My day to blog is Friday. Yes, I get to bat - clean-up. Now in baseball that means you are a good batter but following the outstanding writing any week on this blog is difficult. This week is hard for me since I spent the week marveling over all of my colleagues writing and shaking my head and saying - yes! yes! yes!
Let's have a brief recap:
Monday - Myra wrote about voice and choice in nonfiction.
Tuesday - Marc continued his discuss of layout and themes in two of his books.
Wednesday - Mary Ann wrote about making sure that the writer's commentary and back matter is highlighted in a more significant manner.
Thursday - Kathleen provided wonderful examples of books with strong opportunities to share compare and contrast.
Now it is Friday. Where to go? What direction to take?
I want to share how I prepare to read a nonfiction book. I want to take into account all material you have read all week and bring it home for you.
Do you just grab the book - look at the title - maybe read the front or back flap and dive right in?
Do you just open to the first chapter - skip the introduction, the acknowledgment, the dedication?
If you do any or all of the above you are missing the opportunity to connect with your nonfiction in deeper ways.
Let's start with the bookcover. What do you see on the cover? What is the message delivered in a visual format for you? Is is colorful? Does it catch your eye? Does it make you think? Is the font type, size, and color inviting?
Moving on to the book flap. Read it - does it set the stage for the story? Are you curious enough to move forward to read the book after you read the book flap? Did it give too much away or was it too brief? Does it help prepare you to read the book?
Title page and verso of the title page which many times includes the dedication. Is there a subtitle that you missed on the cover or didn't notice? Who published the book? Is this publisher known for a specific strength in publishing? Do you even know this? How can you find this out? You can visit the publisher's web page. Publisher's web pages provide a wealth of information that can really help you determine what type of materials they publisher. The publisher might provide support or bonus materials which Mary Ann hopes publishers will do. I think it would be great if the publisher embedded an audio chip right in the book for detailed information from the author or some unusual primary source material about the subject that could engage the reader.
Oh! Wait just a minute we forgot the end pages. Well that will have to wait til next Friday as I am rushing off out shortly to head to BEA (Book Expo America in NYC) More next week on developing your aptitude. If I have time you might get a bonus blog from BEA. Stay tuned.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song
In my focus on comparing and contrasting, this time I’m
turning to books that use a compare/contrast structure within the book. I’ve written about comparing whole books to
each other including biographies and books about the civil rights movements,
which falls under Common Core’s ELA Reading Anchor Standard 9. Looking at
structure within a book addresses Standard 5: “Analyze the structure of texts,
including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text
(e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the
whole.” It varies by grade, of course.
One of the easiest structures for elementary school students
to analyze is that of compare and contrast.
Luckily, there are some terrific books to choose from. As per my previous post, graphic organizers
from Venn diagrams to more sophisticated compare/contrast charts are an effective
tool to help organize thoughts during and after reading.
One recent book that uses the compare/contrast structure beautifully is Andrea Davis Pinkney’s Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song (Little, Brown, 2013), illustrated by Brian Pinkney. It’s structured so that readers naturally see the similarities and differences between Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahalia Jackson. Even the sub-title emphasizes a difference, “His Words, Her Song.” The text itself opens with a similarity: “They were each born with the gift of gospel,” which Martin preached and Mahalia sang, separately, in churches around the country (the text uses first names). They both grew up surrounded by segregation, which led to their commitment to civil rights. They came together for the Montgomery bus boycott and, the climax of the book, the 1963 March on Washington.
At
first the illustrations place the two leaders on separate pages, but they come
together in an illustration after Martin has heard Mahalia sing and knows their
talents would re-enforce each other. Readers must turn the book vertically for
this illustration that stretches across two pages, emphasizing the importance
of the alliance. Readers must turn the
book one more time for Dr. King’s speech at the March.
A
note in the back matter from Brian Pinkney titled “Painting Parallels” explains
how he used the art to reflect the text: “I contrasted Martin and Mahalia by
employing blues and greens for Martin, reds and oranges for Mahalia. Purples and magentas come into the mix when
Martin and Mahalia blend their talents and tenacity.”
