“Literature for children and young adults is often thought of as the cornerstone of language arts programs.”

Children: First literature they encounter, and serve as literary models.

Young Adults: Support vocabulary development and appreciation for language.

“In short, quality children’s and young adult literature provides much of the vocabulary for oral language development and builds a foundation for reading and writing.”
​Children's Literature: Any material written primarily for children and that they read and enjoy.

Young adult literature has the same definition.
​Format of Literature: magazines, ebooks, hardcover books, comics, graphic novels, audio recordings, films, videos, and online interactive and computer adaptations of stories.
​“It is important to help students of all ages select books with which they can identify, [and] give students access to texts in other formats in order to better develop the love of reading.”
Include quality literature in the curriculum.

Newbery, Caldecott, Printz awards for selecting quality literature.  
 

          Book Categories

• ​Picture books: Allow readers to comprehend a story through pictures as well as text. The illustrations tend to compliment the text.

• Wordless: The pictures alone tell the story.

• Predictable Pattern: Picture books that contain repetitive language patterns, which allow even very young readers to predict words that are coming next.

  “Many picture books incorporate reading cues that extend beyond the letters and the words on the page, which requires young readers to interpret and interact with the text beyond decoding the print.”
  Discuss the relationship between the illustrations and the text to help students practice comprehension skills.
  Traditional Literature (Folklore): Based on the oral storytelling traditions of ancient peoples. These tales have been passed down from generation to generation.

• ​Folktales/Fairy Tales: Include supernatural beings with magical powers. The central characters often engage in a battle of good versus evil, with good usually trumping.

• Legends: Tales from long ago with a possible historical basis that is difficult or impossible to verify.

• Urban Legend: A story that is presumably true although it is typically related as having happened to a "friend of a friend of a friend."

• Myths: Folktales about the supernatural adventures of gods and goddesses.

• Epics: Tales of heroism describing the adventures of exemplary individuals.

• Fable: A brief story with a strong moral.

  
  ​Modern Fantasy/Science Fiction

• ​Fantasy: Literature that is unreal, with magical events and creatures not found in the real world.

• ​Science Fiction: A subgenre of fantasy that explores possible scenarios that take place in the future.

  Popular among young readers.
  ​Graphic Novels: Combine comic book-style graphic images with detailed stories.
  ​“They often portray young boys and girls with superpowers engaged in fantastic adventures.”
   

  Contemporary Realistic Fiction

• ​Portrays life as it is, with people and events that one might encounter in the real world.

• Often deal with serious issues facing today's children and young adolescents.

  • Moving to a new school, loss of a pet, making new friends, etc.
     

          Historical Fiction

• ​A subcategory of fiction that consists of fictional narratives in a historically factual setting (all era of American history).

  • Authenticity in the setting and depiction of people’s lives during the era.

• “Provides young readers with a way to learn about everyday life in other eras, which is often neglected in textbooks.”

• Historical fiction novels can be used to get students personally connected to social studies.

  • Textbooks do not teach students about real stories related to events.

  • Historical fiction inspires.

​          Biographies/Autobiographies

• ​Biographies: the stories of notable individuals written by other people.

  • Have much in common with historical fiction.

• Autobiographies: the stories of notable people written by themselves.

• Help bring stories of influential people alive.

  
  ​Informational or Nonfiction Books

• ​Contain facts and information about a given topic.

• A great supplement to your school's content area textbooks

• Informational writing is also known as expository text, which uses a structure different from the narrative text used in fiction writing.

• Allow students to conduct their own research.

  
  ​Poetry

• ​Involves expressing feelings and moods in a unique styles of language.

• Can by rhythmical, but does not have to rhyme.

• Can follow a specific rhyme scheme, or they can be written in free verse.

• Can be used to teach figurative language.

• Teachers who use poetry can see an improvement in students’ reading and writing skills as well as a positive attitude towards poetry.

