This article explores depictions of religion and religious topics in children's biographies included on the National Science Teacher's Association's Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 lists from 2011 through 2017. While disagreements and controversies about the role of religion in U.S. public schools are not new, these debates have…

This pilot project analyzed 185 children's picture books, published 2018--2020, that feature members of the LGBTQIA + community as primary, secondary, or background characters. In developing a framework that builds upon classifications from Diverse BookFinder, the Cooperative Children's Book Center, and the Rainbow Book List, the purpose of the…

Students in the English Language Arts classroom have access to more author commentary than ever. While following authors on social media may deepen students' engagement with their assigned reading, it also threatens to subdue students' own interpretations of the authors' texts. This essay explains how educators can introduce basic aspects of…

Approaching literacy through a human rights lens potentially equips children with the courage and support needed to face sources of human suffering; develop compassion for others; and identify obstacles to their sentience, autonomy, and well-being. A human rights view of literacy pedagogy necessarily involves attending to the moral reasoning of…

In the realm of modern children's literature, biographies of women showcase lives of exceptional talent, perseverance, civic engagement, and more: lives meant to inspire young readers. Since its inception in 2001, the Robert Sibert Informational Book Medal and Honor award has included a biography (or two) every year, with the exception of 2004 and…

Engineering design-based learning entered the discourse of science education with the release of the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013). Since that time there has been a focused effort to embed engineering design and engineering-based thinking in elementary school experiences. As thinking like an engineer is…

Historical narratives of Black women often focus solely on racial discrimination without acknowledging the structural and systemic gender-based discrimination they faced. Crenshaw's concept of intersectionality draws upon decades of Black feminist scholarship delineating how Black women experience systemic oppression on account of both their race…

From statues to picture books, the depictions of suffragists do not always do justice to the complexity of the issues and activists who fought for the 19th Amendment, which provided that "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." This…

The annual "National Council for the Social Studies" (NCSS) Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People list often contains picture books that profile citizen role models--people who worked to change society for the better. In 2018 the list includes beautiful, thoughtful biographies of people who chose "doing good" over…

This article examines the use of maps in the works of Czech author-illustrator Peter Sís in order to consider the role that cartography plays in the construction of four of his biographical picturebooks: Follow the Dream: "The Story of Christopher Columbus" (2003/1991), "Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei" (1996), "The Tree…

Children's picture book biographies on composers and musicians can prompt powerful music learning experiences. Biography breaks are the reading aloud of a picture book biography and the questions or activities the teacher engages students in while and after reading the book. In the music classroom, biography breaks can be used with children of all…

Indigenous children's literature supports Indigenous communities' rights to revitalization, and to the transmission to future generations, of Indigenous histories, languages, and world views, as put forth in the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Drawing on Indigenous teachings that were given to him by Elders, an…

When the author became a public-school teacher and decided to teach second-grade students about Jane Goodall, he could not find literature appropriate for seven-year-olds. Children's books about her lifework simply did not exist. So, the author used an encyclopedic entry and the knowledge he had from the documentary to form his own text, which was…

A troubling observation is that--outside of Black History Month in February and Women's History Month in March, during which students are acquiring some knowledge about noteworthy women and minorities--teachers in every grade level often teach about the same figures rather than expanding their lessons to include less-conventional or…

In the article the concept of "a family reading" is analyzed, the significance of " the family reading" model is disclosed, the role of grandparents in the formation of the child's personality is revealed. The goal of the article is to point out the possibility of improving the reading culture in the case of an awareness of the…