​Yes. Registration is open for the 2020 UNLV Summit on the Research and Teaching of Young Literature.

​We are in our third year of a partnership with the Clark County School District and with scholars across the country. Many of those scholars will be coming for their third year in a row. Others attended the first year and have submitted proposals for this year. We are reviewing them now. The list of presenters will be revealed in two weeks. Stay tuned. 

You can check out who presented in 2018 at this link. (Some of them will be presenting again.) We did a slightly different format in 2019 that focused less on researching and more on teaching. You can check out that format at this link.

​The Summit has been fortunate to have a series of great Keynote authors. If you haven’t read the authors in the images below, click on the picture and pick a book right away. 

 Each year we grow and add new dimensions. Each year we have had a number of elementary teachers attended the summit. This year, in order to meet their needs and interests more directly, we are adding shadow events on Thursday, the research day, that highlights Children's literature. Teacher's can attend this day as a single event (see the registration options), but in reality don't you want to hear all of the authors?

Check out the 2020 Keynotes below:

This year for the first time there is a special price for current UNLV undergraduate and graduate students!
Email Dr. Bickmore (Steven.Bickmore@unlv.edu) for the special code.

For more information, bookmark and visit the 2020 UNLV Summit page often. In addition, you can always revisit this page!

​Until next time!

Once again, I am hosting some one I don't know very well, but whose knowledge and opinion I value. Celeste and I meet a couple of years ago and I have learned to pay attention. I added her to my group of program consultants so that I could use her advice as I planned the ALAN Workshop for last Nov. I love the topic she has selected. This award, along with the others that were announced last week, are important.

​Thanks Celeste.

Last week was the first time that the American Indian Youth Literature Award winners were included in the ALA Youth Media Awards announcement.

Prior to 2020, this biennial award has been celebrated at a separate awards ceremony. When I had the opportunity to attend the awards ceremony at ALA Midwinter (Seattle, 2019), it was held off site, at the main branch of the Seattle Public Library. While this celebration had a feeling of intimacy and connection because all in attendance were there specifically to uplift Indigenous youth literature, I looked forward to this award becoming a part of the very widely celebrated ALA Youth Media Awards. 

Being announced together with the ALA Youth Media Awards is so important because these particular awards are often a major influencing factor in how books become a part of curriculum and vetted for classroom use. Additionally, award winners see an increase in sales, and I imagine publishing houses across the country are crossing their fingers that their publications are chosen for one or more awards. As much as I know that there are always plenty of wonderful books that do not win awards because of timing, because of the make up of awards committees, or other reasons, I also know that winning one of these awards is a huge measure of success. 

This year, there were three AIYLA award winners. The picturebook award went to Bowwow Powwow: Bagosenjige-niimi’idim, written by Brenda J. Child (Red Lake Ojibwe), translated into Ojibwe by Gordon Jourdain (Lac La Croix First Nation), illustrated by Jonathan Thunder (Red Lake Ojibwe), and published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press in 2018.

The middle school award went to Indian No More, written by Charlene Willing McManis. Umpqua/Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) with Traci Sorell (Cherokee), published by Tu Books in 2019.

The young adult award went to Hearts Unbroken Written by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee) published by Candlewick Press in 2018.

“Do you like the Sea Hawks?”
 
But most of the questions fell into two main categories.
 
1.Inspiration: What inspired you to write this? Why did you give the characters the names you did? How did you come up with your ideas?
​
2.The Future: Will you write another book with Edie, the main character? Are you writing another book now? When will your new book come out? What happens after the end of the book?
 
The children asked some very repetitive questions about this sequel that is not actually planned yet. In fact, they were not asking but demanding that Christine continue Edie’s story, not taking Christine’s hopeful ‘maybe’ as an answer. I thought of a moment from Chimamanda Adichie’s much celebrated TEd talk, “The Danger of a Single Story,” in which a reader stops her to tell her she must write a sequel and tells her exactly what should occur in the plot. Adichie says she is charmed by this reader feeling strong ownership of her story in a country where it was wrongly assumed that the people didn’t care to read very much. 

Finally, after yet another question asking if she will write a sequel, Christine finally relented and said “Yes, I will!” The children had convinced her. The room exploded into applause; the children cheered. Everyone was smiling.

I teach preservice teachers, and at the beginning of each semester, I ask students if they enjoy reading. The overwhelming answer is always, “No, but I did when I was a kid.” Watching the Reading Explorers engage with Christine with overflowing interest and enthusiasm, I tried to imagine the preservice teachers I work with as these children: eager, curious, and filled with the power of stories. I try to imagine schooling and curricula that doesn’t damage this love of reading, but nourishes it. I hope I am helping students in my classes to grow into teachers who re-learn to love reading, passing that love onto their future students. 

