A Unit of Study About the Medieval Period: Choices & Dilemmas

Visual response to Beowulf (Reilly, 2015)

I. The Slipperiness of Background Knowledge: Whose?  

I have been hard at work designing a fifth grade unit of study focusing on the medieval period.  What motivates me most is the remembrance of a comment a child made last year in fourth grade.  I recorded the child's inquiry this way:

It's early morning in a fourth grade classroom in Newark, NJ and the children and their teacher are at work studying Greek mythology. Beyond the classroom windows the weather hints at the possibility of spring.  But March has already been fickle and most anything could occur. Against the quiet of the classroom you can hear cars and trucks rumble by--the highway that splits this city runs just a few feet from the school. And in this mix of sounds it is the voice of one boy that we must pay attention to.  

He turns and says to his teacher and classmates, "I've been thinking about the myths we are reading. How they are thousands of years old.  Do you think a thousand years from now people will think Christian and Muslim religions are myths, too?" from here

It's occasioning big questions that most interests me when I compose possible curricula.  I know the work is mostly about possibilities and less about certainties as curriculum is complicated conversation.  What gets engendered is almost always more interesting and compelling that what gets written.  So in the unit I'm currently composing I am thinking about the medieval period and why it resonates.  Mostly, I have been thinking how people at the time made sense of the world through spiritual, natural, or religious lens and how these lens would give way (in part) to naming the world through more scientific reasoning and then through valued economic systems.  As I write, I'm cognizant that I want to be leave room in the curriculum for students to be able to generate bigger questions about world naming and faith; reason making and the potential effect of that economic systems have on all of that.

As I write I'm reminded that the way is often not clear when writing curriculum.

II. Lots of Books: Check It Out Circles & Padlet

So, I have been assembling a lot of books, a couple of tasks, and just a few questions to help students get grounded--as best one might.  Here's the initial set of questions that will no doubt undergo revision:

1. What questions do you think are most important to pose about the this time period?
2. Based on your reading, what’s important to know about the Medieval period? 
3. Based on your reading, whose voices are represented?  Whose voices are missing? What do you make of that?
4. Based on your reading, what were some hardships people at that time faced? Who? How did they respond to these hardships? 
5. Based on your reading, what seems to matter most to people? What did they value? What did they believe in? 

Initially students will be introduced via Check it Out Circles (Sibberson & Szymusiak, 2003) to two collections of book--the first focusing on information about the time period and the second focusing on people (biographies) who lived during that time. Students will make initial book choices, partner and buddy read. They'll read as much as they like. While reading, I'd like them to be mindful of the questions--their own and the one's for the class.  As this unit is designed for midyear, there's a likelihood that some of these books may have already been read by students and if so, that will surely inform their peers' choices too. Students will post initial understandings of the text(s) and the period through Padlet--so that the larger community of students are able to read what their peers are thinking.  The postings will be organized using the set of questions.  So one could read a question and then read a lot of responses that were informed by reading different texts. As in most of the work I do, students' responses to the questions can take many forms: written, spoken, visual (still & moving), musical and so on... The beauty of Padlet is that one can post and link so media can easily be represented.

III. Book Clubs

After this initial opening, students will have some choices regarding a literary text they'd like to study with a small group of peers. The texts are either from the medieval period or about medieval legends or mythologies. They are brief texts--not novels. The clubs will establish questions, focus, and timelines after making a text selection. Students will have already been taught a set of response tools that they might select to use so as to (in)form their discussions. Whereas a goal of book clubs is for meaningful discourse to occur--the method is not in giving them a set of accountable talk tag lines as I think this may well inhibit thought, but rather a set of tools to help them make sense of text.

IV. Beowulf: Whole Class/Read Aloud Text

Once book clubs are launched, the students will also begin reading Beowulf.  This will be conducted as a teacher read aloud--although students will have copies of the text in hand. Beowulf is meant to be heard. It is here that the question about beliefs and values will be more acutely studied and the use of drama and art making will play a larger role. As students will have experienced a lot of methods of text analysis by this time in the year, they will co-design the engagements that they most value. Knowing some of the students I can imagine the use of Minecraft showing up.  We'll see.

