ENG 272: Literature for the Middle Grades

Summer 2012.  Course syllabus (in pdf form)

click here for link of Caldecott Medal winners at the American Library Association website

Required texts for Summer 2012:

Mark Twain. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, ed. John Seelye. Penguin Classics.

Frances Hodgson Burnett. A Little Princess, ed. U.C. Knoepflmacher. Penguin Classics.

Gail Carson Levin. Ella Enchanted. HarperCollins.

Rick Riordan. The Lightning Thief. HyperionMiramax.

Russell Freedman. Lincoln: A Photobiography. Houghton Mifflin.

Christopher Paul Curtis. Bud, Not Buddy. Laurel Leaf.

Karen Hesse. Out of the Dust. Scholastic.

Brian Selznick. The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Scholastic..

Joseph Gibaldi.  MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7^th ed. MLA

Recommended Text: Joseph Gilabldi.  MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.  7^th Ed.  MLA.

Research links

Research & Writing Resources for Children's Literature.  A list I've compiled that will help you on your research papers.  Includes links to online resources, journals and more, plus a list of books, and the MLA Guide in .pdf form.

Resources in children's literature research for college students, teachers, librarians & academics

• Link to .pdf of Mark I. West's "Key Reference Works Related to Children's Literature " from Everyone's Guide to Children's Literature.
• illustration by Quentin BlakeGuide to Research in Children's and Young Adult Literature at the University of Illinois. Many resources are also at Milner Library.  Thorough, well annotated lists of books.
• Resources from universities: Children's Literature Pathfinder for Parents and Teachers at Univ. of South Florida. Humboldt State Univ. library's resources. Michigan State library's resources.
• Online Children's Literature Journals
• Journals that publish articles on children's literature research & criticism. Compiled by Wally Hastings & Michael Joseph
• Children's Literature Resources on the Internet from School Libraries Online.
• Grad students' annotated lists: Children's Literature Research Resources by librarian & NC State grad student. Frank Rogers' (U of Ga grad student) general children's lit
• Children's literature book awards and Victorian Literature resources on this website.

More resources

MLA Guide, in .pdf format.  How to write and format your papers.  Important to look at before you hand in the final version of your research paper.

If you are struggling to write a literary analysis paper, read "How to Write a Research Paper in Literature" by Geoff Baker at Chico State University (.pdf format)

More Research & Writing Resources on Children's Literature from my website 

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

Pullman Porter on the jobYouTube Videos

• "Shenandoah" performed by Arlo Guthrie with paintings.
• "Minnie the Moocher" performed by Cab Calloway.
• "Take the A Train" performed by Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1943.
• "It Don't Mean a Thing" performed by Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1943.
• "My Favorite Things" performed by Betty Carter (1964)

"Porters Helped Build the Black Middle Class" NPR segment. May 7, 2009.

"America on the Move: Pullman Porters" from the National Museum of American History exhibit

From Jazz: A film by Ken Burns on PBS. segment "Jazz in the Time of the Great Depression"

History of Jazz/Black History in America from Scholastic.com

The Great Depression: An African-American Perspective

Growing up Black in the 1930s.  Interview with Mrs. Peacolia Barge, born in 1923 in AlabamaChristopher Paul Curtis

Carol Hurst's site on teaching Bud, Not Buddy

Teaching materials for Bud, Not Buddy play for children.  Detailed. in .pdf format

Nashville Children's Theater's segments from Bud, Not Buddy. YouTube video 3:10

Links to information about the author

• Christopher Paul Curtis' official website with Random House.  Curtis' own website
• Curtis on NBC Today Show talking about Bud, Not Buddy
• Transcript of interview of Curtis at New York Public Library
  

 

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

 

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

• Reading guide, from publisher HarperCollins, for Ella Enchanted
• Official website for Gail Carson Levine.  Her blog.
• Bio of Levine and author talk on Kidsread.com
  
  

Cinderella and Snow White related film clips on YouTube

• Miramax's official film site for Ella Enchanted.  Includes 3 video clips
• From the film Ella Enchanted with Anne Hathaway.  Short video of how Ella does whatever anyone says. 1:11 Last fight of Ella Enchanted. 5:35  Meeting Prince Char. 1:34
• Ever After, film with Drew Barrymore. Danielle saves Henry from the gypsies.1:16  Danielle saves old servant. 2:15
• Girl reviews the book on One Minute Critic. video. 1:11 YouTube
• Snow White and the Huntsman film (2012).  Movie trailer 2 (2:27 min in HD). Movie trailer 2 (1:15)
• Mirror, Mirror (2012) Trailer #2 (2:23 min) Trailer #1 (2:31 min)

