Category Archives: teachers

OASL New, Notable and Diverse books

What a treat to spend the weekend with Oregon’s school librarians. And then hearing keynote speakers R. Gregory Christie and Mitali Perkins was just the icing on the cake.

For those who came to my presentation, here are the books I talked about in my session. A selection of new books that are notable in quality and diverse.

Picture Books
Shanyaak’utlaax Salmon Boy from Baby Raven Reads (Tlingit)
The Woman Carried Away by Killer Whales from Baby Raven Reads (Haida)
Picking Berries by Hannah Lindoff from Baby Raven Reads (Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian)
Raven Brings Us Fire, Raven and the Box of Daylight, Origins of Rivers and Streams: a raven story by Pauline Kookesh Duncan from Baby Raven Reads (Tlingit)
On our Street: our first talk about poverty, and On the News: our first talk about tragedy by Dr. Jillian Roberts
You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith (Cree & English) Canadian Reconciliation
Speaking our Truth a journey of reconciliation by Monique Gray Smith Canadian Reconciliation
How Raven got His Crooked Nose an Alaskan Dena’ina Fable by Barbara J Atwater (Athabaskan)
Whisper of the East: tales from Arabia by Franziska Meiners -glossary plus activities
The Atlas Obscura: Explorers Guide for the  worlds most adventurous kid  by Dylan Thuras & Rosemanry Masco
Mapping Sam by Joyce Hesselberth —STEM
The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld —empathy
Me and my Fear by  Franscesca Sanna
Drawn Together by Dan Santat multi-lingual family
We are Grateful Otsaliheligaby Traci Sorell (Cherokee)
Chapter Books
Baby Monkey Private Eye by Brian Selznick
Digging Deep by Jake Maddox—a hijabi athlete
You Choose Books Sleeping Beauty by Jessica Gunderson—a female fairytale choose your own adventure.
Meet Yasmin by Saadia Faruqui
Lucy’s Lab by Michelle Houts
Jasmine Taguchi Super Sleuth  by Debbi Michiko Florence (series)
Pocket Pirates: The Great Cheese Robbery by Chris Mould (series)
The Questioners Rosie Revere and the raucous riveters by Andrea Beaty maker mystery
MG novels
The Journey of Little Charlie by Christopher Paul Curtis – About a boy who engages in slave catching and has a change of heart. tangential to Elijah of Buxton
Running on the Roof of the World by Jess Butterworth
    About buddhist refugees from Tibet to India. Yaks!
Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish by Pablo Caraya—extra tall 8th grader goes home to Puerto Rico for the 1st time
Tight by Torrey Maldonado— urban, black, about the hard choices in MS friendship, older MG
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed contemporary Pakistan, indentured servitude
Charlie Hernández the league of shadows by Ryan Calejo fantasy adventure based in central American mythology
Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina contemporary coming-of-age multigenerational household
The Crossroads bu Alexandra Diaz contemporary migrant from Guatemala adjusts to life in the US
Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José historical fantasy civil war with dinosaurs
Non-fiction
The Faithful Spy: a true story! Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the plot to kill Hitler by John Hendrix
    highly illustrated but not a GN it tackles the question: how do I resist evil without doing/becoming evil
Shout: the true story of a survivor who refused to be silenced by Laurie Halse Anderson —a tale of resilience
Unbroken: 13 stories starring Disabled Teens ed by Marieke Nijkamp
Don’t Call Me Crazy: 33 voices start the conversation about mental health ed. by Kelly Jensen
Just Breathe: meditation, mindfulness, movement, and more Malik’s Chopra—one of many mindfulness/yoga/meditation titles this year.
Putting Peace First: 7 commitments to change the world by Eric David Dawson —in a season crowded w/ social justice this one is detailed, practical, do-able by youth.
Short Stories
Flying Lessons and other stories ed by Ellen Oh of WNDB
Funny Girl ed by Betsy Bird
Graphic Novels
Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol
    An ethnic twist on the summer camp story. an artful look at social isolation
The Dragon Slayer: Folk tales from Latin America by Jaime Hernandez
Illegal by Eoin Colfer migration from Africa across the Sahara and Mediterranean Sea
Oregon Authors
D-day:the WWII invasion the changed history  and Under the Bodhi Tree a story of Buddha by Deborah Hopkinson
Where the Watermelons Grow by Cindy Baldwin
Avalanche Dog Heroes: Piper and Friends learn to search the snow by Elizabeth Rusch
Tigers and Tea with Top by Barbara Kerley
The Turning by Emily Whitman
Journey of the Pale Bear by Susan Fletcher
What do they do with all that Poo by Jane Kurtz
Quiet Please Owen McPhee by Trudy Ludwig
A Boy A Mouse A Spider by Barbara Herkert

The League of Exceptional Writers–Play with Your Story Setting

Emily Whitman is the author of THE TURNING, a fabulous story steeped in the selkie mythology of folk who can shape sift into seals. She will be kicking off the year with a look at what really makes a setting sing.

