10. Annie on My Mind, by Nancy Garden

Garden, N. (1982). Annie on my mind. NY: FSG.

Liza Winthrop first meets Annie Kenyon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a rainy day. The two become fast friends, although they come from different backgrounds and have differing levels of confidence.

Liza is the student body president at her private school, Foster Academy, where she is studying hard to get into MIT and become an architect. She lives with her parents and younger brother in the upscale neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights, where most residents are professionals.

Annie goes to a public school and lives with her parents—a bookkeeper and a cabdriver—and grandmother in a lower-income part of Manhattan. Although Annie is not sure if she will be accepted, she hopes to attend the University of California, Berkeley to develop her talent as a singer.

While they have different histories and goals in life, the two girls do share a close friendship that quickly grows into love. Liza's school is struggling to remain open and she finds herself having to defend a student, her friend Sally, in a school trial in front of the student body. This results in a three-day school suspension for Liza and helps to bring Liza and Annie closer together as they both deal with the struggles encountered by many high school students.

The suspension and the partly concomitant Thanksgiving break give the girls time to become closer and lead to their first kiss. Annie admits that she has thought that she may be gay. Liza soon realizes that although she has always considered herself different, she has not considered her sexual orientation until falling in love with Annie.

When two of Liza's female teachers (who live together), Ms. Stevenson and Ms. Widmer, go on vacation during spring break, she volunteers for the job of taking care of their home and feeding their cats. The two girls stay at the house together, but in an unexpected turn of events a Foster Academy administrator discovers Liza and Annie together. Liza is forced to tell her family about her relationship with Annie, and the headmistress of her school, Mrs. Poindexter, organizes a meeting of the school's board of trustees in order to expel Liza. The board rules in favor of Liza staying at Foster, and she is allowed to keep her position as student president. However, the two teachers, Ms. Stevenson, and Ms. Widmer, who in the process are discovered to be gay, are fired, as a result of Sally's wrongful testimony about their influence on Liza. After their initial shock at discovering the girls together, the teachers are supportive and go out of their way to reassure Liza not to worry about their dismissal, but both her family's response and those from fellow students end up pushing Liza to leave Annie.

The girls go their separate ways to colleges on different coasts. In a happily ever after, Liza's reevaluation of her relationship while at college and her corresponding acceptance of her sexual orientation allow the two girls to reunite.

The book is framed and narrated by Liza's thoughts as she attempts to write Annie a letter, in response to the many letters Annie has sent her. This narration comes right before the winter break of both their colleges' and Liza is unable to write or mail the letter she had been working on. Instead, she calls Annie, and the two reconcile and decide to meet together before going home for winter break.

This book has several important themes.  Young adults and their sexuality is one theme of the book.  Both girls have always questioned themselves about not being interested in boys.  It had crossed Annie’s mind before that she may be gay, but it never occurred to Liza that may be the reason why she always feels different from everyone else.  Another theme is self-exploration and acceptance of who you are.  This novel demonstrates that it takes knowing, understanding, then accepting who you really are to find true happiness.  Liza and Annie were miserable after they broke up.  It took Liza accepting herself as she was before she could contact Annie and tell her how she feels.  Social status among teenagers is another important theme. The social environment Liza and Annie each face is vastly different in comparison. While Annie lives in a shabby neighborhood and goes to a problematic school, Liza comes from an upper middle-class family and goes to private school.   It is extremely hard for anyone to overcome the pressures of social status, but Liza's love for Annie eventually conquered all obstacles.

I found a study guide for the book at bookrags.com.  It may have to be purchased in order to view the whole guide, but you can see parts of it.

http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-annie-on-my-mind/topicsfordiscussion.html#gsc.tab=0.

 

 

Textbook Reading 3 Chapters 11-20

 

Chapter 11: Realistic Fiction

-Stories set in contemporary or modern times.

-believable

-everything in the story is consistent with the real world; characters, setting and events     

 

            Criteria for Evaluating Realistic Fiction for children

1.      Is everything consistent with the real world, especially gender and cultural elements?

2.      Does the theme emerge naturally from the story?  Good realistic fiction has more than one theme and should emerge slowly and consistently.