Teaching ideas for Ella Enchanted and Cinderella

• Scholastic's website for Ella Enchanted with links to reading guide and teaching ideas
• Literature Learning Ladders, a teaching website, with extensive ideas on teaching  EE
• Cinderella goes to school, teaching ideas for EE and Cinderella
• Cinderella Project, from the de Grummond Children's Literature Research Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi.  Links to various versions.  easiest way seem to click on the Archive Link.
• Cinderella Stories: Academic approach from Univ. of Calgary on many Cinderella stories and critical analysis.

 

 

 

Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Mark Twain in His Times:  Great site from Univ of Virginia.  Click through to comprehensive material about Tom Sawyer, with e-texts of material leading up to the novel, original reviews, illustrations, & info on Hannibal. Listen here to excerpts of actors who carefully recreate Clemmon's amazing storytelling style.

Mark Twain website by PBS and Ken Burns.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame lesson plan incorporating Mark Twain

Mark Twain at Play: an online exhibit from the Univ of California-Berkley's Mark Twain Papers library.  Check out what made him laugh, what he did to relax, and look at his original writings. 

"Mark Twain: Our original superstar" an essay in Time magazine by humor writer Roy Blount, Jr. (July 3, 2008)

Search quotations from Mark Twain: Twainquotes.com

Mark Twain's Mississippi: site emphasizing Twain's books about the river and his experiences on it.

This is Mark Twain, site created by University of California Press and the Bancroft Library. Feature 2 interactive timelines

sign in front of Becky's home in Hannibal, MOTwain's home in Hannibal, MO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twain working at his Quarry Farm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan's website.  Riordan's website section about Percy Jackson.  Riordan's blog
Percy Jackson and the Olympians website
Percy Jackson's UK site
Scholastic's bio on Riordan
Reading guide (in .pdf) to The Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan's Twitter feed
The Last Hero site, the next in the Olympians series
Mythology for kids:*Mythweb *Animated Hermes leads kids about mythology  *Ancient Greek Gods, site for kids
Book censorship during ancient Greek times
National Geographic interactive quiz on Percy Jackson books
Role play forum based on Percy Jackson books
Percy Jackson graphic novel version

Videos of Perseus/Percy Jackson

• Clash of the Titans (2010):  trailer.  YT 2:14 "Release the Kraken" segment YT 1:30 Medusa fight scene section YT 1:28
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Trailer 2 YT 1:43 Percy Vs. Annabeth Capture the Flag. YT :51 Medusa scene with Uma Thurman.  YT 1:18
• Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters. in the works for 2012

Videos of Rick Riordan

• Rick Riordan at the Decatur Book Festival in 2007 talking about his books.  YouTube 9. min
• Rick Riordan in 2009 at Barnes & Noble in Mesa, Arizona. YouTube (5:43 min video)  Answers questions. Part 2 of Riordan at Mesa, Az. (6 min video)
• Rick Riordan at Library of Congress 2009 Book Festival.  (19 min YouTube video)
• 2 middle school boys in Florida introduce their video of Riordan on his local visit in 2009. Real kids, real readers talking about a series they love. (7 min)

 

Charlotte's Web by E.B. WhiteE.B. White

"The Lion and the Mouse: The battle that reshaped children's literature." essay in The New Yorker by Jill Lepore (July 21, 2008).  Sources Lepore used for this essay, in pdf format.

"Children's Books" an essay by E. B. White in collection of essays One Man's Meat in pdf format

New York Times collection of info on E.B. White.  Includes links to recordings of White reading from Charlotte's Web.  (requires free registration with NY Times)

Quotations by E.B. White at goodreads.com.  Quiz on quotations in Charlotte's Web.

Why Charlotte's Web is still a great book 50 years after publication. by Stephen Amidon in The Guardian

E.B. White essay in The Atlantic "The Death of a Pig" January 1948.

Interviews by NPR's Melissa Block of E.B. White's relatives and author of annotated Charlotte Web on White's creation of the novel. (8-4-2008)

Trailers on YouTube for 2006 live/CGI film (1 min). for 1973 animated film (3 min)

Link to "Natural History," an E.B. White poem about spiders from 1929

E.B. White in The New Yorker, May 23, 1953: "Walden is the only book I own, although there are some others unclaimed on my shelves. Every man, I think, reads one book in his life, and this one is mine. It is not the best book I ever encountered, perhaps, but it is for me the handiest, and I keep it about me in much the same way one carries a handkerchief - for relief in moments of defluxion or despair."

