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#KidsNeedMentors: Connecting Authors to Classrooms

By on November 23, 2018   /   Articles, For Teachers, For Writers  

Kids Need Mentors | Skype Visit | https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/

#KidsNeedMentors is one of the coolest things happening in the kidlit world this year! A new program, #KidsNeedMentors is connecting working authors to classrooms full of kids. I managed to snag Jarrett Lerner, one of the founders of #KidsNeedMentors, for an interview this month, so he could tell us more about the program and how it has managed to get authors and teachers working together in ways that are making a difference.

 

Introduce us to #KidsNeedMentors.

Kids Need Mentors | Skype Visit | https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/I was a book-loving, comic book-making, short story-writing kid, but I didn’t realize that I could actually be a professional creator until I was in my 20s. If I’d met an author or illustrator when I was younger, if I’d come to see that they were also just book-loving people who’d put in a lot of work to get where they were, if I’d been given even the slightest bit of acknowledgement, validation, encouragement – or even just information! – from them, it would’ve changed my life.

#KidsNeedMentors is a program aimed at increasing and enhancing both creator-educator collaboration and creator-kid interaction so that young lives can be enriched and bettered, if not dramatically changed, through the power and love of reading and books. Instead of creators doing a single visit (either virtually or in person), they are linked up with a single classroom or library for the duration of the school year – meaning multiple visits and a variety of kinds of interaction.

The overwhelming majority of kids’ book creators want to connect with kids. They want to make a difference in young people’s lives. That’s a large part of what drives so many of them. #KidsNeedMentors gives them yet one more opportunity to make those connections and differences.

The other side of this is the creator-educator collaboration. Along with the program’s other organizers, I believe that kids’ book creators and kids’ educators are colleagues. The more we collaborate, the more we share with and learn from and understand one another, the better we can all do our jobs.

Kids Need Mentors | Skype Visit | https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/


Like most good things, this was a collaborative effort. Can you tell us how you, Ann Braden, Kristin Crouch, and Kristen Picone initially connected and how #KidsNeedMentors came to be?

Ann, Kristen, Kristin, and I had already been connected online, and I knew them as three amazing, inspiring powerhouses in the kid lit community. And I came to know Ann’s talent for organizing after working with her on #KidsNeedBooks – which isn’t so much a program, but a rallying cry that we’ve been encouraging others to take up and spread, all in the name of flooding so-called “book deserts” with books and just generally getting more books into kids’ hands.

Not long after all of that got going, Ann and I spoke a couple times about the idea of creating a program that not only got more books into schools and libraries, but more book creators into those same spaces – all in an effort to change kids’ perceptions of books, book-reading, book-making, book-makers, and to boost their confidence in the power and value of their unique voices. One morning back in May, after a UK-based author launched an author-student pen pal program on Twitter, Ann and I got to talking about it all again. Kristen and Kristin — being the incredibly giving, caring, and student-focused individuals they are — immediately offered to be a part of the organizational team, even though they knew it would require a tremendous amount of time and effort! The four of us spent the rest of the morning hashing out ideas and talking about logistics, and after a few “Should we do this?” “We should do this.” “Should we do this?” back-and-forths, we finally said, Let’s do this. We put out some sign-up sheets and, within 24 hours, had hundreds of educators and authors on board.

 

Kids Need Mentors | Skype Visit | https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/The program has been up and running in schools for several months now. What impact are you seeing?

Ann, Kristen, Kristin, and I had high hopes for the program, but they have already been far surpassed. Self-described “non-readers” have become proud readers. Kids’ confidence in their own creativity and their own creations – their own voice – has been increased. By interacting with their mentees regularly, by sharing their work and lives and favorite books with them, our mentors are showing these kids that they matter to an adult other than their parent, guardian, and/or teacher – an adult whose name and picture is on actual, real-live BOOKS! That’s pretty cool. 10-year-old Jarrett is SUPER jealous.

To follow along with the program and see the impact it’s having, follow the #KidsNeedMentors hashtag on Twitter. Participants are posting about the amazing things they’re doing all the time!

 


Kids Need Mentors | Skype Visit | https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/In addition to helping create the program, you are personally mentoring classes. Tell us about your experience as a #KidsNeedMentors Mentor.

I Skype several times a week with different classrooms. These sessions typically last 30 minutes – enough time for me to do a very brief presentation and then take questions from the kids. But for some kids, it takes that long just to get comfortable, to work up the confidence to raise their hand and ask a question. And even if all the kids are engaged and actively participating from the get-go, often it’s at minute 28 that we land on some really interesting, fun, and/or productive topic. On my end, I’m lucky if I get to know a little bit about each kid in the room. But more often than not, that’s not the case.

So far this year, I’ve Skyped multiple times with my two mentee classes, and been lucky enough to visit each classroom once, and it’s been incredible. I really feel like I’m coming to know these kids – what they like to read and how they write, yes, but also who they are. Where their interests lie. What they’re passionate about. Who they want to be. Because of all this, when I, say, run a workshop for them on Creating Compelling Characters, we are hyper-productive, and I think (and hope!) that the kids get more out of such learning than they would if we’d all just met that day.