3.      How does the subject matter of the book relate to modern readers?  Realistic fiction tackles sensitive and tough topics such as death, loss, sexuality, and sexual orientation, changing family structure, etc.

Chapter 12: Nonfiction

-Defined as what is not, an umbrella term of sorts.

- Includes narrative and expository approaches

-Includes biography, autobiography, and memoir

 

            Criteria for Evaluating Nonfiction for Children

1.      What are the qualifications of the author?

2.      Are the facts accurate?

3.      What is the purpose and scope of the book?

4.      How does the organization of the book assist readers in locating information?

5.      What role do visuals play?

 

Questions to Ask Students about Nonfiction (Carter and Abrahamson)

-Tell how this book would differ if it had been written 50 years earlier or 50 years later.

-Describe your favorite illustrations. Which illustrations do you wish you had done yourself? Why?

-Would this book make a gook documentary? Why?

-Explain what you think the author did to research and write this book?

-How would this book be different if it had been written for an adult? For a kindergarten student?

-What kind of teacher do you think the author would make?
-If you had a chance to interview the authors of this book, what would you ask them?

-Describe three facts, or incidents that you found particularly interesting.  Tell why.

-Examine the title and jacket of this book.  Do they present a fair representation of the contents of the book?

Chapter 13: Fantasy and Science Fiction

-Stories that violate the laws of physical reality in this genre

- science fiction is a subgenre of fantasy: all science fiction is fantasy, but not all fantasy is science fiction.

           

            Criteria for Evaluating Science Fiction and Fantasy for Children

1.      Despite the fantastic aspects of the story, characters must behave in consistent and believable ways.

2.      There must still be rules for the fantasy world.

3.      Authors must assist readers in the “willing suspension of disbelief.”

4.      The themes should explore universal truths.

 

Chapter 14: Graphic Novels

-NOT a genre but instead a form/format.

-extension of a comic book

-tell stories using pictures in sequence, panels, speech balloons, text boxes, and other conventions of the comic book form.

- graphic novels are read left to right and top to bottom just like traditional texts

 

            Elements of a graphic novel

1.      Color can be used in a variety of ways. Ex. dark tones=somber mood; light colors ethereal world.

2.      Line is a component of the art in a graphic novel, and the direction of a line (horizontal, diagonal, vertical) can imply different things. Ex. diagonal-loss of balance, horizontal-peace, or calm, vertical- strength.

3.      Composition is how the illustration is put together.  Size and placement are critical.

4.      Frames can be used to contain text and illustration and create panels.

5.      Speech balloons contain dialogue and text boxed contain narration.

6.      Different artists use different approaches in their novels.

 

Value of graphic novels

1.      Engages reluctant readers and ESL patrons.

2.      Increases reading comprehension and vocabulary.

3.      Can provide a bridge between low and high levels of reading.

4.      Presents an approach to reading that embraces the multimedia nature of today’s culture, as 2/3 of a story is conveyed visually.

5.      Provides scaffolding for struggling readers.

6.      Presents complex material in readable text.

7.      Helps patrons understand global affairs.

8.      Offers another avenue through which individuals can experience art.

 

A graphic novel’s page elements

1.      Gutters are space between panels.

2.      Dialog balloons contain communication between/among characters.

3.      Thought balloons contain a character’s thoughts.

4.      Captions contain information about a scene or character.

5.      Sound effects are visual sound clues i.e., Wonk! Pow!

 

The graphic novel as a format

            Novels speak to us usually in a linear written narrative.

            Picture books tell a story with text accompanied by illustrations.

            Film does so with moving images and dialogue.

            Poetry can communicate on levels that no other storytelling can.

            Graphic novels combine ALL OF THESE elements in their own unique way.

