One of the things I enjoy most about being a teacher librarian is reading widely and being recommended great reads. I particularly enjoy being involved in the selection of the books for the Red Dot Award which is organised by The International Schools Library Network Singapore. Singapore is often referred to as the little red dot because we are a tiny dot on the world map, yet here in this island country, there is remarkable cultural diversity.
There are four categories for the award:
- Early Years (ages 3–7)
- Younger Readers (ages 7–10)
- Older Readers (ages 10-14)
- Mature Readers (ages 14-adult)
Shortlisted titles from recent children’s literature are chosen by a committee of teacher-librarians with the goal of offering a range of books from around the world. We look for diversity in:
- genres selected
- formats – we try to include one graphic novel and one non-fiction book in each category
- cultures/countries represented by the characters and of the authors, illustrators AND publishers
- the genders of the protagonist
Why is this important?
Hwang & Hindman (2014, p. 46) propose that “Multicultural literature teaches children about their heritage and the pride of their past. The illustrations, gender roles, and the language of the group should be accurate to represent the culture appropriately.” For their self esteem and sense of identity, all children need to see themselves, their family and their friends reflected in some of the books they read. My previous blog post on Why reading is important I wrote about Rudine Sims Bishop’s brilliant windows and mirrors metaphor. I also shared an amazing TED Talk where Chimamanda Adichie talks about the danger of a single story where she warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. One of my favourite organisations is Room to Read who support school libraries and girls education in the developing world. They also understand the importance of readers looking in mirrors and identifying themselves in the books they read. They produce books that are written and illustrated by local talent in the countries where they work.
Diversity of gender is also so important and I wrote about this further in Children’s Literature, past, present and future. With regards to our process for longlisting and shortlisting the Red Dot books we actually create a table that indicates all of these elements of diversity and we often end up in very heated discussions over which very high quality books we have to omit. Sometimes it is because we have too many female protagonists, sometimes it is because we have too many books from the UK or US and sometimes it is because we have more than one book from that particular genre. I am involved in choosing the older and younger readers category and often realistic fiction seems to have too many good offerings. The process is quite long and lengthy, but it is one that ensures the library staff are looking out for and reading lots of different content that does not always come from mainstream publishers.
I thought I would finish this blog post by sharing some of my absolute favourite Red Dot Books from the four years I have been involved. Just last week we almost finished finalising our shortlists for the 2020-2021 selection. Go to the red dot site above to read more about what we do in our schools to promote these books and also for the new lists which should be coming soon. You may also be interested in these three other book awards created by teacher librarians in International Schools from within Asia, Panda Book Awards, Bangkok Book Awards and the Hong Kong Golden Dragon.
Favourite Red Dot Books so far:
Early Years: Room on Our Rock, The Invisible Boy, Molly and Mae and 7 ate 9
Younger Readers: The Elephant, Stories for Kids Who Dare to Be Different, The Happiness Box, Ida Always, A Boy Called Bat, The House on Silat Road and Mango and Bambang
Older Readers: Illegal, Finding Wonders, The Goldfish Boy, Secrets of Singapore, The 1000 year old boy, Posted, Front Desk, Save Me a Seat, The Thing About Jellyfish, Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus and Sachiko
It was hard to just limit to these titles and I am afraid I could not suggest for the mature readers because I am not yet mature enough to read these texts…
Hwang, S. & Hindman, J. T. (2014). Strategies for adoption children’s refugee literature in the multicultural classroom. Journal of Arts and Humanities, 3(12), 42-53. Retrieved from https://www.theartsjournal.org/index.php/site
My module readings and thinking over the last two weeks has been about something I am very passionate about, the importance of reading for pleasure. I could write numerous blogs about this topic but will start with a short summary here:
Why read for pleasure?
- Extensive research links reading for pleasure to academic success (Haven, 2007; Johnson, 2014).
- Books can be windows or mirrors. We can read about a place or character that we recognise and identify with or they can open the reader’s eyes to a whole new world and allow them to walk in someone else’s shoes. (Bishop, 1990). They help readers experience different feelings and experiences and develop empathy.
