PULLMAN, Philip. Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version. 400p. bibliog. Viking. 2012. Tr $27.95. ISBN 978-0-670-02497-1; ebook $14.99. ISBN 978-1-101-60103-7.
Fifty tales are retold in this witty, fast-paced, and entertaining collection. In fairy-tale tradition, Pullman adds his own modern phraseology and an occasional event to the “originals” when he believes it will be an improvement. The conceits of the genre are respected and adhered to but the subtle changes make the stories compelling. It is charming to think of the Brave Little Tailor as “a weapon of mass destruction.” This and a few other modernisms enliven the narratives. Pullman effectively makes use of other sources to tell the stories: an Uncle Remus conclusion for the ending of “The Cat and the Mouse Set Up House” and the epigram in “The Robber Bridegroom” from “Mr. Fox,” which is similar to Much Ado About Nothing. He attributes and incorporates the original tellers and writers as collected by the Grimms as well as authors of other variants and other folktales. Each selection is referenced by type, source, and similar tale. Mention of the psychologist Bruno Bettelheim and scholars such as Maria Tatar, Jack Zipes, and Marina Warner point to varying interpretations of the stories. The introduction conveys his purpose and presents some history of the Grimms and information about the fairy-tale conventions found in their tales. Others have presented the complete tales (Zipes) and annotated tales (Tatar) and there are countless picture-book adaptations. Pullman’s collection is noteworthy for the energetic pace of the stories and the subtle adaptations that make it accessible to modern readers. This is a collection for librarians and teachers to read aloud and to encourage listeners to imagine and retell in their own words.–Jackie Gropman, formerly at Chantilly Regional Library, VA

TATAR, Maria, ed. The Annotated Brothers Grimm: Bicentennial Edition. tr. from German by editor. 576p. bibliog. further reading. illus. notes. Norton. 2012. Tr $35. ISBN 978-0-393-08886-1.
Fifty-two tales, many well-known and loved, some unfamiliar, and nine specifically for adults, are extensively illustrated with art from the works of Arthur Rackham, Walter Crane, Wanda Gag, Leslie Brooke, and others. Each tale is accompanied by copious annotations that highlight the changes from one Grimm edition to another, views and translations of other scholars, and Tatar’s own historical or cultural analysis. The preface, expanded from one and a half pages in the 2004 edition to six pages here, is a discussion of the significance of fairy tales that, through many retellings, have a “shared cultural repertoire.” A.S. Byatt’s thought-provoking introduction is a personal homage to the genre and discusses the conceits found in the tales, the psychological need in all societies for “untrue stories,” and an appreciation of their magic and mystery. The section called “Reading the Grimms” is a look at the origin of the tales, including Asian and European variants, and the brothers’ method of collecting. A biographical section includes information about the men’s personal lives, their interest in law and politics, and their other literary pursuits. The last section is a delightful compilation of brief essays by fairy-tale fans about the usefulness, delight, and pervasiveness of the tales. Rounding out the collection are an extensive bibliographies of books and illustrations. Academic enough for the scholarly and thoroughly engaging enough for general readers, this browsable collection will enchant fairy-tale lovers everywhere.–Jackie Gropman, formerly at Chantilly Regional Library, VA

ZVIRIN, Stephanie. Read with Me: Best Books for Preschoolers. 184p. bibliog. further reading. illus. index. websites. ALA. 2012. pap. $18.95. ISBN 978-1-937589-03-5; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-937589-07-3. LC 201002405.
Zvirin has selected and annotated more than 300 books for adults to enjoy with preschoolers. She made her choices by talking to librarians as they compiled their lists of “best books” as well as by using blogs and listservs. She purposely does not suggest well-known classics such as Goodnight Moon in order to draw attention to titles published in the last decade. Her organizational plan is centered around common themes, running the gamut from books about “ME” to families, friendships, and make-believe. The annotations are thoughtful, yet casual and chatty, pointing out the reasons why children would enjoy a particular title. While Jim Trelease has long been recognized for his choices in his Read-Aloud Handbook (Peter Smith Pub., 2006), he covered a much wider age range and included many chapters with information about literacy and fostering the love of reading. Update a professional collection with Zvirin’s book or hand it to new
parents as a guide to their child’s early listening and reading adventures.–Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA

I have (much more successfully) done this at every other juncture in my life, including the (final) family move to Maryland, three colleges, and a dozen jobs. I took what I liked about myself and refined the details. As for the not-so-likable elements, I trashed them. I knew there was a better me just waiting to be born. With our new library opening in less than two months and my transfer to the new building coming next week, once again I’m in a time of transition and I’m redefining who I am as a teen librarian, a peer, a supervisor, an advocate, and a friend.

Many of the responsibilities I have at my current library are following me to the Gum Spring Library. My biggest responsibility is that of page supervisor. I took over that role in December 2011, when the person who’d been supervising the four pages had to take an emergency leave. My own supervisor helped me ajust to my new role, though many of the job’s nuances I learned as time progressed. To help out my successor, I’ve created a document that describes the duties (official and unofficial) of a page supervisor. I also used this opportunity to reflect upon what I’ve learned. In effect, I gave myself a performance assessment. I’ve already begun working on a new document on the training and supervision of the pages who will arrive in February.

Much of what I’ve learned while supervising pages transfers neatly into my role as a teen volunteer coordinator. My goal is to teach our young volunteers about the library, encourage them to work and play there, and give them a solid opportunity that builds both their character and their resume. I know I let some of our teen volunteers fall through the cracks in my old branch’s very busy volunteer program. Instead of giving each of them the personalized attention they deserved, I let a few simply sign in, do their tasks, and then leave. Even if that was the kind of experience they’d expected, it wasn’t what they deserved. Teen volunteers should be nurtured to view the library as a “third place”: a place to keep organized, fun, and safe, and mostly importantly, to be proud of. As I train my replacement and the new Gum Spring teen volunteers, I’ll be sure to keep the number of volunteers at a manageable level. That way, my peers and I in the Teen Center can create meaningful relationships with them, and instill a sense of responsibility and of place in them.

