Orphan stories in children's literature are rich and complex, and they have historically permeate... more Orphan stories in children's literature are rich and complex, and they have historically permeated the pages of children's books. The purpose of this study was to explore the use of orphans as protagonists in children's award-winning literature through content analysis. This study utilizes all the Newbery Award winning books (1922-2011) as well as the Newbery Honor books of the last decade (2002-2011) to provide a wide and deep swath of novels in order to present both historical perspective and attention to current trends. Specifically, this study explores how orphans are portrayed in Newbery texts, considers the messages these books convey about orphans, and compares the literary orphans against their real life counterparts. This investigation also seeks to determine the efficacy of previously established paradigms of orphan stories when compared to Newbery award-winning texts. The data in this study demonstrate that the orphan narrative is a popular form of children's literature in the Newbery collection. It is a common literary tool for Newbery authors, and it serves as a platform for writers to develop strong, determined, and resilient protagonists who overcome adversity. The study also suggests that while there are similarities between the portrayal of orphans in Newbery texts and real life v orphans, there are some discrepancies, particularly in the literary orphan's ability to overcome the obstacles he or she faces. Additionally, current paradigms of orphan narrative literature do not wholly capture this corpus of texts. Finally, recommendations for practical classroom applications of the Newbery orphan stories are introduced. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS
Connecting the Dots: Exploring Themes in Adoption Picturebooks
Early Childhood Education Journal, 2011
... Search for identity sense of belonging An adopted Korean boy anxiously awaits receiving his A... more ... Search for identity sense of belonging An adopted Korean boy anxiously awaits receiving his American citizenship so he can receive his ''American face'' Rebecca's Journey Home* Brynn Olenberg Sugarman Michelle Shapiro 2006 Kar-Ben Publishing, Inc ...
Focus on Elementary: The Gender Journey in Picturebooks: A Look Back to Move Forward
Childhood Education, 2014
C literature is a powerful medium that conveys the ideas and perspectives of society in a child-f... more C literature is a powerful medium that conveys the ideas and perspectives of society in a child-friendly form for young readers. The messages contained in children’s books therefore have immense importance: the stories told within their pages influence the ways in which children see and react to the world around them. Given its immense potential to help children learn about the world, children’s literature provides an ideal way for teachers to help young readers explore a wide variety of ideas, themes, and complex issues. One often reflected-upon aspect of children’s literature is the issue of gender. Are girls and boys represented equally in books? Are girls and boys represented in specifically stereotyped patterns? Are girls and boys presented as strong role models for young readers? Over the past several decades, attention to the ways in which gender is addressed in children’s literature has been a focal subject for many researchers (MacArthur & Poulin, 2011; Trepanier-Street & Romatowski, 1999). Examinations highlighting a general absence of girls, a lack of strong, positive females, and the prevalent use of gender stereotypes stirred a call to action to present children with books that have moved beyond portraying characters in classical gender roles to provide more equitable representations of boys and girls and positive gender role models for both. Our question here is to what extent has this call to action been realized? Are children’s books moving toward a less gender-stereotyped body of work? Are the genders equally represented in children’s books? Using these questions as a springboard, we set out to examine how popular children’s literature has changed over the past 40 years in the way gender is portrayed and represented. lIterature revIeW and MethodoloGy As Sunderland (2011) explains, while gender was not completely ignored as an aspect of children’s literature prior to the modern Women’s Movement in the late 1960s, the topic rose to prominence after that sociocultural shift (p. 9). Early explorations into gender in children’s literature (e.g., Fisher, 1970; Stewig & Higgs, 1973) found that female characters were more sparsely represented; when they were depicted, it was in more subservient ways that ranged from “dull to degrading to invisible” (Fisher, as cited in Sunderland, 2011, p. 10). Since then, studies in children’s literature have continued to show two distinct trends: 1) girls are portrayed less often than boys in children’s stories (Knowles & Malmkjaer, 1996; Singh, 1998), and 2) females and males tend to be depicted in stereotypical terms: “girls are represented as sweet, naive, conforming and dependent, while boys are typically described as strong, adventurous, independent, and capable” (Jett-Simpson & Masland, 1993, as cited in Singh, 1998, p. 2). Perhaps the most important message that we can take away from this research is that how gender is portrayed in children’s books “contributes to the image children develop of their own role and that of their gender in society” (Singh, 1998, p. 2). Our purpose here is to look at best-selling children’s picturebooks from the past 40 years to trace any changes in the ways boys and girls are depicted, but also to examine the types of gender role models that best-selling children’s picturebooks showcase. With over 15,000 new children’s books published annually in the United States alone (Lynch-Brown & Tomlinson, 2008), children’s literature represents a large variety of texts. As the volume of books is ever expanding, this examination of the literature The Gender Journey in Picturebooks: A Look Back to Move Forward
Focus on Elementary: Creating Global Citizens: Using Attitudes and Action to Teach Character Education
Childhood Education, 2015
Amid calls for increased attention to social justice (Adams, Griffin, & Bell, 2007; Cochran-S... more Amid calls for increased attention to social justice (Adams, Griffin, & Bell, 2007; Cochran-Smith et al., 2009; Tikly & Barnett, 2011) and cultural competency (Hagglund & Samuelsson, 2009; Han & Th...
Using Service-Learning as a Tool to Develop Intercultural Understanding
Journal of International Social Studies, 2016
Bridging the Gap: Building Teachers' Capacity for Developing Language, Literacy, and Content Learning
The International Schools Journal, 2017
Globalization: Defining the Terrain
Globalization can be a nebulous term. It often roots itself on a continuum where definitions rang... more Globalization can be a nebulous term. It often roots itself on a continuum where definitions range from economic partnerships to a focus on human capacity to embracing principles of equity and social justice both locally and globally. While globalization has developed different connotations and nuances across various fields, what remains constant is the importance and potential it carries with it. In our increasingly internationalized world, globalization has the potential to represent the move towards interconnection, collaboration, and intercultural understanding.
Focus on Elementary: Knowing and Growing With Mentor Texts
Childhood Education
Writing is a crucial skill—one essential for success in academic work, as well as in the daily co... more Writing is a crucial skill—one essential for success in academic work, as well as in the daily communication tasks through which we interact with the world. It has long been established that childr...
Focus on Elementary: Validating the Visual: Illustrations as Mentor Texts
Childhood Education
“If teachers show children how an illustrator's decisions about pictures are a lot like a wri... more “If teachers show children how an illustrator's decisions about pictures are a lot like a writer's decisions about words, they form a bridge of understanding that nurtures children as writers.” (Wo...
Approximately 1.4 million school-aged children entered their families through adoption. As such, ... more Approximately 1.4 million school-aged children entered their families through adoption. As such, adoption represents a real and complex social issue with which young children-adopted or not-can grapple. Adoption picturebooks provide a medium by which children can explore this complicated concept. This manuscript analyzes a standard library collection of adoption picturebooks to explore the salient themes that arise throughout this body of children's literature. Four major, yet overlapping themes emerged: the adopted child as ''precious'', the search for identity, the pursuit of adoption, and the need to establish a sense of belonging. This study shows that the themes located within this subset of children's literature are broad, fluid and often intricately woven together; a complexity that is mirrored through the same qualities in life. Through adoption picturebooks, children are provided with a terrain in which to explore the conceptual components that frame their identities and are presented with a space to examine the realities of adoption.
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