Helping Children Cope With Cancer

When cancer is introduced into a family, whether it be a parent or the child themselves, the unfamiliarity of the subject can be very frightening to children. Cancer is difficult for anyone to go through, and at such a young age it is sometimes hard to explain to a child exactly what is going on and why they are sick. As demonstrated in our class, books are one of the easiest and best ways to teach a child something unfamiliar or difficult to understand. I have compiled a list of books that are all written by women who were diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives. Some of the authors won their battle, and some did not. Each of the books are very different from one another, but they all give the story of a mommy going through cancer and what that means and why she may look and feel the way she does. As discussed in the article, trying to shelter your children from negative things may only make things worse. Children are very observant, and when something is going wrong, they will ultimately notice. By embracing the disease and letting the children in on the experience, they will not be as afraid of what is going on. Because each child in their life will probably have someone they know become sick with a serious disease, I believe that having these books available in the classroom or in a home is extremely important. Seeing other children going through the same situation is the best way for a child to cope and become more comfortable with what they might be going though. As a cancer patient myself, I know that by talking to those who had already gone through what I went through made my experiences a lot less scary. Although I did not have books available to me, the stories of real women who went through my experience and were able to share them with me was one of the most helpful events that got me through my disease. The sharing of stories helps all ages cope, and by bringing books of cancer stories to children- they will be able to cope as well.

Doll Helps Kids Cope With Mother's Breast Cancer

While trying to search for an article that documented the benifits of children reading books about cancer, I came across this article on ABC News's website. It was a story about a woman named Kim who had breast cancer and she created this idea called "Kimme Cares" and it comes with a book called "Mommy and Me...Taking Care of Each Other", as well as a doll that can lose its hair. Designed to help children understand what their mommy is going through, the doll is a way to understand and cope with their mom being sick. The article also discusses the type of effect a physical change in a parent can have on a child. Lillie Shockney, a nurse and director of the Breast Center at the Johns Hopkins Avon Foundation Breast Center, stated that, "The most noticeable change in a woman's appearance is hair loss...In our society, hair loss often symbolizes having cancer"(Gammon). The change in mom's hair can be very frightening and confusing to children, and by being able to demonstrate the process on a doll can make the whole situation less scary and more understanding. The article also discusses the importance of stressing the fact that they cannot catch cancer and that their hair will not fall out too. "It's really important that kids understand that it's not going to happen to them...It's also important for kids to know that the hair loss is temporary." The final idea the article stresses is that it is a bad idea to try and hide the cancer from the children. Kids are very perseptive and are able to pick up on things we may not think they understand. "The situation is an opportunity to teach kids how to handle a crisis...Having a doll is a good idea because it's a safety zone for kids."


Doll Helps Kids Cope with Mother's Breast Cancer. by: Katharine Stoel Gammon
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/OnCallPlusLiving/Story?id=3738082&page=1

Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-Tankerous Mommy

Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-Tankerous Mommy by Amelia Frahm is a much different type of children's cancer book than the other two I had read. This book was a lot more realistic, as it dealt with the mother getting very ill and also very depressed from her illness.

The story begins with Tabitha and her mommy playing their favorite game, Tickles Tabitha. However, Tabitha's mommy is not like all other mommies. she wears a wig on her head and she has cancer. Sometimes her wig looks like a rat's nest, and sometimes she gets very angry and sad. In the end, Tabitha and her family play happily together again as they get mommy though a hard time.

I found this book very refreshing because it wasn't afraid to include some negative images of cancer. Depression, anger and sadness are all parts of going through a disease, and it is important for children to understand that and know that it isn't their fault. By including these images, children will be able to relate this to their own situations and will feel better about what they are going through. I would highly recommend this book to a classroom as well as in the home as well.

Sammy's Mommy Has Cancer

Sammy's Mommy Has Cancer by Sherry Kohlenberg is a young children's story about a little boy named Sammy whose mom gets cancer. Sherry Kohlenberg, the author, wrote this as a sort of autobiography as she herself had breast cancer. She wrote this book for her son, Sammy, in order for him to better understand what she was going through.