I hope, by the end of the year, that the kids come to see me as a friend (if they don’t see me as that already!), as another adult who cares about them, their well-being, and their future.

 

I know more teachers and authors would love to take part in #KidsNeedMentors. Can you let them know how they can sign up for next year?

Toward the end of this school year, we’ll make some announcements and open signups, so I guess the best thing to do would be to keep an eye on our social media feeds. We’ll definitely be nice and loud about it! We also have a large waitlist of educators who signed up for this first year but didn’t get matched, and it will be our top priority to get them and their students involved in the second year. Our hope is that everyone who wants to be involved, can be involved.

 

Kids Need Mentors | Jarrett Lerner | https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/Jarrett Lerner is the author of EngiNerds and its forthcoming sequel, Revenge of the EngiNerds (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin). He cofounded and helps run the MG Book Village, an online hub for all things Middle Grade, and is the co-organizer of the #KidsNeedBooks and #KidsNeedMentors projects. He can be found at jarrettlerner.com, on Twitter at @Jarrett_Lerner, and on Instagram at @jarrettlerner. He lives in Medford, Massachusetts, with his wife, his daughter, and a cat.

Jarrett and Ann are the author masterminds behind #KidsNeedMentors. Their books are:

Kids Need Mentors | Jarrett Lerner | https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/

Kids Need Mentors | Jarrett Lerner | https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/

Kids Need Mentors | Ann Braden | https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Ann can be found on Twitter at:

Ann Braden — @annbradenbooks

 

You can find Kristin and Kristen, the teacher masterminds behind #KidsNeedMentors, on Twitter at:

Kristin Crouch — @KCreadsALOT

Kristen Picone — @Kpteach5

 

Thanks for sharing the program with us, Jarrett. Are any of our teacher or author readers participating in #KidsNeedMentors this year? If so, please comment below and tell us about your experience.

 

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Native American #Kidlit Recommended Reading

By on November 21, 2018   /   Articles, Book Lists, Diversity  

If you’re looking to explore the rich world of Native American literature with your family, the following wonderful middle grade titles are a great place to start. (Thank you to the First Nations Development Institute who graciously let us share their list with the Mixed-Up Files readers, and to Debbie Reese, Ph.D., who chose these books. Dr. Reese is a expert in the field of Native children’s literature and an enrolled member of Nambé Pueblo. She is the curator of the Native American Children’s Literature Recommended Reading list and the editor and publisher of the “American Indians in Children’s Literature” website.)

Hidden Roots by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki)
Eleven-year-old Sonny and his mother can’t predict his father’s sudden abusive rages. Jake’s anger only gets worse after long days at the paper mill — and when Uncle Louis appears. Louis seems to show up when Sonny and his mother need help most, but there is something about his quiet wisdom that only fuels Jake’s rage. Through an unexpected friendship with a new school librarian, Sonny gains the strength to stand up to his father, and to finally confront his mother and uncle about a secret family heritage that may be the key to his father’s self-hatred.

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Chippewa)
“[In this] story of a young Ojibwa girl, Omakayas, living on an island in Lake Superior around 1847, Louise Erdrich is reversing the narrative perspective used in most children’s stories about nineteenth-century Native Americans. Instead of looking out at ‘them’ as dangers or curiosities, Erdrich, drawing on her family’s history, wants to tell about ‘us’, from the inside. The Birchbark House establishes its own ground, in the vicinity of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s ‘Little House’ books.” –The New York Times Book Review

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall III (Sicangu Lakota)
Jimmy McClean is a Lakota boy—though you wouldn’t guess it by his name: his father is part white and part Lakota, and his mother is Lakota. When he embarks on a journey with his grandfather, Nyles High Eagle, he learns more and more about his Lakota heritage—in particular, the story of Crazy Horse, one of the most important figures in Lakota and American history. Drawing references and inspiration from the oral stories of the Lakota tradition, celebrated author Joseph Marshall III juxtaposes the contemporary story of Jimmy with an insider’s perspective on the life of Tasunke Witko, better known as Crazy Horse (c. 1840–1877). The book follows the heroic deeds of the Lakota leader who took up arms against the US federal government to fight against encroachments on the territories and way of life of the Lakota people, including leading a war party to victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Along with Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse was the last of the Lakota to surrender his people to the US army. Through his grandfather’s tales about the famous warrior, Jimmy learns more about his Lakota heritage and, ultimately, himself.

Son Who Returns by Gary Robinson (Choctaw/Cherokee)
Fifteen-year-old Mark Centeno is of Chumash, Crow, Mexican and Filipino ancestry–he calls himself “four kinds of brown.” When Mark goes to live with his Chumash grandmother on the reservation in central California, he discovers a rich world of family history and culture that he knows very little about. He also finds a pathway to understanding better a part of his own identity: powwow dancing. Riveted by the traditional dancers and feeling the magnetic pull of the drums, Mark begins the training and other preparations necessary for him to compete as a dancer in one of America’s largest powwows.

