Excellence in Children's Fiction

Here is the second part of Assignment 1 for my Open Polytechnic paper. We needed to discuss what made for excellence in a fiction book. We also needed to discuss how libraries can best meet the developmental needs of students in terms of reading and information gathering. 

Step 4: What makes for excellence in a fiction book for a particular reader group?

This is a great question for me to answer as a Year 3 and 4 teacher and school librarian: What makes for excellence in a picture book for children in the middle school, aged between 7 - 12?

Author engagement and humour: Books that are interactive and make students laugh often will have them begging to be read repetitively. In B.J Novak’s The Book with No Pictures (2014), the children engage with the author and “make them” read ridiculous statements. Hysterical laughter ensues as you read words like “Boo Boo Butt” in a voice like a robot monkey. Mac Barnett’s Chloe and the Lion (2012) and Herve Tullet’s Press Here (2010) are also hilarious books where the children are completely engaged in the story. As a middle schoolers sense of humour is becoming more sophisticated, it will appeal to them on numerous levels. (Cerney, Markey & Williams, 2006).

Strong characters: As students of this age are becoming more independent cognitively, it is important to read stories with characters who have depth, face challenges and show resilience, and possibly have a variety of experiences and opinions (Van Orden & Strong, 2007). In Ghost (2016) by Jason Reynolds, you discover Ghost Cranshaw and his friends have wildly different perspectives and upbringings, but manage to learn from each other and to find some common ground in running track. Mo Willems also gives us the headstrong character of Pigeon, who always has a funny stubborn take on life that children instantly relate to.  

Diversity: Having families and characters with diverse backgrounds, abilities, and beliefs promotes empathy and understanding of the world around us (Johnston, 2013).  Children need to see themselves in stories, and if they are only offered books filled with one ethnicity and teddy bears they will not feel represented or connected to literature. In Fiapule (2007) by Catherine Hannken, the book doesn’t focus on Fiapule’s being Samoan, but rather about his feeling of being torn between being at a family christening or his best friend’s birthday, a theme that is very relatable for many children and their whanau. My Two Grannies (2007), By Floella Benjamin, represent families of different ethnicities coming together to represent many of the blended families we have in Aotearoa. In Ian’s Walk (1998) by Laurie Lears, we see a sister and her autistic brother. I believe children need to see families and characters like theirs in picture books.

Quality text and illustrations: Guess How Much I Love you (2004) by Sam McBratney is a classic example of a thoughtful text and moving illustrations involving a conversation between a mother rabbit and her son about the amount she loves him.  The watercolors connect the parent and child’s loving relationship perfectly, creating a timeless story about love. Though there is not much text in Beautiful Oops, (2010) by Barney Saltzberg, it has fantastic images of accidents turned into lovely products. This books promotes a message of resiliency and creativity that I believe will stay with students as they journey through life. Deeper meaning in books can make such an impression on a young person.

Stories that stand the test of time:  My favourite childhood classics included The Monster at the End of this Book (1971) by Jon Stone, Just Me and My Dad (1977) by Mercer Mayer, and all of Richard Scarry’s books. Children will be drawn to a variety of stories of fantasy, fiction and non-fiction as favourites. Who knows what qualities will draw a child to a particular book, but our job as teachers and librarians is to provide that guided choice of good quality books (Lee, 2009) to help them find that book that will hold a special place in their heart throughout the years.

References

Cerney, R., Markey, P., & Williams, A. (2006). Outstanding library services to children: Putting the core competencies to work. Chicago, IL: Association for Library Service to Children, American Library Association.

Johnston, I., Shariff, F. (2013). Who Does This Text Think I Am? Exploring Questions of Subjectivity Through Diverse Picture Books. In I. Johnston (Ed.),  Reading diversity through canadian picture books : preservice teachers explore issues of identity, ideology, and pedagogy (pp. 41 - 55). Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Lee, D. (2009, January 20). Re: On picture books [Web log]. Retreived from http://goodbooksguide.blogspot.com/2009/01/on-picture-books-by-daphne-lee.html

Van Orden, P. J., & Strong, S. (2007). Fiction. In Children’s books: A practical guide to selection. New York, NY; Neal-Schuman.

