography of Ayn Rand, the founder of libertarianism, and shows how her politics mixed with personal entanglements and the consequences her philosophy had for the future-such as her influence on former Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan. Includes a list of sources.

EVANS, Kate. Threads: From the Refugee Crisis. Verso. Dec. 2017.

Gr 10 Up-This story started as a webcomic about Evans's experiences as a volunteer in the refugee camp in Calais, France. After the webcomic was published, she made several more visits to that camp and others, forging friendships with the refugees, and chronicling the work of volunteers and organizations to improve their lives.

FINDAKLY, Brigitte & Lewis Trondheim. Poppies of Iraq. Drawn and Quarterly. Sept. 2017.

Gr 10 Up -Findakly grew up in Mosul, Iraq, and moved to France when she was a teenager. In a series of mostly one-page vignettes, she tells stories of everyday life, from the trivial to the disturbing, carefully building a portrait of her family and a particular place and time.

GLADSTONE, Brooke. The Influencing Machine. illus. by Josh Neufeld. Norton. 2011.

Gr 10 Up -Gladstone, the host of the NPR program On the Media, provides an insider's look at journalism. With a mix of theory and anecdote, she discusses credibility, presentation, and media bias. Sources are provided.

GLIDDEN, Sarah. Rolling Blackouts. Drawn and Quarterly. 2016.

Gr 10 Up -Glidden follows a team of independent journalists on a trip through Turkey, Syria, and Iraq as they interview refugees in all three countries. This book is an interesting firsthand look at the ins and outs of journalism.

GOODWIN, Michael. Economix: How Our Economy Works (and Doesn't Work), in Words and Pictures. illus. by Dan E. Burr. Abrams. 2012.

Gr 10 Up-This book provides a whirlwind tour of the "dismal science" that's anything but. Starting with the Middle Ages, Goodwin and Burr explain how economics has developed over the years, spell out the basic concepts, and introduce the significant thinkers in the topic. The author and the illustrator take on a number of current topics, and they have posted more comics at the Economix Comix website. Includes bibliography.

SANDOVAL, Tony. Rendez-vous in Phoenix. illus. by author. Lion Forge. 2016.

Gr 9 Up -In the 1990s, Sandoval had himself smuggled across the border from Mexico to the United States; it took him three tries to make it, and in this graphic novel, he offers a fascinating first-person account of the experience.

SATTOUF, Riad. The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984. tr. from French by Sam Taylor. illus. by author. Metropolitan. 2015.

Gr 10 Up -The first volume of Sattouf's trilogy tells of his childhood in France, Libya, and Syria, with a child's-eye view of the way the politics and ideology of each country affected everyday life as well as his parents' points of view.

SHLAES, Amity. The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression. adapted by Chuck Dixon. illus. by Paul Rivoche. Harper Perennial. 2014.

Gr 10 Up -Reading this book on the Great Depression is like watching a movie from the era: Wendell Willkie narrates a series of vignettes of the era, filling in with plenty of commentary. While not strictly connected to current events, the title provides an alternative, conservative/libertarian slant on the New Deal and economic theories that are still being discussed today.

WHEELER, Shannon. Sh*t My President Says. illus. by author. Top Shelf. 2017.

Gr 10 Up -Wheeler creates wry cartoons to accompany actual tweets by President Donald Trump.

ZEROCALCARE, Kobane Calling: Greeting from Northern Syria. Lion Forge. 2017.

Gr 10 Up -The Italian artist Zerocalcare traveled to Syria to get a firsthand look at the Kurdish resistance. The artist writes from the heart and from a very personal perspective, so this is more journal than journalism; he uses a cartoony style, peppers his account with f-bombs, and isn't afraid to laugh at himself, even in the direst situation.

Online Comics and Comics Sites

Comics for Choice: An anthology that teamed comics artists with abortion activists and historians to tell a variety of different stories about abortion. The anthology was crowdfunded and will eventually be available for purchase online through the website.

Resist!: A print comic edited by Francoise Mouly and her daughter, Nadja Spiegelman, focusing on women's issues. The current issue is available for free in some comic shops and bookstores and can also be ordered online.