Below is the bibliography of written texts (I haven't curated the visual ones yet). If you have other suggestions, please let me know.  Thanks:)

Texts: 

Whole Class/Read Aloud Text

1. Morpurgo, Michael. (2006). Beowulf. Illustrated by Michael Foreman. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. (1180L)

Informational Texts for Partner Reading

1. Allen, Kathy. (2011). The Horrible, Miserable Middle Ages: The Disgusting Details About Life During Medieval Times. North Mankato, MN: Capstone Press.  (850L)
2. Cels, Marc. (2004). Life on a Medieval Manor. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (1070L)
3. Eastwood, Kay. (2003). Women and Girls in the Middle Ages. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (1070L)
4. Eastwood, Kay. (2003). Places of Worship in the Middle Ages. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (1090L)
5. Eastwood, Kay.(2003). Life in a  Castle. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (1020L)
6. Eastwood, Kay. (2003). Medieval Society. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (1060L)
7. Eastwood, Kay. (2003). The Life of a Knight. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (1020L)
8. Elliott, Lynn. (2005). Medieval Medicine And the Plague. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (1150L)
9. Elliot, Lynne. (2004). Children and Games in the Medieval Ages.  Minneapolis, MN: Crabtree Pub Co. (1110L)
10. Elliott, Lynn. (2004). Food and Feasts in the Middle Ages. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company.  (1170L)
11. Elliott, Lynn. (2004). Clothing in the Middle Ages. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (1100L)
12. Elliott, Lynn. (2004). Medieval Towns, Trade, and Travel. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (1140L)
13. Findon, Joan. (2004). Science and Technology in the Middle Ages. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (1080L)
14. Galloway, Priscilla. (2003). Archers, Alchemists, and 98 Other Medieval Jobs You Might Have Loved or Loathed. Illustrated by Martha Newbigging. New York: Annick Press.
15. Gibbons, Gail. (1998). Knights in Shining Armor. New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. (930L)
16. Groves, Marsha. (2005). Manners and Customs in the Middle Ages. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (1090L)
17. Johnson Sherri. The Medieval Plague. North Mankato, MN: Capstone Press. (620L)
18. Major, John S. (1996). The Silk Route: 7,000 Miles of History. Illustrated by Stephen Fieser. New York: HarperCollins. (1140L)
19. Scandiffio, Laura. (2009). Crusades: Kids at the Crossroads. Illustrated by John Mantha. New York: Annick Press
20. Steele, Phillip. (2009). History News: The Aztec News. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. 
21. Steele, Tara. (2003). Medieval Warfare. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (1010L)
22. Tembeski, Donna. (2005). Medieval Law And Punishment. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (1100L)
23. Trembinski, Donna. (2005). Medieval Myths, Legends, and Songs. Minneapolis, MN: Crabtree Pub Co. (1040L)
24. Whiting, Jim. Medieval Knights. North Mankato, MN: Capstone Press. (620L)
25. Whiting, Jim. Medieval Castles. North Mankato, MN: Capstone Press. (610L)