I know that meeting authors and illustrators, asking them all the questions, and getting close to their humanity, is a very important aspect of literacy education for everyone. However, even more important to me is uplifting Indigenous authors and illustrators, because voices in these communities historically have been and continue to be silenced. By reading, teaching, publishing, and highlighting awards for Indigenous literature for youth, we are giving voice to these incredibly important stories.

And by writing and publishing Indigenous literature for youth, authors and illustrators are inspiring and modeling for Indigenous youth that their stories are valid, necessary, and worthy of writing and sharing broadly.

As I was leaving the event at the library, the line was still long for Christine to sign the kids’ books. I walked out behind a child and parent and overheard their conversation.

“Dad, do you think I can be a writer someday?”

“Of course you can, honey.”

Until next time.

There is almost always are reason for special YA Wednesday post. At the same time, I only have so much time to work on the blog with all of the other pending projects and teaching obligations. It is a gift when someone else has a great idea. The YALSA Nonfiction Awards are announced on Monday.  So, Nancy Johnson's quick survey of the finalist is, indeed, cause for a special Saturday post. Thanks Nancy.

​I'm certainly not the only reader who finds nonfiction captivating and rewarding. When I taught middle and high schoolers, nonfiction often motivated my students who didn't choose to read, those who expressed disdain for short stories and feigned boredom for novels. Nonfiction, however, was their sweet spot. Why then, was it rarely included in our English/language arts curriculum? I'm guessing it's partly because English majors, English teachers, and English curriculum privileges fiction. Fortunately this is changing. In recent years, I've included more nonfiction in literature circles/book clubs. We read it in both my children's and young adult literature classes and in my English education classes. My hope is to recruit new nonfiction fans (including future English/language arts teachers) who will, in turn, bring more nonfiction in their classrooms. Not the put-'em-on-a-pedestal biographies many of us remember reading. Not the facts-and-figures, dry recounting of historical events. And definitely not the culturally biased, uncomplicated, and homogenized versions of the past that hold little connection to the present.
 
What I'm promoting is stellar nonfiction written for today's teens. The best-of-the-best nonfiction bear shiny stickers that didn't exist during my reading love affair with Kon-Tiki; awards such as the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction (and the Sibert and Orbis Pictus Awards). Ten short years ago the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association, granted this nonfiction award for the first time. On Monday, January 26th, the winner of the 2020 award will be announced. Guaranteed, it'll be a book that's totally satisfying, accurate in its information, engaging in how it's presented, and likely to captivate teen readers who often find the complexities of real life far more interesting to read about than fiction.  

YALSA's Award for Excellence in Nonfiction recognizes the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a Nov. 1 – Oct. 31 publishing year. A shortlist of up to five titles is named in early December with the winner announced at the annual ALA Youth Media Awards. The four other titles are then named as honor books.
 
The purpose of the award is to recognize the importance of the genre, to promote the growing number of nonfiction books published for young adults, and to inspire wider readership of nonfiction. A committee of nine members reads, discusses, and narrows down from a long list of possible titles to a short list of finalists, based on criteria established for excellence in nonfiction. If you're interested in learning more about the criteria, as well as this award, go to http://www.ala.org/yalsa/nonfiction-award. If you want to nominate a nonfiction book written between Nov. 1, 2019 and Oct. 31, 2020 the committee will receive your recommendation, but it must be submitted on the official suggestion form and offer a convincing rationale and summary of your nominated title.  http://www.ala.org/yalsa/nonfiction-award-suggestion-form

​Free Lunch, written by Rex Ogle (Norton Young Readers)
In his debut memoir, Rex Ogle tells the penetrating truth about his family’s experience with poverty, his embarrassment and shame of being a "free lunch" kid, and the lingering effect is has on their relationships. The voice and emotion of a middle schooler is clear and powerful in this story of trauma and resilience and he displays a balance between violence and levity. Ogle doesn't sugar-coat the cruelty of poverty and abuse, but does offer realistic optimism and believable hope. Often uncomfortable to read, Free Lunch invites conversations about the burden of chronic poverty in the United States, where 43% of children live in low-income families.

​The Great Nijinsky: God of Dance, written and illustrated by Lynn Curlee (Charlesbridge Teen) 
Lynn Curlee's striking portraits and engaging prose introduces Vaslav Nijinsky, a wild and free dancer who rapidly ascended to stardom before succumbing to mental illness. Unencumbered by sexuality and gender norms, Nijinsky's life and personality was both extravagant and tragic. What makes The Great Nijinsky notable is the combination of Curlee's illustrations, the book's stunning design, and the uncompromising frankness of the writing. Niinsky's personal story begs the question of whose life is worthy of a book and pushes the boundaries of biographies written and published for young adults.