The story depicts Sammy observing the many different things his parents do every day. Mommy goes to work, Daddy works from home, and Sammy goes to school. Then one day, Sammy finds out that mommy is sick with something called cancer. The book goes on to describe the different events Sammy and his parents go through in the following months which includes hospital stays and mommy losing her hair. In the end, mommy's hair begins to grow back and she starts to feel better.

This book was a great story for very young children who would have a hard time understanding what cancer is and why certain things are happening. Designed for children between the ages of 3-5, this book is very simple and tells a happy ending story of mommy getting better. At the end of the book, there is a glossary filled with the many medical terms and procedures someone with cancer will go through. There is also a resource list of different books, videos, and organizations that will help grasp a better understanding. I would recommend this book to be included in the classroom because although dealing with a tough issue, it is still light hearted and is an important issue that many children will have to face.

The Year My Mother Was Bald

The Year My Mother Was Bald by Ann Speltz is an amazing book to give to a child who either has a family member going through cancer, or has it themselves. Written in a very unique form, this is a story as well as an informational and resource guide.

The story is about a little girl named Claire who discovers that her mother has breast cancer and she is afraid her family wont have a fun summer. Written in the form of a diary, Claire documents her family's experiences month to month as her mother is going through surgeries and chemotherapy. Each time Claire discusses an unfamiliar topic or word, there is a definition and explaination on the next page. For example, in July Claire says that her mom has to "have a little operation...called a biopsy" (Speltz, 12). Then on the next page, there is an explaination for children as to what a biopsy is and why it is helpful. A year goes by, and Claire's mom has gone through her treatments and her mammograms are clear. She then becomes excited for the next summer to begin again.

This book was an excellent and inspiration book that I would highly reccomend to any child dealing with serious illness in the family and even in the classroom as well. Unfortunatly there are many children that go through illness with their parents or themselves and I find it very helpful for kids to see books of children who are going through exactly what they are going through. Because the story is told through a child's eyes, this book is very easy to comprehend and discusses all the questions a child would have during this difficult time. I found this book to be amazing and would highly reccommend it to be placed in the classroom.

Bridging multicultural education: bringing sexual orientation into the children's and young adult literature classrooms

The article by Patti Swartz discusses the difficulty that students go through at school being in the GLBT(I) group and how important it is to discuss topics like this in school and in doing so will help to eliminate stereotypes and lessen the bullying at schools. She discusses that bringing literature about multicultural issues is the best way to bring out awareness of certain topics as well as tackling the hard issues in a less threatening environment. Not only does Swartz suggest to teachers to bring GLBT(I) literature into the classroom, she also discloses what may happen if it is not. “When such intervention does not occur we face…highest teen suicide rate of any group….hate crimes…abuse or murder GLBT people…” (Swartz) Additionally, Swartz notes the importance of stopping word use of gay, faggot, dyke, and homo in the classroom environment. Because these words are always used to bring someone down, kids automatically begin associating these words with a negative condensation. Also, it is brought up how similar the GLBT group is related to other multicultural groups who are not represented in literature. By examination the stereotypes of groups, you are essentially eliminating them when they are proved wrong. By discussing gays and lesbians, you are informing students about what it really means to be in that group, as well as making them more familiar. Swartz discusses that students always make fun of or are afraid of people who do things that are unfamiliar to us. By exposing the real truth about being gay, the students will have a better understanding and may stop bullying. Swartz final note is that if we include GLBT literature into our classrooms, our kids will become more accepting which will result in a more accepting community as a whole.

Patti Capel Swartz: Bridging multicultural education: bringing sexual orientation into the children's and young adult literature classrooms

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JVP/is_2003_Spring/ai_102119710/pg_2?tag=artBody;col1