The Nib: A site featuring short comics and political cartoons on a variety of topics in the news.

Cartoon Movement: Longer-form comics, mostly personal accounts relating to international affairs.

A Decade in Immigration Purgatory: My Struggle To Become an American Citizen: Juana Medina came to the United States from Colombia legally, but she spent 10 years in limbo trying to get a green card.

For Real: A webcomic documenting the lives of immigrant teenagers living in New York City, produced by the Lower East Side Tenement Museum

Terms of Service: Understanding Our Role in the World of Big Data: An online comic by Michael Keller and Josh Neufeld about the way big corporations collect data from our everyday activities.

This article was featured in our free Extra Helping enewsletter.
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Brigid Alverson, the editor of the Good Comics for Kids blog, has been reading comics since she was 4. She has an MFA in printmaking and has worked as a book editor and a newspaper reporter; now she is assistant to the mayor of Melrose, Massachusetts. In addition to editing GC4K, she writes about comics and graphic novels at MangaBlog, SLJTeen, Publishers Weekly Comics World, Comic Book Resources, MTV Geek, and Good E-Reader.com. Brigid is married to a physicist and has two daughters in college, which is why she writes so much. She was a judge for the 2012 Eisner Awards.

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The People's Comics: Using the Graphic Format To Teach About Current Events

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Graphic creators take on politics, from immigration to women's rights In the first issue of Occupy Comics (Black Mask, 2014), writer Alan Moore claims the word cartoon comes from the Italian word cartone, or cardboard, a reference to the caricatures of political opponents that 17th-century Italians scrawled on cardboard boxes.

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Racially mixed children make up the fastest growing youth demographic in the U.S., and teachers of diverse populations need to be mindful in selecting literature that their students can identify with. This volume explores how books for elementary school students depict and reflect multiracial experiences through text and images.

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Multiracial Identity in Children's Literature 

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Multiracial Identity in Children's Literature 

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Multiracial Identity in Children's Literature (Hardback) - Routledge

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Racially mixed children make up the fastest growing youth demographic in the U.S., and teachers of diverse populations need to be mindful in selecting literature that their students can identify with. This volume explores how books for elementary school...

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Books and Authors: Talking with Zareen Jaffery

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Books and Authors: Talking with Zareen Jaffery

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Books and Authors: Talking with Zareen Jaffery, by Amina Chaudhri | Booklist Online

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Booklist Online Book Review: Books and Authors: Talking with Zareen Jaffery.Chaudhri, Amina (author).Grades 2-8. FEATURE.January 2017 ( Book Links ).Books For Youth - Fiction

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Interview: Eric Kallenborn on Graphic Novels

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Interview: Eric Kallenborn on Graphic Novels

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I spoke to Eric Kallenborn when I was researching The People's Comics: Using the Graphic Format to Teach About Current Events, which is the cover story of this month's School Library Journal. Eric is an English teacher at Alan B. Shepard High School in Palos Heights, Illinois, and he has a lot to say about graphic novels in the classroom, so today I'm running our interview in full.
First of all, which graphic novels do you use, and in what classes? How old are your students?
I teach a senior graphic novel elective that's completely comics and graphic novels. However, in the past, I've used graphic novels and comics at every level in the high school setting. I've used a ton of books, but my most commonly used books include the following titles: Gareth Hinds' Beowulf; Pride of Baghdad; March Book One; Scott Pilgrim; Hawkeye: My life as a Weapon; A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge; I Kill Giants; Harbinger; Superman American Alien.

How do you integrate graphic novels into your instruction?

As any other book. Graphic novels allow for the teaching of all things that regular texts do, but we can now add new vocabulary such as graphic weight, bleed, gutter, frame, etc. It elevates the level of analysis and discussion.

Where do you find them? What resources do you use?

I read a lot of comics and graphic novels. I also have a lot of friends that read a lot of them as well. I'm actually on a group chat with six other people, and we just share great new titles that we read. I read a good number of reviews as well; I'm connected with a lot of comics review organizations on Twitter. If a book I read is good, I'll add it to my classroom library, and if it's really good, I'll consider requesting a class set from my department chair.