A Light in the Darkness: Janusz Korczak, His Orphans, and the Holocaust, written by Albert Marrin (Alfred A. Knopf) 
In another untraditional biography, Albert Marrin's A Light in the Darkness presents a heart-wrenching look into the history of WWII set in the Warsaw Ghetto. Marrin weaves together the philosophies and actions of two starkly different people:  Doctor Janusz Korczak, a pediatrician-turned-orphanage-director who championed children’s rights, and Adolf Hitler, a racist fanatic who designed policies that led to the manipulation and murder of children. Complicated and masterfully told, this meticulously documented story raises questions about good and evil and is likely to provoke conversations about current events and policies.

​A Thousand Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II, written by Elizabeth Wein (Balzer + Bray)
Award-winning historical fiction writer Elizabeth Wein turns to nonfiction to introduce corps of female Russian aviators who fought in World War II as pilots, mechanics, and navigators. Wein uses rich details, compelling personal stories, and thrilling accounts of the lives of these airwomen to reveal "How come I didn't know that?" history and showcase how restrictive misogyny and societal norms can be overcome. Teens will be drawn to the bravery and camaraderie of these women and their dedicated duty to serve. The intention and perseverance necessary to change history is grounded in Wein's extensive research for A Thousand Sisters.   

​Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of “The Children's Ship" written by Deborah Heiligman (Henry Holt)
In a previously untold historical account of hope and heartache from the 1940s, Deborah Heiligman's Torpedoed recounts the story of a passenger ship setting sail from Britain, carrying 200 passengers, many of them children hoping to escape the dangers of war. Unexpectedly, the ship was struck by a torpedo, and a race to save the passengers began. Like compelling fiction (which it is not!), this page-turner tells the harrowing true story of ordinary people under extraordinary circumstances and shows how tragedy can -- and did -- bring out the best in people. Heiligman's four years of research and extensive back-matter confirms the accuracy and authenticity of this true story.

Until next time.

One of the great readers and advocates of Young Adult Literature, Lesley Roessing is at it again. This time she discusses Middle Grades and Young Adult Literature in the Short Story format. Take a look. In case you have missed them, you can find the rest of Lesley's posts on the Contributor's page.

We are facing a literacy crisis; more than 30 million adults in the United States cannot read or write above a third-grade level (ProLiteracy). But even more startling than statistics on illiteracy, the United States has become an alliterate society; over 50% of people who can read, choose not to.
 
There are a multitude of reasons for including short stories in the curriculum and student reading. 

Many readers have not built up reading stamina. When they do read novels, they choose novels below their reading levels, they abandon novels before finishing, or they read Spark Notes, summaries, or find other ways to avoid actually reading. Short stories are, by definition, short. Short stories range in lengths, varying from 1,500 to 10,000 or more words. Therefore, reader stamina can be slowly increased with complete texts, while giving readers a sense of accomplishment because they have finished an entire text.

Short stories are engaging. Because of their length, short stories are precise with their delivery and are designed to capture the attention of the reader quickly. Readers meet characters who have goals which they accomplish after overcoming conflicts by making decisions. In other words, each short story includes all plot elements, and since short stories are focused on one plot rather than complicated with subplots, they are easier to follow for emerging readers of any age or level. For this reason, short stories can provide a bridge to longer works.
 
Short stories also are valuable resources when classes or students are short on time or when students neglect to bring their independent reading books to class.
 
Short stories provide useful teaching tools. At the beginning of the year, before tackling a class novel, I used short stories to teach or review literary elements, author’s craft, and to teach and apply reading strategies. I would choose a short story based on the element, such as setting, that I wished to highlight in my focus lesson and would also use that short story to focus on a reading strategy. We would then put it all together when reading our whole-class novel.
 
Short stories can be employed as an introduction to, and practice for, Book Clubs. Teachers can employ Short-Story Clubs to teach and practice Book Club social skills, such as preparing for and holding effective discussions, and for practicing meeting strategies and guidelines before a class embarks on novel book clubs (see Talking Texts: A Teachers’ Guide for Book Clubs across the Curriculum for more on short story and other text clubs). Short-Story Clubs offer the same opportunities as Book Clubs; members of a club can read and discuss a short story over 1-2 meetings and make a short presentation for the class. Advanced readers could read different short stories on the same topic or theme within a Club, comparing and contrasting stories individually read, or each Short-Story Club member could read a different story by the same author and the members could analyze the author’s craft.

