Child Lit: Research in the Community

Research in a Local Bookstore- Barnes and Noble, Rockville

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan- Lisa See

Shanghai Girls- Lisa See

Sarah's Key- Tatiana de Rosnay

The Help- Kathryn Stockett

Someone Knows My Name- Lawrence Hill

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd- Jim Fergus

Wench- Dolen Perkins-Valdez

A Thousand Splendid Suns- Khaled Hosseini

I found these books in the Noteworthy Fiction section at Barnes and Noble, Rockville, MD. Some were displayed on the new Fiction table, and some on the shelves. Most had the covers facing the aisle. There were many more books on racism and culture than sexism. Sexism topics were were either completely separated in to women's fiction books, or dealt as a backdrop to a race/culture issue in those books. For each book, the author who wrote the story was of that culture the book discussed. There was a wide variety of cultures, but I was surprised not to see any dealing with Native Americans. Most race/culture books were either African American related or Asian related. Most of the covers on the books show the race in a stereotypical way. The African American books show slaves, while the Asian books show girls with fans and white faces. I do not think this is racist, because it is historically what those cultures were subject to. Obviously these books are trying to convey the characters of their stories in their historical context. The DC/MD area is very diverse which could explain to the wide variety of historical fiction dealing with race and culture, and why they were put out so deliberately to see. Rockville, especially is very heavily Asian populated. This could be why there were so many Asian inspired historical fiction novels.

Research in a Local Library- Rockville Public Library

Nadia's Hands by English, Karen

Happy New Year! = Kung-hsi fa-ts'ai! - Demi.

On Sukkot and Simchat Torah by Fishman, Cathy Goldberg.

Feliz Navidad! : two stories celebrating Christmas by Feliciano, José.

My first Kwanzaa by Katz, Karen.

There is not much separation amongst the children's books. They have a holiday section and a spanish language book section, but no section for race/culture. The books are dispersed among other titles with not relating to its subject matter. There were many books for different cultures, but none that were displayed very openly. Most books i found were hidden in the shelves.

The authorship of these books was diverse but not diverse to the material of the book. Most authors were the of the background of the book they were writing. For example, Feliz Navidad is by Jose Feliciano.

I did not like that in most of the books, the pictures displayed typical images of the culture or race they were discussing. In today's world there are so many images that can portray someone of for instance celebrates Kwanzaa. What about those children that are adopted in to families of different race but then celebrate their family's religion?

Online Research

Children's Literature Comprehensive Database
http://www.childrenslit.com/
   This website is a database for Children's Literature. It features children's literature of the month, offers recommendations, provides author/book specific pages, and gives book themed reviews. The site is used by many universities, authors, and readers alike.

Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site
http://www.carolhurst.com/
   This site offers a collection of reviews of children's books, ways to use children's books in the classroom, and books and activities on specific topics. It offers featured books and reviewed books. Also, it divides books by either curriculum area or subject. It also offers professional tools such as books on using children's literature in the classroom, that can benefit teachers.

Children's Literature Network
http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org/index.php
   This site offers not only book recommendations, but discussion of particular authors, a magazine devoted to children's literature, and videos discussing children's literature. The Radar Online Magazine offers users interviews with authors, book reviews, discussion on reading and writing, and activities and observations in children's literature. I like the sire because it is very interactive, and provides a broad range of opinion on children's lit from many sources.

Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature
http://www.dawcl.com/introduction.html
   This site is meant mostly for use by teachers or librarians. It is meant to offer a good reading list of award-winning children's literature. The site is a bit different in that it sorts the books by the award. It also explains what each award means and the date the awards are given. I like the fact that it encourages citing books when using them for their information, and provides the way in which to cite.

Children's Literature: Lesson Plans and Resources
http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/edchildrenslit.htm
   This is a great site for teachers! It offers lesson plans, activities, and ideas on using children's literature inside the classroom. It divides lesson plans in to subject areas. It even has a special section for multicultural children's literature.

Children's Literature in the Media

Gay Prize Added to ALA's Youth Awards
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/11/01/Gay_Prize_Added_to_ALAs_Youth_Awards/