Children's Literature: Discovery for a Lifetime with CD-ROM

How do you captivate children with literature, promoting a lifetime of reading? This book's purpose is to educate teachers, librarians, and parents about the art of capturing and nurturing children's interest in books. This text offers readers: bull; bull;NEW! A wealth of current and classic literature titles for children of all cultures and abilities bull;NEW! Expanded chapters on traditional literature, modern fantasy, nonfiction, and biography bull;NEW! Technology references and links to Internet resources for literature Through this text, readers will also be able to: bull; bull;Explore the content and distinctive characteristics of picture books, poetry, traditional literature, modern fantasy, realistic fiction, historical fiction, and nonfiction books in the detailed chapters bull;Learn to understand, select, and evaluate children's literature using the abundance of information, figures, and tables in each chapter bull;Search for children's literature by author, title, topic, high-interest, publisher, and award-winning distinctions using the extensive database located on the enclosed CD-ROM bull;Become acquainted with authors and illustrators who serve as great models for classroom study in the Biographical Profiles bull;Discover authentic ways to stimulate children's response to literary experiences in the Classroom Activities bull;Find out how to develop children's social and cultural consciousness by exploring literature-based units that cut across cultures in the Unit Studies chapter

The virtues of literature are well established. Publishers, libraries, and bookstores offer a grand array of children's books. Many programs tout the importance of reading books as well as listening to books read aloud. Athletes, movie stars, and politicians urge children to read, and various programs provide books to children for their reading pleasure. In spite of this widespread approval of literature, there is a quandary. Every U.S. state has some form of objectives or standards that students need to achieve. This may lead some teachers to force-feed facts to students, just so they will succeed. If teachers focus on preparing students for tests, it reduces their read-aloud time and the time to create literature experiences that will enhance their growth and development. Research supports the idea that optimizing children's literary experiences enhances their learning and knowledge retention. This book is the product of our many experiences as teachers, professors, parents, and grandparents. Our goal is to help teachers, librarians, and parents infuse literature into children's lives and to promote a lifelong interest in books. Our theme is "literature for a lifetime." We hope to prepare teachers in children's lives to: choose books that will enhance children's learning and development. implement literature in the classroom that will support the curriculum. know which books children will respond to. share literature with children in authentic ways that stimulate their responses. infuse literature into elementary classrooms and homes. identify books that portray children with special needs so that their classmates will understand these needs. use computer programs and the Internet to enhance literary experiences. use multimedia in creating literary experiences. choose literature that will develop children's cultural consciousness. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TEXT To provide guidance in reaching the goal of helping all children discover literature for a lifetime, we present information in this text in the following order. Chapters 1 through 3 create a foundation for understanding and appreciating children's literature, as well as ways of incorporating literature in classrooms and libraries. These chapters also provide guidance for selecting children's books. Chapters 4 through 11 explore the formats and genres of children's literature in picture books, poetry, traditional literature, fantasy, realistic fiction, historical fiction, nonfiction, and biography. Authors and illustrators are emphasized through profiles that appear throughout the book. In these profiles, we hope to acquaint students with authors and illustrators and their works, as well as offer models for classroom study. Chapter 12 introduces literature for children who experience the daily challenges of physical, sensory, or emotional disabilities. Chapter 13 focuses on sharing multicultural literature inclusive of children from various cultures. These chapters serve a two-fold purpose. First, they afford children opportunities to identify with those who have had similar experiences. Second, they give readers opportunities to appreciate their own culture and the cultures of others. Chapters 14, 15, and 16 present ways of nurturing children's engagement with, and response to, literature. Chapter 14 engages children with literature through oral and silent reading experiences; Chapter 15 explains how to encourage children's responses to literature. Finally, Chapter 16 presents sample guides and units that teachers have used in developing classroom experiences with books. Each chapter opens with a list of key terms, guiding questions, and vignettes, which give examples of teachers and children involved with literature. These vignettes serve as classroom models for others. Throughout the book, additional authentic classroom experience