Are graphic novels dealing with current events available in your school library?

I do not know the total extent of our library's catalog, but I'd for sure say yes. I know we carry the March series, A.D., the Miles Morales Spider-Man, just to name a few.

What has your students' reaction been?

Nothing but positive, especially to the books with a social lean. Kids are hungry and eager to engage in analysis and discussion of topics that they may not get a chance to chat about with family or friends. Sometimes we search for people to have deeper conversations with, and I try to make my classroom a place where those things can happen.

Do you use online comic sites such as The Nib?

I have never been an online comics guy. Not that I'm against the medium, I'm just not well versed in it. I do know a lot of people that are all about The Nib though.
Have you ever taught a class where you specifically linked a graphic novel to current events? If so, what was it? Most of the graphic novels that I have been reading have a liberal slant. Has this been your experience, and if so, do you try to balance it with other resources?
I would say that March is the best example. I taught March in the pre and post election craziness. Many of our kids had a difficult time with the election, and the book allowed me to demonstrate the power of a movement in the face of tumultuous times. I was also lucky to hear Rep. John Lewis speak last August, so I was able to speak to his inspirational nature and his ability to enact change through social action.

Let's be honest, most artists are liberal, so it's not that surprising that most socially conscious graphic novels lean in that direction; however, with a book like March, do we need to balance that topic to show the other side? I don't think so. The Civil Rights Movement as well as most "liberal" topics covered in the graphic novel/comics medium are not portrayed in a way that would anger most non-liberals. It's hard to argue against fair and unbiased treatment of people, and I would say that's where most of these books land. Most of the time, they tell a story of a person or a time that was going through an injustice. When push comes to shove, I hope people can put away their differences and care for people. With that being said, if there is a controversial image, scene, topic, or statement made in a book that may cause distress, we discuss it. I've discussed rhetorical flaws in liberal works as well as conservative works. I try to keep my classroom a place of intelligent discussion because I constantly try to see all sides of an argument, when they exist.

Do you have any concerns about the accuracy of the information presented in these graphic novels?

I have found most of the materials that I have read to be fair and accurate. I have not fact-checked every book that I have read, but a discussion of information accuracy has never come up.

What sort of reactions have you gotten from your student's parents and from your colleagues?

For the most part, it's been all positive. My kids love the medium; I've had parents thank me time and time again for giving their student something that they finally enjoy reading; and my colleagues have been nothing but supportive and inquisitive. I've actually helped a number of teachers in my district get started with the medium, and a few of my colleagues and I were even asked to speak at a school board meeting to discuss the success we have found with the medium.

Are there any graphic novels or comic sites you would particularly like to recommend?

Later this week, I'm going to be reviewing 365 graphic novels/comics in 365 days on my blog: theothercomicbookteacher.com so that should be cool and informative...and tiring for me.

Also, I'm now part of a non-profit: Pop Culture Classroom. Our group is called The Comics Education Outreach, a program of PCC. We work to get teachers help with comics and graphic novels. We do this in a number of ways, but the coolest is by far our lending library! As we traveled the country discussing the use of graphic novels in the classroom, we found that a lot of school could not afford class sets of books. That gave us an idea. We founded the CEO to primarily assemble class sets of socially conscious graphic novels and lend them out to schools in need...with lesson planning materials. And with the help and support of Pop Culture Classroom, we are starting with three sets of six books this coming fall. The list and more information on the program can be found at popcultureclassroom.org/ceo, and people can contact me at e.kallenborn@popcultureclassroom.org if they would like to help or donate to this awesome program!

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Interview: Eric Kallenborn on Graphic Novels in the Classroom

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I spoke to Eric Kallenborn when I was researching The People's Comics: Using the Graphic Format to Teach About Current Events, which is the cover story of this month's School Library Journal. Eric is an English teacher at Alan B.

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EPL's Brian Wilson on Helping Choose Caldecott 

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EPL's Brian Wilson on Helping Choose Caldecott 

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This year, EPL Children's Librarian Brian Wilson served on the Caldecott Award Selection Committee. The committee was made up of 15 members, most of whom are children's librarians. Eight members, including Wilson, were elected through a vote by members of the Association of Library Service to Children. The other seven are appointed by the ASLC president.

