6. Reading transmits culture. Many cultures can be experienced and learned about
year-round.
I previously completed this chapter in my LSSL 5360 course, so I was familiar with the information, but I enjoyed watching the video and reviewing the information again. This time, I tuned more into Dr. Lesesne’s and Dr. Perry’s delight and passion for books. I hope that my love of literature will be as obvious to the children and adults that I interact with in my own library as theirs was to me. In addition, it really struck me when Dr. Lesesne said that books which allowed for autobiographical reading did not show up in a broad sense until the 1980’s. When I completed my reading autobiography assignment for LSSL 5385, I noticed that the books which I generally read growing up were not books that related to me other than those with redheaded characters. This explains why...since I grew up in the 1970’s. It also stood out to me that there is a direct correlation between minutes spent reading as a child and standardized test scores, as well as how vocabulary development is linked to the number of books read. I can see the impact of my mother reading with me and taking me to the library throughout my childhood, and I can see the positive effects of early reading in my own children as well. This shows me how important it will be to read with the children in my school, to motivate them to read on their own, and to hold community events to educate parents, as well as to read with preschool-aged children. Lastly, I thought that the video by John Green with charming facts about 47 children’s books was extremely fun. I watched it with my 14-year-old daughter. She smiled through the entire video and so did I. It surprised me, though, when he said that it was pretty common for children’s book writers to not like children. How sad!
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Chapter 2
Divisions of Young People’s Literature
In this chapter, Dr. Perry discussed four categories of literature. They are:
- Children’s Literature (ages 0 - 8). Includes wordless picture books, picture books, easy readers, illustrated chapter books, early chapter books, and simple novels that are mostly text such as Ramona.
- Middle Grade/Tween (ages 8 - 12). Includes graphic novels and novels. Some example titles are Roller Girl, Raymie Nightingale, The Thing About Jellyfish, and George.
- Young Adult (ages 13 - 18). The books may include language, sexual material, foster care, gangs, or rough/gritty subjects. Some example titles are Grasshopper Jungle, Firsts, Pushing the Limits, and Nimona.
- New Adult (ages 18 - 30). This is a relatively new category that appeared in 2009 when St. Martin’s Press held a writing contest in search of cutting-edge fiction containing protagonists who were older than 18 dealing with more adult subject matter such as attending college, first major relationships, or sexual relationships. Some example titles are Sweet Home, This is Falling, and November 9.
In addition, I learned that middle schoolers (6th - 8th graders) from about 11 to 13 years old are a special group of students that must be treated carefully. They fall partly in the Middle Grade/Tween category and partly in the Young Adult category. Books that are generally appropriate for them are romance, LGBTQ, and some tougher topic books such as those containing abusive parents. However, YA subject matter may be too mature for this group since the top and bottom ages of the YA category are quite different maturity-wise.
I found this chapter extremely helpful. I wish that I had learned these categories long ago. As a parent, I feel like I’ve made good judgement calls with my own children regarding what I would allow them to read during the various stages of their lives. But, as a library assistant in a junior high (7th - 8th grade), I am surprised that a number of the books that we carry are actually YA books. After reading some of them, I felt like the subject matter was too mature for most of the kids in the school. But I assumed that I was just being overly conservative. After listening to this video presentation, I feel like I was actually right-on-target. I am now better equipped to build an appropriate collection for various age groups. I also think that some of the confusion in my mind and possibly in the minds of others has come in understanding censorship -vs- age-appropriateness. I think sometimes books are allowed into school libraries because librarians are afraid that they will be accused of censorship, when they are actually just providing age-appropriate books for students according to the divisions within young people’s literature.
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Chapter 3
Anatomy of a Book
In the “Anatomy of a Book” chapter, the above diagram was displayed and explained on the Chronicle Books blog. The parts included were:
- Endpapers - the two long sheets of paper that are folded and glued onto the front and back covers of a book. Half of the paper is attached to the cover and the other half is kind of like a page of the book. The endpapers are often patterned or colored. When they are not, if you look carefully, the paper used might be a different weight than that used for the actual pages of the book.
