Picture Book Biographies Research Articles

Investigate, Explore, Create: Incorporating Biographies into the K–8 Classroom Using the Biography Clearinghouse

AbstractBiographies are one of our best tools for diversifying the curriculum. In this article, we describe The Biography Clearinghouse, a free resource designed to inspire teachers to use high‐quality biographies in their classrooms. We then elaborate on curricular possibilities in K‐8 classrooms. We end with a discussion of the Investigate, Explore, and Create framework established by The Biography Clearinghouse and provide examples of teaching suggestions using two picturebook biographies and a chapter book biography.

Maria Sibylla Merian in Picture Books: Metanarratives about Science and Religion

This article considers three picture book biographies of the artist and scientist Maria Sibylla Merian, and the metanarratives on science and religion that are embedded in each. Merian is famous for her detailed drawings of the lifecycle of insects within their ecosystem and for rejecting the old theory of spontaneous generation, which still had currency in Europe. The picture books bring to the fore Merian’s scientific curiosity and her skills of observation that swept away old superstitions about insects. The metanarratives cued through the visual imagery of her picture books ignore the underpinnings of Merian’s Calvinist faith in her commitment to portraying the details of insect ecosystems. These metanarratives also ignore Merian’s emergence as an entrepreneur within Protestant society and her contributions to the commodification of “exotic” nature in a colonial context.

The value and distinctiveness of awe in science communication: comparing the incidence and content of ‘awesome’ representations in science and non-science picture books

ABSTRACT The emotions most valued by a culture tend to be depicted more often, and more saliently, in their cultural products than those that are not. The content of such representations will also vary in relation to the particular mandates (e.g. beliefs, values, norms) of those cultural spaces. In the present research, we conducted a study in three sections that compared systematically the representations of awe in sixty picture book biographies of scientists (n = 60) and sixty picture book biographies of non-scientists (n = 60). The first two sections revealed that the frequency and centrality of awe-related content in the images and text of these materials was significantly higher for the former book type. The third section likewise uncovered differences in the representation of the situations where awe is experienced, as well as the characteristics of characters portrayed as experiencing this emotion between and within the two types of picture books. Together, these findings show that awe is an especially valued emotion in the culture of science communication and that the representation of this affective category in this domain is distinct to how it is represented in other spaces.

Picturebook Biographies and Environmental Education in Primary English

Picturebook Biographies and Environmental Education in Primary English

Restorying the life of Martin Luther King: visual and verbal complexity of nonfiction picture book biographies

The article is devoted to the genre of nonfiction picture book biography as a new publishing phenomenon within the area of children's literature. The aim of the article is to analyze the ways of transmitting knowledge by combining visual codes and unconventional verbal narratives in three nonfiction picture book biographies of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2007), I Have a Dream (2012), and Be A King: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Dream and You (2018). It examines how the selected books invite the readers to participate in the process of meaning making and redefining reality. It also discusses the strategies of counterstorytelling and counter-visuality employed by the creators of the books.

Women Who Led the Way! Notable Picture Book Biographies

When I was a child, I loved math and science, and I wanted to learn more about the people working in these fields. Were they like me? What were their interests as kids? Did they have an a-ha moment in making their discoveries or did it take years of hard work?Off I went to my public library to find biographies about the life and accomplishments of these amazing people. One problem—there was only one kids’ book about a woman scientist—Marie Curie. As an eight-year-old, I thought, “Did this mean that girls couldn’t grow up to be scientists?”

“A Woman Question and a Race Problem”: Attending to Intersectionality in Children’s Literature

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 and gender simultaneously and can serve as an important framework to guide more critical conversations related to the long civil right movement. This article considers how three picturebook biographies about Black women who are often overlooked in early social studies education can powerfully demonstrate the intersectional roles of racism and sexism in their lived experiences.