So what was it like to be a member of the Caldecott selection committee?

Wilson appreciated getting to know the other committee members and discovering new books. "The publishers would send us boxes of books," Wilson described. "But we would also try to seek out ones that weren't sent to us."

The Caldecott Medal is "awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children," according to the Caldecott terms and criteria. Wilson said the committee tried to "cast a wide net" when looking for books.

"Everyone looked for something different," he said. "But I wanted to see that a book respected children and how perceptive they can be. Kids often see things in books that adults don't. I also wanted to see an illustrator who was doing something different and very new. I wanted to look at the book and say, 'Wow, I've never seen that medium used that way before.'"

The committee ultimately selected "Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat" written and illustrated by Javaka Steptoe as the 2016 Caldecott winner. "It's a very moving book," Wilson said. "It's based on the life of an underground painter who hit the mainstream. The illustrator of this book went to various places where Basquiat lived and found discarded pieces of wood. Then he painted the wood to create scenes of Basquiat's life in a style that looks like a mix between a collage and a jigsaw puzzle." "Radiant Child" also was awarded a Coretta Scott King Illustrator award.

In addition to "Radiant Child," the Caldecott committee selected four honor books: "Leave Me Alone!" written and illustrated by Vera Brosgol, "Freedom in Congo Square" illustrated by R. Gregory Christie and written by Carole Boston Weatherford, "Du Iz Tak?" illustrated and written by Carson Ellis, and "They All Saw a Cat," illustrated and written by Brendan Wenzel.

On Thursday, March 2, at 7PM, Wilson will host a Caldecott Award Storytime featuring the winning title and four honorary mentions. He is also planning another round of the Caldecott Club, a book club for young readers that was successful in the fall. He also plans to bring attention to the winners of the Coretta Scott King and Newbery Awards.

"I am so appreciative that I had the community's support, and I hope I was able to do Evanston proud," he said.

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EPL's Brian Wilson on Helping Choose Caldecott Award Winners - Evanston Public Library

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This year, EPL Children's Librarian Brian Wilson served on the Caldecott Award Selection Committee. The committee was made up of 15 members, most of whom are children's librarians. Eight members, including Wilson, were elected through a vote by members of the Association of Library Service to Children.

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The latest Tweets from Laura Beltchenko (@labell44). A mind that is stretched to a new idea, never returns to its original dimension. O.W. Holmes. Chicagoland

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Diversity Resources Explode: What Are Some Current Options?

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Diversity Resources Explode: What Are Some Current Options?

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Yesterday a little blog post floating in the ether caught my eye. Called Selecting While White: Breaking Out of the Vendor Box, the article is written by Chelsea Couillard-Smith, the Senior Librarian in Collection Services at Hennepin County Library in Minnesota. I was particularly interested in the subject because I've been tossing about the idea of a similar blog post along the same veins. These days, I'm very interested in how what I was taught about book selection in library school (rules like "always use professional reviews for any purchase") has aged and dated. Ms. Couillard-Smith doesn't go into what they're teaching kids in MLIS classes these days, but she does offer a keen glimpse into the challenges facing a lot of libraries when it comes to selection.

The other reason the piece seemed timely is that we've been seeing a variety of different resources crop up as of late, all dedicated to the idea of helping YOU find diverse books as quickly and easily as possible. Three come immediately to mind, so I'll do a quick dive into each one.
Beanstack
Let's do this chronologically. And if I'm going to be honest with you, my first resource is one that I have personally had a hand in. You may recall that each year I produce the Diversity List of picture books, easy books, and early chapter books of the year ( here's 2016 as an example). The whole reason I even have this list is that I'm reading, vetting, and collecting these titles for something called BeanStack. BeanStack is a children's book discovery platform, and reader's advisory tool. Initially the idea was that parents could use filters such as "Recommended Age," "Language," "Favorite Genres," and even get a granular as to find books with characters that have a particular ethnicity or religion. You would plug in your filters and it comes up with a list of recommended titles. And who's vetting those titles? Folks like me.

