The 2011 Children's Literature Assembly Workshop investigated cultural contexts and relevant issues in children's literature. Award-winning authors, illustrators, and an educator shared their thoughts about writing, illustrating, and teaching multiethnic literature. The panel included author Nikki Grimes, author and illustrator Eric Velasquez,…

Sustainability is a core 21st-century movement that stresses keeping interrelationships among the environment, human cultures, and economic systems healthy now--and for future generations--across local, regional, national, and global levels. The ideal sustainable community is able to maintain this balance among the social, environmental, and…

Teachers need a deeper understanding of the texts being discussed, in particular the various textual and visual aspects of picturebooks themselves, including the images, written text and design elements, to support how readers made sense of these texts. As teachers become familiar with aspects of literary criticism, art history, visual grammar,…

Investigates fifth-grade children's expectations for stories in relation to knowledge of literature/reading ability. Shows "high readers" included more high-level story propositions and structurally important story information than did low readers; students who included structurally important story information scored higher on knowledge…

Considers how children's books change with the culture around them. Notes how students need concrete and specific information about the special features and organization of postmodern picture books to enhance appreciation and comprehension. Investigates these specific features and demonstrates ways to teach this new story grammar. (SG)

Describes a model procedure for integrating direct instruction in story structure with reader response to literature in two settings: traditional storybook read-aloud sessions and nontraditional HyperCard computer sessions. (SR)

Students at Hauppauge Middle School are writing original children's stories and then telling these stories to preschool children. Before middle school students begin writing their stories, they participate in activities to help them develop a sense of their intended audience. As students write their stories, they work in small groups to discuss…