 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 

Articles related to The Hunger Games

• "Fresh Hell: What's Behind the Boom in Dystopian Fiction for Young Readers" by Laura Miller (in .pdf format) 
• "Scary World" by John Green article on The Hunger Games and The Dead and the Gone in the The New York Times Magazine Nov. 2008.
• "Suzanne Collins's War Stories for Kids" by Suzanne Dominus from The New York Times April 8, 2011 (in .pdf format)
• "The Dark Side of Young Adult Fiction" critics debate The Hunger Games and related novels on the The New York Times website in Dec. 2010The Hunger Games book cover in German edition

Suzanne Collins's website

Scholastic's teacher's guide to The Hunger Games

Videos on YouTube connected to studying The Hunger Games

• Interview with Suzanne Collins.  Part 1 "Classical Inspiration" (1:30)  Part 2 "Contemporary Inspiration" (1:13)  Part 3 "Desensitization" (1:21)
• The Hunger Games trailers for 2012 film.  Nov. 2011 trailer. Sept. 2011 trailer. [Fan site with regular updates for Hunger Games film]
• Battle Royal.  Japanese film adaptation of the book: Trailer with English subtitles (1:39). Fanmade trailer hypothesizing Battle Royal for American audiences (1 min)
• The Truman Show. Trailer (2:30 min)   Edited into 10 min highlights.
• The Chocolate War. Trailer for film based on Robert Cormier's book
• Gladiator.  Trailer for the film. (1:26)
• "I'm Spartacus": famous scene from Spartacus (1960) with Kirk Douglas (2:16)

Map of Panem, a teacher's detailed analysis of the US map as re-imagined in the Hunger Games series

" 'The Hunger-Games':popular, violent, and rated PG-13" Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article (March 2011) questions violence in book and upcoming film

The Hunger Games wikia with 285 pages

 

 A Hunger Games map (click to bigger map)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hunger Games map (click to bigger map)

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Brian Selznick's site for The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Four color biography of Brian Selznick in .pdf format

Brian Selznick talking about his childhood and writing books for children.  Video

Interview with Selznick for BookPage, "Every picture tells a story in Selznick's 'Invention' " 2007.

Hugo film released in November 2011

• Trailer for Hugo.  YT lasts 2:46. detailed.
• Official site for Hugo film
• Roger Ebert's review for Hugo
• Interviews with Scorsese and actors in Hugo film
• "Magical book behind Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' " Telegraph (11/29/11)

Al Roker on the summer reading club of The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  Overview, Meliere images, & Roker talks with kids about book. Video. 7:30 min

LA Times article on The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Automatons

• Henri Maillardet's Automaton at The Franklin Institute.  video.  51 sec
• Franklin Institute's Maillardet Automation Demonstration (Nov 4, 2007).  Video. 7:11 min.
• Mechanics of Memory, information about automatons.
• Nancy, the automoaton who knits.  Video. 45 seconds
• Artist Automaton.  A contemporary automaton that draws.  Available in a kit.  Video

George Melies and early cinema

Still from George Melies. A Trip to the Moon. 1902

• "A Trip to the Moon" 1902. Video.  6:52 min
• "The Vanishing Lady" 1896 Video 1:17 min
• "The Astronomer's Dream" 1898 video 3:22 min
• Documentary on George Melies. Video. 15:14 min
• "Le Diable Noir" 1905 Video 3 min
• "The Train Arrives" The Lumiere Brothers 1895. 50 sec.

Video of The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Brian Selznick.

Martin Scorsese interviewed while filming Invention of Hugo Cabret

From an email from Melody (Aronson) Debonnel

Dear Dr. Susina,

I had to share with you this wonderful treat I got yesterday. As  you Brian Selznick and Melody (Aronson) Debonnel at a bookstore in Parismay remember, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" is one of my favorite books, thanks to your graphic novel course. Well, I was going for a walk the other day, and just a couple blocks from my apartment is this lovely children's bookstore, and they had a large display in the window announcing that Selznick would be signing books. As it turns out, not only was he there, but they had another special treat for fans. Once we were seated, they dimmed the lights, and set up a projector that displayed the beautiful images from the text, one after the other, to make it feel like a real movie. When they got to a part with text, actor Nicolas Moreau (using a booklight so the lights could stay dim to maintain the sense that it was a theater) read the story. He was simply wonderful! He read/ the projector displayed the first five or six chapters (until the scene with the fire). After the show, Selznick spoke to a few of us about the train stations he'd used as inspiration. One woman who was there with her grandchildren shared that he had helped her remember the works of Méliès-- apparently this is a common sentiment! At any rate, it was just fantastic.