Anthologies, such as the 25 listed below, offer many advantages to emerging, reluctant, and proficient readers:

1. They introduce students to new authors, most of whom have written YA novels which students might become interested in reading.
2. The stories/essays in most of these anthologies are  centered around a topic (sports) or theme (prejudice), offering differing perspectives and voices on that topic or theme.
3. Anthologies contain stories of various lengths, reading and interest levels, genres, and formats, allowing readers to find one or more stories that match them as readers.
4. Anthologies, especially the more current publications, offer culturally-diverse characters and authors as well as an assortment of genres and perspectives.

A middle school and high school teacher for twenty years, Lesley Roessing is the former Founding Director of the Coastal Savannah Writing Project at Georgia Southern University (formerly Armstrong State University) where she was also a Senior Lecturer in the College of Education. In 2018-19 she served as a Literacy Consultant with a K-8 school and now works independently, writing, providing professional development in literacy to schools, and visiting classrooms to facilitate reading and writing lessons. She can be contacted at lesleyroessing@gmail.com.
 
Lesley is the author of Bridging the Gap: Reading Critically & Writing Meaningfully to Get to the Core; Comma Quest: The Rules They Followed. The Sentences They Saved; No More “Us” & “Them: Classroom Lessons and Activities to Promote Peer Respect; The Write to Read: Response Journals That Increase Comprehension; the recently-published Talking Texts: A Teachers’ Guide to Book Clubs across the Curriculum and has contributed chapters to Young Adult Literature in a Digital World: Textual Engagement though Visual Literacy and Queer Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the English Language Arts Curriculum, and the upcoming Story Frames. She served as past editor of Connections, the award-winning journal of the Georgia Council of Teachers of English and, as columnist for AMLE Magazine, shared before, during, and after-reading response strategies across the curriculum through ten “Writing to Learn” columns. 

Last week was a big week for Jason Reynolds and for the entire YA literature community. Being named as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature is a remarkable achievement. His appointment follows on the heels of excellent authors who have also held the position (see the slideshow below). The field of Young Adult Literature is blessed by the books and by the contributors of these fine authors. 

Jason has a lot to offer scholars, librarians, teachers and most importantly, adolescent readers and future readers. Yes, that is right, even Jason was a once a future reader. He has stories to tell and, equally as important, Jason is a good listener. He is perfectly placed to encourage young people to share their stories. It wouldn't surprise me if in 10 to 20 years when the Library of Congress announces a another Ambassador that he or she will have a story to tell about reading, listening to, or having a conversation with Jason Reynolds.

I am forever in debt to Jacqueline Woodson for introducing me to the work of Jason Reynolds in a brief conversation. I am placing this post here as a way to mark Jason appointment. i will also be adding news, new book reviews, and other video that will help chronicle Jason's experience as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.  Enjoy the videos and the news stories. Bookmark the page and return every so often to found out just exactly what Jason is up to.

Author Jason Reynolds Speaks On His Latest Book, "Look Both Ways"

Jason Reynolds of the Long Way Down

Jason Reynolds On His Novel, "Long Way Down"

Author Jason Reynolds talks new book, gets a call from Queen Latifah

How poetry can help kids turn a fear of literature into love

Jason Reynolds: 2016 National Book Festival (Ghost)

Until next time.

Here is the first guest blog post of the new year and it is a dandy. Erinn Bentley discusses a project that involves teachers, preservice teachers, students and teacher educators. In reality, while Erinn and I have been to many of the same conferences and the same sessions our face to face conversation have been limited. We tend to meet just before or after a session or we pass in the halls on the way to something else and we chat for a minute. We do have a fairly robust communication through email and on the blog. She has contributed in 2017 and 2018 and will start the 2019 year. 

Even though I don't know her very well, I do know that she is a fantastic person. How? She reads to and with her children. In my book that makes a great person. In fact, her second post was about reading with her son, Noah. Her first post was about reading YA and children's literature with students on a study abroad program--they read Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, and some of the Chronicles of Narnia in Oxford England. You see, she really is a great person.

For most folks, January marks a time for resolutions, clean slates, and fresh beginnings. For educators, though, this month is not quite the half-way point in the academic year. Returning to our classrooms after the holidays, we face restless students, looming standardized tests, and a long stretch until spring break. Back when I was a middle school teacher, I was always looking for ways to beat the “winter blahs” and bring energy and creativity into my classroom. As a current teacher-educator, I am still in search of such strategies. Recently, I had the pleasure of partnering with an awesome local ELA teacher, Kim Evans, to test out a creative strategy for teaching YA literature: The Book Bistro. Today, I would like to share our experiences hosting this Book Bistro among her 7th and 8th grade students and my pre-service English teachers.