Ruth Objects: The Life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Doreen Rappaport

Reviewed by: Ruth Objects: The Life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Doreen Rappaport Elizabeth Bush Rappaport, Doreen Ruth Objects: The Life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg; illus. by Eric Velasquez. Tegen/HarperCollins, 2020 [46p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4847-4717-9 $18.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 4-6 As picture book bios of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg accrue, rely on Rappaport and her signature oversized format replete with selection of pitch-perfect bolded quotations to rise to the top rank. Coverage of Ginsburg's childhood (a dependably encouraging mother), aspirations (the law was not a childhood dream), and education (law school was far from welcoming to Jews, women, and—gasp—mothers, which checked three RBG boxes) contextualizes the storied career to come. As Rappaport shifts to Ginsburg's fights for men's and women's equal rights in the workplace, though, she stakes fresh ground with attention to a host of specific cases, in which she was involved as lawyer and judge, that best demonstrate her commitment to gender equality: "It is not women's liberation; it is women's and men's liberation." Velasquez's paintings ably mix personal moments and monumental poses, and a range of courtroom scenes capture Ginsburg dwarfed by the bench of justices as she argues her first Supreme Court case, then close-up and confident in a subsequent appearance. A selected bibliography, quotation sources, and a list of picture book biographies are included. Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Biography Breaks in the Music Classroom

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 ages to introduce students to composers, musicians, music elements and concepts, music vocabulary, music genres and styles. Biography breaks provide a groundwork for discussing the historical, social, and cultural context of music, as well as a catalyst for engaging students in meaningful music experiences creating, performing, responding to, and connecting with music.

Lights! Camera! Alice!: The Thrilling True Adventures of the First Woman Filmmaker by Mara Rockliff

Reviewed by: Lights! Camera! Alice!: The Thrilling True Adventures of the First Woman Filmmaker by Mara Rockliff Elizabeth Bush Rockliff, Mara Lights! Camera! Alice!: The Thrilling True Adventures of the First Woman Filmmaker; illus. by Simona Ciraolo. Chronicle, 2018 60p ISBN 978-1-4521-4134-3 $17.99 R 5-8 yrs In the earliest of the early days of motion-picture technology at the end of the nineteenth century, when film of trains on the move and people exiting a factory could excite wonder in an audience, Alice Guy, the secretary at France's Gaumont Studio, had a breakthrough moment. She knew that this technology could be used not just to document activity but to tell stories, and with the approval of her boss, she began to produce film for which she did it all—the plotting, the casting, the sets, the costumes. She added color; she introduced synchronized sound; she experimented with visual effects. With her husband, a Gaumont cameraman, she moved to America and eventually built her own studio, Solax. In Alice Guy-Blaché, Rockliff finds that holy grail of picture book biographies—a well-documented life of a fascinating woman who has been overlooked. With Ciraolo supplying witty watercolor illustrations of the tidy Gibson Girl holding sway over antic movie sets, Rockliff packages her narrative as a series of movie scenes, with each act introduced [End Page 137] by a silent movie card ("The Great Discovery," "A Severe Test") that cites the title of one of her own films. Closing notes address the question "So why hasn't everybody heard of Alice Guy-Blaché?" head-on and then guides readers to additional material, including several movies easily accessed via an online search. EB Copyright © 2018 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Teaching Primary English Literacy Through Genre-Based Writing Using Picture Book Biographies

Teaching Primary English Literacy Through Genre-Based Writing Using Picture Book Biographies