P.S. I included a picture (yes, I am one of those annoying fans that has to have a picture taken, but it's not often I get to meet authors I adore!). At any rate, you can see the projector in the back, to give you a sense of how it was set up, with Selznick's signing area on the left. He commented that only in France would he be brought a bottle of champagne at a children's bookstore signing!

 

Video for Tweens

Fred Figgelhorn

 Fred Figgelhorn. 

• Fred's site on YouTube  
• Fred's website. 
• Article about Fred.
• Fred's movie is #1 with kids

"Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8-12 year olds" a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Use the link to go to the website and then download the report in .pdf format  Also,  Go to the 5 minute video on the report

James Paul Gee on "Games and Learning" (1:47 min). From Edutopia on "Grading with Games." (3:58 min). on Global Kids in Teen Second Life from 2007a Pixie Hollow inhabitant

Katie Salen on digital media and learning from MacArthur Foundation. (1:38 min)

Video games for middler schoolers

"Learning by Playing" by Sara Corbett in The New York Times, Sept. 2010 (.pdf file)

"Gaming in Education" from Indiana University School of Education, Robert Appelman. (2:44 Min) with Jackson Creek Middle School Kids

Popular virtual game sites for boys and girls include:

Club Penguin. Children are penguins who decorate their own igloos and waddel around the Club Penguin world.  Popular for parties, kids chatting and weekly newspaper.

• Club Penguin YouTube Videos  Mini Fall Fair Igloo Party.   Halloween Candy Hunt 2010. video of decorated igloos. "PuffyDestin9 interviews Radrobot"  penguins in a talk show format.

Garden Party.  Avatars are stylized kids.  They live in treehouses and grow magical objects which they can Action on a PopTropica gamethen use or trade.  Click "Watch video"  to learn about Garden Party.

PopTropica  PopTropica is published by Pearson Education division, so it has educational content. Also lots of puzzles and interactive sites.  More controlled environment than the 2 above.  Puzzles tend to be a little harder.

ToonTown:  good characters try to take over the bad guys (Lawyers and suits) by fighting with gags.   "ToonTown Funny VP" is similar by more amusing and you see more of ToonTown

Planet Cozmo  A virtual reality site that emphasizes tween/teen pop culture and music.

Nick.com.  Nickelodeon's website, one of the biggest for children with numerous games, links to tv shows and more.

Bella Sara is a popular web game, card game & now has related books

Popular virtual game sites for just girls include:

Pixie Hollow: create a fairy and fly. Video tour of Pixie Hollow by a girl. "Slate's Visit" video of fairies interacting in Pixie Hollow

BarbieGirls.com virtual reality  And an essay analyzing BarbieGirls.com by Sara Grimes.

BellaSara.  Tales about North of North's mysterious lost herds of horses.  Play online.

Educational and entertaining games for middle schoolersMoby robot on BrainPop

• FunBrain
• Brain Pop
• 39 Clues site that links books, videos, games and clues.
• KidzClix.Net.  Fun, lively, educational site.
• PopTropica

Videos of first-person shooter and role playing action games

• Uncharted 2 Gameplay in HD.  Trailer for Uncharted 3 to be released 2011
• Modern Warfare 2 Gameplay
• Playing StarCraft 2 video, annotated.  Describes play.(13min) StarCraft 2 Zerg Demonstration.Annotated Starcraft video 2x2 TZvsPz (8:46 min)
• Assassin's Creed Revelations Gameplay Demo from E3 2011
• Little Big Planet.  Engaging video game.  Introduction to version 2 at E3 2010.(5 min) Video of playing the game. (58 sec)
• Plants vs. Zombies.  Young tween boys make a video of how they play this online game.  Colorful language but gives a real sense of how they think about playing the games (on brother's older account) (5:54 min)

Articles and adult ideas on kids' video games.

"Social Networking: A Parent's Guide"  information from the Federal Trade Commission on teaching kids virtual world safety

"Designing-websites-for-kids-trends-and-best-practices/est practices on how to attract kids"  from Smashing Magazine, a journal on web design.  Article explains why Club Penguin and other sites work, or don't.