By
looking and reading/listening closely, children will find those similarities
and differences—and more--in the text and pictures. Once they’ve identified the structure and looked at the details, questions to discuss include: Why did the
author and illustrator structure the book this way? What does the structure emphasize? What other structures could they have
used? Knowing that the Pinkneys are
married makes it all the more interesting to think about their decisions and
how they arrived at them (over the dinner table?) since not all authors and illustrators meet or even talk about a book, from what I'm told.
A
wonderful follow-up is to watch and listen to Mahalia Jackson's singing at the
March (www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT0SUMSjMWw),
and Dr. King’s iconic speech (www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs).
Here
are some other books that compare two people effectively, which could be paired
with Martin & Mahalia or studied
individually for structure:
Michelson,
Richard. Illustrated by Raúl Colón. As Good as Anybody: Martin Luther King
Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel's Amazing March toward Freedom. 2008. This would work especially well to compare
with Martin & Mahalia. It’s a
moving story about a rabbi who gave his support to the cause of civil rights
and became friends with Dr. King.
Barton, Chris. Illustrated by Tony Persiani. The
Day-Glo Brothers. 2009. As the title indicates, this book focuses on
two brothers. It shows how their
different talents and interests complemented each other, leading to the
invention of day-glo colors.
Kerley, Barbara.
Illustrated by Ed Fotheringham. Those Rebels, John and Tom. 2012.
Here’s another book that effectively uses illustrations as well as text to
emphasize differences and similarities.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Beyond the Backmatter: Nonfiction Equivalents of Bonus Features and Director Commentary
I've very much enjoyed reading Marc's explanations of the decision-making behind the visual composition of If Stones Could Speak and Skull in the Rock. In the future, when I have my graduate students read these books, I will send them to these blog posts, so that they can better understand and unpack what is happening within the fixed boundaries of the text, how they are being shaped as readers/viewers of the book as they move through it, making meaning.
But I'm selfish. As a teacher, I want something like this for every nonfiction book. Whenever I have a nonfiction author visit or Skype in to one of my classes, whenever I moderate a panel of nonfiction authors and illustrators, I am as interested in what got excluded from the final text as what was included and why. I learn even more about what is in the text from hearing about what isn't and why.
One of the exciting challenges of the implementation of the CCSS is the focus on writing. I worry that, for many reasons, teachers are paralyzed by what the PARCC and Smarter Balanced Assessments sample questions look like, and writing for the test will continue to dominate classroom writing, rather than the authentic writing and composing possibilities that the standards themselves suggest.
We have long understood the interconnectedness of the reading and writing experience. When we ask students K-12 to write authentic nonfiction texts, they can better access and understand author's craft. When writing nonfiction, genre and craft study is as important as learning the content about which you are writing. How does one shape and convey meaning through visuals and text? What does that look like for a third grader writer? Seventh grade writer? Eleventh grade writer?
We have many examples of nonfiction books and digital texts for students to draw from as mentor texts. But as a teacher, I would love to have more information on the back story of the text, from both the writer and the editor/book designer, and in the case of nonfiction picture books, the illustrator. What if publishers recorded conversations about the research, writing, and book creation process, including a visual "walk through" of the book, such as Marc wrote in these blog posts, as an audio file that can accessed from the publisher's webpage? For ebooks, they audio file could be embedded in the end or at various points within the text itself as a annotated reading, a voice over if you will, should the reader choose it. These features would be the nonfiction trade book equivalent to the bonus features on a movie DVD.
These recordings would be a portrait of the process of putting the books together, modeling for teachers and students alike the deep thinking that goes into composing, and the decisions to include and exclude information, visuals, sources, etc. In the meantime, Teachingbooks.net and the INK blog continue to be a resource for curated "back story" on texts.