​What is a Book Bistro?
“Book Bistro is an independent reading strategy for encouraging students to read books on their own, bring books to class for a scheduled event, and linger over books in a cafe atmosphere” (Kasten & Wilfong, 2005, p. 857). Kim and I scheduled our Bistro to take place in her classroom all day on a Friday in January. Kim’s 7th and 8th grade students were the “guests,” and my pre-service English teachers hosted the event. Prior to this day, my pre-service teachers had been enrolled in a YA literature class offered as a 3-week (abbreviated) January-term class at Columbus State. They had studied multiple texts and each chose 2 YA novels to share with the middle school students during the Bistro. (Note: None of Kim’s students had previously read these novels). 

Kim and I are neither the first nor last teachers to use this strategy to encourage, inspire, and support our adolescent readers. Other Book Bistro variations include:
​

• The teacher facilitates Book Bistro by choosing titles and assisting students in find the best “match” for them.
• Students facilitate Book Bistro by presenting self-selected texts to their peers (Kasten & Wilfong, 2005).
• Students partner with pre-service teachers as “pen pals” to read and discuss texts together through notebooks (Wilfong & Oberhauser, 2012).

 
Finally, if anyone is interested in seeing which titles were presented at our Bistro, please visit our class website. Together, we created resources for teaching Gratz’s Refugee on this site.  Additionally, each pre-service teacher created a website focused on 2 self-selected YA novels.
 
Bon Appetit! 

Until next time.

The New Year always seems to catch me by surprise. It always seems to be NCTE, the ALAN Workshop, Thanksgiving, get ready to end the semester,  and then hurry up and getting ready for Christmas. Spend time with friends and family and then all of the sudden it is the New Year.

As many followers of the blog know, I try to write twice a month and pass on the duties to others every other week. It makes for variety and it helps the blog cover books and issues that aren't always on my radar.  I try to make room for special topics or for people who have an idea that needs to be shared. I have quite a few ideas on the back burner for 2020. 

I also have a variety of contributors line up and ready to go. The following all have assigned dates and and are thinking about their posts: Erinn Bently, Nancy Johnson, Celeste Trimble, Kate Kedley, Briana Asmus, Deb Van Duinen, Gretchen Rumohr, Kelli Sowerbrower, Leilya Pitre, Jeff Buchanan, Jackie Mercer, Sean Kottke, Margaret A Robbins, Anne Bird Cramer, Ashley D Black, Cindy Koudelka, Ashley Boyd, Janine Darragh, Diane Srofano, Anita Dubroc, Lesley Roessing. Those in red are contributing for the first time. The others have contributed before and many of them over several years. There are several other past contributors who I hope will contribute in 2020 as well. We will see.

I will be spending a lot of time organizing and planning for the 2020 summit. The past two years have been great. It doesn't happen or go forward without the help of a lot of people. Unfortunately, one of the people who helped the most has moved on to greener pastures. Sheila Bray has worked as an administrative assistant in the Dean's office since I arrived at UNLV. Her expertise in organizing meals, creating contact lists, and working through a variety of snags has been hard to calculate. She left just before the break and I am sure it will take awhile to replace her and I have the sneaky suspicion that I will be on my own. 

The best news is that many of the moving parts are in place. We have keynote authors scheduled and we have a few others who will be participating and presenting as well. One of the interesting developments is that we will have a "shadow" children's literature day on Thursday that will intertwined with the research focus of the Summit on that same day. Matt will be the featured author on that day. This helps us integrate the elementary school personal in the Las Vegas area.

As you can see below, the all of the authors, Steve, Ashley, and Chris, are interesting and have books worth reading. So, get started. Their pictures link to their website.  The information about the summit will be update in Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday on the Summit 2020 page. You can submit a proposal to present at the conference a this link. Registration will be open soon.

We have been planning to include more children's literature at the summit. We have finally done it. Matt de la Peña is coming and he is a perfect fit. He has won the Newbery award and has books that fit every possible category from picture books to sophisticated realistic YA fiction. What a treat. You can register for just the Children's literature day. It will be a great day with a keynote from Matt and the opportunity to participate in a writer's workshop with him as well. Of course, I recommend that you register for all three days in order to hear and interact with every author.