 

Chapter 15: Peck’s Questions

1.      What would the story be like if the main character were of the opposite sex? (helps diffuse sexual polarizations and stereotyping)

2.      Why is the story set where it is? (Not where is the story set?) (points out setting as an author’s device)

3.      If you were to film the story, would you use black and white or color and Why? (consideration of tone)

4.      If you could not use all of the characters, which would you eliminate and why? (characters which add texture vs. simplification for media translation)

5.      How is the main character different from you? (reader can identify without being like the main character)

6.      Would the story make a good TV series? Why/why not? (ending focus and sequential nature of chapters)

7.      What one thing in the story has happened to you? (anecdotal response of recognition)

8.      Reread the first paragraph of Chapter 1. What is in it to make you read on? If nothing, why did you continue to read? (hooks reader and awareness of author’s intent in writing)

9.      If you had to design a new cover for the book, what would it look like? (deceptive packaging and consumerism)

10.  What does the title tell you about the book? Does it tell the truth? (titles as narrative hooks vs. symbolic titles)

 The knowledge I have gained about nonfiction books, fantasy and science fiction books and graphic novels  will help me to better serve my students.  I will be able to find what they need for their classroom learning as well as recomend something they may be interested in to read for pleasure.

Chapter 16:  Why Children Need More Diverse Books

(Q & A with Ebony Elizabeth Thomas: Why children need more diverse books)

            -What children read shapes what they think of themselves, others, and the world

            -Everyone sees the world from their own perspectives

-Unless everyone in your book is of the same culture, they are going to encounter the other eventually.  How you write that other is going to depend on your perspective and how you have experienced the others.

-You leave fingerprints of yourself in what ever you write.

-Black students prefer white books to black books.  There are studies being done to find out why. One possibility is they are fatigued from a history of pain.

-Asians also prefer white when writing their protagonist.

-To get away from reading about a history of pain, is to remove other options from the reader or viewer.

-Asians are also written inappropriately and incorrectly. Ex. wearing traditional dress to go to the supermarket.

-Parents need to become more aware of the importance and influence of racial representation in literature.

-Build this awareness by introducing tough topics in different ways, in a variety of literature, media, and video games where race/ethnicity are not always the center of the narrative.

 Students need to read a variety of diverse books.  It teacher them about different cultures and their trials and tribulations through life.  I agree about the "history of pain" and how books about Black and Asian cultures should have some themes other than hardships.

Chapter 17: We need Diverse Books

-is a 501c non-profit and a grassroots organization of children’s book livers that advocates essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honor the lives of all young people.

-WNDB strives to create a world in which all children can see themselves in the pages of a book.

-WNDB has created programs to celebrate diverse books, mentor diverse writers and illustrators, to support diverse publishing and provide books to classrooms all over the country.

-OurStory is an easy-to-use resource to discover diverse books. Ourstory.diversebooks.org

 

Chapter 18: A Call to Action: What We Know About Adolescent Literacy Instruction

-Purpose of document is to provide a research-based resource for media, policymakers, and teachers that acknowledges the complexities of reading as an ongoing, developmental process and addresses the needs of secondary readers and their teachers.

-Adolescents rely on content-area literacies and out-of-school literacies in developing their identities.

 

            Dimensions of adolescent literacy

 

1.      Incorporation of disciplinary literacy instruction

a.       Students in middle and high school read literary, historical, informational, scientific, and technical texts. 

b.      This requires that teachers show students how literacy operates within the academic discipline.

2.      Integration of multiple and social literacies

a.       Adolescents use literacy for social and political endeavors.

b.      It is important for teachers to recognize and value multiple literacy resources students contribute when acquiring school literacy.

3.      Orchestration of engagement and motivation

a.       Adolescent readers need sustained experiences with diverse texts in a variety of genres and formats.

b.      These texts should be self-selected and in the curriculum.

4.      Appreciation of multicultural Perspectives and Cultures

a.       Multicultural literacy is seeing, thinking, reading, writing, listening, and discussing in ways that critically confront and bridge social, cultural, and personal differences.

b.      Inexperienced adolescent readers need opportunities and instructional support to read many and diverse types of text in order to gain experience, build fluency, and develop a range as readers.

 

Implications for the teaching of reading

1.      Effective teachers model how students access specific content-area texts.

a.       Tell students how, why, and what we read are important parts of the literacy curriculum and is strongly linked to student achievement.

b.      Standardized testing is narrowing the content of the literacy curriculum and limiting instructional approaches to reading.

2.      Conversation in discussions regarding texts must be authentic, student initiated, and teacher facilitated.

a.       Ass students need to go beyond the study of skills and strategies to understand how they integrated with life experiences.

b.      i.e., encourage students to connect content to their lives.