But I'm selfish. As a teacher, I want something like this for every nonfiction book. Whenever I have a nonfiction author visit or Skype in to one of my classes, whenever I moderate a panel of nonfiction authors and illustrators, I am as interested in what got excluded from the final text as what was included and why. I learn even more about what is in the text from hearing about what isn't and why.
One of the exciting challenges of the implementation of the CCSS is the focus on writing. I worry that, for many reasons, teachers are paralyzed by what the PARCC and Smarter Balanced Assessments sample questions look like, and writing for the test will continue to dominate classroom writing, rather than the authentic writing and composing possibilities that the standards themselves suggest.
We have long understood the interconnectedness of the reading and writing experience. When we ask students K-12 to write authentic nonfiction texts, they can better access and understand author's craft. When writing nonfiction, genre and craft study is as important as learning the content about which you are writing. How does one shape and convey meaning through visuals and text? What does that look like for a third grader writer? Seventh grade writer? Eleventh grade writer?
We have many examples of nonfiction books and digital texts for students to draw from as mentor texts. But as a teacher, I would love to have more information on the back story of the text, from both the writer and the editor/book designer, and in the case of nonfiction picture books, the illustrator. What if publishers recorded conversations about the research, writing, and book creation process, including a visual "walk through" of the book, such as Marc wrote in these blog posts, as an audio file that can accessed from the publisher's webpage? For ebooks, they audio file could be embedded in the end or at various points within the text itself as a annotated reading, a voice over if you will, should the reader choose it. These features would be the nonfiction trade book equivalent to the bonus features on a movie DVD.
These recordings would be a portrait of the process of putting the books together, modeling for teachers and students alike the deep thinking that goes into composing, and the decisions to include and exclude information, visuals, sources, etc. In the meantime, Teachingbooks.net and the INK blog continue to be a resource for curated "back story" on texts.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
More to Say - Weaving Stones with Skulls
There is more to say about If Stones -- which I will weave in as this week I shift to The Skull in the Rock. To add a step of complexity up from If Stones, there are four themes in the book: the story of a single discovery which was initially made by nine-year-old Matthew Berger; the story of his father Dr. Lee Berger and how he and Matthew came to be in the spot to make -- and recognize - the discovery; an introduction to some of the science (processes, terminology, and current understanding) of human evolution; the process of "seeing the anomaly" which Lee and his discovery exemplify.
The title page has a background photo. In If Stones we used Stonehenge. Here we chose a panning shot of the area where the discovery was made. We are taking you into the scene, the setting. Step one goes wide, the area. Page 6 is a full page shot of Matthew with the stone and a fossil, taken moments after the discovery -- so from wide scene we narrow down to the moment, the discovery, a person. In If Stones, the designer chose to echo the count of chapter numbers with three trilithons; thus nine chapters come into view as one, then, two, three, etc. stones are shaded; in Skull this visual echo (not a counter, since the words "chapter X" are also written out) with finger from two fossil hands. Decisions like this have a subtle influence -- many readers many not notice them at all. But they contribute to the feeling of a made, crafted, designed book and page. They are a little extra to give you a touch of pleasure, wit, fun -- immersion. This is a matter of budget -- since these "extras" have to be designed -- and aesthetics -- these "extras" have to fit cohesively into the chapter openings. Originally, for example, we planned to have a little visual icon on the opening page of each chapter of The Griffin and the Dinosaur -- echoing the sketches Adrienne made in her notebook, with the icons collectively adding up to a kind of rebus, the puzzle pieces, which finally yielded the solution. But we could not make that good idea work throughout the book.
8-9 Shows us a detail -- Matthew pointing to the clavicle which was the crucial discovery -- and, silhouetted out on the facing page, the entire bone. So we have gone wide, specific, detail -- in a movie of Graphic Novel you could imagine the camera panning down.
10-11 Is the first of three related spreads which accomplish two things: they let the reader experience the sequence from field to lab, and they are examples of Lee's concept of "seeing the anomaly." We sent Lee out with a camera to find a fossil to create this first spread, and so he did.