Indian Shoes by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee (Creek)
What do Indian shoes look like, anyway? Like beautiful beaded moccasins…or hightops with bright orange shoelaces? Ray Halfmoon prefers hightops, but he gladly trades them for a nice pair of moccasins for his Grampa. After all, it’s Grampa Halfmoon who’s always there to help Ray get in and out of scrapes — like the time they are forced to get creative after a homemade haircut makes Ray’s head look like a lawn-mowing accident. This collection of interrelated stories is heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny. Cynthia Leitich Smith writes with wit and candor about what it’s like to grow up as a Seminole-Cherokee boy who is just as happy pounding the pavement in windy Chicago as rowing on a take in rural Oklahoma.

How I Became a Ghost: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story by Tim Tingle (Choctaw)
A Choctaw boy tells the story of his tribe’s removal from the only land his people had ever known, and how their journey to Oklahoma led him to become a ghost–one with the ability to help those he left behind.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Five Different Types of Readers: What Authors and Educators Can Learn From them

By on November 14, 2018   /   Articles, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers  

As an author, I’ve found that it’s useful to understand different types of readers, so I can better understand for whom I might be writing my stories.

I’m going to offers up some definitions I created based on the work of literacy scholar Kylene Beers, who breaks readers into five distinct groups: Avid Readers, Dormant Readers, Uncommitted Readers, Unmotivated Readers and Unskilled Readers.

The Avid Reader—This is someone like myself and my older son Jonah. My husband has been known to pull the cereal boxes off the table to get us to eat. But that doesn’t stop Jonah and me. Oh no. We’ll happily read the back of any brand of orange juice carton. We are even known to flip over the napkin holder because it has interesting warnings in both Spanish and in English that it would be a bad idea to eat the napkin holder.

The Dormant Reader—This is a reader who might enjoy reading but doesn’t have time. In the case of a child, she or he might be overscheduled or it’s not the highest thing on their priority list of things-to-do. They’ve heard a certain book is good and think it’s cool and do want to get there. Eventually.

The Uncommitted Reader—This person feels ambivalent towards reading. They believe that someday they’ll read but that day isn’t quite today.

Unmotivated Reader—This reader never reads for pleasure and finds reading a big, fat ugly chore.

Unskilled Reader—This reader doesn’t yet have the skills to decode text.

These definitions have helped me to be understand reluctant readers and to climb out of my own experience.
I was one of those voracious readers, so I didn’t understand why everyone else was not like me.

Take my younger sister growing up. She really would be practicing her lacrosse goalie skills or watch TV or hanging with oodles of friends. But rarely ever reading.

I didn’t get her. And she didn’t get me.

I was that shy kid always playing pretend or reading books about girls from another century.

While I never bothered to try to coax my sister to pick up one of my thick novels, my mother never gave up on my sister as a reader. She bought her the Choose Your Own Adventure books, as well as read aloud to her quite a bit. When my sister got into music of the Doors, she bought a book on the band.

Today, my sister is a librarian and probably reads more than me. My mother understand that the unmotivated reader can become the uncommitted reader who then can become the avid reader.

So the lesson here is just because a kid is currently in one category, it doesn’t mean they will stay there. And it doesn’t mean that an avid reader will always stay there either. For example, I found that when my kids were babies my reading really dropped. I was lucky to have enough time to read the back of the cereal box. When it comes to reading status, things can be fluid. This can be true for authors in terms of their intended readers as well.

My recent middle grade novels, Apple Pie Promises and Pumpkin Spice Secrets, obviously target reluctant readers. However, the first titles in my new chapter book series, Ellie May on Presidents’ Day and Ellie May on April Fools’ Day are hybrids. I tried to write it for both the young avid reader and the uncommitted one. But I’m ever hopeful that the unmotivated reader will also be charmed by Ellie May’s personality and antics. Since I don’t write beginning readers, I can’t hope to hook an unskilled reader, except as a read aloud. And if it that were the case, I would be very happy indeed.

What sort of reader were you as a kid? Where are you now? Teachers, do you see a huge spread in your classrooms. And authors, whom do you write for?

Hillary Homzie is the author of the forthcoming Ellie May chapter book series (Charlesbridge, Dec 18, 2018), as well as Apple Pie Promises (Sky Pony/Swirl, October 2018), Pumpkin Spice Secrets (Sky Pony/Swirl, October 2017), Queen of Likes (Simon & Schuster MIX 2016), The Hot List (Simon & Schuster MIX 2011) and Things Are Gonna Be Ugly (Simon & Schuster, 2009) as well as the Alien Clones From Outer Space (Simon & Schuster Aladdin 2002) chapter book series. She can be found at hillaryhomzie.com and on her Facebook page as well as on Twitter.

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