Fortunately, I have the opportunity to attend a dinner or two hosted by a publisher. This year I was invited to a dinner by Source Books and I was blown away by I'm Not Dying with you Tonight. More to the point, I was totally engaged by Kimberly and Gilly. Their show needs to go on the road. They should be speaking everywhere. They can move you from laughter to tears and back again in a heart beat. I knew they need to be at the summit and speaking to Las Vegas teachers. Their frank discussion of racial tension in person and in their wonderful book needs all of the exposure it can get. I am especially moved move by their spirit of cooperation and collaboration. The friendship comes first as they model how to explore the difficult position we find ourselves in within our country, our communities, and our schools. Kimberly and Gilly, I can't what to host you at UNLV. 

Finally, after a long haul Shanetia Clark and I have this book in print. It is available on Amazon at this link. This has been a passion project for both of us and even though we have had some family issues that have slowed us down, it is here and volumes 2 and 3 will soon follow. We hope to be presenting on the content of all three at NCTE 2020. Stay tuned. As many readers of the blog know, diversity is under represented in YA and children's literature. This first book focuses on the four award winning authors who helped pave the way beginning in the 1960 and touching decades until today. Indeed, Mildred D. Taylor's final installment in the Logan family saga, All the Days Past, All the Days to Come, was just published. 

Of course, we hope you buy it. At the very least, we hope you request that your school or university library has a copy. 

Guess what? It is available from the publisher with a discount! Here is the link to the book on the Rowman and Littlefield site. Here is the link to the discount.

Okay, what are you waiting for click on the link.

Until next time. 

The year is rushing to an end. Of course, I still have work to do, but grades are in, the house is decorated for the holidays, some of the grand kids are coming for the holidays. The ALAN Workshop is over and I am still grateful for all of the help I received from the publishers. They helped guide much of my reading over the last year as I reviewed authors for the ALAN workshop. The publishers will see some of their authors represented in this blog post.

A few years ago I started selecting a few titles at the end of the year that I called Bick's Picks. I think I have made some decent picks over the years and many of these books end up in my syllabus for a YA Literature course or as a supplemental text in a methods course. You can check out the picks for 2016, 2017, and 2018.

During the course of my year I read a lot of YA fiction. As the year passes, I keep track of the books I keep thinking about. They pop into my mind as I write for the blog, work on book chapters or articles, as I prepare for my classes, or when I find myself in conversations with colleagues. I am frequently asked for book recommendation. I pay attention to the books that come to my mind as I discussion options with these students, teachers, friends, and parents. Of course, the ones I think about or recommend the most start making their way to my Bick's Picks list. 

One example of a frequently flier this year was Padma's The Bridge Home. It is a fantastic book and I found myself recommending it over and over again. Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson is another one that just seemed right to recommend to readers who knew some of Laurie's other books, especially Speak, but just weren't aware of her new book yet.

I love Jason Reynolds' work, but I must say (and I told Jason this) I just didn't get Look Both Ways for awhile. Then it dawned on me that I was reading a fantastic work of literature. I short story cycle that fits in with the legacy of Anderson's Winesberg Ohio, Hemingway's In Our Time, Steinbeck's The Long Valley and the more recent work, The House of Mango Street by Cisneros. I have already started an academic paper on this wonderful book. 

Many of you are fans of A.S. King already. I agree; she is a gifted writer. While she has a number of excellent novels, I think that Dig is one of the best novels I have read in several years. For me, the first two pages of the books stand as a short story that gives perfect insight into a couples complicated relationship.

​A few years ago Trevor Ingerson introduced me to Maria Padian's Wrecked. I was looking forward to next book. I loved How to Build a Heart. It is a remarkable book about family, heritage, and race. I think it should find its way to every possible awards list. I have refrained from ranking these picks, however, if I had to pick a top three, this would be one of them.

Several times during the year, I receive an invitation from an author or a friend of an author to read their book.  Two of the books that made the list this year came to me this way. Both of them happen to be books about mental illness. The first is The Book of Joshua. It is a powerful story by Jennifer Anne Moses that just keeps coming back to me. The second was brought to my attention by Chris Crowe--thanks Chris. He introduced me to Spencer Hyde and his wonderful debut novel, Waiting for Fitz. Fortunately, his publisher was as enthusiastic about Spencer's work as both Chris and I had become. They were able to support his way to the ALAN Workshop. He was one of four authors featured in this post who made their first visit to an ALAN Workshop in 2019.

The three other authors who were attending for the first time are Randy Ribay, Matt Mendez and Tiffany Jackson. If you don't know about them you will. That are all dynamic authors. Randy is also a classroom teacher and his solo speech at ALAN still has people talking. Matt Mendez debut novel Barely Missing Everything still has me shaking my head in amazement. I read all three of Tiffany Jackson's books over the past year. In reality, all three are excellent, but I just found out about her this year and I limit the list to books published in 2019, the current year. I started reading and I couldn't stop until I had all three under my belt. 