These days, those filters have been broadened and aren't as precise. A pity since I'd argue that a recommendation service of that sort was ahead of its time and would be highly sought after now. Today, to access BeanStack you find a participating library. The one closest to me that provides the service is Skokie. You sign-in and it asks you some questions, like so:

It then gives you a list of recommendations alongside other lures, like badges for reading, a log for keeping track of books, and a lot more.

The results are diverse, no question (I'm not sending them titles for nothing, after all) but broad. You simply can't drill down to find precise books you want.
Diverse BookFinder
Next up, The Diverse BookFinder. Produced by Bates College and helped in part by an advisory board, including such folks as Cheryl Klein from Lee & Low, Diverse BookFinder is, "a public database that went live this week. Designed to mirror the ever-growing Picture Book Collection, the DBF makes - for the first time - diverse picture books findable by both the human characteristics and, importantly, narrative messages that recur in them."

Well . . . "the first time" isn't entirely true since they weren't taking BeanStack (in its original form, Zoobean) into account when they wrote that, but okay. This article discusses the BookFinder's origins. It's correct when it says at one point that doing a search for books with specific types of characters in a library catalog is a difficult proposition. Traditional library cataloging doesn't tend to indicate the race or ethnicity of the people in a book, as they say.

So the BookFinder debuted and the response was pretty swift. A cataloger on the Niblings Facebook page highlighted one of the issues with the Finder:

" I looked at this from a cataloger's perspective. Diverse Bookfinder appears to be based on keyword searching-not very specific-and seems to use some kind of tag to indicate content. Unfortunately, as others have pointed out, the usefulness depends on the selection criteria and the rules for classifying materials. As an experiment, I can see the potential. As an actual search engine, I think it needs more granular rules for how headings or tags are applied and a larger database to search. This only seems to apply to one library's small collection and the subject analysis/tagging acts like it's applied as a yes/no-are there POC characters, are there characters of different ages-but no analysis of whether the cultures are depicted respectfully and accurately within the work. It's easier to code for yes/no than to address the actual quality of content. I think the search engine is not quite ready. I hope they have the resources to keep working on it and to improve the approach to the literature. "

That mention of "no analysis of whether the cultures are depicted respectfully and accurately within the work" refers to some of the books that have been coming up in various searches. For example, one of the books that will come up if you perform a search is Tikki Tikki Tembo. By any standards, this is a bizarre inclusion. Other criticisms that have arisen include the fact that Native religious stories are cataloged under "folktales". And, as Debbie Reese pointed out, the fact that books by Louise Erdrich or Cynthia Leitich Smith are not included is very strange. All this is to say that in its current form the BookFinder needs work. That said, it looks like it may be upgraded continually, and if it makes changes it could potentially be very useful.
Kirkus Collection
Which brings us to the final resource and it's a doozy. Not too long ago Baker and Taylor (which alongside Ingram is one of the largest book distributors in the country) announced that it was pairing with Kirkus to create the "Kirkus Collection". Basically, it's a way for librarians who purchase their books through B&T to find lists of diverse titles from a vetted source. Vicky Smith, children's book editor at Kirkus, put it this way:

"Kirkus Collections begins with positive Kirkus reviews of books with diverse content, which have been checked against resources such as Disability in KidLit, Latinxs in Kid Lit, and American Indians in Children's Literature and also reviewed by experts in the various categories in order to identify those books that meet current standards of sensitivity and respect. To those reviews we have applied metadata to capture both marginalized identities and basic genre and format information. We have used this metadata in various combinations to curate lists: "Black & Disabled"; "Latinx Read-Alouds"; "LGBTQIAP Love Stories"; "Teen Romance with Male Asian Love Interests" (a small but, we hope, growing collection that may provide some redress of the wrongs wrought by Long Duk Dong and others of his ilk).

These lists are further refined with a filter that indicates a reader's experience: learning, identification, or inclusion."

There's a webinar on October 26th that discusses this more fully.

