Conclusion to Children's Literature

Through these blogs, I believe I have encountered many different kinds of books, both of quality and others that were not, though they had been recommended to me. By analyzing the use of the books in my future classroom and keeping a close eye for any people that were marginalized through the book or finding social justice issues, I was able to reevaluate books I had read as a child as one-sided and not appropriate any longer. I was very interested to find out that many Eric Carle books are not scientifically accurate, even though as a child we used his books for research in my Kindergarten and first grade classes.

My exposure to high quality literature during the reviewing process also allowed me to analyze not only quality writing, but also quality illustrations. In order for an illustration to be of high quality according to Children's Literature: Briefly, it must "operate in a manner unique to its special format" including defining characters, establishing a setting, and reinforcing what the text of the book says (30,31). Most of the books I chose did just that. My favorite illustrator I have been introduced to in this process by far was Kadir Nelson. As seen in my blog on Henry's Freedom Box, Nelson is able to bring characters to life through his drawings, and just looking at his scenery makes one feel they are a part of the book. He has won numerous awards for his artwork in children's literature, and I have already bought one of the books he has illustrated for use in my future classroom.

By being forced to read books across the genres, I expanded my knowledge on the various genres of literature as well as experiencing books I had not read since I was much younger. It allowed me to develop a new love for genres that as a child I had no interest in, such as Informational Text or Biographies. A classroom is not complete without an array of children's books from across the genres, and I have used my newly gained knowledge of the genres of literature in order to begin building my collection for my library.

I understand that in order to help children enjoy poetry it should be of some interest to them, and no library collection would be complete without Prelutsky or Silverstein. By using informational texts with rich illustrations or real life photos, such as Seymour Simon's books, children become engaged in reading books that teach them things instead of only whisking them away to another world. Though folktales and fairytales are classic, providing children with new multicultural options can help them to see beyond their bubble of a world and ultimately help to create more world conscious human beings. Discussing the marginalized in books allows books that do have marginalized characters to still be used, while also exposing students to new ways of thinking and social justice issues at a young age. In order to fight for social change, children must not live in a darkened world, and it is our job as teachers to expose them to quality literature as well as unbiased literature while maintaining everything at a developmentally appropriate level.