Blogging in Action!

A quick post: I was out to coffee this morning with some friends and I looked over to the man sitting next to me and he was blogging! I thought it was so cool seeing somebody else blog. He was commenting on other people's blogs! So cool! Blogging in Action! Just thought I would share with everyone!

An Underrepresented Minority

After reading the articles that were assigned for class tomorrow, I began to think about how under represented disabilities are in children's literature. When I was reading the article by Tal entitled Swimming the Mainstream: A Discussion of Criteria for Evaluating Children’s Literature about Disabilities, I was amazed at the statistics that were shown. In this article, it said “in 1977….identified 311 books portraying people with disabilities published in the US in the previous thirty-six year (Tal 163).” Of all of the books that have published in the previous thirty-six years, I can bet that millions have been published and it is sad to think that only 311 have been published in regards to disabilities. After reading Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko, a disability of a young girl named Natalie is evenly displayed. This book shows a great example of a disability and that way that Natalie and the people around her respond to it. I know that people can make a difference in this realm of books. Joan K. Blaska did indeed make a difference in this minority group. She put together a series of books in which display disabilities. She also “developed teaching strategies for teachers and other professionals who use the books with preschool to third grade children (Williams).” This series of books creates an easy place to students to find things about disabilities. It is really sad that the disability genre is underrepresented and with enough information and the right people, we can make a change! It’s time to start!!

Pura Belpre Award

When & Why it was Established:
It was established in 1996. It was established to give recognition to a Latino/Latina author/illustrator who excelled in the portrayed the Latin culture in a children’s book.
The Selection Criteria:
What books: books written about Latin culture
What authors: Latino/Latina authors
What illustrators are eligible? Latino/Latina authors

Who Sponsors this award:
This award is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking

Who is on the selection committee:
The selection committee is a group of six individuals throughout the country. Some of the selection committee was simply librarians from different states. One of the women was actually the Latino Children's Literature Consultant in California.

Examples of who has won:
• Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
o Gave an accurate portrayal of the Latin culture without using any stereotypes or bias to her culture. It was enjoyable and gave an insight to the Latin world, without throwing too much culture in your face
• Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida by Victor Martinez
o This book meets the criteria as it is written by a Latin author and gives an exciting and accurate portrayal of the culture. This book not only includes issues that only affect the Latin community, it covers problems that children/young adults of all cultures would face.
• First Day of Grapes by L. King Perez. Illustrated by Robert Casilla
o This book’s portrays the lifestyle and home life of a typical Latin family and the struggles of a young boy in his new town. This book describes the life of a migrant family and gives an accurate portrayal of the culture and its people.

A Walk on Campus

This is a quick blog post, but I wanted to share with everyone. I was walking through campus and as I was crossing the street there was this care with a license plate "HABIBI." I thought this was so cool and I wanted to share it with everyone. We just read this book for class, so I was really excited when I saw it!