Biographical Texts for Partner Reading

1. Ashby, Ruth. (2006).  Caedmon’s Song. Illustrated by Bill Slavin. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. (No Lexile Level)
2. Conklin, Wendy. (2007). Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler: World Cultures Through Time. Huntington Beach, CA: Teacher Created Materials.(610L)
3. Demi. (2009). Rumi: Whirling Dervish. Tarrytown, NY: Marshal Cavendish.
4. Demi. (2009). Genghis Khan. Tarrytown, NY: Marshal Cavendish.
5. Demi. (2008). Marco Polo. Tarrytown, NY: Marshal Cavendish. (950L)
6. Demi. (2003). Muhammad. New York:  Margaret K. McElderry Books.
7. Denham, Joyce. (2008). Saint Francis of Assisi. Illustrated by Elena Temporin. Brewster, MA:  Paraclete Press. 
8. Engle, Margarita. (2010). Summer Birds The Butterflies of Maria Merian. Illustrated by Julie Paschkis. New York: Henry Holt. 
9. Goldberg, Enid. A (2009). Vlad the Impaler: The Real Count Dracula. Illustrated by Norman Itzkowitz.  New York: Scholastic. 
10. Goodman, Joan. (2001). A Long and Uncertain Journey: The 27,000 Mile Voyage of Vasco Da Gama (Great Explorers). Illustrated by Tom McNeely. New York: Mikaya Press. (990L)
11. Krull, Kathleen. (2010). Kubla Khan: The Emperor of Everything. Illustrated by Robert Byrd. New York: Viking Books for Young Readers. (1080L)
12. Look, Lenore. (2013). Brush of the Gods. Illustrated by Meilo So. New York Schwartz & Wade. (580L)
13. Mattern, Joanne. (2012). Geoffrey Chaucer: Medieval Writer (Primary Source Readers). Huntington Beach, CA: Teacher Created Materials.  (710L)
14. Matthews, Sally Schofer. (2001). The Sad Night: The Story of an Aztec Victory and a Spanish Loss. New York: Clarion Books. (950L)
15. Robertson, Bruce. (1999).  Marguerite Makes a Book (Getty Trust Publications: J. Paul Getty Museum). Illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt. Los Angeles, CA:  J. Paul Getty Museum. (570L)
16. Ross, Stewart. (2014). Into the Unknown: How Great Explorers Found Their Way by Land, Sea, and Air. Illustrated by Stephen Biesty. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.  (1150L) 
17. Rumford, James. (2004). Traveling Man: The Journey of Ibn Battuta 1325-1354. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers. (650L)
18. Rumford, James. (2012). From the Good Mountain: How Gutenberg Changed the World. New York: Flash Point. (800L). 
19. San Souci, Robert D. (2010). Robin Hood And The Golden Arrow. Illustrated by E.B. Lewis. New York: Orchard Books. (930L)
20. Serrano, Francisco. (2012). La Malinche: The Princess Who Helped Cortés Conquer an Empire. Illustrated by Pablo Serrano. Toronto, ON: Groundwood Books. (No Lexile Level)
21. Sharafeddine, Fatima. (2015). The Amazing Discoveries of Ibn Sina. Illustrated by Intelaq Mohammed Ali. Toronto, ON: Groundwood Books. (No Lexile Level)
22. Sharafeddine, Fatima. (2014). The Amazing Travels of Ibn Battuta. Illustrated by Intelaq Mohammed Ali. Toronto, ON: Groundwood Books. (No Lexile Level)
23. Sis, Peter. (1991). Follow the Dream: The Story of Christopher Columbus. New York: Knopf.
24. Stanley, Diane. (2002). Joan of Arc. New York: HarperCollins. (980L)
25. Tembeski, Donna. (2004). Famous People of the Middle Ages. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (1110L)
26. Waldman, Stuart. (2007). Magellan's World (Great Explorers). Illustrated by Gregory Manchess. New York: Mikaya Press. (No Lexile Level)
27. Wisniewski, David. (1999). Sundiata: Lion King of Mali. New York: HMH Books. (820L)

Book Club Texts

1. Chaucer, Geoffrey. (1982). Chanticleer and the Fox. Illustrated by Barbara Cooney. New York: HarperCollins. (840L)
2. Hodges, Margaret. (1990). Saint George and the Dragon. Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. New York: Holiday House. (1080L)
3. Hodges, Margaret. (1993). The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthur. Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. New York: Holiday House.
4. McCaughrean, Geraldine (Retold by). (1997). The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. New York: Puffin. 
5. Yolen, Jane. (1998). Merlin and the Dragons. Illustrated by Li Ming. New York: Puffin Books. (640L)