Reflection of GLBT topic

Upon doing this project, I wasn’t sure what to expect with the group GLBT and how it was defined and which books would be included in it. After doing quite a bit of research into the group, I realized that the books included are not necessarily all about gay people. As the group title suggests, GLBT stands for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and therefore some of the books had to deal with kids who felt that they were placed in the wrong gender’s body. I chose this topic because it has been a very active debate in the United States in this past election and years as to whether gay marriage should be legal or not. Unfortunately, I still don’t believe our society is as accepting of the culture as they need to be in order to allow these types of books to be in their child’s classroom. I had a very difficult time finding biographies of the authors who wrote books in this genre to determine whether or not they were an insider because they are so underrepresented and not appreciated for their work. Because I feel that young adult chapter books are just as important to kids as picture books are, I had decided to choose all chapter books to do my readings and research on. I chose the books, Freak Show by James St. James, Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez, and Absolutely, Positively Not by David Larochelle. I had not heard of any of these books before, and I was pleasantly surprised when the library had these books available to me. Each of the books I chose represented a different type of individual within the GLBT. Freak Show was about a cross dresser, Rainbow Boys included openly gay characters and closeted gay characters, and Absolutely, Positively Not included unsure characters and gay and lesbian characters. In each book we were able to see the relationship the GLBT student had at their school and the difficulties that arise when a student is seen as being “gay”. Because this is a very important topic, especially today, I find it very important that we as teachers include this genre of books into our classrooms.

Rainbow Boys

Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez is a great book to include in the classroom. It is the first book in a trilogy with the main issues being sexuality and being gay. The series follows three young boys, Nelson, Jason, and Kyle, and the number of different issues they each face in their adolescent lives. Each character represents a different kind of person and therefore demonstrates different experiences. Each chapter is a different perspective, either from Jason, Kyle or Nelson. Therefore you are hearing about the same events, and witnessing how each character handles the situation.

Jason is a popular jock and has a girlfriend but secretly thinks he might be gay. Therefore we see him struggling with his own identity and figuring out how to live his life. Nelson is a very open gay student and is often criticized for being a "fag". He deals with much harder issues including possibly becoming HIV positive. Because he is a lot more open, we are able to learn a lot more about the gay community from him. His mother is the vice president for PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians And Gays), and gives the readers as well as Jason and Kyle, a lot of important life lessons. And Kyle is a shy, semi-in the closet gay who throughout the novel comes out to his family and others. Although comfortable with his sexuality, he has witnessed the hardships Nelson goes through and is not sure he is ready for it. Because Kyle is at the stage between Jason's and Nelson's, his reactions to situations is very different and more conservative. Although he is okay with himself for being gay, he knows that being gay is not always associated with positive things.

I found this book to be very empowering and an important book to include in a classroom of older students. Because this book has three different perspectives, the reader is able to experience each type of individuals' feelings and reactions to issues. Also because this book is so open about subjects within the gay community, including sex and HIV, I feel it is very informative for both gay and straight readers . I also found this book to have many similarities to Boy Meets Boy by David L in the sense that we have many different characters, all going through issues of homosexuality, yet going through different experiences and dealing with them in different ways. Because of the diversity within the subject of GLBT, I believe this book is a great addition to an older classroom, perhaps a high school level class.

Absolutely, Positively Not

Absolutely, Positively Not... by David Larochelle was a fantastic book. It follows the story of Steven DeNarski, a sophomore in high school who is starting to think he might be gay. When he begins to develop a crush on the health substitute teacher, Mr. Bowman, Steven begins to analyze events in his life that would make him gay-having a girl for a best friend, square dances with his mother, having men's underwear magazines, and being unable to stop thinking about Mr. Bowman in tights. Upon realizing that he is in fact gay, Steven confides in his best friend, Rachel, who tells him she has known for a while that he is gay and is very happy he has finally come out. The next hard step was telling his parents. Steven's mother thinks her son is going through a phase and doesn't want to hear it, and his father accepts his son for being gay but never wants to discuss it again. The story takes a turn for the better when Steven discovers a Gay and Lesbian support group that meets at a coffee shop once a month. When Steven realizes one of the attendees is a guy from the school's hockey team, he suddenly doesn't feel so alone. The book ends with Steven arranging his first date with Mike and finding acceptance from himself and his family as well.

The book addresses several issues surrounding the gay community and their ability to be open about their sexuality. One issue is the name calling that is associated with being gay. For example, after the hockey team barely wins their game, the head coach calls them a bunch of "faggits" and tells them they better start skating like men. This is taken very offensively by Steven and disgusted by those who used those types of words.