As I sit at my desk, contemplating which documents, folders, and ARCs to get rid of and which to take to my new library, I’m doing the same thing with my role as a teen librarian. We are rarely given an opportunity to reinvent ourselves, but when we are, we owe it to ourselves and to those we work with to take a moment to reflect on ways that we can improve.

Gum Spring opening day collection

Fresh Paint charts the development of teen services at a new public library in an underserved community. Gum Spring Library will be Loudoun County’s (VA) eighth branch and will serve more than 100,000 residents. It’s one of the county’s largest public-private partnerships.

The authors start by outlining legitimate reasons why many teachers express reluctance about getting onboard, such as lack of resources, effects of poverty, and technology challenges. Nevertheless, they recommend that it’s time to put reservations aside, take a positive leap forward, and treat the standards as “gold,” packed with the potential to spark real school reform. Teacher collaboration across and within grades is a key ingredient.

Focused on literacy instruction, Pathways is divided into three main sections: “Reading Standards,” “Writing Standards,” and “Speaking/Listening and Language Standards.” Each begins with a close reading and practical analysis of the related Common Core standards, defining what is and isn’t expected of students and teachers, followed by ideas for implementation.

Collaborative study exercises for teachers are incorporated as needed. Text complexity, “the hallmark of the Common Core State Standards,” and nonfiction reading are given due attention. Readers are assured that the Fountas and Pinnell system for leveling text need not be abandoned, though other methods are cited by the CCSS. And recognizing the challenge of getting more nonfiction (which is not quite so easy to level) into the hands of young readers in a time of squeezed budgets, the authors propose solutions, from adding quality magazines to tapping digital resources. Unfortunately, there’s no mention of drawing on school library resources.

When addressing writing, the authors point out that the CCSS clearly emphasize students’ ability to write evidence-based arguments, and it’s likely that assessments being developed by PARCC and SMARTER Balanced (the authors recommend that teachers become familiar with both agencies) will test those skills. Here the path to instruction and increasing student achievement is not quite so clear-cut, and caution is advised against jumping on packaged materials that promise success. Instead, instruction should begin with evaluating students’ skills (Common-Core-Aligned Performance Assessments for grades K-8 are available at the TCRWP website).

The third piece of the ELA pie, Reading/Listening and Language, is described as clearly intended to make students “independent word solvers and writers and speakers.” Teaching grammar and vocabulary via isolated workbooks isn’t the answer; integrating and developing these skills across the curriculum, as in reading and writing, is a better approach.

Whether or not a school follows the TCRWP model, Pathways analyzes the ELA standards with clarity and makes a convincing case for tapping into the CCSS as a route to thoughtful school reform at a local level spurred by the high expectations of teachers who are committed to honing their craft.

JONES, Diana Wynne. Reflections: On the Magic of Writing. edited by Charlie Butler. 368p. bibliog. index. notes. HarperCollins/Greenwillow. 2012. Tr $24.99. ISBN 978-0-06-221989-3; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-0-06-221990-9. LC 2012018080.
Putting her papers together in the face of her impending death, Jones chose and arranged these lectures, articles, and reviews written between 1978 and 2008 to encapsulate her beliefs about writing, writing for children, and fantasy. Ranging from literary criticism to autobiography, the 28 pieces illustrate her insight, her humor, and the mastery of her craft. She describes how magic and humor work, discusses the nature of heroes, the uses of mythology, and the value of learning Anglo-Saxon. Other selections reflect on the magic of the “Narnia” books, the nature of “Real Books,” and the orchestration of a narrative. Because this volume is a gathering of pieces written over many years, topics and episodes are repeated, like recurring melodies in a long piece of music. One of the most important themes is that humans–children and adults–need fantasy. In some ways, her entire oeuvre is a reaction to a childhood in which fantasy literature was denied, as revealed in the long essay she wrote for Something About the Author and included here. An interview with the book’s editor, Charlie Butler, and reminiscences by two of her sons wrap up the collection. Readers who have known and loved the author’s vast body of work will nod and laugh, rejoice that they can return to works like the “Chrestomanci” series, and mourn the fact that there will be no more.–Kathleen Isaacs, Children’s Literature Specialist, Pasadena, MD

LEVITOV, Deborah D., ed. Activism and the School Librarian: Tools for Advocacy and Survival. 120p. appendix. bibliog. charts. further reading. index. websites. Libraries Unlimited. 2012. pap. $45. ISBN 978-1-61069-187-1; ebook $45. ISBN 978-1-61069-188-8. LC 2012016873.
Based on research, experience, and actual implementation of award-winning programs, this book offers solid information to guide school librarians in one of their most valuable roles, that of advocate. Seven engaging and informative chapters, all written by various successful practitioners, offer solid suggestions. The first chapter identifies numerous characteristics important to promoting the library, such as focusing on the students, providing equality of services, teaching 21st-century learning skills, helping students learn in meaningful ways, etc. Chapter two emphasizes the importance of student learning, assessment, and evaluation. Remaining chapters address activism, being proactive, developing leadership, connecting, collaborating, and establishing advocates from within the faculty. Suggestions for creating an advocacy plan; ways of promoting it within the school, community, and business; acquiring legislative support; involving parents; and connecting and involving administrators, board members, and teachers are included. If they are heeded, library programs will flourish. Frequent text boxes and figures support the information. Most articles include a summary, with references and additional resource lists at the conclusion of each chapter. The appendix also includes additional tools for developing, planning, and assessing the plan. An extensive index concludes this valuable resource.–Susan Shaver, Hemingford Public Schools, NE