If you need a book to read over the winter break, all of these will do just fine. They are in no particular order, If you have read them send me your rankings. If you have a favorite, let me know. If there is a book I missed, send me the title (I read a lot, but I don't get to everything.). Some of these books don't need my help, they are by author who are well promoted or have a large presence on social media. I hope you have heard of most of these books. I hope you give them a try. I think you will find it well worth the effort.

Pick #1 Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

Pick #2 How to Build a Heart by Maria Padian

Pick #3 Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds

 Pick #4 Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson

Pick #5 Barely Missing Everything by Matt Mendez 

Pick #6 The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman

Pick #7 Waiting for Fitz by Spencer Hyde

Pick #8 Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson

Pick #9 Dig by A.S. King

Pick #10 The Book of Joshua by Jennifer Anne Moses

Until next week.

Mark Lewis is posting again in December after a busy conference season. It might be the start of a tradition. Last year he posted about Middle Grades Graphic Novels. You can find it here. If you have the time, browse through the contributors page. Mark has been a contributor from the beginning. Mark, thanks once again for helping out.

​At the 2019 NCTE Annual Convention, one of the keynote speakers was George Takei who had just published a memoir about the time his family was confined to internment camps during World War II. He chose to present the story, They Called Us Enemy (2019; written with Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott, and illustrated by Harmony Becker), in graphic novel format because he believed it would be more accessible to younger readers. I don’t usually embrace that argument since reading graphic novels and comics can be just as challenging as engaging with a traditional prose text, if not more challenging for readers unfamiliar with the apparatus included in sequential art that are essential to comprehension (see Brenner, 2011). Yet, there is broad scholarship on the efficacy of graphic novels to engage young readers:

​Takei’s memoir reminds all of us how certain groups have been and continue to be subjugated within U.S. society, which young readers should be exposed to as part of their English language arts and social studies curricula. So, if more youth decide to read Takei’s memoir because it is a graphic novel, then I have to applaud his decision. ​

​Another reason that I enjoyed They Called Us Enemy because it was a memoir, rather than a fictionalized account of Japanese internment, which personalizes a distant story of U.S. history. I believe young readers would also appreciate it for this reason since memoirs evoke a divergent evocative transaction between reader and text than fictional texts (see Yagoda, 2009). A memoir is a particular creative narrative that presents a memory of one’s life. I once taught a course on story and memoir with my doctoral advisor, Bill McGinley, and he explained memoir on the syllabus as the “difference between recollection and autobiography, between truth and honesty, between the past and present. Memoirs are occupied more with emotion than they are with information; they are often less panoramic than autobiographies, but more purposeful than recollections. Most important, they are not really about the past, even if their primary impetus is the act of remembering. The memoir is about how our past selves continue to inform our present selves, who we might become, and what we might be called to do.” Following this definition of memoir, I argue that youth deserve to engage with memoirs to not only learn about the diverse lives of distant others, but also to learn something about themselves. The confusion that young George Takei felt while imprisoned, followed by the indignation he felt as a young adult about what his country did to his family, can inform readers how oppressive acts have ripple effects in peoples’ lives beyond the singular moment. Here are a few other memoirs that might that explore aspects of living and dying that are worthy of consideration to include in an English language arts or social studies curriculum.

​References
Bakis, M. (2012). The graphic novel classroom: Powerful teaching and learning with images. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Cook, M. (2017). Now I “see”: The impact of graphic novels on reading comprehension in high school English classrooms. Literacy Research Instruction, 56, 21-53.
Chun, C. W. (2009). Critical literacies and graphic novels for English-language learners: Teaching Maus. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(2), 144-153.
Connors, S. P. (2015). Expanding students’ analytical frameworks through the study of graphic novels. Journal of Children’s Literature, 41(2), 5-15.
Dungo, AJ. (2019). In waves. London, UK: Nobrow.
Findakly, B., & Trondheim, L. (2017). Poppies of Iraq. Montreal, Quebec: Drawn & Quarterly.
Frey, N., & Fisher, D. (2004). Using graphic novels, anime, and the Internet in an urban classroom. English Journal, 93(3), 19-25.
Gharib, M. (2019). I was their American dream. New York, NY: Clarkson Potter.
Griffith, P. E. (2010). Graphic novels in the secondary classroom and school libraries. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54, 181-189.
Moeller, R. A. (2011). “Aren’t these boy books?”: High school students’ readings of gender ingraphic novels. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(7), 476-484.
Smetana, L. (2010). Graphic novel gurus: Students with learning disabilities enjoying real literature. The California Reader, 44(1), 3-14.
Versaci, R. (2001). How comic books can change the way our students see literature: One teacher’s perspective. English Journal, 91(2), 61-67.
Takei, G., Eisinger, J., Scott, S. (Authors), & Becker, H. (Illustrator). (2019). They called us enemy. Marietta, GA: Top Shelf Productions.
Tatulli, M. (2018). Short & skinny. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
Thrash, M. (2018). Lost soul, be at peace. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
Yagoda, B. (2009). Memoirs: A history. New York, NY: Riverhead Books. 

