readingforall

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Autism/My Brother Charlie

   Autism is a disorder characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech, and nonverbal communication.  There are many types of autism, caused by different combinations of genetic and environmental influences.  Autism mostly shows when the child is 2 to 3 years old, but it can be diagnosed as early as 18 months.  It is best for parents to seek evaluation immediately if there are signs of autism because early intervention can improve outcomes.

   There are many books that talks about autism.  They provide information about it, such as signs that a person may have autism.  There are also guidebooks that suggest what to and what not to do with a person who has autism.  There are many books that talks about autism for children too.

   One of these books is called My Brother Charlie by Holly Robinson Peete.  This book shows what it is like having a twin brother who has autism.  The narrator is the twin sister of Charlie.  She talks about how they share the same things - having curly hair and brown eyes, loving to drink hot chocolate with marshmallows, and the love for music and football, etc.  Yet, they have differences like how she loves to talk, but he is very quiet.  When they were really young, Charlie did not give his mom hugs and kisses nor say ‘I love you,’ like how most children would do.  People said not to worry because he is just a boy, but the mom knew something was up.  They found out that he has autism and it will be hard for him to make friends or show his feelings.  After hearing that, everyone was upset, but they promised to do right by Charlie by always being there for him and helping him when he needs help.

   This book is written by a mother who has twins.  The twin son is autistic.  She wrote this book with her twin daughter and this story mirrors their real life.  I like this book because there are no prejudice against Charlie.  There is no linking the character to a vegetable matter.  It just describes what it is like to be related to someone who is autistic and what everyday looks like with a person who is autistic in your life. This text focuses what Charlie can do not what he cannot do.

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Fractured fairytales/Waking Beauty

   It has been said that “fairytales can be immensely influential in children’s developing gender identity.” This is why it is important for me (and anyone who says “Screw gender roles!”) to examine the messages that are being transmitted when planning to read fairytales to a child(ren).  A lot of old but popular fairytales “portray women as weak, submissive, dependent, and self-sacrificing while men are powerful, active, and dominant.” If we (teachers, tutors, parents, caretakers, etc.) read these fairytales to children, they grow up thinking that this is how they are going to have to be like that in order to fit the norms.  This causes a lot of problems especially when life is not so black-and-white.

   Feminists from the past wanted to change that and so, they rewritten folktales and fairytales claiming to be “feminist.” But all they did was “simply reversed the normal gender stereotypes.” Leslee Farish Kuykendal and Brian W. Sturm believes that “the simple reversal of gender roles does not result in a feminist fairy tale, but rather a fractured fairy tale. Fractured fairy tales challenge gender stereotypes and patriarchal ideologies only at the story level of the text. These changes rely on a straightforward reversal of gender roles and the substitution of strong female characters for more passive female characters.” According to Kuykendal and Sturm, children are not fooled by these false heroines.  They have been exposed to the original fairytales where the females are submissive and the males are powerful.  Therefore, reading rewritten fairytales of the original ones does not really make a difference.  Kuykendal and Sturm suggest feminist authors to re-vision the entire work and creating something from the ground up.

   A fractured fairytale book I have found is Waking Beauty by Leah Wilcox.  It is a rewritten version of Sleeping Beauty.  The book itself is quite funny.  It was joyful to read.  But when compared to Sleeping Beauty, I could see that it is a fractured fairytale and that might be a problem in a possible scenario that I will discuss later.  In Waking Beauty, Prince Charming finds Sleeping Beauty and her fairies.  He does not know what to do.  The fairies try to tell him, but he keeps interrupting with crazy ideas of his own, which includes shooting her out of a cannon.  Clearly, that does not work.  Finally, the fairies get to tell him that he has to kiss her and when he heard that, he got nervous.  He kisses her, but faints shortly right after.  In return, the princess had to kiss him in order to wake him up and she did that without a problem.

   One could say that this was a “cutesy” and silly book because Prince Charming got nervous about kissing Sleeping Beauty and he fainted afterwards.  I want to say there is no harm in reading this book, but now I have some hesitation since it is a fractured fairytale.  Waking Beauty is a fractured fairytale because it challenge gender stereotypes and patriarchal ideologies only at the story level of the text.  There was just a simple reversal of the normal gender stereotypes.  Instead of the typical strong, powerful, intelligent, and brave male, this Prince Charming was goofy.  His ideas were foolish.  This is a problem when you are reading this to a child who knows about Sleeping Beauty or have been to exposed to any other fairytales where the male is strong, powerful, intelligent, and brave.  All they might do is just laugh at this Prince Charming because he is not the typical male they know.  And that is it.  This book will not change their mind about how men should act or how women should act.  But the real question is, who gets to say how men or women should act?