WEBSTER, Lawrence. Under the North Light: The Life and Work of Maud and Miska Petersham. 192p. illus. index. notes. photos. reprods. WoodstockArts. 2012. Tr $39.50. ISBN 978-09679268-6-5. LC 201293874.
This biography looks at the lives of two of the most influential illustrators of children’s books in the 20th century and will be of interest to scholars, librarians, and art students. In lively prose, Webster recounts how two artists with disparate beginnings (Miska, an impoverished Hungarian immigrant, and Maud, daughter of a minister and descendant of the Mayflower), met in a New York art institute in 1912, married, and collaborated on exquisite award-winning children’s books for more than 40 years. Comprehensive research including the artists own correspondence and letters from children; commentary from authors, reviewers, educators, and businessmen; and interviews with family members results in an endearing account of the process, dedication, and joy that went into each project. Numerous texts and illustrations are discussed at length and are accompanied by vibrant colorful reproductions. The author emphasizes the artists’ originality and significance, noting that their work presents a picture of the cultural trends of their times. Webster discusses the criticism as well as the accolades. She acknowledges that today’s critics, more sensitive to cultural stereotypes, find some of the books outdated. The 1946 Caldecott award The Rooster Crows (Macmillan) was reissued in the 1964 printing minus two pages of offensive stereotyping.–Jackie Gropman, formerly at Fairfax County Public Library System, Fairfax, VA

The report—the first in a Pew/Berkman series that’ll explore youth privacy issues—features information from interviews with focus groups that were conducted by Berkman’s Youth and Media team and a national phone survey of parents and their teens that examines the use of social networking sites.

The findings are based on a phone survey of 802 parents and their 802 teens ages 12 to 17, conducted between July 26 and September 30, 2012. Interviews were done in English and Spanish and on landline and cell phones. The research team also conducted 16 focus group interviews with roughly 120 students. The report is fully downloadable, and may also be searched online.

What is reassuring is that we know that children of all ages can think critically about the world in creative ways, particularly when they are given robust and developmentally appropriate texts as part of a well-crafted, student-centered curriculum. These specific groupings of books or multimodal digital texts are referred to as clusters, or text sets. Situating students within the context of a text cluster allows librarians and teachers to use their collections in new ways. Teachers already have tried-and-true books and can use their library to build outward—moving from highlighting a single text to using a text cluster.

Not only do clusters offer an opportunity to differentiate reading, they create a synergy within the curriculum, allowing students to consider multiple perspectives. When readers see that knowledge is not fixed, that there is no single way to represent an idea, a literary theme, a historical event, or a scientific concept, they see the role of the author in new and exciting ways. When given the opportunity to pen their own works, they can apply what they have learned about a variety of different genres and text types.

Text clusters, or text sets, offer rich opportunities in science, language arts, social studies, and the related arts such as music and art. Here are specific ways to use clusters in your library and classroom, and in your work with grade-level teams.

Clustering Concepts: Ecosystems

Text clusters can be used as a tool to teach science content standards as well as the Common Core State Standards for language arts and content literacy. Let’s say you are working with a third grade teacher who is teaching ecosystems or animal habitats. Most likely, your library has a variety of books on different ecosystems and animal habitats to support student inquiry. But to explore that topic with a tighter focus, and model the thinking across texts, the unit could launch with an exploration of how ecosystems change over time.

First, recommend that the teacher read aloud Joyce Sidman’s Song of the Water Boatman (Houghton Mifflin, 2005), illustrated by Beckie Prange. Moving from spring to winter, the book carries readers through four seasons in the life cycle of a pond. On each spread a poem, a nonfiction paragraph, and a woodcut illustration can be found.

Follow that title with the nonfiction picture storybook The Wolves are Back (Penguin, 2008) by Jean Craighead George, about the restoration of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. Students will understand what happens when one animal is removed from an ecosystem, and how that ecosystem shifts its balance when the animal returns.

Finally, the class could explore Thomas F. Yezerski’s Meadowlands (Farrar, 2011), an illustrated history of the wetlands region in northern New Jersey. In small groups, children can discuss how an entire ecosystem can suffer extensive damage and yet manage to rebuild itself over time. Each of these titles offers a different perspective and models a different text structure (poems and paragraphs; narrative; exposition) that youngsters can reference as they they compose in response to the study.

Clustering Biographies: Powerful Pairs and Triplets

Since biographies of the famous and infamous are abundant and ever increasing, it’s easy to put together “bio-clusters.” Start small with two titles that can be compared, and then build larger collections of books, and primary and secondary sources (photographs, prints, letters, newspaper articles, maps, political cartoons). Here are a couple of book clusters to get started.

Powerful Pairs: Beginning with Biographies

The CCSStandards call for us to begin comparing two texts on the same topic with students as early as kindergarten. Picture books are a good place to start because it’s easy for young readers to spot the differences in illustrated works. Using biographies about the same person is one way to show children that informational texts on the same topic are not the same.

For example, two picture books about Jane Goodall, can be used to highlight different approaches to the same information. That is, not all authors select the identical information to spotlight. Me…Jane (Little, Brown, 2011) written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell ends with a young Jane Goodall going to sleep and dreaming of her future on the continent of Africa where she studies animals. When readers turn the page, Goodall, wakes up as an adult. The dream has been realized.

In contrast, Jeanette Winter’s The Watcher (Random, 2011), children receive a fuller story of how Goodall saved her money, traveled to Africa, and met the scientist Louis Leakey. It was Leakey who suggested that Goodall study chimpanzees in Tanzania.

Both books also provide unique kinds of visual information. Me…Jane contains actual writing and illustrations by the young Goodall, who as a girl, organized a group called The Alligator Society. The Watcher presents pictures of Goodall’s early life in small, tightly framed images. In contrast, once the woman begins working with chimpanzees, the pictures burst out of their frames and become two-page spreads. Her joy and sense of the freedom are obvious.