"Even though he wasn't talking to me, the disgust in his voice made me want to crawl beneath my seat" (Larochelle, 183).

This is an excellent book that demonstrates the difficulty many face when coming out of the closet. It is also an inspirational book to those who may be facing this problems and are able to learn by Steven's experiences. As a straight individual, I not only enjoyed this book but I also learned a lot from it as well. I would highly reccomend this book to be placed in the classroom as well as discussed when talking about the GLBT community.

Freak Show

Freak Show by James St. James was a very interesting book about a boy who moves to Florida to live with his dad after his mom can no longer handle his unique behavior. This book is a lot more extreme than many other GLBT books, which is why I have included it into the group. The main character in Freak Show, Billy Bloom, is a drag queen from "a liberal" town who is sent to "reddest of the red states" (St. James, 10). Here he has to deal with no only being a drag queen, but also being the new kid in school and learning to fit in.

I found this book to be relatable in the sense of fitting into an environment that just doesn't seem possible. When anyone moves to a new school, they always feel like an outsider and it can be a very hard and uncomfortable situation. Billy's story I believe makes it easier for the reader to appreciate their situation.

Due to the massive amount of swearing and crude subjects in the book. I would actually not reccomend this book for a class room setting. At the most, I would include this book in a high school class room, but not a middle school class. Although in some ways innappropriate, this book did tackle some important issues; including being accepting of those who are different, what it means to be a drag queen, and what it means to be gay.

Because of the tackled issues, I do feel that this book qualifies as a book that should be read by those who want to understand better the lives that individuals in the GLBT. I don't however, suggest this book should be included in the classroom.

A Very Marley Christmas

The snow is falling
Our toes are freezing
And classes are over in a week....

Its Christmas time again!

And in honor of the incoming holiday, I wanted to share a new(ish) children's book with the theme of Christmas.

I'm sure most of you have seen the commercials for Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson's new movie Marley and Me. This new book is called A Very Marley Christmas

The author of the book is John Grogan, who also wrote the other Marley books. The illustrations are done by Richard Cowdrey, who has also done illustrations for the book Frosty the Snowman and the other Marley books as well.

A cute little book to ring in the holiday season :)

Finding Help in the Genre of GLBT

For my final project, I had decided to do the underrepresented group of the GLBT. I thought it would be as simple as typing something along the lines of "gay children's literature" in Google and I would find a bunch of books to include in my project. What I had not anticipated was the difficulty I would have finding information about the authors who wrote these books.
Because the concept of bringing gay people into children's literature is still a touchy and controversial subject, the author's who produce these books are not very well known or well documented.
While I was doing some searching, I came across a very helpful tool to finding a lot of useful information about literaure that includes gay themes or character. And it was a very pleasent surprise that I actually found it on this blog site.

His name is Lee Wind and his blog site name is "I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell do I Read?"

Wind is a teen action fantasy author and has created this blog to help those who are interested in not only literature for and about the gay community, but also other random information, facts, and cool things to look at.

What I found most helpful about his site was the right side tool bar that had a break down of all the literature you could possibly read. It is divided into subcategories including "Books with Gay Teen Characters/Themes", "Books with a GLBTQ Parent/Caretaker", and "Picturebooks I Wish Had Been Read to Me When I Was a Little Kid".

If anyone is interested in this genre of literature, Lee Wind's website is very helpful and below I will add the link so everyone can find it ok.

http://www.leewind.org/

Thanksgiving With The Family

This Thanksgiving holiday was full of turkey, football, and the never ending and interesting discussions with family. This years major topic was of the movie Twilight that came out just last week. The movie is based off the book series written by Stephenie Meyer and follows the story of two star-crossed lovers who are living in a world where vampires are real and evil exists. Not only discussing the quality of the movie (which my mom, sister, cousin, boyfriend and I saw last night), we were also talking about the fact that others in the family (my boyfriend, brother and cousin) were criticising those who read the book when it would much easier to just watch the movie. I found this very interesting because in the generation we live in, media in the form of visualization has become much more mainstream and popular than that of "old fashion" sitting down with a good book. Below I have compiled a list of some of my family members and their opinions. The question I asked them was the following:
"If you had to choose between reading a book or watching the movie that is based on the book, which would you choose?"

