Evaluating informational books and historical fiction in light of biographies

I've already discussed evaluating informational books and historical fiction, but biographies, although similar, have a few distinctions.  Although accuracy, organization, design, and style are important, the most important part of evaluation in biographies is the presence of documentable dialogue.  If a character speaks a line in a biography, it needs to be documented as to where it came from.  If is isn't documentable it means it is more historical fiction.  The biography should be objective and tell a good true story. 

Teaching history with informational and historical fiction books

An awesome way to make history come alive is to use historical fiction and informational books as supplements to your history lessons.  Most children already enjoy these genres and capitalizing on their popularity will benefit your lessons.  History textbooks are all factual and don't expand on the concepts taught as well as a trade book would.  With historical fiction correlated to the topic you are teaching, the student can get a better feel of what it was like to actually live during a certain time period or event.  Using informational books also aligned with your topic can bring in more in depth information  about the topic, or if using a biography, get a better idea of the person's life, not just their accomplishments.  There is much more information available to use than just the textbook and the information, although factual, is presented in a way to present an opportunity for the learner to go further and stretch their horizons. 

Vardell's Chapters on historical fiction and informational books: a summary

     Historical fiction is fiction in which the story's setting is historical.  The reader's age has to be taken into consideration.  Historical fiction is usually at least a generation ahead of the reader, not just the teacher.  Many deal with historic events in the United States, but more and more are being written about history in other parts of the world.  In evaluating historical fiction all the usual literary elements are considered: characterization, plot, setting, theme, and style.  The most important part to remember is the book must be authentic.  The author must have done the proper research involved beforehand.  Then they have to mix the facts with the fiction to present a story that draws one in to create a compelling and authentic story. 
     Informational books also known as nonfiction books, are factual, but not overloaded with facts to bore a reader to death.  They must also be interesting enough to spark curiosity of the reader.  There are several types of informational books including: survey books, photo essays, concept books, social histories, informational storybooks, activity books, trivia books, magazines, reference books, and biographies.  When evaluating informational books we want to look for quality.  The most important criteria is accuracy.  We also look at how the book is organized or presented to the reader.  The design and style of the book is also crucial.  The best informational books help demonstrate that this genre is valuable and beautiful, it can be fun as well as a tool for information. 

Captain Underpants Challenged

     The challenged book I read was Captain Underpants.  It was challenged on the basis of offensive language and bad behavior.  It has also been challenged because it is disrespectful to adults. 
       Those challenging the book were unhappy with the potty mouth type of language.  Not swear words mind you, but poop, pee, underwear, etc.  They also were against the fact the main characters are disobedient towards authority figures, mainly school authority figures.  Considerations that the authority figures in these books are bully type characters are not accounted for in their arguments.  Violence is also mentioned as a challenge in the books.  Good guys beating up bad guys, not bloody violence, but usually flinging underwear at the enemy.  There are also spelling and grammatical errors in the comic strips drawn by the characters in the book.  The characters are fourth graders so this was not earth shattering to me. 
        Those in favor of the series all pretty much agree on one key concept.  If it gets kids reading and interested in books, how bad can it be?  Kids, especially boys, love them.  Most kids giggle if you just say the word, underwear.  So, imagine the laughs when the superhero wears them as part of his costume.  Most in favor of the series thought there were worse things their children could be exposed to besides some bad potty humor. 

Top 10 Challenged Books

     After reading about challenged books in libraries I must admit I never really considered both sides.  As a parent of a young adult I had quesrioned some of the graphic novels he was reading.  I did not like the "graphic" pictures in some of them.  I also did not really want him reading the Goosebumps series.  I actually asked the librarian if she had seen some of these books and she said yes, but the kids really like reading them and that was her answer.  I didn't really push the issue, I just guided my son in what I didn't want him reading alone and if he really wanted to read the material we could read it together.  As his parent I don't have to defend my reasons for not wanting him to read something (he won't sleep after reading scary stuff), but I also don't have to push my thoughts onto others. 
     I think that was the greatest thing I learned from this class and assignment.  The right to read the material is necessary.  There will always be someone that is offended.  I found 2 quotes which really put the challenged books situation into perspective for me. 

                     

             “If librarianship is the connecting of people to ideas—and I believe that is the truest definition of what we do—it is crucial to remember that we must keep and make available, not just good ideas and noble ideas, but bad ideas, silly ideas, and yes, even dangerous or wicked ideas.”

                                                                            Graceanne Decandido

“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.

                                                                Benjamin Franklin

Gary Paulsen, Edwards Winner

     Gary Paulsen has made such a contribution to young adult readers.  He has so many awesome books.  His adventure books are very popular, especially with boys.

