Traditional Literature Characteristics

• Short Plot
• Fast Paced Action
• 2-D Characters
• Vague Setting
• Common Beginning and endings (Happy)
• Good vs. Evil

Conditions that promote a love of reading

• Freedom of choice
• Availability of books/libraries
• Role Models
• Owning Books
• Sharing and discussing books

Lee Bennett Hopkins

Anthologist who compiles poems about a single subject

Jack Prelutsky

2006 Children's Poet Laureate

Characteristics of a Modern Fantasy

• Events, setting, or characters are outside the realm of possibility
  • Talking animals
  • Imaginary worlds
  • Time travel

History of Modern Fantasy

• Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
• Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
• Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Types of Modern Fantasy

• Modern Folktales
• Animal Fantasy
• Personified toys and objects
• Little People
• Supernatural Events
• Quests
• Sci-Fi

 Characteristics of Realistic Fiction

• Could happen
• Well Developed Characters and Plot
• Fictitious Characters
• Factual Realism
• Situational Realism
• Social Realism
• Emotional Realism
• Contemporary Realism

Mary Ann Hoberman

• 2003 NCTE Poet Award
• 2008 Children's Poet Laureate

Eve Merriam

• Eva Moskovitz
• 1981 NCTE Poet Award
• Feminism a common theme in poems

Eloise Greenfield

• 1997 NCTE Poet Award
• Coretta Scott King Award
  • Africa Dream
• Rap, blues style

Conceptual Difficulty

Complexity of ideas treated in the work and how the ideas are presented

Concerns about reading incentive programs

• Student's choices are limited
• Pleasure of reading is diminished
• May take the tests without reading the book

Newberry Medal

Awarded to the most distinguished contribution to children's literature published in the previous year

Since 1922

Kevin Henkes

• "Mouse Books"
• Uses a crow-quill black pen
• Caldecott
  • Kitten's First Full Moon (2005)

Allen Say

• Japanese
• Caldecott Winner
  • Grandfather's Journey (1994)
• Watercolors

Floyd Cooper

• Subtractive Process
  • Erases Paint

Caldecott Medal

Awarded for the year's most distinguished picture book

Since 1938

Brian Pinkney

• Scratchboard Technique
• Coretta Scott King Award
  • In the Time of the Drums

Leo and Diane Dillon

• Sketch separately on the same books
• Caldecott Medals
  • Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears (1976)
  • Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions (1977)

Paul O. Zelinsky

• Caldecott Medal
  • Rapunzel (1998)

Jim Arnosky

Science and Nature Themed Books

What causes students to want to read?

• Free reading time
• Teacher read-alouds
• Quality and diversity of reading materials

Coretta Scott King Award

Awarded for inspirational and educational contribution to literature for children and young people by an African American author/illustrator

Since 1970

David Small

• Caldecott
  • So, You Want to be President? (2001)

Types of Realistic Fiction

• Families/Peers
• Challenges
• Communities
• Animals
• Sports
• Adventure/Survival
• Mystery/Romance

Genres of Literature

• Poetry
• Plays
• Prose
  • Fiction
  • Non-Fiction