scholarly journals Announcing a Special Issue of the Deakin Review

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne Wiltse
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Elementary Education ◽  
Picture Books ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Associate Professor ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Authentic Writing

It is my pleasure to be contributing this editorial for the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature.My name is Lynne Wiltse and I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. I teach courses in language and literacy and children’s literature, and have eagerly read each issue of the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature since its inception in 2011. I have made sure to introduce my students to this valuable resource. For example, I have the undergraduate students in my children’s literature course undertake an assignment that requires them to explore the site in detail. With its feature editorial and reviews of contemporary English-language texts for children and young adults, the Deakin Review is an excellent resource for prospective teachers.  This is the second time that the graduate students in my Children's Literature in the Elementary School (EDEL 510) course have participated by writing book reviews for a Special Issue of the Deakin Review (the reviews were published in Vol 4, No 4, 2015). The first time my students took part in this initiative was such a powerful learning experience that the next time I was due to teach the course, I approached the editorial team to see if we could recreate the opportunity. The result is this Special Issue. Once again, I am delighted with the diverse range of books my students selected for review. With the 2015 issue, the book review of The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus, introduced me to the amazing author and illustrator team of Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet. I have since read all their other biographies written for children. This year, Ada Twist Scientist, written by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts, one of the books selected for review, really caught my attention. I can’t wait to read Beaty’s other books! As most of my students are practicing elementary teachers, we focused on picture books for young children at the K-6 level. These graduate students were able to apply what they were learning about visual literacy and evaluating picture books in our course to the picture books they had selected to review. We also discuss the importance of authentic writing opportunities for children; writing the reviews certainly proved to be an authentic writing experience for my students, one that they took very seriously. We are excited to see the published reviews. I thank Kim Frail and the rest of the editorial team of the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature for their support of this special issue.   

scholarly journals Editorial

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne Wiltse ◽  
Joanne De Groot
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Elementary Education ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Group Project ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Authentic Writing ◽  
The University

It is our pleasure to be contributing to this editorial for The Deakin Review of Children’s Literature:My name is Lynne Wiltse and I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada). I teach courses in language and literacy and children’s literature, and have eagerly read each issue of The Deakin since its inception in 2011. I have made sure to introduce my students to this valuable resource. For example, I have the undergraduate students in my children’s literature course undertake an assignment which requires them to explore the site in detail and compare it to its predecessor, the Deakin Newsletter. I was intrigued when I came across the special issue that featured Joanne de Groot’s teacher-librarian students recommending “great new books.” At the time, I was teaching a graduate course, Children's Literature in the Elementary School (EDEL 510). I thought how I would love to have my students involved in such an initiative. The next time I was due to teach the course, I contacted the editorial team to discuss the possibility. As it happened, Joanne had done the same. The editorial team kindly offered for us to share a special double issue; my students would review books that are geared primarily for an elementary audience, while Joanne's class would review books that are intended for a secondary audience.I made space in the course so that my students, all of whom are practicing teachers, could have the invaluable opportunity to review contemporary books for children. I was delighted with the diverse range of books my students selected for review. In our course, we discussed the importance of authentic writing opportunities for children; this certainly proved to be an authentic writing experience for my students, one that they embraced with enthusiasm! We are very excited to see their published reviews in The Deakin, and we are looking forward to reading the reviews of the students in EDEL 546 as well. I thank Kim Frail and the rest of the editorial team of The Deakin Review of Children’s Literature for their support of this special issue.Lynne WiltseAssociate ProfessorDepartment of Elementary EducationUniversity of Albertaemail: [email protected] name is Joanne de Groot and I am an instructor in the Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning (TLDL) program at the University of Alberta.   Students in this class are teachers and teacher-librarians from across Canada, particularly British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nunavut.  We even had a student in EDEL 546 who is currently teaching in Kathmandu!EDEL 546 is an Introduction to Resources for Children and Young Adults and provides students with an introduction to literature and other print and digital media for young people in schools and libraries.  Throughout this course, students are given opportunities to learn how to select and use resources in their classrooms and school libraries.  The major assignment asks small groups of students to develop proposals to build a focused collection of resources for a school library.  This group project required students to select an area or topic and then create a selection list of resources they would purchase to build their collection, identify selection criteria, and provide links to professional reviews.  Students were also asked to write professional reviews of two titles published in 2013 or 2014 that would be suitable for a high school audience. This term’s groups focused on topics such as high interest/low vocabulary titles, graphic novels, pleasure or recreational reading, and Immigrant Voices.   Many of the reviews submitted for this project are now included in this issue of The Deakin.  The task of writing reviews that might be published in a reviewing journal made this assignment more relevant and interesting for the students and I am very pleased to be able to share their work with you now.Joanne de GrootAdjunct Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Elementary EducationUniversity of Albertaemail: [email protected] 

scholarly journals The Deakin Review Is Grateful to Lynne Wiltse for Her Guest Editorial