Medieval Times and Stories  - Independent Reading Texts
Avi. (2004). Crispin: The Cross of Lead. New York: Disney-Hyperion. (780L)
Avi. (2011). Crispin: The End of Time.  New York: Disney-Hyperion. (690L)
Biesty, Stephen. (2013). Stephen Biesty's Cross-sections Castle. New York: DK.
Bosse, Malcolm. Tusk and Stone.
Bulla, Clyde Robert. (2000). The Sword in the Tree. Illustrated by Bruce Bowles. New York: HarperCollins. (380L)
Coombs, Rachel. (2007). A Year in a Castle. Minneapolis, MN: Orpheus Books. (500L)
Cushman, Karen. (2012). The Midwife’s Apprentice. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers. (1240L)
Cushman, Karen. (2012). Catherine, Called Birdy. New York:  HMH Books for Young Readers. (1170L)
Cushman, Karen. (2011). Alchemy and Meggy Swann. New York:  HMH Books for Young Readers. (810L)
Dalkey, Kara. (1996). Little Sister. Boston, MA: HMH Books for Young Readers.
Dalkey, Kara. (1998). The Heavenward Path. Boston, MA: HMH Books for Young Readers.
De Angeli, Marguerite. (1998). The Door in the Wall. New York: Laurel Leaf. (990L)
Demi. (2011). Joan of Arc.  New York: Two Lions. (950L)
Fletcher, Susan. (1999).  Shadow Spinner. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks. (710L)
Giblin, James Cross. (1997). When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS. Illustrated by David Frampton. New York: HarperCollins. (990L)
Grant, K.M. (2006). Blood Red Horse. New York: Walker Childrens.
Gravet, Christopher. (2007). Knight. New York: DK Eyewitness Books.  (1140L)
Green, Roger Lancelyn. (2008). King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. New York: Puffin. (1130L)
Green, Roger Lancelyn. (2010). The Adventures of Robin Hood. New York: Puffin. (1110L)
Gross, Gwen. (1985). Knights of the Round Table. Illustrated by Norman Green. New York: Random House Books for Young Readers. (340L)
Ingle, Annie. (1991). Robin Hood. Illustrated by Domenick D'Andrea. New York: Random House Books for Young Readers. (360L)
Kelly, Eric P. (1992). The Trumpeter of Krakow. New York: Aladdin. (1200L)
Langley, Andrew. (2011). Medieval Life. New York: DK Eyewitness Books.  (1120L)
Lattimore, Deborah Nourse. (1991). The Sailor who Captured the Sea: A Story of the Book of Kells. New York: HarperCollins.
Lloyd, Alison. (2010). Year of the Tiger. New York: Holiday House. (600L)
Macaulay, David. (2013). Castle. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers. (1180L)
Macaulay, David. (2013). Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction, Revised and in Full Color. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers. (1120L)
McCaughrean, Geraldine. (2003). The Kite Rider. New York: Harper Trophy.
Meehan, Bernard. (1995). The Book of Kells: An Illustrated Introduction to the Manuscript in Trinity College, Dublin. London, UK: Thames & Hudson.
Millard, Anne. (2012). A Street Through Time. Illustrated by Stephen Noon. New York: DK. (680L)
Morpurgo, Michael. (2004). Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Illustrated by Michael Foreman. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. (1050L)
Morris, Gerald. (2009). The Adventures of Sir Lancelot the Great. Illustrated by Aaron Renier. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers. (830L)
Napoli, Donna Jo. (1993). Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast. New York: Harper Teen.
Napoli, Donna Jo. (2006). Bound. New York: Simon Pulse.
O’Brien, Patrick. (1998). The Making of a Knight. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge. (760L)
Osborne, Mary Pope. (2002) Favorite Medieval Tales. New York: Scholastic. (860L)
Parks, Linda Sue. (2011). A Single Shard. Boston, MA: HMH Books for Young Readers.
Parks, Linda Sue. (2010). The Kite Fighters. Boston, MA: HMH Books for Young Readers.
Paterson, Katherine. (1998). The Sign of the Chrysanthemum. Illustrated by Peter Landa. New York: HarperCollins. (870L)
Paterson, Katherine. (1989). Of Nightingales that Weep. ew York: HarperCollins. (950L)
Platt, Richard. (2003). Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess. Illustrated by Chris Riddell. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. (1010L)
Pyle, Howard. (2005). The Story of King Arthur and His Knights. New York: Sterling. (1350L)
Williams, Marcia. (2008). Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. New York: Walker Books
Williams, Marcia. (2010). King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. New York: Walker Books
Yolen, Jane. (1996). Encounter. Illustrated by David Shannon. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers. (760L)

The Sheer Geography of Your Bones: Thinking About Diverse Books & the Power to Heal

We Need Answers (M.A Reilly, Collage #85 from Collage Journal, 2014)

“Or perhaps it is that time doesn’t heal wounds at all, perhaps that is the biggest lie of them all, and instead what happens is that each wound penetrates the body deeper and deeper until one day you find that the sheer geography of your bones—the angle of your head, the jutting of your hips, the sharpness of your shoulders, as well as the luster of your eyes, the texture of your skin, the openness of your smile—has collapsed under the weight of your griefs.” ― Thrity Umrigar, The Space Between Us

I.


For the last week it's been encouraging to see teachers and administrators making commitments to be open to and/or take the lead in discussing with (not at) students about what is happening in Ferguson, MO specifically and maters of race, race relations, and economic justice generally. These are, of course, very important conversations to have. Some suggestions/guidelines about how to discuss race and race relations can be found here, here, here. Some posts by educators that specifically explore discussion with students about institutional racism and the murder of Mike Brown can be found here, here, here.

