Reading and empathy: seeing the world from another's shoes

"Empathy" is a popular buzzword of late. Articles explaining how reading fiction develops empathy pop up regularly in the news. That said, other voices remind us that empathy is not a magic cure-all:

"Empathy is biased; we are more prone

to feel empathy for attractive people

and for those who look like us or share

our ethnic or national background."

All of which is complex and intriguing, especially when you encounter a book that has huge kid appeal and exemplifies the sort of empathy that helps us connect across differences as Steven Arntson's The Wrap-Up List does.

My new article, "Growing Empathic Readers," appears in the spring issue of The Medium, pp. 22-23. In it, I describe a conversation with Steven in which he describes, among other things, how he successfully bridges gaps and how he's challenged students to question their own beliefs. His insights offer something for all of us to ponder!

Middle school videos support K-3 contest!

A highlight of the year for Kindergarten through 3rd grade students is the Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award, which allows students to select from 20 nominees. Over 100,000 students across the state take part, and everyone waits with great anticipation to see whether their favorite will emerge victorious!

Adding to the excitement, 5th graders created video book trailers to promote each title. In the process they practiced important information literacy skills, such as:

• Respecting copyright by using images licensed by Creative Commons
• Effectively conveying the essence of a book (using "hooks," revealing just enough of the plot, and choosing images and music that fit the story)
• Keeping your intended audience in mind when crafting a promotional item (how much text to use and how quickly should it scroll by?)
• Proofreading your own work and offering constructive criticism to others

The results were very impressive! I wish I had room to share all 33 video trailers with you, but since I don't, here are just a couple for you to enjoy!

What should I read next?!

You know that sinking feeling that sets in when you've caught up with your favorite author's works and have to wait impatiently for the next one to come out? Or, even worse, your favorite author is no longer living? What to do? 


I spend a fair amount of my readers' advisory time comforting and coaxing die-hard fans of into trying something different. 


But if you need more reading suggestions and aren't able to rush to the nearest library for in-person help, here are some things you can do instead:

• Do a web search for the author, title or series plus "readalikes" or "read alikes." Very likely you'll get a number of results.
• Check out the database Novelist through the public library. It's full of fabulous suggestions!
• Take advantage of Seattle Public Library's Your Next 5 Books service. You describe what you like; their librarians generously suggest more reading matter!
• Goodreads is a social networking site for readers. Use it to keep track of your reading wish list, rate books you've read, and find more titles. I have an account where I put books on virtual shelves by genre and age level.
• There are also a number of websites designed to fill this role, such as YourNextRead, What Should I Read Next? and Whichbook.

Happy reading!

The best middle school fiction of 2014!

It's been a tremendous pleasure to serve on VOYA magazine's Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers selection committees for 2013 & 2014! We four librarians, plus one teacher, read over one hundred books and devoted many hours of time online and in person to discussing, sorting and ranking them. 

Our goal was to come up with at most 30 books that we could put forward as the best of the year for ages 11-14, bearing in mind literary merit, appeal to kids, relevance to curriculum, and the diversity of North American readers.

Apart from getting to read these books, another source of fun was recruiting student volunteers to review them for us! Without their honest feedback the list would have been sorely lacking.

Check out this year's list and last year's too, if you missed it! There's a bit of something in there for everyone. Some titles are appropriate for middle grade elementary readers, while those on the older end overlap with high school.

Each Little Bird That Sings: Our global studies book club selection!

Our first 3rd and 4th grade lunch recess book club selection for 2015 is Deborah Wiles' delightful, award-winning Each Little Bird That Sings which is set in Mississippi. During the last few years I've been lucky enough to make multiple trips to the South for personal and professional reasons, and have fallen in love with this sometimes misunderstood region. Many of our students have little or no experience with this part of the country, making it a perfect focus for our book club. And Little Bird, with its vivid sense of place, was an ideal selection. It's a book about love and loss, honesty and trust, resilience and compassion.