- Literature can provide readers with a temporary escape. It can help people who are feeling trapped or vulnerable to gain control and provide them with skills and knowledge (Gaiman, 2013).
- It helps develop global understandings and cultural literacy including understanding the traditions and values of different social groups (Freire, 1983).
- It helps us to live vicariously and “to enter other lives; other selves; other times; places and cultures” (Schakel & Ridl, 2017).
- It develops literacy skills and therefore will help develop Information Literacy skills, which are so important for students to ensure they can identify bias or fake news in their reading.
- It develops the imagination.
The author, Neil Gaiman (2013) spoke so succinctly about many of these topics in his lecture for the reading agency. He also talks about how there is no such thing as a bad book and how that is “snobbery and foolishness.” I thought about that again recently when I listened to Dav Pilkey (2019), the author of the Captain Underpants and Dog Man series. He spoke about the importance of graphic novels for children who have difficulty with reading. He shared how he remembers so clearly the shame of being the worst reader in the class and thanks his mother who would let him read any books with no judgement. He enjoyed picture books and comics and realised how much he liked reading. I have this conversation often with students, staff and parents when they are trying to ‘ban’ graphic novels or make children read books they do not enjoy or are not ready for. I do agree that it is important to work with students to try new challenges with reading. A big part of being an effective teacher librarian (TL) is to work with students to stretch their reading habits when they are ready.
Recently in Book Week one of my TL colleagues suggested that we share some short TED talks about reading with staff and parents. She then asked on social media in the TL community for some suggestions and she curated some very powerful ones. All of these talks elaborate on some of the reasons I have mentioned above. I will finish this blog by sharing these and suggesting you get comfortable, watch, listen and enjoy!
The first is Rebecca Bellingham (2015) talking about Why we should all be reading aloud to children even when they can read independently. This talk demonstrates the magic of reading aloud and reminds us all why reading aloud is so essential and how reading helps us make powerful connections.
The second is Jessica Wise (2012) discussing How fiction can change reality and about how reading and stories can be an escape from real life, a window into another world and talks about how popular fiction can spark dialogue and shape culture.
The third is The danger of a single story and is by novelist Chimamanda Adichie (2012) who tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice. She warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
The fourth is Lisa Bu (2013) talking about the magic of books and How books can open your mind.
References
Bishop, R. S. (1990). Mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors. Perspectives: Choosing and using books for the classroom, 6(3). Retrieved from https://scenicregional.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf
Bu, L. (2013, May). Lisa Bu: How books can open your mind [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_bu_how_books_can_open_your_mind?language=en
Freire, P. (1983). The importance of the act of reading. Journal of Education, 165(1), 5-11.
Gaiman, N. (2013). Why our futures depend on libraries, reading and daydreaming. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming
Haven, K. F. (2007). Story proof: The science behind the startling power of story. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Johnston, R. (2014). Literary literacies: Digital, cultural, narrative, critical and deep literacies. In G. Winch, R. Ross Johnston, P. March, L. Ljungdahl & M. Holliday (Eds.), Literacy: Reading, writing and children’s literature (5th ed., pp. 556). Retrieved from Proquest Ebook Central.
O, #8217 Donnell, Alina. (2019). WINDOWS, MIRRORS, AND SLIDING GLASS DOORS: The enduring impact of Rudine Sims Bishop’s work. Literacy Today (2411-7862), 36(6), 16–19.
Pilkey, D. (Presenter). (2019, November 18). How graphic novels help children with learning disabilities. Speech presented at Singapore Book Council, The Arts House, Singapore.
readingagency. (2013, October 22). Neil Gaiman Reading Agency lecture 2013 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/yNIUWv9_ZH0
Schakel, P. & Ridl, J. (2017). Approaching literature: Reading, thinking, writing. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.
TED. (2012, August 23). Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg
TED-Ed. (2012, August 23). Jessica Wise: How fiction can change reality [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctaPAm14L10
TEDx. (2015, December 30). Rebecca Bellingham: Why we should all be reading aloud to children [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBuT2wdYtpM&t=2s