Terrific Triplets: A Cluster of Biographies

In books for older readers, bio-clusters raise additional questions about how history is written. The following titles bring readers face to face with contradictory information. In Amelia Lost (Random, 2011) author Candace Fleming casts doubt on Earhart’s claim that she saw her first airplane at the 1908 Iowa State Fair when she was 11 years old. According to Fleming’s research, there were no planes in Iowa at that time. She suggests that the aviatrix fabricated stories to suit an image she wanted to project.

Two other books, Amelia Earhart (Abrams, 2008), by Shelley Tanaka, and Corinne Szabo’s photobiography, Sky Pioneer (National Geographic, 1997), report that Earhart saw a plane at the fair as fact. The authors of these titles relied on Earhart’s own writings. Here is an opportunity to discuss with students that the sources authors consult can matter and that they may present conflicting information.

This cluster presents many additional opportunities to make comparisons. There are differences in text organization, visual information, theme, and more. Using these books, educators can initiate important conversations about craft and structure, the use of evidence to support ideas, and point-of-view.

Professional Sources Can Guide You

There are many ways to use text clusters or text sets in the library and in the classroom. What we have offered is a mere starting point. Professional resources are available to provide additional guidance as you begin working with clusters.

Eds. Note- two of the authors of this article have written relevant texts on the subject.

Myra Zarnowski’s History Makers (Heinemann, 2003) outlines how to compare biographies using such criteria as accuracy, style, illustration, theme, and selection and interpretation of information. A data chart is provided for gathering information and student samples show how it is done. In Making Sense of History (Scholastic, 2006) Zarnowski describes a hands-on approach for learning about multiple perspectives in history books.

For an up-to-date source on planning with clusters of nonfiction material, see Mary Ann Cappiello & Erika Thulin Dawes’s Teaching with Text Sets (Shell Education, 2012). This book describes innovative ways to incorporate nonfiction literature, as well as other genres, in the classroom while achieving CCSS and content standards. It provides both ready-to-use ideas and guidance for developing your own units of study using specific text models.

In How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character (Houghton Mifflin, 2012), Paul Tough challenges the generally accepted notion that academic achievement rests primarily on the types of cognitive skills measured by IQ tests. Could it be that success is, in fact, more dependent upon non-cognitive skills or character traits such as grit, self-control, zest, social intelligence, gratitude, optimism, and curiosity? And if so, what does it mean for well-intentioned but perhaps flawed educational reform designed to lift children out of poverty by focusing on improving student performance on high-stakes math and reading tests?

Tough walks readers through research that falls squarely on the side of teaching kids to persevere, especially kids whose poor economic circumstances contribute to off-the-charts levels of stress, uncertainty, and disadvantage. (Just consider this statistic: “more than seven million American children [are] growing up in a family earning less than $11,000 a year.”) Along the way, the author introduces the administrators of the affluent Riverdale Country School, an independent day school in Riverdale, NY, and the KIPP Infinity Charter School,which serves kids in West Harlem. Both are using the research Tough so effectively summarizes to encourage growth in student achievement and behavior, albeit with different approaches. Readers also meet Elizabeth Spiegel, a chess teacher whose urban, public middle-school chess team has won national acclaim, and whose teaching methods get adolescent kids to think before they act, an important lesson for success in chess and in life.

Thanks to Paul Tough’s reporting, the research presented in How Children Succeed is finding its way to administrators, teachers, and parents, and the author graciously agreed to answer some questions about his book for SLJ’s Curriculum Connections.

A fundamental question has to do with how we define success. What are the most important indicators? 

I don’t attempt to give one single definition of success in this book. I want my own child to have a happy, meaningful, fulfilling, productive life, and that’s what I want for other children as well. That inevitably involves some markers of material success, like educational attainment and income, but it also involves more nuanced indicators of success, like satisfaction and fulfillment.

The most important fact about the definition of success used by the educators and scientists that I wrote about in How Children Succeed is that it is long-term. What these researchers are finding is that short-term academic success—high scores on standardized tests—often don’t correlate with long-term academic success, like college graduation.

If we want to improve outcomes, whether for individual kids or for the whole educational system, we need to focus more on long-term success and on the skills and traits and experiences that will help more students get there.

Schools have lots of experience measuring cognitive skills—which seems fairly simple when compared to measuring character strengths, such as grit and zest. Aren’t these skills open to subjective observation and interpretation? 

Yes, that’s a big challenge for anyone hoping to create a system to help develop these skills in children. There are some reliable tests, like Angela Duckworth’s grit test and traditional psychological measures of self-regulation. But when it comes to qualities like zest and curiosity, we mostly have subjective, observational ways to measure those qualities. The KIPP schools are trying to get more scientific about it, and they’re providing rubrics to help teachers identify and cultivate these character strengths. So far, though, that’s a work in progress.

That said, I think teachers (and parents) are pretty good at knowing which kids have more or less zest and curiosity, even if their opinions are necessarily subjective. KIPP uses a “character report card” while the Riverdale approach is more subtle.

Why are they using different methods and do you expect they’ll be equally effective?

I think they’re using different methods because of their different school cultures. KIPP schools have always been pretty experimental places, where administrators are constantly trying new ideas and strategies. So it was relatively easy for KIPP’s leaders to introduce the character report card (though it still took them a few years to develop it). The Riverdale community values tradition and stability, and so it may be more difficult for them to make big changes, even when the school leadership is behind them.

It’s hard to say which school’s methods will be more effective. I tend to think that KIPP’s approach will be more likely to contribute to KIPP’s ultimate goal, which is 75 percent college-graduation rates for their middle-school students—but that’s partly because KIPP’s ultimate goal for the program is clearer at this point than Riverdale’s.

I don’t think experienced teachers will have many “aha moments” when they read about the positive impact of strong parent/child relationships in early childhood. However, the idea that character traits are malleable in adolescence should be welcome news for middle-school teachers.