Step 5: Reflect on the developmental stages of children and young people, and discuss how libraries can best meet the reading and information-seeking needs of these readers. Give at least 5 examples of things libraries can do that I consider best meet the needs of young people.

Libraries are such an important resource and information cornerstone for every community. Below are five ways that I believe libraries can best serve children, young people and their Whanau.

Libraries are responsible for serving their community and that is done best by representation and listening. The LIANZA Code of Practise states that librarians are to assist and facilitate the flow of information and ideas without discrimination. (“LIANZA Code of Practise” (n.d)).  The Code of Ethics in the ALA (American Library Association) covers equity for all customers and “accurate, unbiased and courteous responses to all requests.” (Cooke, 2016). But being treated with a smile is not enough. Families need to feel invited and welcomed into this shared space as if it was there own, and when they feel comfortable then it will naturally be a place where they will want to bring their children.

Libraries are civic centres that can offer a variety of often free events. The public library is a community space, and librarians do well when they are engaged with communities and know their wants and needs (Cooke, 2016). Libraries meet these needs with lots of different activities for children including ESOL groups, song and dance for under 5’s, cultural and language weeks, book clubs for all age groups, after school clubs and homework centres for children. All of these activities meet the children where they are at developmentally and provide support and a sense of fun to their lives.

The diverse needs of the community need to be met in the library setting. This includes a physical space that is accessible to both able and disabled children, shelves of the right heights for browsing, safe crawling areas for babies and toddlers, and a separate space for teenagers. Teenagers are transitioning to adulthood, and their space needs to reflect privacy and to have a sense of sophistication that does not link them to children (Cerney, Markey & Williams, 2006). Also, having a diverse collection of books that represent the community in story, illustrations and languages will help people to connect to their library.

Librarians are passionate about books, and need to know their audience well and be accessible to them. Children often don’t know what they need or want in terms of book selection, so having a skilled librarian who can ask the right questions is essential. Amy S. Pattee (2008) suggests using the KWL method, asking the following questions - “What do I know?”, “What do I want to know?” and “What I learned?”. The goal is to teach children and young people to be information seekers independently, and that comes from the librarian modelling the research and book finding process with them.

Reader’s advisory helps tamariki to select the exact books they need at the time, whether for work, study or pleasure. It is also to promote new books and the library collection (Sullivan, 2005). I believe that having the community contribute to these displays creates a sense of belonging and ownership. In my own school library I have had displays that involve both students and teachers. A few examples are having teachers recording themselves discussing their favourite books and students being able to issue those exact books; a Valentine’s display which had students showing their favourite books with a love heart that says “I love this book because” and then a statement explaining their choice; Bookface posters; A BFG (Roald Dahl, 1982) display where children wrote their own dreams in jars to put on the wall. Children at my school loved being a part of the displays and seeing their friends in our shared library space. Children at my school loved loved being a part of the displays and this gave them agency and ownership to contribute to their space.

All of these things, and more, contribute to fantastic library services that best serve our tamariki.

A link to my personal blog to see the library displays in action. http://westernheightslibrary.weebly.com/)

References

Cerney, R., Markey, P., & Williams, A. (2006). Outstanding library services to children: Putting the core competencies to work. Chicago, IL: Association for Library Service to Children, American Library Association.

Cooke, Nicole A.. Information Services to Diverse Populations: Developing Culturally Competent Library Professionals, Pearson Education, 2016. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/opt/detail.action?docID=4742121.

Dean, J. (2008, May 7). When the self emerges: Is that me in the mirror? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.spring.org.uk/

From the LIANZA Code of Practice - Part One: General Administration and Procedure (n.d) Retreived from  https://lianza.org.nz/sites/default/files/LIANZA%20Code%20of%20Professional%20Conduct_0.pdf#overlay-context=about-us/governing-documents

Pattee, S. (2008). What do you know? Children and Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, 6(1), 30-39.

Sullivan, M. (2005). Reader’s advisory. In Fundamentals of Children’s Services(pp. 96 - 105). Chicago, IL: American Library Association.