During our first meeting today, students paired off and role-played an awkward conversation between Comfort and Declaration, best friends who are going through a bumpy readjustment period. Here are some of them sitting on "Listening Rock" (role-played by our red beanbag chair)! We talked about smart ways to handle situations like this one.

On a lighter note, we were inspired by Comfort's "Top Ten Tips for First-Rate Funeral Behavior" to make up some lists of our own. Here are a few of my favorite selections! As you can see, most of them took the approach of giving advice in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

Top Ten Tips for First-Rate Math Class Behavior

1. If your teacher calls on you, say "I forget."

2. Stand on your chair and yell, "I'm the king of the world and I hate math, so no more math!"

Top Ten Tips for First-Rate Wedding Behavior

1. Always say the bride and groom aren't meant for each other.

2. Say in a loud whisper that the bride's dress is ugly.

Top Ten Tips for First-Rate Art Class Behavior

1. Do NOT limit yourself to the piece of paper.

2. When your teacher says to wash your hands, wipe them on your neighbor's clothes.

Top Ten Tips for First-Rate Sleepover Behavior

1. Drink lots of sugary drinks without your mom knowing.

2. Always jump on your mom's bed, not your own bed.

Bibliotherapy for Teens

Even if you've never heard of "bibliotherapy," you've likely experienced it, picking up a book about an emotionally charged subject that resonates with something you've experienced. In 1966 the Association of Hospital and Institution Libraries defined it in part as "guidance in the solution of personal problems through directed reading." 

In my role as a school librarian, I regularly am asked - by teachers, school counselors and students themselves - to provide books that fill this role in a small way, for example recommending titles about the death of a pet or conflict with a friend. More often students' own choices of books are influences - consciously or not - by this need.

There is huge comfort in picking up a book and seeing your feelings mirrored in it. It is a comfort to know you are not alone and to see how fictional characters deal with their situation. School Library Journal recently published two excellent bibliotherapy book lists for teen readers - check them out!

• Bibliotherapy for Teens: Helpful Tips and Recommended Fiction 
• Bibliotherapy for Teens: An Expanded Booklist 

Who's in your books? And what are they doing?

Maybe you've heard about the We Need Diverse Books movement that is making waves on Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook? It was triggered in part by a report from the Cooperative Children's Book Center on the consistent lack of ethnic diversity in fiction for young people.

Much has been written on why it's important that all children be able to see themselves - and others - reflected in books. I particularly like Christopher Myers' take on books as maps that are supposed to open up worlds of "boundless imagination" and yet, "children of color remain outside the boundaries of imagination...at best background characters, and more often than not absent."

When was the last time you read a book for young people in which a child of color entered a fantasy world or solved a mystery? A book in which ethnic differences - specifically problems relating to them - weren't the primary reason for minority characters' existence?

Every year from the first week of school until winter break we focus in-depth on one cultural group during our K-3 storytimes. Instead of a scattershot approach, this focus gives students a deeper understanding of the region or culture. Frequently referring to maps, we cover folklore, nonfiction and fiction. In the past we have covered the Celtic countries, Latin America and Korea, among other locations.

A major goal of this unit is also to challenge stereotypes. For example, one year we focused on contemporary Native Americans - since so many children's books write as if Native peoples existed only in the distant past - and read books recommended in A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children for not being exoticizing or exploitative.

This year we are looking at African American heritage - from cherished folktales to stories of modern families who are recent immigrants. Although the history of slavery and the Civil Rights movement is very important, an overwhelming percentage of picture books about African Americans portray victims of oppression or focus heavily on a few well-known heroes. What kind of mirror does this hold up to young readers? And what map does it set down before them? 

I deliberately chose books that portray regular, happy families doing what regular, happy families do. We also read some set during the past in which ordinary African Americans show a sense of agency, rather than being either great heroes or downtrodden victims.


My hope is that by shifting the balance of the content of the books we expose children to, we can also shift some of their internal images and expectations.

Want to learn more? Come to the Parent Association meeting on December 5th, where I'll be talking about my summer grant in which I overhauled the book sets we use at our school! I'll also talk about how you can consider the books you read with or give to your children (of all ages) and the messages they may be sending.