Izzy Neis's blog

Understanding Multimedia Learning.  Research, funded by BrainPop, on using educational technology (.pdf)

 

Fashion and Girl Pop Culture for Tweens

 Tavi Gevinson, high-fashion teen girl blogger in Oak Park, IL. Chicago Tribune article on Oct. 2, 2011 (.pdf)  Link to Rookiemag.com  Link to her Tumblr site. Link to her blog.

Tweenage Wasteland on HelloGiggles.com by Mikaela Foster, a 12-year-old blogger.

Fashionista.com critiques blogs of Tavi and Madonna's daughter Lourdes. (June 2010)

Cecilia Casini, a 10-year-old's fashion blog.

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett

Blue Balliett informationA Lady Writing by Vermeer

• Scholastic's Blue Balliett's website.  Video of Blue Balliett talking about writing
•  Chasing Vermeer website with ideas and links
• Interview with Blue Balilett on Book Page 
• Chasing Vermeer webquest site.  Lots of links and interesting ideas.

Art related information

• Vermeer: The Complete Works.  Use the magnifying glass to see the details
• Ashland School's Chasing Vermeer: A Mystery within a mystery.  Has images of all the black-and-white drawings within the book and helps to solve the interior mystery
• Essential Vermeer website.  Wealth of information.
• Petra: Lost City of Stone, site from the American Museum of Natural History
• Alexander Calder exhibit at the National Gallery of Art
• National Gallery of Art's website for kids. lots of cool interactive things to do

Pentominoes links

• Printable pentominos in .pdf format
• Pentominoes information and organization. More Pentomino information
• Using Chasing Vermeer as a math lesson for 3rd and 4th graders

Charles Hoy Fort links

• Lo! A Hypertext Edition of Charles Hoy Fort's Books.  Website on Charles Hoy Fort: Frogstone.net.  BBC guide to info on Fort.  International Fortean Organization

Click on images to take you to larger images and more information about the artwork.

The Geographer by Vermeer

A Lady Writing by Vermeer as it looks hanging in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

The Lacemaker by Vermeer

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer

The Treachery of Images (This is not a pipe) [1929] by Rene Magritte Alexander Calder with Cirque Calder (1926-31). Photo by Andre Kretesz

Calder mobiles in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C

Hyde Park, on the block of Powell's BookstoreRobie House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Located in Hyde Park, Chicago. inside Art Instituteoutside the Hyde Park Powell's Bookstore

front of Art Institute of Chicagoinside the Hyde Park Powell's Bookstore, in the children's section

TV for Tweens

"First the Tween Heart, Now the Soul" New York Times (3/25/2010) article about tween TV creator and music guy, Dan Schneider

TV shows for tweens emphasize being famous, according to study by UCLA psychologists. In 1967 shows for same audience emphasized community feelings and benevolence  Read article in Time from July 2011

 

 

Music and Media for tweensTaylor Swift

Taylor Swift

• Lizzie Widdicombe's article on Taylor Swift: "Young Belong With Me" from The New Yorker. Oct 20, 2011 (.pdf article).
• "Parent Regrets: Why I Wish We Had Never Gone to See Taylor Swift" by Andrea Lampros on Huffington Post (Aug 16, 2011)
• A 17-year old California girl reviews a Taylor Swift concert in Oct. 2011 on Huffington Teen Post
• Taylor Swift's video of "Fifteen" YouTube. 5:04.
• "Fiften" fan version with lyrics on YT. Interesting comments by tween girls.
• Taylor Swift's vide of "You Belong With Me" YouTube 3:48.

Hannah MontanaJustin Bieber

• Miley Cyrus performing "Girls Night Out" in concert.  YouTube. 4:20 min.
• "7 Things" Miley Cyrus video, official version. YouTube 3:40 min.
• Official Disney version of Hannah Montana's Rockstar concert video.  From the film tour.  YouTube 3:12 min.
• 2006 Time article on Hannah Montana "A Disney Star is Born"
• Official Miley Cyrus website

 Justin Beiber

• "Baby" featuring Ludacris. YouTube video 3:45 min.
• "One Less Lonely Girl" YouTube. 3:48 min  
• Never Say Never film site.Miley Cyrus
• Rolling Stone gets a glimpse into Beiber. Feb. 2011
• Guardian reporter Jon Ronson interviews Beiber in Nov. 2010.