- Casewrap - When looking at a book with no book jacket/dust cover, the casewrap is the part that wraps around the actual cover. It may be made from leather, cloth, or even laminated paper. Its purpose is to protect the book.
- Book Block - When you open up the cover of a book, the book block is the part that remains (minus the end papers). It contains the main text of a book.
- Gutter - When you open up a book and can view a page of text on the left and on the right, the gutter is the blank space (no text) in the middle.
- Headband - the small, decorative textile strip at the top and bottom of a hardcover book. Sometimes it is colorful.
- Backbone - another word for the spine of a book. When a book is sitting on a library shelf, the backbone is the part that you see which usually displays the title and the author. It is the back of a bound book and connects the front and back covers.
Other book terms mentioned were mock-up, format, proof, saddle stitch, and F&G.
This was an important chapter for me to read. It equipped me to use the correct terms when talking about the different parts of a book and to more effectively communicate with other librarians. As in the field of science, it is helpful to have a shared vocabulary. I was already familiar with the endpapers and backbone of a book, but I did not know the other terms. After reading this chapter, I searched for additional images on the internet to insure that I truly understood what the book parts were. In addition, I examined a few books within the library in order to be sure that I could identify the parts. I am curious to know who named the parts and if other terms are sometimes used. I suspect that they are because I’ve heard the term “spine” used more frequently than “backbone.” I think that knowing the terms for various parts of a book will cause me to pay more attention to them when I handle books. For example, I suspect that I will be intentional about examining the endpapers because I am curious to know how often they are colored/patterned.
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Chapter 4
Genres and Formats
Genre is a term that is often used improperly. There are actually only two genres: fiction and nonfiction. Within those genres are many sub-genres. Fiction sub-genres are realism (realistic: modern contemporary, historical) and fantasy [modern (hard science fiction, soft science fiction, high fantasy, low fantasy) and traditional (fairy tale, folktale, ballad, fable, legend, myth)]. Nonfiction sub-genres are informational and are broken out into biography (autobiography: whole lifespan, memoir: portion of life), narrative: written more like a story, and expository: information/facts. Genres can be written in different formats such as poetry, drama, novel, chapter book, short story, picture book, or graphic novel. Sometimes people classify books by subject or category such as chick lit, mystery, guy reads, horror, sports fiction, action/adventure, paranormal, war, classics, humor, or dystopia. But these are not genres. There are pros and cons to genrefying books within a library. Librarians need to think carefully when deciding whether or not to genrefy their collections.
I think it is important for librarians, teachers, and students to use common vocabulary when talking about the classification of books. Unfortunately, I have not seen them doing so. When my children were in elementary and intermediate school, they were taught that poems were a type of genre. But this lesson taught me that poems are not a genre, they are a format. So, there is definitely confusion within this area. I was even a bit confused at the end of the video. Although the beginning of the video said that there were only two genres, fiction and nonfiction, and that everything else was a sub-genre, when examples of actual books were given at the end of the video, this was contradicted. For example, Drowned City by Don Brown was said to be narrative nonfiction genre in a graphic novel format. I thought it would be classified as nonfiction (genre), narrative nonfiction (sub-genre), and graphic novel (format). In addition, I think it is funny that separating books into different groups within a library is known as genrefying even though the books are actually being separated by subject, category, or format...not by genre.
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Chapter 5
What is YA Literature?
According to Mertz & England (1983), Young Adult literature contains specific characteristics. These characteristics are:
- The protagonist is youthful and highly independent.
- The main character(s) goes through a significant change, reaps the consequences of decisions made and actions taken, and experiences gradual/incremental change, as well as incomplete growth.
- The story is told from a point of view which presents an adolescent’s interpretation and includes an essence of how they develop.