I should add here that those of us who write and work in design have another advantage: as we write, we have a sense of the beats of the story: the length of each part (chapter or subhead) within the whole. Chapter one in Skull was necessarily short. For, having set up the discovery, we move into Theme 2, Lee's life.
Skull has the great advantage that it was a 9 year old who made the initial find. But of course his father is the key scientist. In chapter two, we now create another possible connection to the reader -- Lee as a young person. The idea is to see how his interest in nature, his approach to noticing, seeing, acting, led him to investigate human evolution. So page 10 are pages from Lee's childhood scrapbook, facing a photo of himat 7.
16 On this page we have a reconstruction of what the famous hominyn Lucy may have looked like when she was alive 3.2 million years ago. This again serves to purposes -- it is our entry into the beat in Lee's story that led him to become a paleoanthropologist, and it will parallel the reconstruction of Karabo on 42. Visuals in a book can speak to other visuals just as much as text can foreshadow or echo text.
20-21 This spread is an example of what I just wrote. In the first "fossil finding" spread we took you into the field. Now here we show the process of how fossils are gathered and then brought into the lab. This spread links back to the one on 10-11 and ahead to one on 48-49 where Lee takes the Skull to a special super-high-tech-lab in Grenoble. So just as the book begin wide to narrow to narrower; the three linked spreads go from field, field to lab, lab to specialized examination. There was another key point in this spread -- most of the scientists and technicians shown here are Africans -- we have a key role in studying and preserving the fossils found in South Africa. That is not stated, but it is there to be seen in the visuals.
The last visual I'd like to call your attention to is on 60. We needed to locate Sediba, the species Matthew and Lee found, within what is known or thought about human evolution. But where? How? Lee made the wonderful argument that the images we usually use -- ladder, tree -- still assume that one species replaced another on the way "up" to us. He thinks evolution may have been more like a braided stream -- with species mixing, blurring, having children together, some surviving, some not -- and that is the image we used. I am pleased to say that since Lee made that case, I have seen other scientists agree.
So that is Skull -- again, hope this is helpful.
The title page has a background photo. In If Stones we used Stonehenge. Here we chose a panning shot of the area where the discovery was made. We are taking you into the scene, the setting. Step one goes wide, the area. Page 6 is a full page shot of Matthew with the stone and a fossil, taken moments after the discovery -- so from wide scene we narrow down to the moment, the discovery, a person. In If Stones, the designer chose to echo the count of chapter numbers with three trilithons; thus nine chapters come into view as one, then, two, three, etc. stones are shaded; in Skull this visual echo (not a counter, since the words "chapter X" are also written out) with finger from two fossil hands. Decisions like this have a subtle influence -- many readers many not notice them at all. But they contribute to the feeling of a made, crafted, designed book and page. They are a little extra to give you a touch of pleasure, wit, fun -- immersion. This is a matter of budget -- since these "extras" have to be designed -- and aesthetics -- these "extras" have to fit cohesively into the chapter openings. Originally, for example, we planned to have a little visual icon on the opening page of each chapter of The Griffin and the Dinosaur -- echoing the sketches Adrienne made in her notebook, with the icons collectively adding up to a kind of rebus, the puzzle pieces, which finally yielded the solution. But we could not make that good idea work throughout the book.
8-9 Shows us a detail -- Matthew pointing to the clavicle which was the crucial discovery -- and, silhouetted out on the facing page, the entire bone. So we have gone wide, specific, detail -- in a movie of Graphic Novel you could imagine the camera panning down.
10-11 Is the first of three related spreads which accomplish two things: they let the reader experience the sequence from field to lab, and they are examples of Lee's concept of "seeing the anomaly." We sent Lee out with a camera to find a fossil to create this first spread, and so he did.
I should add here that those of us who write and work in design have another advantage: as we write, we have a sense of the beats of the story: the length of each part (chapter or subhead) within the whole. Chapter one in Skull was necessarily short. For, having set up the discovery, we move into Theme 2, Lee's life.