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne Wiltse
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Visual Culture ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Picture Books ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Visual Images ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Special Issue

***Access the interview with author Shelly Becker by clicking here.*** Dear Readers, It is my pleasure to be contributing the editorial for this special issue of The Deakin Review of Children’s Literature. My name is Lynne Wiltse and I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. I teach courses in language and literacy and children’s literature. This is the third time that the graduate students in my Children's Literature in the Elementary School (EDEL 510) course have participated in writing book reviews for a Special Issue of the Deakin Review; however, this is the first time that they have been joined by undergraduate students from my Teaching Literature in Elementary Schools (EDEL 409) course. This term, I taught a combined undergraduate/graduate course, and the editorial team of the Deakin Review generously agreed to a special issue featuring book reviews by my 10 graduate and 20 undergraduate students. We began our course by reading Kathy Short’s (2108) article, What’s Trending in Children’s Literature and Why It Matters. In her articles, Short identifies the increasing influence of visual culture in children’s books and continuing concerns about the lack of diversity in children’s literature as two recent trends. Regarding the first trend, the opportunity to evaluate picture books was linked to course content about visual storytelling and the design of picture books. In her article, Short makes the point that, because children are immersed in a visual culture, they find books with powerful visual images particularly appealing. This was certainly reflected in the selection of picture books, published in 2018, chosen by the 30 students in the course for review. An example can be found in Ocean Meets Sky, a finalist for the 2018 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature (illustrated books category), by brothers Eric and Terry Fan. You can read about the stunning visual images in this picture book about a young boy who sets sail to find the spot where the ocean meets the sky in Melinda Cooke’s review. Kathy Short notes that the influence of visual culture is evident in the increasing publication of wordless books in which the story is told completely (or almost completely) through visual images. In this regard, our collection includes I Walk With Vanessa: A Story about a Simple Act of Kindness, a wordless book by Kerascoet (the joint pen name of married illustrators, Marie Pommepuy and Sébastien Cosset). Terri Beach reviewed this book, told without words, about a girl who is bullied and then supported by school mates. That the students in this book comprise different ethnicities and races relates to the second trend in children’s books that Short highlights in her article. The author argues that the limited availability of books that reflect the diversity within society can be damaging for children who rarely see their lives represented within books. On this count, the books reviewed by my students were encouraging as they displayed diverse ways of being diverse, so to speak. Immigrant students may recognize themselves in Island Born, written by Junot Diaz and illustrated by Leo Espinosa, while young non-binary readers may identify with Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love. Girls, long underrepresented in children’s literature, may in particular be inspired by Roda Ahmedk’s and Stasia Burrington’s Mae Among the Stars, based on the first African American woman to travel in space, Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race, written by Margot Lee Shetterly and illustrated by Laura Freeman, and Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger’s, She Persisted Around the World:13 Women who Changed History. I am hopeful that these and other books reviewed by my students indicate a positive shift in the second trend regarding the lack of diversity in children’s literature. Short’s view is that, as educators, we are often followers, rather than creators of trends. I am confident that the teachers, librarians and prospective teachers from my course will contribute to this shift by thoughtfully selecting children’s literature for our diverse society. Writing reviews for this issue was a valuable learning experience for my students and we are eager to see the published reviews. I am grateful to the editorial team of the Deakin Review for their support, and a special thanks is extended to Kim Frail for assisting me with the process and my students with their reviews. Reference Short, K. (2018). What’s Trending in Children’s Literature and Why It Matters. Language Arts, 95(5), 287-298.  

scholarly journals Introduction

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Other Information ◽  
Fountain Of Youth ◽  
The University

This special issue of the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature is dedicated to health fiction.  The concept for the special issue grew out of an interest in using fiction as a tool in health literacy and healing.  Many of us have had the experience of escaping in to a book as a place of refuge when the real world seems too tough or being moved and inspired by a story about someone coping with illness, injury, or disability.  We wondered whether or not fictional works that offer children similar benefits are readily available? The answer is ‘Yes’, to a large extent.  But as we started to read our way through the books in local libraries, we realized that a number of the books may be of questionable benefit. Many had flaws, from obvious content errors to subtle issues that you might not recognize unless you read the book closely or someone brought them to your attention.  We wanted to take the opportunity to use this issue of Deakin to showcase some of the high quality fiction that we would recommend to libraries and parents. The authors of the reviews are librarians or other information professionals, with strengths in children's literature, health librarianship, or both.  Many have children.  Most are experienced reviewers.   Even though we had done some pre-screening, several of the reviewers started reviews and then discarded them when they found that upon close examination, they could not recommend the books. The accompanying article describes the larger study that we undertook to thoroughly review current children's health fiction. The end products of this research were: 1) a checklist for selection of children's health fiction; 2) a list of readily available works in the area; 3) this special theme issue of the Deakin, and; 4) a joint exhibit of the reviewed books, at the University of Alberta’s Education and Health Sciences libraries, to complement the publication of this issue. In addition to the outcomes mentioned above, it is our hope that an additional benefit of this project will be an increased community awareness of the value of children’s health fiction and the knowledge that sometimes a good story is good medicine. Sandy Campbell and Maria TanSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give. Maria C. Tan is a medical librarian at the Abdul Khaliq Library in Alberta Health Services’ Cross Cancer Institute and a former editorial team member of the Deakin Review. She firmly believes that children's literature is an essential component in the fountain of youth.

