Biographies For Kids

I'm currently doing a unit on biographies with my third grade students. I always enjoy this unit because I often learn something new myself. Last year, for instance, I read Flight, by Robert Burleigh, about Lindbergh's famous trans Atlantic flight. Since Lindbergh took off from Long Island (about where the Roosevelt Field Shopping Mall is now located), it also served as a little slice of Long Island history. The book is only a partial biography so I supplemented with some information from the internet -- where Lindbergh grew up, how his son was kidnapped and murdered, his interest in the environment and so on. The next time the kids came to library, one girl, Renee, raised her hand. Her great grandmother, she said, had worked as the Lindbergh baby's nanny. Wow. That was pretty fascinating.

When I read a biography of Neil Armstrong, one boy raised his hand to tell me that his grandpa had worked on the LEM that transported the first three astronauts from the Saturn 5 rocket to the moon's surface. Another little slice of Long Island history. Grumann, an aerospace company, used to be Long Island's biggest employer.

I do read some bios of a few dead white guys because, honestly, everybody should know who Thomas Edison, Ben Franklin and James Madison were. Besides, the kids often learn they weren't perfect humans either. Thomas Edison got in trouble in school for gazing out the window and not paying attention. Ben Franklin ran away from home.

I also read some slightly offbeat bios. I like Kathleen Krull's biography of Wilma Rudolph, Wilma Unlimited, because it's as much about hope and perseverance in the face of unbelievable odds as it is about one woman's incredible life.

Another book I enjoy reading to the kids is Eleanor, by Barbara Cooney, about Eleanor Roosevelt's early life. As a child, she had such a sad life. Her mother was disappointed by her and died at a young age and her father was an alcoholic. Now and then, somebody questions if kids need to hear about all that. My answer is always YES. Who knows, maybe the disheveled boy sitting there in the back -- the one whose mother is an alcoholic and whose father is never around -- will take some heart in knowing that he's not the only one whose life is less than perfect.

Biographies not only give kids role models but they offer up hope and inspiration. Still, it's hard to find good ones that draw children in. A lot of biographies tend to be a little dry and laden with dates. A good biography brings a person to life for a child.

Anybody know of some great biographies for children? If so, feel free to share them.

The Banned Book Is Back

Okay, I finally had a chance to speak with my principal about the banned book, Blubber. As I expected, she listened carefully and agreed with me that we can't remove a book every time a parent complains. I explained the need to develop a district wide selection policy and a uniform method of handling complaints.

When a parent complains about a book in the library, the A.L.A. recommends that we listen attentively to the parent. After all, parents are taxpayers and have a right to air their opinions. Then we give them a copy of our selection policy explaining the criteria used in selecting books for the library. Finally, we give them a complaint form to fill out. Usually the complaint form asks for the title, author, if the person represents a group or sect, has he/she read the entire book and, if so, could he please summarize it. A reconsideration form should also ask the complainer to explain what he didn't like about the book, why he feels it should be removed from the library, if he's aware of what the critics had to say about the book and so on. Usually a reconsideration form is too much bother for most people. In fact, when the complainer gets to the question about whether or not he's read the entire book, he usually stops. The truth is, most of the people who have complaints about library books and materials haven't read the whole book. They usually stop reading when they reach the part they don't like.

Funny, I learned that most of the upper grade teachers (grades 3-6) have a copy of Blubber in their classroom library and, in fact, our school Prevention program uses Blubber when addressing issues of bullying.

Anyhow, I am relieved. Yay for intellectual freedom and First Amendment rights!

A Pumpkin Patch of Book Characters

This year I'm running a contest for the school where I work -- a pumpkin decorating contest. Children's Book Week is in November and in celebration, I invited my students to each bring in a pumpkin decorated as a favorite character from children's literature. So far, the results have been terrific and so creative and I expect a lot of kids will be working on their entry this weekend.