Now these lists are only available to folks that have accounts with Baker and Taylor, so here's just a quick peek on what they look like. You go to B&T

You select this:

You go here to "Kirkus Collections":

And you get this:

Now because the BISACs on these lists are from Baker & Taylor you're still going to have some issues. For example, Native religious stories under the "folktale" category from time to time. At the same time, the books I was able to spot were clearly vetted individually. They do lump all the age levels together, which isn't do or die, just somewhat annoying when you have to apply additional filters. At this point some of the categories are a bit sparse, but one assumes that as they continue to add to these lists (as they have said that they would) they'll fill up.

So there you have it. Three options and three different methods. And if I don't miss my guess, this may just be the beginning. I wouldn't be surprised to see Ingram try to create something similar, or Amazon offering similarly curated lists in the near future. Don't count out Goodreads or apps we haven't even seen yet. We're on the cusp of this. Things may go very fast, very soon.
OurStory App
Oops! I made the mistake of not including this in my original round-up (which wasn't comprehensive, but this is a bit of an omission). OurStory actually premiered before the Kirkus list, so let's make mention of it as well.

Not an app in the sense that you can put it on your phone (yet!) but rather a searchable resource that does pretty much what Zoobean used to do. Produced by We Need Diverse Books and created by "librarians, teachers, educators, book lovers, and members of We Need Diverse Books" the site allows you to put in specific site requests for titles. After registering (it's free, though you can pay a fee if you like) you are asked a series of questions about the kind of book you're looking for. At the end, they produce a list with original descriptions for each title. You can see the specialists picking out the books by clicking on MEET THE TEAM on the bottom footer. And while the site has the customary problems of any searching database (if you ask for a "Fantasy" picture book with a Diverse Family Structure you can potentially end up with The Legendary Miss Lena Horne) by and large it does a good job, at least with the first hits that pop up, of producing what it is you're looking for. But all told it's something I'm looking forward to adding to my phone in the future.

[Edited to Add]

One other resource that I'd not heard of before until folks alerted me to it is the See What We See Reviews Database. This one is entirely new to me so I'd be interested in hearing how folks have used it at this point.

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Diversity Resources Explode: What Are Some Current Options?

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Yesterday a little blog post floating in the ether caught my eye. Called Selecting While White: Breaking Out of the Vendor Box, the article is written by Chelsea Couillard-Smith, the Senior Librarian in Collection Services at Hennepin County Library in Minnesota.

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Intellectual Pursuits of Young Children Through Picture Book Literacy, Focusing on Italian Preschools

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Intellectual Pursuits of Young Children Through Picture Book Literacy, Focusing on Italian Preschools

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SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class journal research

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Subscription and open access journals from SAGE Publishing, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

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Selecting and Utilizing Diverse Literature in the Classroom 

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Selecting and Utilizing Diverse Literature in the Classroom 

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Selecting And Utilizing Diverse Literature In The Classroom, Laura Beltchenko - Lessons - Tes Teach

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http://bit.ly/2qWT6Od Selecting and Utilizing Culturally Relevant and Diverse Literature inthe Classroom: Using Picture Books to Know and Understand Ourselves and Others We live in a diverse and ever changing global socieity. Quality picture books and informational narrative texts will be the lens by which students can view themselves and perceptions of others.

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By Elisa Gall on

The first time I remember my students bringing #OwnVoices up in the classroom was before Corinne Duyvis developed the hashtag, so the children didn't use those words exactly. Third graders were examining the Coretta Scott King Award criteria-which states that for a book to be eligible it must be written or illustrated by a person who is African American.

A few students declared, "That isn't fair!" I took a breath and considered the children in the space and the mix of our group's different intersectional identities (my own included). As a white educator with a diverse but majority white class, the moment made me uncomfortable. Still, I knew that engaging in conversations about identity and justice is how students build up the stamina to keep having them-and ever more difficult ones-as they grow. Here are things I have found helpful to reflect on as I've led and participated in discussions about #OwnVoices and other topics with young people in my library classroom over the years.