Here are the results:

Sara, 26- read the book (would want to see the movie after the book, but if had to choose would read the book)
Bobby, 21- watch the movie (wouldnt read the book even if had the option of choosing both)
Suzi, 44-read the book
Adam, 18-watch the movie (wouldnt read the book even if had the option)
Jess, 30- read the book
Rock, 59- watch the movie (only read the book if on an airplane)
Brooke, 16- watch the movie
Jim, 54- watch the movie

The results were extremely varied, and it seemed that age did not determine the choice (which surprised me, I was expecting most older people-and when I say older I mean 40 and up- to choose reading over watching the movie and the younger crowd to chose the movie.) Also, gender did not determine whether of not the choice of movie/book, although more females than males chose the book.

If you'd like, you can post your thoughts/opinion on the question and also why you think that certain age groups/genders may or may not determine the decision.


Happy Thanksgiving :)

Ugh! Celebrities and Their Books!!

Crazy celebrities writing books alert!! I was browsing and discovered an article written about two weeks ago stating that Geri Halliwell (ex-spice girl) has been named a best selling children's author!!

Here is the article I read that from >
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7012524759

I just found this totally disturbing and wrong!! Why is it that anyone who was/is famous can write a book and people like it just because it is written by someone famous!!

I guess I cant bash the book because I haven't read it myself, but come on.... its written by Ginger Spice......

In Response to the Hungry Man's Dinners Commercial

Taking a break from my SME homework that never ends, I decided to type in "Stereotypes of women" into google just to see what popped up. When we think stereotypes, it is more often than not ones on african americans, latinos, asians, etc.... race. But gender is also an important aspect of society and culture and they way each gender is perceived comes with stereotypes.

My finding in my google search were the following:

http://marketingtowomenonline.typepad.com/blog/stereotypes_of_women_in_the_media/
^ this was a woman who wrote of her many different experiences with stereotypes in the media that sway her or others away from certain products or toward products. Nothing too educational, just very interesting. The artcle I found most interesting was the idea of a girl being called "princess" and whether it is taken in a positive or negative tone. Positive meaning girl living a perfect life or negative meaning spoiled, or powerless. < Never had really thought of that before

Just thought I'd share :)

20 days later...

Hello everyone. Sorry for not posting for the past nearly 3 weeks. Unfortunately my computer was stolen so I really haven't had a chance to use the Internet much. Luckily I will have a new laptop next week and will be posting a lot more frequently.

Besides MSU beating U of M (finally) this past weekend and my laptop being stolen... not much has happened to me worth sharing.

That's why I was super excited last week when we were told in class about the used book sale going on at East Lansing Public Library Saturday and Sunday. I was so excited to go. I told my mom, my boyfriend, and friends all about it. I went on Sunday, which was fill a bag for $3.00 and when I saw the huge line of cars, I knew the sale must be pretty big. I was most excited to look in the children's section, see what books were available, why they were being sold, and what hadn't been picked up already.

I'm sad to report, there was the WORST selection of kids books you could ever imagine. I'm not sure if alll the books were taken the day before, but man...there was about 50 books (out of like the 1000 that were there) to chose from. About 30 of the were Sweet Valley High books (sorry Deb I know you loved those) but that is not what I had anticipated the "children's books" section would look like.

I bought three children's books..... two on slavery (which were really random compared to the "sweet valley high" and i cant even remember what else they offered)- One was about the escape of Harriet Tubman, and it was very interested to look at because it was written in 1965. The language was very different from what you would see in a book today, and the pictures were very interesting as well. (I'll bring the book on Wednesday). Another book was a "fun facts and games" book on the "40 presidents" haha (I'm laughing because we are about to vote on the 44th president). I am obsessed with presidential history and thought it would be very interesting to see what type of information they included on the presidents in a kids book written in 1981 (Reagan had just taken office). Tidbits such as which president was the most handsom, fattest, oldest, and shortest all were included.