- There is a directness of exposition and direct confrontation, and it mirrors concerns regarding contemporary issues.
- The time in which the story takes place is brief, the setting is limited, and the structural convention may contain few fully developed characters.
I was unable to locate the specific article by Mertz & England which contained their interpretation of YA literature. However, the list included in our course textbook was pretty detailed. As I thought through the information, I found myself reflecting on various YA fiction books that I have previously read. I tried to identify each of the characteristics of YA literature within them. For example, in Looking for Alaska by John Green, the protagonist is Miles (Pudge) Halter. The main characters are Pudge, The Colonel, and Alaska. Each of them meets the conditions in the above list. The story is told from Pudge’s point of view and definitely includes how adolescents develop. The issues within the novel are contemporary, the story takes place in less than a year, and the setting is limited to the boarding school campus and a few areas nearby. I believe that the characteristics identified by Mertz & England will help me to determine whether a book is a middle grade/tween piece of literature (intended for 8 - 12 year olds) or young adult (intended for 13 - 18 year olds). Because I work in a junior high library (7th - 8th grade), this will help me to better direct students to books that may be of interest to them since the ages within these grade levels (12 - 14) fall within different divisions.
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Chapter 6
How Do Adolescents Develop?
In order to match kids and books, we must understand readers and their developmental characteristics. In this video, Dr. Lesesne discussed four developmental characteristics to consider:
- Physical: When children go through puberty, it is a time of change for them, which is not easy. They wonder if they are normal and need to understand that everyone matures physically at different rates. When helping kids choose books, we should look for those which are encouraging and that communicate to them that they will survive and that they are normal.
- Intellectual: According to Piaget, progression occurs from the sensorimotor stage to a concrete-operational stage, and finally to the formal-operational stage. Initially, it was believed that at about age 10, children began transitioning from the concrete to the abstract stage. But later, this age was pushed back to about 14 years. When helping kids choose books, it is important to frame questions appropriately in order to account for this. For younger kids, we should provide scaffolding, if necessary, in order to help them understand the abstract. Certainly, books that are more concrete should be selected until they are ready for the abstract.
- Moral: According to Kohlberg, there are 3 moral stages: preconventional (decisions are based on reward and punishment), conventional (rules are followed), and post-conventional (laws are recognized, but humanity is deemed as more important).
- Developmental: According to Havighurst, the developmental stages for young adults include:
- Learning to get along with peers
- Having easy relationships with the opposite sex
- Working for pay, which is tied to independence
- Changing relationships with parents
- Finding a vocation or calling
- Developing morals and values
- Adapting to changing physical bodies
- Defining appropriate sex roles (these are sometimes determined by society)
Knowing these characteristics of development, we should look for books that speak to where kids are and possibly those that can incrementally move them to higher levels. In addition, we should pay attention to kids’ needs (Maslow’s hierarchy: physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, self-actualization), while understanding that base needs must be met before those that are higher on the pyramid can be.
In undergraduate school, I learned Piaget’s theories and considered them frequently while teaching my math students, but this was a wonderful refresher. I did not recall Kohlberg’s Moral Development theory, but it makes a lot of sense. When I think through the development of my own children (now 14 and 19 years old), I can see their progression through Kohlberg’s stages. I think my son spent quite a bit of time in the preconventional stage, a little time in the conventional stage, and then he leapt to the post-conventional stage. Whereas, my daughter did not spend as much time in the preconventional stage as she did in the conventional stage. I believe she is on the cusp of the post-conventional stage. I suppose she could already be in it, but just be a “rule follower” like me. I don’t recall previously learning about Havighurst’s research, but I agree that young adults do go through the developmental phases that he notes. Since I currently work in a junior high library, I will begin to incorporate all of these aspects (physical, intellectual, moral, developmental) as I help match students with books. In addition, I plan to consider them when I develop a collection in my own library soon.