In thinking about these potential conversations, I also recognized that meaning is ascribed by what we do and don't do, it is not given. So it's not the discussion about race, race relations, or the one about Mike Brown that you hold in class or school that most matters, but rather it's how you and I live inside classrooms and schools each day and the dignity through action that we afford others. In this post I want to advocate for an often overlooked method that can help us to better ensure broad representation in the classroom/school.

II.

As some may have noticed I post often about diverse books. I am deeply committed to issues of representation via the texts we select and fail to select in classrooms. Text selection is no small matter. It's why during chats, such as #TitleTalk, #engchat, #Litchat and others--I have the tendency to tweet about diverse texts.  The plethora of book recommendations I see most often in twitter chats, in professional education books, and on book shelves in classrooms reflect the people teaching who are most often white, middle class women. The stories that get passed along closely reflect what is known by this majority.

I understand how this happens. The familiar is comfortable because it is known and if you're part of the group that is overly represented, then matters of representation may feel less urgent, less noticeable. But as adults we can see past our own particulars to see other.  For there is a failure when only some children get to see themselves in the texts they compose as readers and writers across 13 years of school, while others are sorely absent. We communicate worth and the absence of worth by the books and texts we privilege. Talk all we want in the aftermath of a murder, but the day to day work in or classrooms and schools shows what we value far more than our talk on a given day might do.

In 2012, Kate Hart blogged about representation on YA book covers in Uncovering YA Covers in 2011. 90% of the covers of YA books published in 2011 featured white girls (and 20% of those did not include the entire girl).  

from here

How Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin, Renisha McBride, David Ritcheson, Jordan Davis, James Byrd, Jr., Stephen Lawrence, Christopher Newsome, and Matthew Shepard were seen and not seen by self and peers throughout 13 years of classroom experiences may well have influenced why they were beaten, raped, sodomized, and/or murdered. Our capacity to see and name other as beautiful is faulty, distorted, and often missing when our vista of potential people is full of wholes. I can't help but recall my son's first week of public school. On the third day he came home and asked if he could wear his red winter coat. As it was September and he was 6, I asked why. He told me he wanted to zip his coat up over his face so that the big boys on the bus wouldn't call him angry names, like Chink. The white boys on the bus thought my son was Chinese as I suppose "all Asians look alike."  The boys found it permissible (as did some of their parents) to bully a young child because he looked different than they did. Throughout elementary and middle school, there were few if any books that my son encountered at school that featured Korean boys. A woman down the street once told me, "Well it's almost like he's white."

We must do better.

In Ellen Oh's post, Why The Pretty White Girl YA Book Cover Trend Needs to End, she writes:

Asians have long been the silent minority in this country. It's gotten so bad that when someone makes a racist remark toward Asians, they just shrug it off and make it seem like you're the one making a big deal about nothing. Or they think it's funny. Like a couple of white guys who think they are being clever by opening up a restaurant called "Roundeye Noodle shop" in Philadelphia. And then they are surprised when people get offended? The roots of that racist remark stem from Asians being called slanty-eyed chinks.  If anyone thinks "Roundeye" is not racist, you should come explain that to my youngest daughter who had the singular pleasure of being told by two boys in her class that her "small Chinese eyes" were ugly compared to her friend's "blue round-eyes." She was in kindergarten and only 5 years old. She cried for days. Words can scar you for life.

Ellen Oh is correct. Words can scar. And we know all too well when we think of Mike Brown that bullets can kill. Our vision of what is valued and beautiful remains distorted by absence--be it racial, economic, gender, sexual orientation, and/or religious.  We can bridge these differences in small, consistent ways in our classrooms--ways that can culminate into powerful narratives about beauty and worth. We must begin by being mindful of what texts we produce and consume at school, what texts we purchase, and who has the agency to do so.

III. 

So I urge you to reconsider reading aloud yet another Cynthia Rylant book or pressing into the hands of your students copies of text exemplars from the CCSS which largely privilege whiteness and wealth.  In “Laying Bare of Questions Which Have Been Hidden by Answers”: The English Language Arts Standards of the Common Core, K-5, which Jane Gangi and I authored, we write:

When we leave out children of color and the poor, in addition to reducing their ability to make the connections they need to make to become proficient readers, we are telling them they do not matter. The CCSS ELA standards’ text exemplars privilege class. Less than 7% of the exemplars represent working class people and the poor—at a time when the majority of children are working class or poor (Gangi, 2010); the Annie E. Casey foundation (2011) finds that 22% of children in America are poor. This translates to about 16.5 million children, with poverty being defined as a family of four living on less than $22,000 a year. 