We have a Junie B. Jones pumpkin, the Little Mermaid, the three little pigs, Capt. Underpants, Harry Potter, Mary Poppins, Curious George, Chester the Raccoon from The Kissing Hand, Make Way For Ducklings (one of my personal favorites), the Cat in the Hat, Frankenstein, Arthur, the Rainbow Fish (another personal favorite), Cinderella and so on. At first only a handful of kids brought in pumpkins but when the kids saw what others were doing, many of them decided to get in on the fun, too. The rule is that it must be a character from children's literature -- no Sponge Bob Square Pants, Hannah Montana, WWF figures or characters from the Simpsons.

My favorite of favorites, I guiltily admit, is Capt'n Underpants. I know the student, Brianna, and she did her own work. I think it's fabulous. Anyhow, this is one fun way to promote children's books and to get the kids thinking about literature. Maybe in the spring we'll do Easter eggs.

Columbus Day

Last Monday was Columbus Day and the kindergartners spent some time learning about Christopher Columbus and his famous voyage. As a few of them waited for the bus in their Columbus style three cornered paper hats, I asked them a few questions.

"Do you know who Columbus was?" I asked.

"Yes," said Richie, "he was a guy and he discovered America."

"And he had three boats," offered Rocco.

"Why did he need three boats?"

"Cause," said Rocco, "he had a lot of stuff."

"Yeah," said Richie, "and a lot of friends who wanted to go with him."

Hmmm. "Do you know the name of his boats?"

"I do!" said Rocco, raising his hand (guess he forgot we weren't in class). "The Nina , the Tita and ...." He stopped to whisper a question to Richie. "And the Santa Margarita."

A girl sitting in the back of the line overheard him. "No, it's the Ninja, the Pinta and the Santa Marina. And everybody thought they were gonna go over the end of the world."

"You're right -- almost." Then the bus arrived and we had to put an end to our discussion. So goes a little slice of world history according to five year olds. I keep wondering when the teachers are going to explain Amerigo Vespucci to the kids. The only problem is, Vespucci didn't have a holiday named after him -- just a country and a continent.

Banned Book Week Hits Home

In honor of Banned Book Week, every September I do a unit on banned and challenged books with my sixth graders. I begin by showing them some books that have either been challenged or banned. Then I ask the kids what they think the books have in common. I offer a Hershey bar to anybody who has the right answer -- a giant one. The kids drool. "They all have words," offers one boy. "They have pages," offers somebody else.

"Obviously," I tell him. "Go deeper, beyond the parts of a book." Their answers range from "They're all fiction" to "They're all award winners." None of them ever get it right. Just in case, though, I have that giant Hershey bar on hand. I hold it up. Often. Honestly, I'd love to give it away sometime.

After many wrong answers, I have to tell them these are all books that have either been banned or challenged. We discuss the difference between a ban and a challenge. Then I pass out a bibliography of the top one hundred banned or challenged children's books of all time. The kids tally up how many they've read from the list. The list ranges from Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree to Harry Potter. Then we get to the more pressing questions. The biggest one is always "Why?" The next biggest question is "Who are these people?" I break the kids into small groups and they make a list of possible reasons for banning books and a list of who the censors might be. We discuss it. Then we delve into the repercussions of censorship. The kids enjoy the discussion. Later, they creep up to me and whisper "Can we borrow any of those books?"

"Sure," I whisper back, "Help yourself."

Okay, the topic of banned books makes for a lively discussion. And I admit, it hooks the kids and gets them reading. By sixth grade, their interest in reading is often waning. I'd stand on my head if I actually thought it would get them to open a book.

Now I work in two school libraries. A few years ago, the district where I worked changed over from a once a week special schedule to a six day rotation for the special area teachers. So, I'm now in one school for four days out of the cycle and in the other school for two days out of the cycle. Last Friday, when I came to one of the two schools, I found two copies of Judy Blume's book, Blubber on the desk with a note attached to them. "Remove these books," it said. "Some bad language."

It sounded like a joke. The day before, I'd finished my unit on banned and challenged books with my sixth graders. Now I was looking the issue straight in the face. Since it was the end of the day, I didn't get a chance to speak with the principal who wrote the note. I will speak to her though. Next week I hope.