I agree. I had thought before I started my reporting that I would mostly be writing about early education, and I was surprised by how many of the programs I wound up reporting on were in middle and high school. But it’s striking how often these programs—most notably OneGoal—are able to help students make profound changes in their trajectories even late in high school. I think there’s some solid support for this idea in neuroscience. The prefrontal cortex, which controls many of the mental skills that we often describe as character strengths, remains malleable later in life than almost any other part of the brain, well into adolescence and even early adulthood.

If research confirms that present efforts to raise kids out of poverty by emphasizing cognitive skills are misguided, how can schools (and parents) move in a new direction, especially when the government is spending millions of dollars on new performance assessments, promised to be up and running for the 2014-15 school year?

I think it will take both a legislative shift and a cultural shift for us to put more emphasis on non-cognitive skills or character strengths in education. The emphasis on standardized tests in Race to the Top and in many state laws gives teachers and principals and school systems incentives to focus on the narrow band of cognitive skills that those tests measure, and to ignore other skills that are at least as important for long-term success. So we need to reform those laws in order to encourage teachers to teach all the skills that kids need to succeed.

But I don’t think this is simply a matter of legislative change. While we’re waiting for those reforms, I think individual teachers and parents and school leaders can do a lot to steer their children and their classrooms toward developing the character strengths they need to succeed.

A chapter of your book follows Elizabeth Spiegel who teaches and coaches the winning chess team at IS 318, a school in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with a majority of kids from low-income families. What makes those kids champions?

More than anything, I think it’s their hard work. They are an incredibly dedicated and determined group of young people, and they work harder to achieve their goals than any other group of middle-school students I’ve encountered. I think their dedication is rooted in the teaching strategies of Elizabeth Spiegel. She has found a powerful way to help them look honestly and straightforwardly at their own mistakes and failings and to learn from those mistakes. In the process, I think not only is she teaching them valuable chess knowledge, she is also helping them develop their character strengths. It’s the combination that makes the team so successful at chess tournaments.

Throughout the book, you report on specific young people who cope despite grueling poverty and seemingly unbeatable odds. And you write about a few who are hanging on by a thread. What’s the most important lesson we can learn from kids like Monisha, Mush, Keitha, and Kewauna?

I think their examples tell us two things. The first is that the environment that kids grow up in matters a tremendous amount in their outcomes. No children in this country should have to grow up with the kind of deprivation and stress and trauma that those four kids experienced in their early years. More than anything, we need to develop a better social-support system in this country for disadvantaged children and families, one that focuses on the early years but continues through adolescence.

The second is that young people can succeed even when they do grow up in very difficult circumstances. But they can’t do it alone. They need help from a committed adult, whether that’s a family member, a teacher, a mentor, or a coach. I think about the kind of dedicated, compassionate, focused support that Keitha got from her mentor, Lanita Reed. That was what made a difference for her.

Right now we have interventions in high-poverty neighborhoods that reach some of those kids some of the time. But that’s not nearly enough; we need a much more comprehensive program to help kids growing up in deep poverty, one that gives every child the tools and support they need to succeed.

Elementary teachers often feel that it is impossible to meet all the literacy, math, science, and social studies benchmarks for which they are accountable. Middle and secondary content specialists lament the lack of time they have to delve into specific moments in history, concepts in economics, or specialized topics in the sciences that can serve as a catalyst for understanding essential concepts. As a result, students sprint through the content standards, with no time to rest, breathe deeply, or examine closely.

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts and Content Literacy, on the other hand, are process-oriented. Teachers have an opportunity to choose broadly the content to examine, and can view the CCSS as a toolkit to explore topics, themes, and genres.

There are practical ways to teach for content over coverage. Primary teachers will want to integrate their teaching and create multidisciplinary curriculum units. Secondary science and social studies teachers can use the CCSS as a vehicle for exploring important topics within their required state content standards at a greater depth and model the ways in which professionals approach their disciplines, as they equip students with some of “the tools of the trade.”

Such work begins with selecting a range of materials for units of study, material beyond traditional basal readers and textbooks. If the educators in your school must use required texts, they can incorporate these resources into a larger curriculum text set. Librarians can help them find books and materials outside the same old parade of facts, and lead them to a variety of fiction and nonfiction genres when possible and appropriate. You can also assist them in locating relevant newspaper and magazine articles in digital databases, and point to museum, library, and research-based websites for examples of available primary and secondary sources. As much as possible, encourage teachers to rely upon a number of formats, so that students can read, listen to, and view texts in more than one modality.

After selecting material for content study, we need to consider approach. One misconception our students often have is that all nonfiction should be read in the same way. They are unaware that historians and scientists approach content differently. We can teach students to read as these professionals do by modeling and allowing them to try out these processes. The CCSS foster disciplinary literacy, recognizing that each field of study has its own framework for asking questions, considering evidence, and creating new content to communicate knowledge.

As educator Sam Wineburg has explained, historians rigorously question what they read. The questions they raise about historical sources are the same questions that our students should be asking. Who wrote it? Why? What do they want me to know? Historians also compare different accounts of the same events.  Do my sources agree on the facts? If not, why not? How do they differ? And finally, they ask about the unique conditions of the era they are examining and consider how these conditions influenced people’s behavior. What is distinctive about the period I am studying? What is familiar? What is unfamiliar? Encourage your students to use these frameworks referred to as sourcing, corroborating, and contextualizing.

Scientists also question rigorously. They evaluate claims being made by others to see if they come from carefully planned observations, and try to determine if inferences are justified. When our students are reading nonfiction accounts of scientists engaged in inquiry, they, too, can pose questions: What is the problem the scientists are trying to solve? Are they collaborating with others? How? Is there evidence that they are willing to reconsider previous conclusions in the face of new evidence? Are the investigative methods they are using creative and imaginative? What have they learned? What else do they want to know?