Skull has the great advantage that it was a 9 year old who made the initial find. But of course his father is the key scientist. In chapter two, we now create another possible connection to the reader -- Lee as a young person. The idea is to see how his interest in nature, his approach to noticing, seeing, acting, led him to investigate human evolution. So page 10 are pages from Lee's childhood scrapbook, facing a photo of himat 7.
16 On this page we have a reconstruction of what the famous hominyn Lucy may have looked like when she was alive 3.2 million years ago. This again serves to purposes -- it is our entry into the beat in Lee's story that led him to become a paleoanthropologist, and it will parallel the reconstruction of Karabo on 42. Visuals in a book can speak to other visuals just as much as text can foreshadow or echo text.
20-21 This spread is an example of what I just wrote. In the first "fossil finding" spread we took you into the field. Now here we show the process of how fossils are gathered and then brought into the lab. This spread links back to the one on 10-11 and ahead to one on 48-49 where Lee takes the Skull to a special super-high-tech-lab in Grenoble. So just as the book begin wide to narrow to narrower; the three linked spreads go from field, field to lab, lab to specialized examination. There was another key point in this spread -- most of the scientists and technicians shown here are Africans -- we have a key role in studying and preserving the fossils found in South Africa. That is not stated, but it is there to be seen in the visuals.
The last visual I'd like to call your attention to is on 60. We needed to locate Sediba, the species Matthew and Lee found, within what is known or thought about human evolution. But where? How? Lee made the wonderful argument that the images we usually use -- ladder, tree -- still assume that one species replaced another on the way "up" to us. He thinks evolution may have been more like a braided stream -- with species mixing, blurring, having children together, some surviving, some not -- and that is the image we used. I am pleased to say that since Lee made that case, I have seen other scientists agree.
So that is Skull -- again, hope this is helpful.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Voice + Choice +Bugs + Humor + Gross Details + History: What a Combo!
Here are two things I like in a book: voice and choice. By
voice, I am referring to visible authors who speak directly to me, telling me
this and that like we are buddies. And choice means authors who leave some decision
making up to me. Both of these ideas come together in Bugged: How Insects Changed History, written by Sarah Albee and
illustrated by Robert Leighton. But … there’s much more than voice and choice
here. This book is funny! It’s gross! It’s history! It’s loaded with graphics!
(my current obsession). Wow!
Using this book, you might want to address the topics of
voice and choice with young readers. This author really has a strong voice. On
page 1 she hooked me with this preview of what was to come:
This book is about how insects have
changed human history, for better or worse. We’re going to read about some of
the most dangerous, coolest, and grossest bugs on the planet. And we’re going
to read about how they contributed to some of the most interesting, deadly, and
shocking episodes in human history.
And here’s what she said about choice on page 3:
If you don’t want to be grossed
out, or you are easily scared, you should probably stop reading now and go
check out a nice book about butterflies or something.
She has even labeled the grossest information items as TMI? —Too Much Information? —so that squeamish
readers can skip them. How considerate is that!
Now in addition to all of this, this book would be great to
use as a mentor text. If you and your students keep a sharp eye on this book,
here are a few things you will notice:
·
Fantastic
Facts: Here’s a great one: “For every pound of us, there are three hundred
pounds of insects” (p. 7).
·
Subheadings
with Amusing Puns . Here are a few:
o Crawler
ID
o Survival
of the Flittest
o East
Meets Pest
·
Repetitive
Features: Throughout the book you will find features like the following:
o TMI?
(Too Much Information?)
o Insect
Aside (More information about an insect)
o You
Don’t Say (Relevant Quotes)
·
Glossary:
Not only are words clearly explained, but here you will find an example of
how to explain words that are easily confused. In this case, there is an
explanation of the differences between contagious
and infectious.
·
Notes on
Sources: Clearly written source notes tell where the information in each
chapter comes from. These notes are excellent models for students to use, and
the print size is just right—not too
small.
I am sure you will find a lot more to like. You will also learn
some science and history. What a gift for the end of the school year. Don’t
miss this book.
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