Until next time.

My memory of the 2019 ALAN Workshop is one of gratitude. I am thankful for the help and kindness of publishers who answered an untold number of questions and who supported their authors. I am thankful for the attendance of authors--both those who have been friends of ALAN for long time and those who were willing to risk a visit for the first time. Most importantly, I am thankful for the members of the ALAN family who decided to attend the workshop with us in Baltimore. I know there were many who wanted to be there, but had conflicts. I also know there were many who were there for the first time. In case you didn't catch it at the workshop, if you paid the workshop fee, you are now an ALAN member, a part of the ALAN family. 

I am also grateful for the ALAN executive committee, the ALAN officers, the elected board members, and an untold number of volunteers who help activities to run smoothly. The ALAN booth, the Breakfast and the workshop does work without all of the volunteers. Without question the workshop had a few glitches. Rest assured that as an executive board we are well aware of them and we are working hard to address them and remedy unsatisfactory situations. 

You can all be confident that you are in good hands with Ricki Ginsberg at the helm as President. The other officers, board members, and volunteers continue to amaze me with their knowledge and passion. So, hang on. I am sure that Ricki will usher in another great workshop. It you want to help right this moment, ask a colleague or a friend to join ALAN. We are stronger together.

For today, however, I solicited some memories from ALAN members. From my point of view. I thought the two keynote speakers were amazing and passionate about reaching and helping adolescents. All of the single speakers exceeded my expectations. I loved the people in conversations and those on panels. While I have read a book by most of the authors who attended, I have new books to read and authors who are now on my "do not miss their next book list."  

Take a look at the shared memories.

From Katie Sluiter
​ALAN19 was a little different this year, and I absolutely loved it. This was my fourth time being a part of this conference and the changes were definitely welcome. I was able to chat and interact with many more of the authors at the reception, favorites being those who my own 8th graders love so much: Raina Telgemeier, Mark Oshiro, Amy King, and Nic Stone.

Another highlight for me was the honor of moderating a panel of authors: Zach Smedley, NoNieqa Ramos, and Ismee Williams (I don't have a photo of this, but Noah took some).

The conference was the most stress-free I have experienced yet; I could sit and listen to all of the authors without distraction of people getting up for signings or having to decide between a signing or listening. I'm so glad because maybe I would have missed Randy Ribay, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Jo Knowles.

Mostly, my favorite part was spending time with my sister-friend, Dr. Gretchen Rumohr and her daughters Nola and Marcie. They are my bookish family and it was a treat to get literary with them!

From Jackie Bach
"Here are three authors who books can save a life: Cyndy Etler, Zetta Elliot, and Laurie Halse Anderson. It was my true honor to introduce the last panel at ALAN this year and listen to these three authors speak about their inspirational stories." ​

From Maria Padian
ALAN is a little like Literary Speed Dating. All those short, inspiration and energy-packed presentations from authors leave me fired up and hungry for more! They also prod me to take bigger risks with my own writing and really stretch.

That said: the personal high point of the conference for me was meeting my fellow panelist, Sylvia Zeleny. We were startled at how quickly and deeply we connected, and for me especially it was profound to see that despite the differences in our personal backgrounds and experiences we created characters who yearned for the same things and had much in common.

Thanks for including me this year, Steve. It was an honor to participate … and fun to see you!

Regards from Maria

From Crag Hill
I go to ALAN to spend time with colleagues from afar, talking books and writers and writing, to meet new teachers and scholars of young adult literature, and to encounter writers I had not been familiar with. My highlight comes from the latter: Listening to Randy Ribay speak about teaching literary theory. I didn't expect to hear something like this from the stage: "I believe," Ribay argued, "we can boil some of these [literary] theories down to their core ideas and train learners to apply critical lenses to ANY text." Huzzah! Here's a link to the speech:
https://randyribay.wordpress.com/2019/11/26/critical-lit-theory-as-preparation-for-the-world-2019-alan-workshop-speech/

Until next time.