A New Year of New Reading: Teacher-Librarians Recommend Great New Books

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne De Groot
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Children's Literature ◽  
Elementary Education ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Children And Young Adults ◽  
Teacher Librarians

Welcome to the new issue of the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature!  My name is Joanne de Groot and it is my great pleasure to introduce you to the first issue of 2013.  I am an instructor in the Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning (TLDL) program at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada.  The TLDL program is an entirely online Master of Education that prepares teachers across Canada and around the world to become teacher-librarians.  The MEd in Teacher-Librarianship develops school and professional leadership in inquiry, literacies, technology, and resources through meaningful learning experiences. All the courses in this program focus on curriculum, community, consultation, collaboration, coordination, and communication. You might be wondering why I was asked to write this editorial and why I am introducing you to this issue.  Let me explain!  In the fall of 2012, I taught a required course in the TLDL program called ‘Introduction to Resources for Children and Young Adults’ (EDES 546).  This course provides students with an introduction to literature and other print and digital media for children and young adults and provides strategies and resources for selecting and using these resources in library settings.  The major assignment for this course asked small groups of students to work together to develop a proposal to build a focused collection of resources for a school library.  Each group had to select a particular area or topic and then work through a series of tasks to develop their proposal.  Groups in this particular class focused on topics such as Canadian materials, graphic novels, high interest/low vocabulary titles, picture books, reluctant readers, and First Nations resources. Each group had a number of required tasks to complete as part of their project, including: a selection list of resources they would purchase to build their collection; the selection criteria they used to develop this list; and links to professional reviews for some of the items on their list. The complete group projects are also available online to anyone who is interested in viewing them. Please contact me for the links.  In addition, each student had to write their own professional reviews for two items on the selection list.  Many of the reviews written by the students in this course have now been compiled to form the basis of this issue of the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature. When I first approached the editorial team at the Deakin Review about the possibility of having my students contribute to this issue, none of us were sure how, or if, it would work.  I greatly appreciate that the entire team at the Deakin Review was willing to take a leap of faith and put this issue almost entirely into my students’ hands.  The task of writing reviews that were going to be published in a reviewing journal made the assignment that much more relevant and interesting for my students.  I would like to thank everyone at the Deakin Review for their enthusiastic support of the idea and for working with me and my students to make it happen! And now, without further delay, I am very pleased to share with you this new issue of the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature, brought to you by the students in the Fall, 2012 sections of EDES 546.  Happy Reading! Joanne de Groot Adjunct Assistant Professor Department of Elementary Education University of Alberta email: [email protected]

scholarly journals Till ”vildingarnas” land: Barnboksförfattaren besöker förorten

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maj Asplund Carlsson ◽  
Johannes Lunneblad
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Drug Abuse ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Picture Books ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Post Colonial

Title: Where “the wild things” are: An author of children’s books on a visit to the suburbsAbstract:Few studies have been carried out on children’s literature from a post-colonial perspective. In this article, we look closer at four picture books recently published in Sweden with the purpose of giving children from urban areas patterns of identification. The aim of our study is to see how the ‘suburb’ is articulated as a multi-accented sign. Three themes are elaborated in our analysis, i.e. loneliness and alienation, drug abuse and misery as well as small business occurrence. We also discuss the consequences for children in early years of an encounter with a distorted or alienated view of suburban culture.

scholarly journals Children's Health Fiction Exhibition, October November 2014

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Tan
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
The University

The Deakin Review of Children's Literature Health Fiction Exhibition is a joint exhibit at the University of Alberta’s Education and Health Sciences libraries. It showcases books reviewed in this special issue.

scholarly journals American and Russian children’s literature at the beginning of the 21st century. The diversity of possibilities

Bibliosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 80-88
Author(s):  
O. B. Bukhina
Keyword(s):  
Women Writers ◽  
Children's Literature ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Picture Books ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Psychological Trauma ◽  
Non Fiction ◽  
Sensitive Topics ◽  
Russian Children’S Literature

Comparing changes in publication policies, the influence of translated books, and an important role that women writers play now, author analyzed new tendencies in American and Russian children’s and teens’ literature. The author concludes that American picture books reflect the varieties of contemporary experiences, and the Russian ones thrive with poetry and non-fiction. The comparison of teens’ literature of both countries shows a lot of similarities; both encompass more sensitive topics, such as illness, death, suicide, drugs, psychological trauma, and bulling.

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