These queries will move conversations about nonfiction sources well beyond factual recall and remembering. Instead, students will begin to think about how knowledge is created and how scientists and historians continue to refine their understandings. In other words, your discussion will present science and history as subjects that are vibrant and alive.

As we introduce more nonfiction, let’s keep in mind that to engage in critical thinking, we need a robust and varied collection of material to investigate. These clusters of information sources are the foundation of critical conversations.

SWEENEY, Jennifer. Literacy: A Way Out for At-Risk Youth. 133p. appendix. bibliog. charts. index. websites. CIP. Libraries Unlimited. 2011. pap. $40. ISBN 978-1-59884-674-4; ebook $40. ISBN 978-1-59884-675-1. LC 2011042804.
Based on the author’s research project, this book advocates for library services to young adults in detention facilities, with an emphasis on the long-term benefits and value of these services. It offers support, advice, and techniques for librarians working with these young people. Chapter one covers the history of the detention system, the various types of institutions created for housing juveniles throughout history, the establishment of juvenile court, various interventions used for dealing with troubled youth, and the eventual realization of the importance and value of developing library services for them. Although each state follows its own rules in handling juveniles, chapter two outlines the basic steps of the juvenile process in court. Chapters three and four address the essential information needs that will help with this group’s future success, and the value of literacy and readers’ advisory programs. Remaining chapters describe models based on school and public libraries, a number of programs used successfully, issues specific to this particular setting, and the important place of the library within the system. The last chapter stresses the need for providing reading opportunities, access to information, research skills, and rehabilitation through library services for those at risk. Throughout, figures, tables, sidebars, and website addresses support the text. Several appendixes include many detailed policy models; extensive resource lists covering advocacy, collection development, directories, juvenile justice, youth programs, and teen issues. A reference list and index conclude this informative title.–Susan Shaver, Hemingford Public Schools, NE

WITTER-EASLEY, Jacqueline. Happy Birthday, Dear Author! 204p. bibliog. charts. diags. illus. maps. websites. Upstart. 2012. pap. $17.95. ISBN 978-1-60213-057-9.
A collection of information and ideas developed from Witter-Easley’s classroom teaching and successful reading program at a public library, this text is for teachers and librarians who want to have author programs in the classroom or library. Twenty-seven authors spaced over nine months of the year (September-May) are highlighted according to their birthdays (more than 35 additional authors are also listed for each month), while a promotional reading log encourages children to read five books per month by a featured person. The book includes detailed activities for success with celebrations, ideas for games or activities, printable handouts, and author website links, but lacks a general index. Programming ideas for birthday celebrations (storytelling, art activities, party games that focus on the authors’ works, favors, and food) aimed at beginning readers emphasize entertaining activities that both inform and promote literacy skills. Each entry includes biographical information and celebration activities with a theme based on books by the author and a reading log. A final “Resources” area includes two bibliographies: one for games, activities, and crafts books, the other a listing of titles by each featured author (again, by birth month). While biographical material on these authors can surely be found in other places, and reading logs are easily designed, the combination of author information, bibliography, and programming ideas in a single volume makes this title a useful resource.–Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano ISD, TX

MORRIS, Vanessa Irvin. The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Street Literature. 168p. appendix. bibliog. index. websites. CIP. ALA. 2012. pap. $48. ISBN 978-0-8389-1110-5. LC 2011029685.
Morris sets out to help public and school librarians gain an understanding of the content and history of street lit. In her introduction, she reiterates the need for this literature wherever there is demand, whether the collection is for teen or adult readers. She calls for librarians to be both knowledgeable about the genre and to be readers of it, and advocates for them not to judge or dismiss its fans. Morris sets the record straight that street lit is about more than drug dealers and domestic violence. It focuses primarily on African American characters and is about life and survival in inner-city, lower-income areas. She compares the genre to other early survival-story novels such as Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders and Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities. She suggests series titles, individual titles, both fiction and nonfiction, and lists a few Christian teen-friendly series. The book discusses the appeal, characteristics, the structure of the genre, and mentions themes and subgenres, YA recommendations, and tips for selection and readers’ advisory. In this comprehensive book, Morris provides excellent input to aid in collection development and includes a list of publishers.–Adrienne L. Strock, Maricopa County Library District, AZ

NELSON, Jennifer. Technology and Literacy: 21st Century Library Programming for Children and Teens. 144p. bibliog. diags. further reading. illus. websites. CIP. ALA. 2012. pap. $50. ISBN 978-0-8389-1108-2. LC 2011035104.
This valuable and useful guide for creating and implementing technology-based programming in public libraries is adaptable for school settings. Beginning chapters explain and present a plan for offering such programs, providing steps on how to execute them based on actual projects from 2006 to 2010 supported by grant funds. The author explains the value of this type of programming and the process involved with adoption, and covers planning, gathering support from both administration and staff, marketing, locating and training volunteers, age-group focus, managing time, etc. Projects introduced in chapter six are based on the use of the open-source software called Scratch. Within this extensive chapter and the accompanying appendix, numerous templates and tables cover commands and terminology, how to create animation step-by-step, gaming, project ideas, etc. Particulars regarding hardware and software include criteria for using a laptop, desktop, or mixed hardware; additional items such as scanners, microphones, projectors, digital cameras, etc.; and other available open-source software to supplement a Scratch workshop. Helpful screen shots aid those new to the software. The final chapter includes a useful checklist of resources and additional materials.–Susan Shaver, Hemingford Public Schools, NE