The League of Exceptional Writers is a free mentoring program sponsored by the Oregon Society of Children’s book Writers and Illustrators and hosted by the Cedar Hills Powell’s Bookstore. We meet every second Saturday at 2pm from October to May. Avid readers and writers ages 8 to 18 are welcome. Please share the poster below with your friends, your school and your library.

Let’s not make Authors into Rock Stars

It’s been a rough few weeks in the world of children’s literature with conversations about sexual harassment in the industry. There are worthwhile things to read on the topic here and here.

One of the comments that caught my eye was the lament from a teacher—but these authors are rock stars to me and my students! I’m so disappointed!

It got me thinking. I’m going to take a deep breath and wade into difficult territory hoping that it will be received in the spirit I intend which is to support both students and teachers and librarians.

I do a lot of school visits. It’s one of the best parts of my life as an author. A school that is well prepared for my visit and eagerly anticipating a day in celebration of literature, goes a long way to making the work satisfying for me and profitable for students. Sometimes there are even lovely extra touches—a welcome sign hand made by students, a warm cup of tea, the principal who gave me her parking spot because it was snowing—all kind and much appreciated.

But sometimes a teacher or librarian goes a little over the top with the adulation of the person of the author. It has always made me uncomfortable and I’m pretty outgoing among my peers. There are many more introverted authors who find personal adulation extremely awkward, even painful. Nobody goes into children’s publishing to seek status. There’s just none to be had. The world of adult literature has no respect at all for us, and those outside of the world of literature are barely aware of our existence. For many the real draw in writing for kids is that it sidesteps the literary celebrity culture which can be so toxic in the adult writing world. So even though the adulation was kindly meant it often makes the author on the receiving end more anxious than flattered. As an added bonus, when an author’s human frailties—fairly or unfairly—become a subject of social media, you will not have the shock of their fall from grace because you never excluded them from the human community by putting them on a pedestal in the first place.

But here’s an even more important reason. Making an author a rock star does not serve your students well. The real benefit of an author visit is connection—genuine connection between students and authors. One of my most memorable school visits was to a middle school in Cicero, Illinois. It was a low income school in a neighborhood where gang violence is common. It was also right next to the neighborhood of my childhood. The teacher in her introduction said this: This author was born at Oakpark Hospital. (where most of the students were born) She lived on Ridgeland Avenue (which runs through the middle of the district) She used to play at the park with the fountain in the shape of a seal. (a place they all know). Oh, the look of joy on their faces, the wonderment! Yes, you can live here and also do this—be an author, graduate high school, attend college, choose a profession that speaks to your heart. And now let’s talk about the nuts and bolts of how that gets done.
That’s what school visits are for–connection. Putting an author on a pedestal, if anything, says to students here is something you can never be.

Most authors work hard to find common ground with the students they work with in schools. If librarians and teachers help us develop that connection then the information we have for students about the craft of story- making has a chance to take root and grow, making them the confident young readers and writers we all want them to be.

Thank you to all the hardworking teachers and librarians who work long and hard to bring authors into their schools. You are such a force for good. I am inspired every time I meet you!

Celebrating Indigenous Authors–Red: a Haida manga by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas

One of the things I love about PNBA is the opportunity to meet small press publishers  and see work by emerging artists and and Indigenous story tellers. By far the most distinctive work I saw this year was a graphic novel called Red: a Haida Manga by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas. He is a visual artist and storyteller from Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands)

The story is done in graphic novel format but it’s totally unique in using the formline art style to create a variety of curvilinear panels. The formline style of art is what you typically see on totem poles in the pacific northwest. The unusual shapes give the narrative a uniquely flowing character which suits the story well as it shifts across time and space following the character of Red and his sister who begin the story as orphans taken in by a village on Haida Gwaii. Raiders come to the village and take Red’s sister away. Years later when Red is the leader of his community, he hears news of his lost sister and hatches a rescue and revenge plot that goes horribly awry. The story is based on Haida oral tradition and conveys important cultural values around the futility of anger and revenge.

The other thing that makes this book unique is that the pages work in codex form but they can also be taken out of the book and put together in a large mural in which the curved borders of the manga panels join together to form a large cohesive work of art. A photograph of the joined panels is in the back of the book so that you can see how to assemble it.

If you are a comics fan you’ll be intrigued by this story. If you are school librarian you should know that the panels include a few images of nude males. The images aren’t sexual in nature and are completely appropriate in the context of the story. If you are looking to increase the diversity of your graphic novel collection RED a Haida Manga is a great choice.

Oregon Spirit Book Award

A week from today I will be at the Oregon Council of Teachers of English fall conference to accept the Oregon Spirit book award for The Turn of the Tide. I’m just thrilled to be in the company of the Oregon authors honored this year. Many of these women have been friends and mentors for years, women whose work I’m proud to recommend at the bookstore and books from which I’ve learned much about the craft of writing. Thank you to all those hard working English teachers who served on the award committee and all those who share books in their classrooms.