From the Editor

From the Editor Amanda Cockrell (bio) In an election year marked by relentless robocalls wanting to know if I would be more or less likely to vote for Candidate X if I learned that he/she ate puppies, I am relieved, not to say delighted, to have ten nice critical articles on children’s literature to contemplate instead. All the news is all around us, all the time, in a constant bombardment, accompanied by varying interpretations and leaving the suspicion of considerable gaps. And as life, art, and scholarship invariably reflect each other, these articles deal in varying ways with just that—with gaps and interpretations, with the unsaid, the unacknowledged, the liminal, the impossible to know, and occasionally the outright fabrication. In “Imaginary Conquest and Epistemology in Nineteenth-Century Adventure Literature: Africa in Jules Verne, Burmann, May, and Twain,” Florian Krobb looks at the “stories of daring and adventure in challenging circumstances, which still purported to inform comprehensively about the visited places, [and] were designed to enable young readers to understand themselves as inhabitants of a globalized world divided into ‘us’ and ‘them,’ into a realm of the familiar and a realm of the strange that awaited ‘familiarization,’” the civilizing of its native inhabitants, and acquisition of its valuable resources, following on the colonial assumption, not entirely vanished today, that what “foreign” cultures really want and need is to be more like us. In “Filling in Gaps in the Historical Record: Accuracy, Authenticity, and Closure in Ann Rinaldi’s Wolf by the Ears,” Brian Dillon considers the question of creating a voice for someone who has no voice in the historical record—in this case Harriet Hemings, daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings—and the difficulty inherent in judging the authenticity of that voice, an attempt further complicated by questions of historical accuracy. Accuracy refers to facts, including perhaps facts conveniently left out. Authenticity is the ability of the author to fill gaps between the facts with speech and events that are plausible, given those facts. Because Harriet Hemings left no writings behind, and because Jefferson “chose silence rather than any acknowledgement of his Hemings children,” the reader is left to evaluate the authenticity of the speculation with which Rinaldi has filled those gaps, and finds [End Page vii] it a slippery business, since even historical “facts” have been told to us in ways influenced by who did the telling. The essay following, “Coming of Age in a Divided City: Cultural Hybridity and Ethnic Injustice in Sandra Cisneros and Veronica Roth” by Suzanne Roszak, examines The House on Mango Street and Divergent for their depictions of social injustice and segregation and the pressure to forsake hybrid identities that shape the characters’ coming-of-age process. Roszak explores the lack of a direct voice in the pattern of “echoing without naming” prevalent in dystopian young adult fiction, and argues that because dystopias reflect our own society, but only at a slant, while they may “indirectly draw attention to and attempt to help eradicate the racial injustice that they do not acknowledge directly… [a]t the same time, such novels do not fully capitalize on the potential of young adult dystopian literature … because they do not overtly name and give real weight to issues of race and ethnicity,” using the example of the factions in Divergent, which are separated by social values, and not by race (their ethnicities are not given), and thus provide an incomplete parallel. A sometimes problematic view of modern Africa, and a less than complete examination of environmental crisis is the subject of Clare Echterling’s “Individualism, Environmentalisms, and the Pastoral in the Picture Book Biographies of Wangari Maathai.” Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya and the first African woman to receive a Nobel Peace Prize, worked to help women reverse the deforestation that had caused streams to dry up and food supplies to dwindle, and forced women to walk long distances to collect firewood. The movement has since grown into an international organization and Maathai has become the subject of five picture books for children. Assessing what has been left out, Echterling notes how these books often focus so closely on Maathai...

Individualism, Environmentalisms, and the Pastoral in the Picture Book Biographies of Wangari Maathai

This article argues that the children’s picture book biographies of Wangari Maathai, co-founder of the Green Belt Movement, by and large overlook the imperial underpinnings of Kenya’s environmental problems, over-simplify environmental crisis and resolution, and endorse a form of environmentalism that privileges individual action over collective effort and social change.

“The Brown Face of Hope”

AbstractAfrican American children's literature has a potentially powerful role to play in increasing reading engagement for African American boys. Unfortunately, this body of literature is not always used effectively in schools. Many teachers use African American books as an add‐on to pre‐exisiting curriculum rather than fully exploring the topics, themes, and images that characterize the literature and that speak in powerful ways to issues of relevance in the lives of African American boys. A close examination of nine picture book biographies and one historical fiction account of famous African American men reveals the rich potential of this literature for making a difference in children's lives.