Nickelodeon Stars

• Camp Rock. Demi Lovato "This is Me"  YouTube 3:12 Min.
• "Burning Up" Jonas Brothers. YouTube. 3:28 min. "Lovebug" YouTube video
•  2010 Kids Choice Awards. Highlights of photo and interviews.  See the latest stars.  YouTube. 3:44 min

Top 40 Hitmakers

• "She's No You" performed by Jesse McCartney. YouTube. 3:20 min
• "Friday" performed by Rebecca Black. YT. 3:48 min
• "Teenage Dream and Firework" performed live on the BBC by Katy Perry. YT. 9 min
• "I Kissed a Girl" live performance by Katy Perry. YT. 3:05 min
• "The Trouble with Girls" Scotty McCreery (from American Idol) YT. (a kind of response to Taylor Swift)

Disney Stars

• "I Want It All" Ashley Tisadale from High School Musical 3
• "Keep Your Head in the Game" Zac Efron from High School Musical 1 with lyrics
• Raven-Symone. "Backflip" YouTube. 3:43 min.
• The Cheetah Girls. "Girl Power." YouTube. 2:36 min. "Step Up" The Cheetah Girls 2. YouTube

Green Day. "Good Riddance (Time of Your Lives)" the contemporary graduation song in a YouTube video. "American Idiot" live performance video

Beyonce "All the Single Ladies" YouTube video. 3:19 min. Lady GaGa "Pokerface" YouTube video 3:35 min. 

Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling" YouTube video. 4:51 min.  Hey Monday "Homecoming" Youtube video

Tween music historyThe Monkees

• "Daydream Believer" The Monkees. video from the tv show. YouTube. 2:35 min.  Smash Mouth's version from Shrek.
• Donny Osmonds and the Osmond Brothers "Puppy Love" 1972 Ohio State Fair show footage.
• "Rockin' Robin" The Jackson 5 performing live on the Top of the Pops tv show. "I Want You Back" 1976 performance on The Joey Bishop tv show, a little rough but you can get the idea. YouTube
• "Satisfaction" performed by the Rolling Stones in 1965 on Shindig tv show. YouTube. "Play with Fire" 1965 version.
• "She Loves You" The Beatles Manchester. 1963 
• "Love Me Tender" Elvis Presley "Trouble"

Commonsense Media's Tween Music page.
Tweenpopradio.com  Promo for up and coming artists

Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair"  Will and Jada Smith's 9-year-old daughter first hip-hop music video. Jimmy Fallon and Bruce Springsteen spoof this tune while channeling Neil Young.  YouTube video 3:49 min

 

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

Related YouTube videos

• Hugh Jackman performing "Oklahoma! OK! from the 1998 production. 4:46 min
• The Grapes of Wrath: ReThink Review. rethinking the 1940 film directed by John Ford based on John Steinbeck's book. 3:47
• Hard Times Come Again No More with photographs. YouTube 2:37 min
• Woody Guthrie "This Land is Your Land" YT 2:18.  Bruce Springsteen singing it in concert 1985. YT 5min

Surviving the Dust Bowl, a PBS series. Website has related photos, articles and short videos.

Riding the Rails, a PBS series about the more than a quarter million teenagers were living on the road in America.  Website has interviews, articles, teachers' resources.One of Dorthea Lange's iconic WPA photos of migrant mother & children in California 1936.

Visions in the Dust: Lesson Plans for teaching about the Great Depression, including using Out of the Dust.

American Memory: From the Great Depression to World War II.  Library of Congress site of the photographs from the Farm Security Administration to the Office of War, showing Americans at home, work and play.

Voices from the Dust Bowl. The American Folklife Center, Library of Congress online presentation documenting migrant farm workers in California in 1940 and 1941.

Interview with author Karen Hesse

Carol Hurst's teaching guide for Out of the Dust 

Woody Guthrie, official website.  1945 video of Guthrie singing. YouTube. 1 min

Children of day laborers in Oklahoma. None of the kids had attended school. 1939. WPA photo by Russell Lee.

Child in Yakima Valley, Wash., working hard. 1939 FSA photo by Dorthea Lange.

 

 

"Helping a New-Comer" Bakersfield, Calif., 1940. Photo by Rondal Partridge

Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

• From Ken Burns' PBS series The Civil War, section on The Gettysburg Address.
• Teacher's Guide to using the Lincoln book in class.  Includes many good links to Civil War sites on web.
• Russell Freedman about the Library of Congress' 2001 Book Fest.  A video of him reading from Lincoln book
• Blog notes about audiobook of Freedman's book.
• Detailed biographical info about Freedman and his works More biographical info with reviews of books
• Lincoln Bicentennial celebration in Illinois (1809-2009)
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Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Official website of Diary of a Wimpy Kid 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid website.  Funbrain.com site begin here with FAQs 

Clips from the 2010 film Diary of a Wimpy Kid on YouTube:

• Advice from older brother on surviving middle school. 1 min
• The Cheese Touch 1:10 min
• Greg wrestles Patty 1 min
• "Intellectual wasteland" at middle school 1min
• Trailer for the Dairy of a Wimpy Kid film (2010)
• :30 TV promo on YouTube

A Fourth Grade play of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  short and cute. 