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Traditional values through Korean folk literature

   My group is focusing on Korean culture/folktales.  We decided to work with a popular Korean folktale called The Tiger and the Rabbit. I found an article that addresses important points/themes in the larger body of Korean folktales and the title is called “Teaching Traditional Values Through Folk Literature in Korea” (http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/Childhood-Education/266224219.html).

   This article describes the trends of Korean folk literature, values taught through Korean folk literature, and critical thinking activities to use with folk literature.  The author begins this article saying, “Although Korea is a modernized nation, the underlying beliefs and daily practices of its people are grounded in traditional values. Many of the important values that Korean parents try to instill in their children have their foundation in Confucianism... These values are taught in large part using folk literature, a collection of tales passed down through generations by word of mouth and, more recently, through printed and digital materials.” The author continues to say, “Folk literature contains unique lessons about being righteous and ideal humans, capable of making sound moral judgments. This is a goal that remains very important, even in modern-day Korea. The fundamental values that permeate Korean folk literature are filial piety, honesty, good deeds, and wisdom.”

   The reason why I have chosen this article is because I have noticed the four common values Korean folk literature tends to have (teach?).  For my book, The Princess and the Beggar, it was about filial piety.  Filial piety is love and respect for one’s parents.  Despite being ridiculed, humiliated, looked down upon by her father (who happens to be the king), at the end of the story, the princess says, somewhere along the lines, “I don’t want anything. I just to serve you.” .......... I cannot seem to wrap my head around this ending.  I do not understand it and I am angry with this ending.  I believe in “obeying parents” and such to a degree, but this book does not seem the right fit to read to children.

   The value The Tiger and the Rabbit teaches is wisdom.  The rabbit thinks deeply and uses his wisdom to rescue himself from a tiger that wants to eat him.  Using his intelligence, the rabbit tricks the Tiger into swallowing a hot rock; the Tiger catches fire, which allows the rabbit to escape.  There are many similar adaptations to The Tiger and the Rabbit.  Nonetheless, as the author says, “These fables teach children to be calm in the face of difficulty, and to think carefully and make wise decisions.” My group members also brought up something interesting.  The Tiger and the Rabbit also teaches about greed.  The tiger is greedy and as we can see, in every adaptations, things do not work out for the tiger.

   I also chose this article because it informs me about the Korean culture and the provision of critical thinking activities to use with folk literature is beneficial to me when I become a teacher.

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Folklore and fairytales

   Fairytales are actually oral folktales, which have been in existence for thousands of years.  Toward the end of the seventeenth century is when people started calling it literary fairy tales.  Both oral and literary continue to exist side by side today.  However, according to Zipes, there is a difference in the roles they now play compared to their function in the past.  It could be seen in the manner in which they are produced, distributed, and marketed.

   Folk and fairy tales tend to project other and better worlds.  “They have provided the critical measure of how far we are from taking history into our own hands and creating more just societies.” “They spread word through their fantastic images about the feasibility of utopian alternatives.” This caused dominant social classes to have a problem with them and the culture industry had tried to control the fantastic projections of these tales.

   Zipes said, “There was a time when folk tales were part of communal property and told with original and fantastic insights by gifted storytellers who gave vent to the frustration of the common people and embodied their needs and wishes in the folk narratives.” “The tales served to unite the people of a community and help bridge a gap in their understanding of social problems in a language and narrative mode familiar to the listeners’ experiences.” Also, they have an aura that “illuminated the possible fulfillment of utopian longings and wishes which did not preclude social integration.” “Today, the folk tale as an oral art form has lost its aura and given way to the literary fairy tale and other mass-mediated forms.”

   It is true that folk tale as an oral art form has given way to the literary fairy tale and other mass-mediated forms.  When reading that the tales had served to unite the people of a community, it definitely does not happen nowadays.  People are too caught up with technology and no one has time to gather together at one location to share stories.

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Diversity in Literature

   Today, I was paired with a classmate to discuss the “diversity” texts we both brought in.  My text was I Love My Hair! by Natasha Tarpley and the text she brought in was Bessie Smith and the Night Riders by Sue Stauffacher.  I Love My Hair! is about a little girl learning to love her natural hair despite getting ridiculed for it.  Bessie Smith and the Night Riders is based on a true story with a little fabrication.  Bessie Smith is a real person and the plot in the book actually did happen.  However, the “Night Riders” in the story was the Ku Klux Klan.  Why were they called the “Night Riders” instead of the real name is a question we both have, but my classmate also brought up something interesting: Why is the author of Bessie Smith and the Night Riders a white person?