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, assistant professor, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education

Christine Scheper, children's materials specialist, Queens (NY) Library

Hold up the mirror. I must constantly work to better understand my own complex identity, and what that means in my life and in my classroom. I need to keep developing knowledge and skills to ensure that I'm not centering myself or unintentionally making students feel "othered" or further marginalized. Through reading books, attending workshops, following diversity and equity activists on social media, inviting others to learn with me, and more, I push myself to keep reflecting on what me being the teacher means for my students, especially if and when I'm not an #OwnTeacher. This learning is my responsibility and it never stops.

Set norms. Norms, or agreed-upon expectations for behavior and participation, can structure conversations and keep debates focused. Ask students for suggestions for group norms at the beginning of a discussion. Document them and make them visible. Point to them if conversations go off track, or create additional norms if needs arise.

One that is popular in my community is to "share the air," also known as "three before me." If, after talking, a person waits until three other participants have spoken before contributing again, more people have a chance to communicate their ideas.

Another common norm is to only speak from the "I" perspective, which allows students to work to understand that no identity or experience is monolithic. Creating and committing to norms can keep participants accountable and conversations productive.

Fairness routines. Research from Project Zero at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education shows that thinking routines are procedures that, when used habitually, can support student learning by providing structures for a particular type of thinking process. When students in my class questioned the Coretta Scott King Award criteria, I invited them to participate in a fairness routine called "Tug of War." I set butcher paper on the ground, drawing a long line across it. One end represented the opinion that the eligibility rule was fair, whereas the other end represented the viewpoint that it was unfair. Regardless of their own opinions, students identified factors supporting and challenging each point of view using sticky notes to document as many ideas as they could, and placed them in the locations along the line matching the different viewpoints.

Students read their factors and generated a list of "What if?" questions before considering whether or not their own opinions were strengthened or changed as a result of the routine. Their questions, which were candid (" What if the best book couldn't win?"), far-reaching (" What if racism ended?"), and altogether varied, served as evidence of deep reflection and perspective taking. More information about thinking routines can be found on the Project Zero site.

Start from a common place. Frameworks already exist for having conversations and evaluating texts critically. For example, studying authorship is one piece of the anti-bias lens for evaluating children's books by Louise Derman-Sparks (found on the Teaching for Change website). Examining books through all of the elements of an anti-bias lens will help readers analyze, better understand, and form opinions about what they read. Shared vocabulary and context allow people entering conversations to have some common ground from the start.

For readers identifying with and learning from #OwnVoices books and authors, conversations about them are empowering and life-changing. Discussions about #OwnVoices can vary and needn't be seen as difficult outright. My third graders' discussion about the award criteria revolved around fairness. However, I imagine the conversation might have evolved differently if the topic were an #OwnVoices identity other than race, different children had been in the room, or African American children were in the majority of our group that day.

Regardless of the topic, I do know that whenever questions arise, they present challenging and exciting learning opportunities. For me, this is about being open to learning from feedback and sitting with ambiguity. Not knowing everything can be scary, but embracing a growth mindset and getting comfortable being uncomfortable is what opens the door for inquiry and authentic learning for all members of a classroom community-the teacher included.
Elisa Gall is director of library services at an independent school in Chicago.

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Conversations in the Classroom | #OwnVoices: Three Takes

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By Elisa Gall on The first time I remember my students bringing #OwnVoices up in the classroom was before Corinne Duyvis developed the hashtag, so the children didn't use those words exactly. Third graders were examining the Coretta Scott King Award criteria-which states that for a book to be eligible it must be written or illustrated by a person who is African American.