REID, Rob. What’s Black and White and Reid All Over?: Something Hilarious Happened at the Library. 175p. appendix. bibliog. index. CIP. ALA. 2012. pap. $45. ISBN 978-0-8389-1147-1; ebook $36. ISBN 978-0-8389-9404-7. LC 2011043233.
This is a companion to Reid’s Something Funny Happened at the Library (ALA, 2003). The first two parts provide 10 humorous story programs–five aimed at preschoolers and five for school-aged children (K-4). With minor tweaking, all of them can be adapted for either audience as well as for family programs. Each one provides read-aloud suggestions and movement activities. There are also great storytelling tips that include everything from how to hold the book to what props to use and how to use them to make the program as funny as possible. Reid also includes an additional list of titles that can be substituted, jokes, call-and-response chants, short storybooks, songs, and musical activities. The last part of the book is a bibliography of “The Funniest Books in Your Library.” Picture books, easy readers, graphic novels and manga, chapter books, poetry, folklore, and songbooks are included and a list of “Robbie Awards,” Reid’s picks for the funniest picture book and chapter book of the year from 2000 to 2010, rounds out this high-spirited resource.–Renee McGrath, Nassau Library System, NY

SCHEEREN, William O. The Hidden Web: A Sourcebook. 114p. bibliog. index. CIP. Libraries Unlimited. 2012. pap. $45. ISBN 978-1-59884-627-0; ebook $45. ISBN 978-1-59884-628-7. LC 2011042977.
This resource is written with the purpose of informing librarians, both public and school, of the many valuable sites that are not accessible by traditional search engines. Because quality online resources are essential for student research, knowing how to navigate the Web to access these sites ill help librarians with instructing and assisting students and patrons in the necessary search skills. The first three chapters describe what is known as the Invisible Web, explain why it performs better than standard search engines, and inform searchers when they will find value in the sites provided. In the remaining chapters, sites are categorized into sections such as art, magazine articles, business and economics, education, medicine, etc. Each site appears in boldface type followed by the URL, with a description taken from the site itself in many instances. The conclusion reiterates the need for proficient search skills in order to find these hidden resources and that, in spite of what many students believe, Google is not the only way to find information. A bibliography and extensive index conclude this straightforward, accessible guide to exemplary research.–Susan Shaver, Hemingford Public Schools, NE

HARRINGTON, LaDawna. Guided Research in Middle School: Mystery in the Media Center. 2nd ed. illus. by Rachael Harrington. 119p. charts. diags. bibliog. further reading. CIP. Linworth. 2011. pap. $35. ISBN 978-1-59884-860-1. LC 2011017228.
Gr 5-8–New school librarians will find value in this soup-to-nuts unit on how to teach research skills. It comes complete with lesson plans, 21st-century learning standards, scripts, and reproducible handouts. Collaborative teams of librarians and teachers will find much useful information in eight jam-packed lessons. The only remaining challenge will be finding the time to implement them. Should one like to teach using mnemonic devices, the author invented the acronym ANTHILL to help students remember the steps to research. For those who revel in puns and wordplay, she also chooses her words brilliANTly in an effort to constANTly reinforce her theme. In a chapter called “Unit Summary,” each lesson includes approximate class periods required. An organizational chart that presents the unit more visually and a blank sample for future use follow these pages. Each lesson provides an instructional plan, which includes learning objectives, strategies, modifications, and assessment suggestions. Harrington also shares 12 concise slides to adapt for visual presenting. Though the title is aimed at the middle school, the gimmicks skew to fifth or sixth graders; the elementary tone will have older students rolling their eyes. The handouts are a bit wordy and crowded–much space is devoted to making the page look like a notebook. There’s plenty to adapt, though. While this revision of the 2006 edition doesn’t stand out in a crowded field, it will have appeal if the style fits.–Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ

KALEN, Elizabeth F. S. Mostly Manga: A Genre Guide to Popular Manga, Manhwa, Manhua, and Anime. 164p. (Genreflecting Advisory Series). appendix. further reading. index. Libraries Unlimited. 2012. PLB $55. ISBN 978-1-59884-938-7. LC 2011028456.
Offering annotated lists of titles for teens and adults, this guide’s first four chapters focus on the formats’ main demographics, which are Shonen, Shojo, Seinen, and Josei. Each demographic is subdivided into genres such as action, horror, and romance. Annotations include ratings ranging from “all ages” to “mature,” as well as a related anime or manga. Shorter chapters on Korean and Chinese comics, known respectively as manhwa and manhua, follow. The guide concludes with author, title, subject and genre indexes. Clear, succinct writing and thoughtful organization make this an extremely useful source for readers’ advisory and collection development as well as a solid introduction to the wide range of manga and anime genres and audiences.–Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library, NY

KARP, Jesse. Graphic Novels in Your School Library. illus. by Rush Kress. 146p. bibliog. further reading. index. CIP. ALA. 2012. pap. $50. ISBN 978-0-8389-1089-4. LC 2011026353.
What? Another book about graphic novels in the library media center? This title might not touch on a new topic for seasoned librarians, but the content is still relevant. Karp opens with an overview of graphic novels and their history, explains what they are and are not, how they work, and their value to students. He discusses understanding sequential art and story construction and art as a visual language, and suggests discussion and essay topics. He only touches on manga, focusing primarily on American or Western comics. The book is rounded out with an annotated list, divided by grade levels and lesson plans. This book updates some of the classic professional titles that are still useful but that don’t include many of the newer titles. A worthwhile addition.–Esther Keller, I.S. 278, Marine Park, NY

KLOR, Ellin & Sarah Lapin. Serving Teen Parents: From Literacy to Life Skills. 198p. (Professional Guide for Young Adult Librarians Series). diags. photos. appendix. bibliog. index. Web sites. CIP. Libraries Unlimited. 2011. pap. $45. ISBN 978-1-59884-693-5; spiral $45. ISBN 978-1-59884-694-2. LC 2011010670.
Often ostracized or forgotten, teen parents need their library and librarian more than ever. This book gives excellent suggestions for serving this very important library demographic, including the “whys” as well as the “hows.” Libraries can offer programs for teens and for babies–and often a combination of the two. Other programs relate to literacy and life skills. From chapters on understanding teen parents in general to offering information on how to communicate as well as great program plans and real-life examples from libraries from across the country, this volume is an all-around awesome addition to any teen librarian’s professional bookshelf. Even those who have already established support programs or groups for these patrons could learn a thing or two. Program templates, song sheets, and other resources are included, and lists of websites and other references appear throughout. This book will definitely get librarians excited about working with teen parents and their babies.–Traci Glass, Eugene Public Library, OR