Although the children's selection was horrible, if you are a murder mystery type person like myself, this was the place to be. I bought so many books by numerous fantastic authors including: Tess Gerritsen, James Patterson, Iris Johansen and James Grippando.

What I found most interested about the entire experience was the amount of foreign books they had available. There was an entire table of books (many of them children's books, but other books as well) that looked to be written in some type of Asian language. I almost bought one, but I had a few people looking at me really weird when I was looking at them so I just decided not to. But I did look through a few books and some of the characters (animated) were very frightening looking to be in children's books.

Overall a rewarding experience, I was just very disappointed with the children's selection

The Pura Belpré Award

When & Why it was Established:
It was established in 1996. It was established to give recognition to a Latino/Latina author/illustrator who excelled in the portrayed the Latin culture in a children’s book.

The Selection Criteria:
What books: books written about Latin culture
What authors: Latino/Latina authors
What illustrators are eligible? Latino/Latina authors

Who Sponsors this award:
This award is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking

Who is on the selection committee:
The selection committee is a group of six individuals throughout the country. Some of the selection committee was simply librarians from different states. One of the women was actually the Latino Children's Literature Consultant in California.

Examples of who has won:

• Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Gave an accurate portrayal of the Latin culture without using any stereotypes or bias to her culture. It was enjoyable and gave an insight to the Latin world, without throwing too much culture in your face

• Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida by Victor Martinez

This book meets the criteria as it is written by a Latin author and gives an exciting and accurate portrayal of the culture. This book not only includes issues that only affect the Latin community, it covers problems that children/young adults of all cultures would face.

• First Day of Grapes by L. King Perez. Illustrated by Robert Casilla

This book’s portrays the lifestyle and home life of a typical Latin family and the struggles of a young boy in his new town. This book describes the life of a migrant family and gives an accurate portrayal of the culture and its people.

Trip to Barnes and Noble

For my SME class, I had to go to a bookstore and find books that were about light and sound... but after a long (boring) while of doing that.. I decided to venture over to the children's section and look at the books (my boyfriend was absolutely thrilled that I dragged him along). There were so many things that happened within the first few minutes in that section that my boyfriend did that we talked about in class it was almost scary. First of all, him and i are huge history fanatics, so we went over to the history section and looked at their selection. Without telling him anything about what we talked about in class, he picked up a book about the Iroquois Indians and said "Hey I totally remember reading this book in school." And when I flipped through the pages... it was sooo stereotypical, it was unreal. I literally LOL'd and said "Do you have any idea how incorrect and stereotypical this book probably is?" and he looked and it and was like "no, I don't see anything wrong with it." I was shocked... the cover first of all showed an Indian in the typical headdress and dress that we see in like the movie Pocahontas. What I found even more disturbing was there was a book on a different Indian tribe right next to this book, and on the cover the Indians portrayed looked IDENTICAL to the Iroquois Indians.. Now I don't know about you but I think its pretty common sense that not all Indians looked the same... but unfortunately we are never told or taught any differently. So I asked my boyfriend what he thought an Iroquois Indian looked like in comparison to any other kind of Indian... and he had no idea. And the more I thought about it, neither did I.

Totally random but I found that pretty crazy.

I also went over and saw a book called "Barack Obama. Son of Promise. Child of Hope." It surprises me to find a children's book written about the presidential candidate. I guess I don't really remember ever reading any books specifically for children about the child hood of a potential president.

and wow.... I'm super excited!! While writing this post, i looked up the book and realized that this Obama book was written by the same woman who wrote Bronx Masquerade!! Talk about a coincidence!!!

Bronx Masquerade

I love being inspired by small things a teacher can do to change the attitudes of children and the way they feel about school. I think my favorite part about the book was that we were constantly hearing Tyrone's perspective of the previous poet and we watch him grow from listening to others. The very first poet, Wesley, lets the readers know that it is a surprise that Tyrone is still even in school. As each student begins to fill the classmates in on their struggles and their downfalls, they all begin to see each other in a different light. While reading this, I couldn't help but think of the movies Freedom Writers and also the Ron Clark story. If anyone hasnt seen both of those movies- I highly reccomend it. It gives me hope that I can make a difference in the classroom, even by doing something as small as letting the kids read their thoughts outloud.