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Each month, an ALSC member is profiled and we learn a little about their professional life and a bit about their not-so-serious side. Using just a few questions, we try to keep the profiles fun while highlighting the variety of members in our organization. So, without further ado, welcome to our ALSC profile, ten questions with ALSC member, Brian E. Wilson:
What do you do, and how long have you been doing it?
I have been working as a Children's Librarian for 17 years. I worked at the Oak Lawn Public Library in Oak Lawn, IL from 1995 to 2001, and have been at the Evanston Public Library in Evanston, IL since October, 2001. I order the children's picture books, easy readers, AV, non-fiction, and fiction up to Grade 5. Storytimes and children's reference work are also major parts of my job.
Why did you join ALSC? Do you belong to any other ALA divisions or roundtables?
I love that ALSC brings together professionals who share a common goal: to turn children into lifelong readers and library users. Hearing success stories and new program ideas has been beneficial for me. Also, as you face challenges, it is good to know that you are not alone, that others in the field can offer advice or lend an ear. I do not belong to any other divisions or roundtables, but hope to rectify that. I have been an AV reviewer for Booklist for over 10 years. I also served on the Monarch Award (the Illinois Children's Choice Award for K through 3rd) committee, and am currently serving on the Bluestem Award (the Illinois Children's Choice Award for 3rd to 5th graders) steering committee in the area of Publicity.
What are you proudest of having accomplished in your professional career?
Now that I've been working at one place for so long, it has been really cool seeing children I read to as babies and toddlers coming in and checking out armloads of library materials as tweens and teens. When parents tell me that thanks to the library their kids have become excellent readers, I feel very proud of being part of that success. Also, our storytelling team (I work with a bunch of great programmers) was chosen by the readers of Make It Better! magazine as the area's finest, and that gave me a lift. I like showing kids that books can be fun, and that you can have a great time reading.
What children's book characters would you most like to meet?
Who wouldn't want to enjoy a rumpus with the Wild Things?
What's the last song you sang out loud?
The answer most likely will always be "Jenny Works with One Hammer" (aka "Johnny Works with One Hammer"). I always end storytime with that tune. When I'm not at work it's probably some '80s new wave song that I can sing like a robot.
Favorite Caldecott book?
First on the Newbery (winner and honor) end, I want to give a shout out to Louis Sachar's Holes, Christopher Paul Curtis' The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963, Nancy Farmer's The House of the Scorpion, and E.L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Regarding the Caldecott, I love the Wild Things, Peter's snowy walk, Kitten longing to drink the moon, and David Wiesner's various mind-bending meta adventures, but, for personal reasons, I just love Eric Rohmann's My Friend Rabbit. Everytime I read that wondrous animal adventure, I discover something new. It's a book that constantly surprises me. And I love that the hippo sleeps during the entire thing.
What makes you laugh?
The element of surprise. I like jokes in books, in movies and plays, and on TV shows that catch me completely off-guard. For example, in the 2013 picture book Count the Monkeys (written by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Kevin Cornell), in which a counting adventure goes very wrong, I love the fact that the 8 lumberjacks never leave. We want them to so we count the monkeys, but these lumberjacks not only keep thwarting our plans, but invite another lumberjack to join them! Mo Willems, Dav Pilkey, Keiko Kasza, Peter Brown, Jan Thomas, and many other children's book writers have gift for absurd surprises and I love them for it. It's my very favorite type of humor.
Do you have a favorite "guilty pleasure" TV show?
Probably Bob's Burgers, an animated series about an unlucky guy trying to run a successful burger shop and his madcap but loving family. The vocal work is great and the show has really come into its own in its 3rd season. What's strange though is I have received the most ribbing from people for liking Gilmore Girls (although I certainly have friends and co-workers who love the show, too). What's not to love about that show's snappy, screwball dialogue and Lauren Graham's brilliant, nuanced performance as a coffee addicted inn owner who just happens to be the coolest mother in the world?
What is your dream vacation?
So many places...Scotland, Ireland, Tokyo. The biggest dream: I have always wanted to see Australia and New Zealand. However, the thought of being on a plane for so many hours keeps the dream in my head instead of becoming a reality.
Legos or Lincoln Logs?
A very tough question, and that's why I answered it last...but flipping a coin here...Legos!!!!

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Thanks, Brian! What a fun continuation to our monthly profile feature! You can contact Brian at bwilson@cityofevanston.org, or check out his blog at Mr. Brian's Picture Book Picks.

Do you know someone who would be a good candidate for our ALSC Monthly Profile? Are YOU brave enough to answer our ten questions? Send your name and email address to alscblog@gmail.com; we'll see what we can do.

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ALSC Member Profile - Brian E. Wilson - ALSC Blog

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Each month, an ALSC member is profiled and we learn a little about their professional life and a bit about their not-so-serious side. Using just a few questions, we try to keep the profiles fun while highlighting the variety of members in our organization.