Yeah, I know it would be easier to just remove the books from the shelf. Don't rock the boat. Keep everybody happy. And certainly it sounds innocent enough. I feel pretty certain that some student brought Blubber home and began reading it, came across the bad word, then showed it to her mom. Her mom showed it to the principal who decided that the best way to handle it was to remove the book from the library. There, problem solved. But this is no way to deal with the problem. Do we cave in to every parent who doesn't like a book and wants it removed from the library? No, of course not otherwise we may not have a library that consists of anything but pablum. The principal is honestly a very sweet and kind person. I like her very much. She probably thinks she is doing the best thing on behalf of the students. She's wrong. Once we open the door to censorship, there's no telling when it may stop. What's next? Fairy tales? Poetry? Really, I do hope we can find a peaceful resolution. I hope I don't have to contact outside groups. The ALA offers support.

So, anybody care to share their thoughts? If you were in my shoes, what would you do?

The Listening Walk

Each fall, the first grade teachers in the school where I work usually take their students for a listening walk. The walk usually coincides with a unit on the five senses. They don't go far -- around the perimeter of the school grounds or, if the teacher is feeling adventurous, perhaps all the way around the block. When you have twenty or so six year olds to keep track of, even a short distance can seem like a long way. Sometimes it's a lot like herding sheep. The idea is to get the kids to stop talking long enough to listen to the world around them. When they get back to class, the kids, with the help of their teacher, make a list of the things they heard and write sentences about them.

Most of the time, their observations are pretty mundane. "I heard some crickets. I heard the wind blowing the branches. I heard a dog barking. I heard a car. I heard a fire truck." Now and then, though, some real gems crop up. "Today I heard Mr. B. saying some bad words to the slide." Mr B. was the custodian and he'd had to clean some graffiti off the playground equipment.Occasionally, when the teacher isn't looking, some peculiar things also find their into a few pockets.

Last year, a teacher found one of her student's desk filled with wads of cotton. Upon further investigation, she learned the cotton came from a couple of tampons (unused, I should point out) three boys had found during the listening walk. At first they thought they were bullets of some kind. After taking them apart and finding nothing but boring cotton, they'd concluded they weren't bullets at all. In fact, they weren't sure what the heck they were. In previous years, kids have pocketed other things - lipstick cases, condoms, a rock somebody thought was a fossil but, in fact, was a dried out dog turd. This was the first time for tampons, however. There's been a debate about whether or they should put an end to the listening walk. But, as somebody pointed out, you can't stop kids from exploring their world. That's part of being a kid.

Exploring the world is also part of the writer's job. If something catches my attention, I stop to look and listen. I want to know more about it. If we lose our curiosity about the world, how can we ever hope to write about it? Last year during the holiday season, I was in Lord and Taylor's when I heard a child crying and screaming. Soon I saw a kid about 10 years old or so being led out of the store by two adults. Wondering what all the noise was about, of course I stopped and stared. One of the adults holding the boy's arm glared at me. "Hasn't anybody ever taught you it's impolite to stare? He's autistic! Get a life!"

Well, I do have a life and much of it involves examining things closely. Besides, I had no way of knowing he was autistic.

Don't Eat the Still Life

My art instructor has been after me for ages to work on a still life at home. I go to my painting class once every Saturday almost without fail and I love it. But, if I want to improve markedly, I need to spend more time painting. Same goes for writing or any other creative endeavor.

Last week I finally set up a still life at home -- a simple bowl of summer peaches. I think peaches are gorgeous. I love their fuzzy nap and the way the pinks and reds fade into the yellows. For me, they are the most beautiful of all summer fruit. Anyhow, I did a drawing, then a grisaille underpainting using raw umber. After my underpainting dried, I spent a few days laying in my first skin of paint on the peaches. Since I had to work last week, I set the bowl of peaches in the fridge to prevent them from going bad.

This weekend I took the bowl out of the fridge to resume work on my painting. Alas, only one peach was left in the bowl! Grrrrrr. "Who ate my still life?"

Husband raises his hand. "I did. Weren't you finished with them?"

"No. I only painted the first skin."

"Oh. Sorry. I really thought you were done with them. They were going to go bad."

Well, fortunately, peaches are still in season so I can use replacements. It's just that they'll look a little different. Next time I guess I'd better post a note. "Don't eat the still life."