Inside/Outsider Debate part 2

Wow, today made a lot different of an impact on me than I thought it would. Before class, I was definitely in the frame of mind that insiders do it best, which is why I was originally not thrilled about being placed in the group that was pro outsiders. However, after the quick discussion with my "debate" group, I realized a lot more of the situation than I had really stopped to think about before. During the "debate", I found myself saying things that completely contradicted my first posting on the issue. What was even more interesting was that I actually believed and stood for the things I said. I know this is a short, quick post...but I just wanted to share with everyone how much of an influence other voices are to an opinion or views on a certain topic. I was very pleasently surprised. :-)

Insider/Outsider Debate

While reading these articles, I was surprised to find how much my opinions and views changed with each article I read. When I read Shannon's article, I thought- wow he really knows what hes talking about. And then I went on to Sims-Bishops article and then thought- wow Shannon didn't really know what he was talking about. So I felt very overwhelmed with opinions on the issues at hand. What really stood out to me was during Sims Bishop's article he states, "You have to know a culture intimately if you're going to reflect it accurately in your fiction" (Bishop, 1994). I felt that this statement embodied exactly how I feel on this topic. I do not find myself qualified to write accurate fiction on any other cultural group but my own, and I find it very hard to believe that many authors feel qualified when they do write about other cultures. I think because we are dealing with children's literature, a lot of authors unfortunatly tend to forget about the accurateness of the text because they don't think the children will be able to tell the difference. I really like how Bishop stated, "multicultural children's literature is the asm as children's literature. Why do we need a seperate term?" To a white, middle class young woman, of coarse multicultural to me is going to include an asian, an african american, a hispanic or a homosexual individual or a number of other things that I am not. It is multicultural to me because that is different from who I am and what I know. But to an asian, middle class young woman, I might find that reading a story about a white girl is multicultural to me because it is unknown culture to me. Going back to the debate on insider and outsider, I definetly feel that it is important to know the facts of a culture before stereotypes are simply printed in the story. Whether that means you lived the facts or you have researched the facts, the idea behind the story will refelect an accurate portrayal of the culture. Having lived the experiences you are writing about I feel is icing on the cake. It will make the story that much better because you can tell the story in a way that expresses the emotions of that culture because you know what that emotion is. Emotion cannot be researched or discovered, it has to be personally felt.

What I really want to look more into in class is why some author's like to have it known that they are writing about a culture of their own background while some author's don't publish that idea. Do we think we will assume the literature more accurate if we know it is written by the culture? I would find it very intriguing to read a few children's books that do not include the author's photo in the back of the book, and then determine which book was written by the author of that culture.

First Time Blogger!

Hey everyone my name is Rachel and I am a junior at Michigan State University. My major is elementary education with minors in english and history. I am hoping to move out of Michigan once my student teaching is over, and end up somewhere south (Florida, Georgia, one of the Carolinas would be perfect) and be a fifth grade teacher. I zeroed in on fifth grade for many reasons.

Number 1. That was my favorite grade in elementary school.
Number 2. I had my favorite teacher that year..Mrs. Brown, I want to be half the teacher she was for me.
Number 3. The most interesting and facsinating topics in history I learned in the fifth grade... the colonies, the presidents, and development of the United States.

I am a huge history nerd as you may tell... I spend my time watching the history channel and discovery channel. But I also love love love to read. Ever since I was exposed to Nancy Drew (in a very convenient year...fifth grade) I was known for being caught under the covers with a flashlight and a book in the wee hours of the night. I've since evolved to much more mature texts, many in which i tend to call my "murder mystery/thriller" books. I'm fascinated with criminals and the criminal mind and am convinced if i wasnt going to be a teacher, that I would make the perfect FBI profiler or criminal psychologist.

So thats just a little about myself. I hope to become much more efficient and comfortable blogging, having this be my first ever experience with it. I loved TE 348 and learning a more in depth way to read children's literature. I also hope to learn a lot more about diverse children literature (i hate the term multicultural). Hopefully it will be a good semester!!