  
  Series Books

• Follow a repetitive pattern or story line with familiar characters engaged in various plots.

• Highly predictable, which helps teach comprehension skills.

• Keep students interested and engaged.

  
  ​Multicultural Books

• Depicts characters and cultures in a positive but real-to-life manner, free from stereotypes.

• Celebrate the uniqueness of peoples throughout the world, yet emphasize the emotions, feelings, and dreams that all people share.

• Can be used to honor the diversity of a classroom.

• Pura Belpre Award- given annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator who best portrays, affirms, and celebrates Latino culture.

• Coretta Scott King Award- given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.

  
  ​Choosing Materials for the Classroom

  Resources: school librarian, public library, online research, looking at the annual literature awards/booklists.

   

  Guidelines for Evaluating Books

  Committees of authors and educators who annually select the best books in various categories.  
  Caldecott Medal- picture book illustrations.

  Newbery Award- chapter fiction books.

  Pre-reading information, story line, setting, theme, characters, style/format, reactions, and evaluation.

   

  Books to Reflect Special Needs

  Classrooms are diverse with various cultures and abilities.

  These books will promote understanding, diversity, and stimulate interesting discussions.

  Can also help students deal with special problems that they may face.

   

  Literature and Language Learning

  “Hearing and reading good children’s and young adult literature, both picture and chapter books, enhances students’ language, both oral and written.”

  To help the students get a sense of how to use language effectively: read small sections of a text out loud and discuss how the author uses words to add mood.

  Books as Language Models

  Students become aware of the many ways they can use words to express their ideas.

  Books teach students that words express ideas and help them expand their vocabularies as they develop a variety of concepts.

  Books help students understand figurative language.

  Text Structure

• “Without comprehension, reading becomes mere word calling.”

  To help: have the students make distinctions between the two main types of text.

  Narrative Text: Story/fiction writing.

  Expository Text: Information/nonfiction writing.

  
  Involving Students with Books

• ​Environment: A stimulating classroom environment can motivate students to want to read. The classroom should be arranged so that students have a quiet place to read.

• Modeling: Teachers should share books they enjoy with their students.

• ​Book Talks: Students get together (informally) and discuss the books they have read.

• Reading Aloud: When teachers read aloud books they enjoy with their class (a form of modeling).

• Shared Book Experiences: Sometimes called sharing big books, teachers have their students come to the carpet and practice predicting throughout a story.

• Independent Reading: Students should be given time on a daily basis to read independently. A specific amount of time should be given each day for students to silently read books on their level.

• ​Teacher Storytelling: The teacher tells the story of a book, which invites students to read that book by acquainting them with the characters, setting, and plot.

  
  Students’ Responses to Literature

  Students respond based on the comprehension of the text, and previous experiences (text to text, text to world, and text to self).

• Discussions: Allowing students to have collaborative, informal discussions about aspects of the book. Sometimes, teachers lead the book discussions, while sometimes they are student-led.

• Literature Circles: Student-let collaborative conversations among a group of students that meet at a regular time each week.

• ​Student Storytelling: Students share their reading experiences with others by recounting a story. Students can even perform their storytellings in order to add a dramatic factor and enhance the audience's experience.

• ​Story Grammars, Charts, and Maps: Graphic organizers that can be used to better display the information provided in a book, such as the story's structural elements or character development.

• Book Publishing: Allowing students to publish and read each other's books.

• Poetry Units: The focus on poetry for primary, elementary,, and middle school students should be enjoyment. Poetry units include exposure, sharing, memorizing, copywriting, illustrating, choral reading, and writing their own poetry.

  
  Teaching Activities:

1. ​Creating wordless books

2. Creating fairytales or folktales

3. Creating modern fantasy

4. Creating historical fiction

5. Creating an informal text

6. Creating a multicultural research project

7. Multicultural reading and presenting activity

8. Read-aloud star

9. Puppet making

10. Writing haiku

11. Question cubes and fat questions