We can do better. We can be more inclusive in our classrooms and schools and in doing so broaden our rather narrow beliefs about worth, beauty, difference, and love.


IV. A Few Resources

I'd recommend you follow the blog: We Need Diverse Books.


Publishers

Here's a modest list of recommended book publishers whose books are beautiful, aesthetic, inclusive, and enjoyable. Groundwood Books and Lee & Low Books are my go to book publishers for a long time.

1. Annick Press
2. Arte Público Press and Piñata Books
3. Boyds Mills Press
4. Chronicle Books
5. Cinco Puntos Press
6. Enchanted Lion Book
7. Fitzhenry & Whiteside
8. Front Street (part of Boyds Mills Press)
9. Groundwood Books
10. Just World Books
11. Kids Can Press
12. Lee & Low Books
13. Orca Book Publishers
14. Shen Books
15. Tara Books
16. Tilbury House
17. Tradewind Books
18. Tu Books (part of Lee & Low Books)
19. Tundra Books
20. Wings Press

A Few Influential Articles/Posts

1. Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors - Rudine Sims Bishop
2. Paul Laurence Who? Invisibility andMisrepresentation in Children's Literature and
3. Language Arts Textbooks  -Mary Jackson Scroggins & Jane Gangi
4. African American Literature: Books to Stoke Dreams - Jane Gangi & Aimee Ferguson
5. The All-White World of Children's Books - Nancy Larrick
6. The Importance of  Diversity in Library Programs and Material Collections for Children - ALA
7. Why Hasn’t the Number of Multicultural Books Increased In Eighteen Years? (Lee & Low Blog)
8. Recommendations for YA Blogs & Literature - Kate Hart

External Posts Recommending Diverse Literature
CRAJ: Children's Literature Resources - Global/International Literature and Diverse Perspectives (Jane Gangi)

Here are a 30 blog posts where I recommend books.

1. 250+ Children's Books Featuring Black Boys and Men
2. Raising Activists: 100+ Books to Read in K-12
3. Children's Books Focusing on Special/Exceptional Needs, Strengths and Graces
4. Children's Books about the Middle East
5. K-3 Global Multicultural Poetry for Shared, Choral, Paired, & Echo Reading
6. Global Multicultural K-8 Books Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and His Legacy
7. New Global Picture Books
8. 97 Page Book of Primary Grade Comprehension Lessons With an Emphasis on Multicultural Books
9. Forget the Stop Watch and Tune into Literature: Recommended Global Multicultural Texts for Developing Fluency (and a Love for Reading)
10. Global Multicultural Books for Comprehension Instruction in Kindergarten
11. Poetry Books for Grades 3-5
12. Global Books for the First Grade
13. Sensational Second Grade Books
14. Global Multicultural Picture Books: Teaching Reading Comprehension in Grade 3
15. Global Books for Grade 4
16. Fabulous Global Books for Fifth Grade
17. Books for Grade 7
18. Books to Teach Writer's Craft with in Middle School
19. Global, Multicultural Poetry Texts (Print and NonPrint) for Grades 7 - 12
20. Reading Memoir in Grades 8-12
21. Recommended Nonfiction for Middle School Learners
22. Exploring LGBT Books for Children & Teens
23. Cultural Characters: Or Why My Color Doesn't Wash Off -  Book & Instruction Suggestions
24. 30 Children's Books about Standing Up and Making Change
25. Latino/a Books for Elementary Children, Part I
26. Latino/a Books for Elementary Children, Part II
27. Latino/a Books for Elementary Children, Part III
28. Books about Labor and Unions for 4th -12th Graders
29. Selecting Read Aloud Books in K-5
30. Updated 2014 Global Back to School Books

A Few Posts about Representation

1. Troubling the Narratives
2. Guest Blog: Children of Color and the Poor Left Way Behind in the National Governors Association and State Education Chiefs Common Core State Standards Initiative: “Text Exemplars” for Kindergarten through 5th Grade
3. White Privilege, Classroom Discourse, and Being Other