Expanding the Horizons for Critical Literacy in a Bilingual Preschool Classroom: Children’s Responses in Discussions with Gender-Themed Picture Books

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
So Jung Kim
Keyword(s):  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Picture Books ◽  
Preschool Classroom

Depicting Hate: Picture Books and the Realities of White Supremacist Crime and Violence

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (8) ◽  
pp. 1-44
Author(s):  
Katie Sciurba
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Picture Books ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
The United States ◽  
White Supremacist ◽  
Civil Rights Era ◽  
Post Civil Rights

Background/Context Since the 2016 presidential election, hate-based speech, crime, and violence have been on the rise in the United States, (re)creating a need for adults to engage children in dialogue related to white supremacy as it exists today, instead of framing it as a problem that ended with the civil rights movement. Following an incident of racist vandalism at her home, the author of this article (a White mother) conducted a search for picture books that could serve as vehicles to discuss race-based hate and whiteness with children like her young Black son. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This study draws upon Critical Race Theory, Critical Whiteness Studies, and Critical Multicultural Analysis to explore the emancipatory possibilities of literacy education. Given that children's literature has the potential to engage young readers in transactions that promote critical literacy, this study focuses on the following research questions: 1) To what extent do picture books set in a post-civil-rights era United States address explicit and physical acts of white supremacy or hate directed against Black people's bodies, families, or properties? 2) How might such picture books aid parents, educators, and other adults in their attempts to raise children's awareness about white supremacy/hate? Research Design The first part of this article, which documents the author's search for children's picture books about explicit and physical acts of white supremacy/hate, utilizes first person narrative. The second part of this article consists of a multimodal content analysis of five texts, all meeting the following criteria: 1) written and illustrated in picture book format, 2) include child characters, 3) set in the United States, 4) set in a post-civil-rights era, 5) include an incident of white supremacist crime or violence (a physical act directed toward a person or property), 6) depict/address an incident directed against a Black individual or group. Conclusions/Recommendations Findings of this study point to the need for more picture books that challenge whiteness in its overt and covert forms, particularly in contemporary contexts, in order to provide children with opportunities to engage critically with current issues that have emerged in this heightened era of white supremacy and hate-based crime and violence. The picture books that do address white supremacy, in its current manifestation, tend to include stories about White police killing and shooting Black individuals and the protests that follow such incidents. Yet these stories, as well as one about an incident in which a group of White gang members physically attack two Black children (Ntozake Shange's Whitewash), are not equal in their level of explicitness about what occurs, their identifications of the White perpetrators involved in what happens, or their demonstrations of how the incidents are rooted in white supremacy. Accordingly, educators and other adults will often need to fill in significant “truth gaps” in order to raise children's social consciousness related to whiteness and racism. One of the primary recommendations presented in this piece is to accompany these picture books and picture books like them with discussion questions related to the stories that are and are not told in the texts, as well as to facilitate conversation with children related to power and agency as exhibited by the Black characters. Most important, educators and other adults should remain cognizant of the fact that, while books like the ones in this examination may help to address traumas and help facilitate testimony related to race-based hate, children should have opportunities to construct and express their own understandings of textual relevance on this topic.

scholarly journals Teachers as Moral Compasses: Exploring Critical Literacy through Digital Social Justice Book Talks

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janette M. Hughes ◽  
Lorayne Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
New Media ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Picture Books ◽  
Equity Issues ◽  
Moral Standards ◽  
Digital Book

A classroom-based study aimed to scaffold preservice teachers’ critical literacy through an exploration of trade picture books. The paper discusses preservice teachers’ shifting views of critical literacy and the place of critical literacy in the language arts classroom. It also assesses the usefulness of digital book talks for engaging preservice teachers with social justice issues. The book talks provided novice teachers with opportunities to question and challenge assumptions, evaluate their own actions and attitudes toward accepted moral standards, and to engage in positive social action. The preservice teachers’ responses to the assignment suggest a number of ways in which teachers can effectively use new media to explore social justice and equity issues with young students.

scholarly journals One Story, Many Perspectives: Reading and Writing Graphic Novels in the Elementary Social Studies Classroom

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 107-124
Author(s):  
Erica Christie
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Elementary Students ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Picture Books ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Graphic Novel ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Elementary Social Studies ◽  
True Story

Though elementary students often read picture books in school, the growth of critical literacy has inspired teachers to select texts that engage students with literacy and social studies in more meaningful ways. Although many of these texts are traditional picture books, alternative formats like the graphic novel are also being used to invite student questioning and share multiple perspectives. This study examines the ways elementary students understand and retell a complex social studies story using multiple textual formats. Thirdgrade students were exposed to a picture book and graphic novel version of the true story of Alia Muhammad Baker, a courageous Iraqi librarian. After reflecting on the texts, students renarrated the story; many chose to write graphic novels. Students expressed high levels of interest in graphic novels, exhibited new perspectives on the Iraq War and active citizenship, and utilized key features of graphic novels to tell complex and multilayered social stories.

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