Think about the number of times in a day that you make your way to Google (or another search engine) or how frequently you check your cell phone (whether or not it’s smart); we depend on information and communication that’s just a click or swipe away. Now, consider the technology available in classrooms with one or two outdated desktops. It’s unlikely that students are using Web 2.0 tools to enhance the learning experience, or that they’re engaged in real-world collaboration. Recent publications by two innovators in education, Will Richardson and Marc Prensky, offer lively commentary on the changes in attitude, access, and implementation that they believe need to take hold if today’s kids are going to be prepared for a different tomorrow. For Prensky and Richardson, it’s less about getting all students on the same page at the same time and more about using digital tools creatively to improve learning and instruction.

In From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom: Hopeful Essays for 21st Century Learning (Corwin, 2012), Marc Prensky, whose 2001 essay “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” (reprinted in this volume) looked at the “intergenerational confusion around the then-emerging digital technology,” presents a compilation of his writings and musings, most of which have been published previously. Divided into two parts, the first, “Rethinking Education,” begins with Prensky’s argument that current “educational improvement efforts” will ultimately be ineffective because they “are aimed at bringing back the education that America offered students in the 20th century…although it no longer works for most of our students.” He pens a convincing case against “curriculum overload” and the need to decide “what skills can be deleted from the curricula,” with suggestions that are bound to engender some serious debate (and headshaking resistance).

“On Learning,” explores what learning is and how it happens, and “Turning On the Lights,” underscores the importance of including students in the conversation and tapping into high-interest subjects such as robotics and computer programming, topics often relegated to afterschool clubs. Part two moves to “21st Century Learning, and Technology in the Classroom,” with selections such as, “The Longer View: Why YouTube Matters,” “What Can You Learn From a Cell Phone? Almost Anything!” and “The True 21st Century Literacy is Programming.” (A recent New York Times article, “Computer Science for the Rest of Us” also speaks to adding “computational thinking” or programming to the curriculum.) The last entry, “Epilogue: From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom,” considers the emerging “Homo sapiens digital” and posits that while there is no going back to the world of teaching and learning as it was, there is greater wisdom to be gained with the prudent use of digital technology. At the end of each part, Prensky includes “Questions for Reflection” which are sure to spark a conversation with any group interested in the role of technology in education.

Will Richardson, the co-founder of Powerful Learning Practice, which offers collaborative online professional development for educators, has been blogging “about the intersection of social online learning networks and education for the past 10 years.” In Learning on the Blog: Collected Posts for Educators and Parents (Corwin, 2011), Richardson has organized his “most discussed, most debated, most fun” blog posts into six groups, “Teachers as Master Learners,” “Learning is Anytime, Anywhere, Anyone,” “The Learner as Network,” “Learning and Leadership,” “Parent as Partner,” and “The Bigger Shifts…Deal With It.” Since these pieces originally appeared as online posts, Richardson directly addresses readers and stirs personal anecdotes about his experience as a father of two school-age kids into the mix.

Primarily optimistic, the author pushes teachers to think more about “the potentials rather than the problems” presented by runaway advances in technology. For Richardson, it’s not about learning how to use laptops or iPads to support the status quo; it’s about the possibility of “social web technologies” and online resources to move teachers and students to personalized and self-directed learning. And, like Prensky, he worries that present school reform “misses the point. We don’t need better any longer, we need different. Really different.” With a nod to the post “Get. Off. Paper.” in which Richardson writes about a workshop participant printing and distributing a link-filled document and the author’s observation in the introduction that “there’s a certain amount of irony in publishing a book of collected blog posts that can be freely found online,” it warrants noting that Learning on the Blog is chock-full of web-related links. (Those ready to make the electronic leap can avoid a certain level of frustration by considering the Kindle version.)

Whether or not readers accept each author’s view on the present (and future) educational landscape, there’s no denying the need for administrators, teachers, and reformers to consider the continually changing face of technology and its influence on teaching and learning. Both writers would probably agree that getting stakeholders to think about the issues confronting today’s schools with an eye toward incorporating new ideas and solutions is essential.

This article originally appeared in School Library Journal’s enewsletter Curriculum Connections. Subscribe here.

In his article “Curiosity Killed,” Neal Taparia, co-founder of citation creator EasyBib, says that the most-cited source on his site is Wikipedia and “five other top 20 sources [that] are also user-generated websites, including Wiki Answers and Yahoo Voices.” Taparia believes that students’ reliance on Google and Wikipedia “means two things: 1. Students are not questioning the authority of what they find on the Internet. They take information at face value. 2. Student research is incredibly shallow.” Students tend to click on the first two or three hits and don’t question the reliability or authority of the information they find.

Many of our teachers are like those described in the Pew survey. They find themselves spending most of their time persuading students to search beyond Wikipedia, YouTube, and Answers.com to find valid, reliable information. This is a great incentive for teachers to schedule a session with their teacher librarian before they make their next research paper assignment!

And all teachers, regardless of their subject areas, need to stop telling students they don’t have to cite information from other sources. We need to hold kids accountable for where they access information, and teach them the importance of evaluating the quality of their sources. That’ll encourage them to use information from a reliable source—rather than just cutting and pasting from Google and calling it research.

If the research process makes teachers nervous, librarians can and should play a vital role in teaching their students how to navigate sources. Librarians can show students how to patiently and persistently search for valid, reliable, and difficult-to-find online sources. Librarians can work with teachers as they teach students how to think critically and question information to obtain a deeper level of understanding. Librarians can also assist students in compiling their works-cited or reference pages. Librarians can even teach them how to avoid plagiarism!