      He is a master storyteller who has written more than 175 books and some 200 articles and short stories for children and adults. He is one of the most important writers of young adult literature today and three of his novels- Hatchet, Dogsong, and The Winter Room — were Newbery Honor Books. His books frequently appear on the best books lists of the American Library Association.

     He did not have an easy life, running away from home at the age of 14, but he survived and used his adventures to write adventures for others.  He just seems like a down to earth person when you read about him.  His winning of the Edwards award was a definite deserved honor. 

Author Study

     I really enjoyed the author study.  I had Gary Paulsen, Katherine Patterson, and Patricia McKissack.  They were all ordinary people who have become extraordinary authors.  I have always loved Katherine Patterson's book Bridge to Terabithia so I really enjoyed reading about her life and how she comes up with ideas for her books.  She lived in China when she was younger and I had not known that previously.  She loves books which are realistic.  They make you laugh and cry, just like life.  They give you practice for what is going to come. 
     I also studied Gary Paulsen.  I have always heard about Hatchet and I finally read it myself.  Wow what a story!  I just felt like I was on the island with him.  I can't wait to read some more of his work. I was surprised to read he had run off with a traveling carnival at the age of 14.  He's definitely had his own adventures. 
     Patricia McKissack is another author I read about.  She was a teacher before becoming a full time writer. She used much of her heritage to inspire her writings.  The thing I really loved about her is how she and her husband Frederick McKissack worked together for many years before he passed away.  They were quite a team.  Now her son is working with her some.  You can tell family is really imporant to her. 
     The big thing all the authors talked about was writing something everyday.  It may not be your next story, but then again it might.  Mainly keeping at it, just like you would practice a sport or playing an instrument.  That is so important for students to write something every day. 

Article critiques and young adults

           One of the articles I read dealt with the use of technology with young adults, especially video chat.  They like to see their friends, not just text with them.  Sometimes they just have them on their device while they complete homework together, maybe not talking the entire time, but there nonetheless. 

This article makes a lot of sense to me.  Growing up without texting or my own telephone for that matter, has always left me with the question of how can the texting be enough to communicate with each other.  This article addresses that concern by looking at video chatting as a more face to face connection with one another.  It is hard to read body language in a text.  One can read a text one way and the author meant it a complete different way.  This is where more face to face interaction is necessary.  There is also an immediate response with video chat where you might have to wait to a response from a text.  I would be more concerned of what I looked like on video chat, but teens seem to just want the face to face interaction.  I have witnessed something similar to this with my own children.  They enjoy online gaming with their friends.  They don’t actually see their friends, but they correspond with them while they are playing the game together.  It is like having the friend at our house, but he is at his own home.  Their conversation is in real time and they see each other, but as a character not their own self.  Video chatting, although not taking the place of face to face contact, does definitely offer teens a feeling of belonging with their friends.

The other article I read discusses a brand of storytelling sometimes forgotten in which teens may be interested in reading.  They are bande dessinee (Franco-Belgian), comics (English), and manga (Japanese).  Basically they are strip stories or drawn strips, or our more common term of comics.  Although they each developed on their own in their own areas, more is becoming known and sought after them.  The increase of in graphic novels in the United States is one reason credited to the popularity of these genres.                                                                                                                           

I was drawn to this article because of its fairly new introduction.  More and more readers are discovering the genre and becoming fans.  I recently saw a section in the local bookstore.  As the article mentions, five million readers is a big fan base.  Another think which interests me in the manga stories is the similarity to popular boys’ cartoons of the day.  Most teachers have heard of Pokemon and even recently Beyblades.  Both popular toys and characters have some Japanese background.  Having boys and being too familiar with Pokemon and Beyblades, I recently mistook a manga book for one of the cartoons my boys watch.  The artistic style is similar.  As for teens, anything to draw an interest in reading is positive.  Some kids just don’t fit into your so called normal reading literature and this may be another avenue to get them hooked on reading. 

 

Requirements for Healthy Development if Adolescent Youth

This is such an awesome article! It is awesome to me because I have a child on the verge of adolescence.  This article really described so much of what we as his parents are already experiencing.  Being torn between wanting to be taken care of and be my baby and then the next minute wanting to be more independent and making his own decisions.  You can actually see the frustration he experiences.  The moodiness is big too.  One moment happy and the next just like the world as he knows  has come to an end.  I suppose it has come to an as he once knew it anyways.  The peer relationships are also very big.  We can't just be content anymore with the family.  It is always is so and so going to be there or can so and so come over.  The article was refreshing for me to know what to expect with children this age, or I guess I should say young adults.