Blog of Jeff Kinney. Diary of a Wimpy Kid's creator. Jeff Kinney

Jeff Kinney interviewed Oct. 22, 2009 on NPR.  He answers kids' questions.

Washington Post article on how Jeff Kinney wrote and published the Wimpy Kid series. (March 3, 2009)

YouTube interview of Jeff Kinney from Barnes & Noble.  YouTube interview with Jeff Kinney on first two books at Borders.

Trailer for the Dairy of a Wimpy Kid film (2010).  YouTube. :30 TV promo on YouTube

Jeff Kinney at a Borders pulling out books that he likes and talking about them, including Scott McCloud's book on comics. 3:30 min on YouTube

Jeff Kinney at the 2009 National Book Festival/Library of Congress.  YouTube 20: min

 

Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

• Karen Cushman's site.
• Review by Carol Hurst with links to related sites.
• God's Thumbs, a fanlisting for the book

 

 

YouTube videos on middle school.

• First day of middle school for boy going into sixth grade. 1:03
• Maya's First day of 7th grade.  with parents thoughts. :52
• My Middle School Survival Guide 10:00.   
• Middle School Survival from Glitter Guitar Goddess 9:52 .heart felt tips by an older girl
• Stuck locker. :24
• How to get a girlfriend in middle school, by a boy. 1:15 min.  Two boys on how to get a girlfriend in 7th grade  1:17. watch just to :47 as it gets noisy
• How to get a boyfriend by an 11 year old girl.  decent tips. 9:04
• Two girls on How to survive 7th grade #1 3:54 min
• How to be popular in middle school, with emphasis on makeup. 14 min  How to be a cool middle school girl.  (kind of a spoof, but not totally)  9:46
• Middle school orientation. 3:43 min  
• First day middle school for 6th grade Poulsbo Middle School, a news report. 1:40 min
• Eighth grade girl on the night before school starts. "Mean girls, middle school & being positive" 12:34
• Orientation video created by Tarrant Middle School staff 3:15 min  

What's life like for middle schoolers and tweens today? 

• Links to schools:  Chiddix Jr. High in Normal.  Kingsley Jr. High in Normal.  Bloomington Jr. High.  Cary Academy in Raleigh
• TweenTribune
• Tween Lingo: a complete dictionary for parents of tweens and Instant Message
• Top 100 kids' search terms in 2009 from   Family Online
• Components of a good middle school, according to the National Middle School Association
• "Taking the Middle out of Middle School" a 2007 series from The New York Times on rethinking middle school concept
• What middle school parents should know by Nancy Darling from Psychology Today (Sept. 9, 2010)
• GreatSchools.org section on Reading during Middle School
• Reading habits of teens and tweens article from Nov. 1, 2010 Washington Post

 

The following books and materials have been used for the Middle School Literature course taught in previous semesters.

The ABCs of Kissing Boys by Tina Ferraro  

"Passionate Kisses" video compilation of kisses from Dawson's Creek with Mary Chapin Carpenter singing Lucinda Williams' tune.  YouTube

Betty Everett "The Shoop, Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)."  Aretha Franklin performs it live on Shindig here

Sixpence None the Richer Montage of famous kisses "Kiss Me" YouTube video 3 min.  A video montage of couples from TV & films kissing to "Kiss Me"

Happy Ending Kiss of Wesley & Buttercup.  YouTube 15 sec

How to Kiss for the first time.  A funny, educational YouTube video

Best Kisses website (kissing is even good for your health!)

Tina Ferraro's websiteThe Kiss by Alfred Eeisenstaedt

YA Fresh blogspot, hosted by Tina Ferraro and Kelly Para

Interview with Tina Ferraro on The Story Siren 

Luv YA Book club discusses the ABC's of Kissing Boys

Review of ABC's of Kissing Boys on Flamingnet.com, a YA book review site by YA readers

Video review by a girl reader of ABC's of Kissing Boys (YouTube) (1:19 min)

Sports books for tweens and teens

• A sports book list from the Plymouth, MI, library
• The Reading Zone blog's list of sports books for tweens
• Sports Books links from Grand Rapids, MI, library
• Soccer books for kids at several reading levels
• Sports books for girls.  A 2007 reading list by the Women's Sports Foundation

American Library Association's Banned Books Week.