Using Picture Books to Guide and Inspire Young Gifted Hispanic Students

The gifts and talents of Hispanic young children must be supported in elementary classrooms. High-quality children’s literature and picture book biographies of Hispanics enable educators to address the social and emotional as well as intellectual needs of gifted young Hispanic children. With a search for appropriate literature and sustained efforts in designing lessons that address affective needs, teachers will be better equipped to provide meaningful educational programs for all children.

Picture Book Biographies: Fostering Active Student Involvement in Women’s History Month

This article features the achievements of women through four picture book biographies, all of which are National Council for the Social Studies Notable Trade Books for 2011. These notable trade book selections underscore the contributions of four distinct ethnicities, symbolizing the cultural diversity of our nation and its citizens. They draw attention to women who accomplished great things, yet remain unknown and invisible in the historical record. The contributions of these women are highlighted, and developmentally appropriate extension activities are shared to help teachers encourage children to learn more about the lives of women who changed our nation not only during Women’s History Month, but throughout the year. Finally, this article discusses tips for engaging both girls and boys in the study of women’s history.

Gold! Gold from the American River! (review)

Reviewed by: Gold! Gold from the American River! Elizabeth Bush Brown, Don . Gold! Gold from the American River!; written and illus. by Don Brown . Flash Point/Roaring Brook, 2011. [64p]. (Actual Times) ISBN 978-1-59643-223-9 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 3-5. The third installment in Brown’s Actual Times series of pivotal events in U.S. history focuses on the California Gold Rush of 1849. This is a compact overview, following James Marshall’s discovery of gold in a ditch near his employer John Sutter’s sawmill; through the mania that drew thousands of prospectors to the West; and finally to the lasting success of entrepreneurs who supplied the miners and shaped the longterm commercial prosperity of the region. The overview is rather too compact at times, skipping from bit to bit and leaving linkages and details undocumented: for instance, Brown never fully explains how businessman Sam Brannan, who leaked the news of the gold strike, came by his information; nor does he give much more than cursory attention to the travails of gold seekers who found their way to California by sea route or across the Isthmus of Panama. The harmony of narration, wry watercolor pictures, and quotes from the miners themselves nonetheless makes this an engaging introduction for children who are just beginning to explore historical accounts beyond their social studies textbooks. Kids who’ve enjoyed Brown’s picture-book biographies will be happy to step up to the Actual Times readalones. A bibliography and brief note on research is included. [End Page 272] Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Using Picture Book Biographies to Nurture the Talents of Young Gifted African American Students

Using Picture Book Biographies to Nurture the Talents of Young Gifted African American Students

Picture Book Biographies for Young Children: A Way to Teach Multiple Perspectives

In today’s global age, it is important for young students to develop multiple perspectives. Some of the standards that today’s teachers are required to adhere to include an understanding of different cultures. The National Council for the Social Studies, for example, indicates that teachers should provide instruction that complies with various thematic standards which include teaching about global connections and cultural diversity. To encourage young students to develop multiple perspectives, teachers need to pay attention not only to how they teach, but also to what they teach. Educators can guide students to develop cross-cultural understanding at an early age by using well-written picture book biographies which represent people from diverse backgrounds. This article explains what multiple perspectives are and offers resources and strategies for educators that will help young students develop an understanding of the frames of reference that different groups of people hold. It also emphasizes the importance of developing multiple viewpoints at a young age.

Life Drawings: Some Notes on Children's Picture Book Biographies

The writing and illustration of biographies for children is most often an attempt at praise. Folk heroes like Johnny Appleseed and Joan of Arc, and inventors and statesmen like Benjamin Franklin recur in the lists, which change constantly with shifts in social awareness: many more children's biographies of women, black people, and American Indians have, for instance, appeared in the last few years than ever before. Infamous people do not receive attention, usually, except as moral foils. The psychology of evil— psychology as such—is not the underlying concern of most biographies for children. Rather, the central character's life in children's biographies is often offered as an exemplum, as a model for the child. Young George Washington, little readers have been told again and again, chopped down a cherry tree but never, never told a lie.