   Kathy G. Short’s and Dana L. Fox’s “The Complexity of Cultural Authenticity in Children’s Literature: Why the Debates Really Matter” helps answer our question.  In the article, it says that, “Cultural authenticity in children's literature is one of those contentious issues that seems to resurface continuously, always eliciting strong emotions and a wide range of perspectives. Authors, illustrators, editors, publishers, educators, librarians, and scholars all have different points of view about authenticity that they each feel strongly about based on their own sociocultural experiences and philosophical views” (page 3). There is no one specific definition of cultural authenticity, but many.  Throughout the article, there are headlines and paragraphs below pertaining to the headline.  One of the headline is “Can Outsiders Write Authentically about Another Culture?” Although they did not put their opinion on it, they mentioned Henry Louis Gates Jr., an American literary critic, teacher, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual.  He suggested that “authors’ social identities do indeed matter and that their personal and collective histories affect what they wish to write and what they are able to write. However, he also believes that all cultures are accessible to those who make a thoughtful and careful attempt to understand and learn about those cultures” (page 12).  I agree with this.

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My “Roxaboxen”

   When I was little, I used to build fortress with my cousins and older brother.  We used chairs, couches, tables, and bedsheets to create our forts.  That was my “Roxaboxen.” We would pretend that it was a real fortress or sometimes, a castle.  Someone had to play a bad person or there was a team of good people and a team of bad people.  The bad ones had to “take down” the fortress and the goods ones had to protect it.  I felt like we were in our own little world.  The adults were not bothering us and it was just us young ones.

   It was the Harry Potter series that created a sense of magic for me.  Obviously, it is about magic.  However, when a person reads, they are the ones visualizing the scenery in their mind.  Although the words in the text affects the way the person visualizing it, each person’s visual is unique.  As I read Harry Potter books, the way I imagined Hogwarts and the spells was mesmerizing.  Once again, I felt like I was in my own world (well, this time, another world) when I read the Harry Potter series.

   Magic is your imagination or you have imagination.  If you have imagination, you are creative.  It takes creativity to visualize magic.  To believe in magic meant no judgement.  One’s own magical place is where they can be themselves and where they feel safe.

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Hedgehog’s 100th Day of School

   The text that I chose is Hedgehog’s 100th Day of School by Lynne Marie.  There is no information on the year it was published, but it was published by Scholastic Inc.  This children’s text is about a student, Spike the Hedgehog, getting excited about an assignment, which was an art project for the 100th day of school.

   What drew my attention to the text was the book cover’s illustration. There is an adorable hedgehog smiling.  It also reminded me of my fieldwork experience (my major is Childhood Education).  The class I was placed in celebrated the 100th day of school and they did an art project too.

   This book can be used for teachers who do celebrate the 100th day of school.  They can read it to introduce the assignment.  The “100th of _____” is a milestone that many people celebrate.  Also, children can learn something important from reading this book: It is okay if an idea does not come to you quick, it takes time.

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Data and statistics

   I was not able to find good data on the library itself so I will talk about the data on the neighborhood it is serving.  Most of the people I saw at the library were Asians.  My neighborhood is considered Brooklyn’s Chinatown, where the majority is Chinese people.  Aside from the students coming in when school day was over, I also saw a few elderly people there.  They were just sitting and reading newspapers.  This library has an arts and crafts session from 4 to 5 PM every Friday.  They also offer free tutor Monday to Friday from 3 to 6 PM.  When I spoke to the librarian and asked her how busy the library is, she said that it is very busy.  “There are 3 schools that are near us and a lot of the people here are from those schools,” she said.

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Map of the library

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My local library

   My local library has two floors.  The first floor is where most high school students and older people are and the second floor is where most elementary to middle school students are.  The shelves are sorted by genres.  There are two shelves of the same genre, but they are in different areas of the library because one of them is for elementary school students and the other is for middle school students.   There are so many shelves in the library filled with books, magazines, newspapers, thesaurus, encyclopedias, etc.   It could be said that the library is quite organized because I do see the librarians/workers picking out misplaced books and putting them back where they belong.  However, there are so many people picking out books and putting them back somewhere else/leaving it laying around, there is a mess.  The organization of the library, in terms of how the shelves and tables are placed, is great.   There is enough space that people do not feel crowded and the flow keeps going.   They also have a display highlighting Black History Month.

   I am most drawn towards the section where elementary school students' books are placed. This is because I would like to be an elementary school teacher and I need to familiarize myself with what books there are. I am not attracted to one type of children's literature.