This book is the result of understanding literature as a central part of children’s education. Fiction and nonfiction literary works constitute a source to open young minds and to help them understand how and why people – themselves included – live as they do, or to question through critical lenses whether they could live otherwise. By integrating philological, cultural, and pedagogical inquiries, Thinking through Children's Literature in the Classroom approaches the use of literature as a crucial factor to motivate students not only to improve their literacy skills, but also to develop their literary competence, one that prepares them to produce independent and sensible interpretations of the world. Of course, the endeavor of forming young readers and fostering their ability to think begins primarily by having well-read teachers who are enthusiastic about teaching and, secondly, by having students who are willing to learn. To encourage and sustain them through the critical turns of their own thinking processes, educators must surely display a sound pedagogic knowledge apart from deep literary expertise.

Thinking and Learning through Literature shares ways of using high quality literature to cultivate children's awareness; their intelligence; and their understanding of themselves, other people, and the past and present world.

Big Ideas for Little Kids includes everything a teacher, a parent, or a college student needs to teach philosophy to elementary school children from picture books. Written in a clear and accessible style, the book explains why it is important to allow young children access to philosophy during primary-school education. Wartenberg also gives advice on how to construct a "learner-centered" classroom, in which children discuss philosophical issues with one another as they respond to open-ended questions by saying whether they agree or disagree with what others have said.

This indispensable teacher resource and course text, now revised and updated, addresses the "whats," "whys," and "how-tos" of incorporating outstanding children's literature into the K–8 reading program. A strong emphasis on diverse literature is woven throughout the fifth edition, with chapters emphasizing the need for books that reflect their readers and presenting dozens of carefully reviewed books that teachers will be eager to use in the classroom. Leading authorities provide advice on selecting texts, building core literacy and literary skills, supporting struggling readers, and maximizing engagement. The volume offers proven strategies for teaching specific genres and formats, such as fiction, nonfiction, picturebooks, graphic novels, biographies, and poetry. This title is a copublication with the International Literacy Association. New to This Edition *Many new teaching ideas and book recommendations, with an increased focus on culturally diverse literature. *Scope expanded from K–5 to K–8. *Chapter on using read-alouds and silent reading. *Chapters on diverse literature about the arts and on transitional chapter books. *Chapter on engaging struggling readers with authentic reading experiences.

Teaching Tough Topics shows teachers how to lead students to become caring citizens as they read and respond to quality children’s literature. It focuses on topics that can be challenging or sensitive, yet are significant in order to build understanding of social justice, diversity, and equity. Racism, Homophobia, Bullying, Religious Intolerance, Poverty, and Physical and Mental Challenges are just some of the themes explored. The book is rooted in the belief that by using picture books, novels, poetry, and nonfiction, teachers can enrich learning with compassion and empathy as students make connections to texts, to others, and to the world.

Many reading programs today overlook an essential component of literacy instruction—helping children develop an enduring love of reading. This authoritative and accessible guide provides a wealth of ideas for incorporating high-quality children's books of all kinds into K–6 classrooms. Numerous practical strategies are presented for engaging students with picturebooks, fiction, nonfiction, and nontraditional texts. Lively descriptions of recommended books and activities are interspersed with invaluable tips for fitting authentic reading experiences into the busy school day. Every chapter concludes with reflection questions and suggestions for further reading. The volume also features reproducible worksheets and forms.

"Children's Literature: Engaging Teachers and Children in good Books" is based on a two-part philosophy..." "a passion for children's books is contagious." To get students passionate about reading, teachers need to be passionate about children's literature. "text sets are the cornerstone for literature-based reading." Each chapter opens with a suggested text set and an authentic student response; alternative text sets appear within each chapter. "Children's Literature: Engaging Teachers and Children in good Books" has several key, unique features..." "Original interviews" with 21 children's book authors/illustrators "Integrated technology features" including Internet teaching strategies, an accompanying free CD database, and guidance for using the Companion Website "Teaching Tips" that share practical K-8 teaching strategies and

Much of teachers’ attention these days is focused on having students read closely to ferret out the author’s intended meaning and the devices used to convey that meaning. But we cannot forget to guide students to have moving engagements with literature, because they need to make strong personal connections to books of merit if they are to become the next generation of readers: literate people with awareness of and concern for the diversity of human beings around them and in different times and places. Fortunately, guiding both students’ personal engagement with literature and their close reading to appreciate the author’s message and craft are not incompatible goals. This book enthusiastically and intelligently addresses both imperatives, first surveying what is gained when students are immersed in literature; then celebrating and explicating the main features of literature students need to understand to broaden their tastes and deepen their engagement, at the same time they meet external standards; then presenting a host of active methods for exploring all major genres of children’s books; and finally presenting suggestions for interdisciplinary teaching units grounded in literature. Created by noted leaders in the fields of children’s literature and literacy, the book is enlivened by recurring features such as suggested reading lists, issues for discussion, links to technology, and annotations of exemplary books.

Children's literature has been taught in undergraduate classrooms since the mid-1960s and has grown to become a staple of English literature, library science, and education programs. Children's literature classes are typically among the most popular course offerings at any institution. It is easy to understand why; children's literature classes promise students the opportunity to revisit familiar works with fresh eyes. With the growth of the children’s publishing industry and the celebration of recent scholarly interventions in the field, the popularity of the discipline is unlikely to abate. A central question of current children’s literature scholarship and practice is how to effectively address contemporary questions of social justice. This collection offers a series of interventions for the practice of teaching equity through children's literature in undergraduate classrooms. It is intended for individuals who teach, or who are interested in teaching, children’s literature to undergraduates. It includes contributions from practitioners from a range of institutional affiliations, disciplinary backgrounds, nationalities, and career stages. Furthermore, this volume includes contributions from scholars who belong to groups which are often underrepresented within academia, due to race, nationality, ethnicity, gender identity, disability, or other protected characteristics.

This accessible text will show students and class teachers how they can enable their pupils to become critical thinkers through the medium of picturebooks. By introducing children to the notion of making-meaning together through thinking and discussion, Roche focuses on carefully chosen picturebooks as a stimulus for discussion, and shows how they can constitute an accessible, multimodal resource for adding to literacy skills, while at the same time developing in pupils a far wider range of literary understanding. By allowing time for thinking about and digesting the pictures as well as the text, and then engaging pupils in classroom discussion, this book highlights a powerful means of developing children’s oral language ability, critical thinking, and visual literacy, while also acting as a rich resource for developing children’s literary understanding. Throughout, Roche provides rich data and examples from real classroom practice. This book also provides an overview of recent international research on doing ‘interactive read alouds’, on what critical literacy means, on what critical thinking means and on picturebooks themselves. Lecturers on teacher education courses for early years or primary levels, classroom teachers, pre-service education students, and all those interested in promoting critical engagement and dialogue about literature will find this an engaging and very insightful text.