• Banned Books reading at ISU: Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 7 pm at Center for the Arts.  Organized by ENG 470.  Free!  Graduate students will read selections and talk about why books were banned. More info in Pantagraph article
• Information from the ALA bout 2010 banned books
• Banned Book Week, more information
• In 2010, Jan Susina read a section from To Kill a Mockingbird at the Milner Library's banned books reading

Kids dressed up for Halloween, and so did adults who create for kids

A photo essay in Publisher's Weekly of children's book publishers and book sellers dressed up as children's book characters for Halloween

at Little, Brown, Adrianna Stimola dressed up as everyone's favorite aardvark.At Scholastic's Halloween party, some staffers put together a clever group costume based on the covers of the Animorphs series of books.

Virginia Hamilton's The House of Dies Drear 

Home page of Virginia Hamilton.  She writes about what inspires her to write and the importance of libraries.

Short section of 1988 film based on book.  YouTube. 2 min.Virginia Hamilton

Glencoe Literature Library .pdf study guide (22 pages) for book along with connections to Frederick Douglass, Levi Coffin, Follow the Drinking Gourd folk song, and Charles Dickens.

Comprehensive site about folklore in Virginia Hamilton's works.

Three articles from HornBook about Virginia Hamilton

Ohio author biography of Virginia HamiltonHouse of Dies Drear film

Avalon Projects on historic documents at Yale Law School.  Documents on Slavery

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio

National Geographic's interactive site about the underground railroad

Follow the Drinking Gourd, a cultural website

Map of underground railroad paths

Friends of the Underground Railroad website

 

Additional Links of interest

Recycle your Reads.  An interesting blog by a teacher of tweens who's incorporating technology into the Lanuage Arts class.  Check out her blog on Cornerstone books and the accompanying videos that the kids created about their cornerstone books.

How to get boys to read. Huffington Post essay from July 20, 2010

Video of Tween Girl Summit. Dec. 2009

iTwixie a new website hangout for tween girls.

 English/Language Arts classes resources for Middle School and High School

 

From the ISU English Department website:

Required Texts: (Tentative)
Mark Twain. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, ed. John Seelye. (Penguin Classics).
Frances Hodgson Burnett. A Little Princess, ed. U.C. Knoepflmacher. (Penguin Classics).
Gail Carson Levine. Ella Enchanted (HarperCollins).
Karen Cushman. Catherine Called Birdy (HarperCollins).
Rick Riordan. The Lightning Thief  (Hyperion/Miramax).
Russell Freedman. Lincoln: A Photobiography (Houghton Mifflin).
Virginia Hamilton.  The House of Dies Drear. (Simon & Schuster).
Karen Hesse. Out of the Dust (Scholastic).
Blue Balliett. Chasing Vermeer. (Scholastic).
Brian Selznick.  The Invention of Hugo Cabret. (Scholastic).
E.B. White. Charlotte’s Web. (HarperCollins)
Tina Ferraro. The ABC’s of Kissing Boys (Delacrote Press)
Jeff Kinney. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Amulet Books)

Course Description:
This course will examine works written for children aged nine to thirteen, including multicultural novels and information books, children’s media and culture.

Student Expectations:
While this is a course in children’s literature, it is also a university-level literature course.  Students will be reading and analyzing a variety of texts that are intended for students in middle school.   Since many of the students enrolled in this course are preparing to become middle school teachers or librarians, you will want to know much more about these books than your future students. The course will involve lecture and class discussion.  The class will attempt to understand how children make meaning from a wide range of texts as well as how these texts help express and confirm certain ideologies and cultural beliefs concerning middle school children. Regular attendance and active participation in the class discussion is required.

Format of Course:
Each student will write a research paper (7-10 pages) on a selected children's book intended for tween readers. Students will also write a short paper (3 pages) on a children's film or television program.  There will be a midterm exam and a final exam. Throughout the semester, there will be a series short in-class and homework assignments linked to the reading assignments.

Link here to previous syllabi, in .pdf format, for ENG 272. Section 1.  Section 2

Syllabi for ENG 272 in Fall 2011 at Illinois State University (in .pdf format) •  Section 1    •  Section 2