3.      Teachers need to acknowledge that we all have cultural frameworks that we operate in and both teachers and students need to consider how these frameworks can be challenged or changed to benefit everyone.

a.       Effective literacy programs move students a greater understanding and more independence of reading while increasing their ability to generate ideas and knowledge.

b.      Reading teachers who focus on basic skills with no meaning can lead to mislabeling some secondary students as struggling readers and non-readers because they lack extensive reading experience, depend on different prior knowledge, and comprehend differently.

c.       A learner-centered approach to reading instruction has the following features: learning is social and transactional, is an apprenticeship to community of practice, and moves on a continuum from novice to expert.  Teachers aid the student; good teaching is always in the learner’s zone of proximal development and different students have a variety of needs so instruction must be flexible.

                                                                                                

What adolescent readers need

1.      Practice thinking critically.

2.      Critical examination of texts

3.      Assessment that helps them to focus on purpose, big ideas and metacognitive strategies, and preparation for assessment.

4.      Choice and volume of reading

What teachers of adolescent readers need?

1.      Adequate and appropriate reading materials that pique interest.

2.      Continued support and professional development.

3.      To teach literacy in their discipline so students can access more specialized texts.

4.      Recognize when student is not making meaning with text and provide strategies.

5.      Facilitate student-initiated conversations regarding texts that are authentic, applicable, and relevant to real life.

6.      Create environments and provide time to allow students to engage in critical examinations of texts.

 

Teaching students about literature is part of a librarian's job.  Those of us who have never taught about literature and reading can always use tips and techniques. 

Chapter 19: Finding a “good book”: what a real readers advisor does

-Reader’s adviser (RA) is a library term for somebody who can help a reader find a book that they would like to read.

- getting quickly to the heart of what someone may like to read involves understanding what appeals to them….like happy endings or sad ones, fast- paced or slow, contemporary, past, or future settings, lots of romance or almost none, male or female protagonist, violent or non-violent, emotional, or cerebral, are just a few.

-humor is important but can be difficult because not all people find the same things funny.

-readers are sensitive toward how things are published (fiction vs nonfiction, short stories vs long, audiobooks vs traditional, etc.

-the key is understanding why and how readers select books for themselves and how to make clear to them the basis on which matched suggestions are made.

           

Direct readers advising techniques

-Face-to-face interactions the RA ask an individual reader to tell them about something they read and liked or disliked, whether they want something similar or different, and what they are in the mood for, etc.

-the reader takes the lead, unlike reference interviews

-it is important to know where to find the information once he or she understands what the reader is after.

Face-to-group RA interactions usually involve a presentation about a book to a group of people, either by the RA librarian, or by one of the group members who has been assisted by the RA librarian.

Group RA services also include author visits.

-Indirect RA displays, lists, websites-all kinds of services where the reader encounters the advice without the person giving it.

-this could be through book list, staff picks, or social tagging.

-intermediate form of indirect RA where the reader and the RA interact online, but do not meet face to face.

 RA services is a service that a librarian will have to perform for their students.  Helping them find books that interest them to read for pleasure will help them grow as lifelong readers.  

Chapter 20: 23 YA and middle grade books to honor Hispanic Heritage Month

 

1.      Alsaid, Adi. (2017). North of happy. Harlequin Teen.  ISBN 9780373212286

2.      Behar, Ruth. (2017). Lucky broken girl. Penguin/Nancy Paulsen Books.                 

      ISBN 9780399546440

3.      Cartaya, Pablo. (2017). The epic fail of Arturo Zamora. Viking.                       

         ISBN 9781101997239

4.      Chambers, veronica. (2017). The go-between. Delacorte. ISBN 9781101930953

5.      Delacre, Lulu. (2017). Us, in progress; short stories about young Latinos. HarperCollins.   ISBN 9780062392145

6.      Diaz, Alexandra. (2016). The only road. S&S/Paula Wiseman Books.       

           ISBN 9781481457507

7.      Engle, Margarita. (2017). Forest world. S&S/ Atheneum. ISBN 9781481490573

8.      Garza, Xavier. (2016). Maximilian and the lucha libre club. Cinco Puntos. (Max’s Lucha Libre Adventures: book 3.)  ISBN 9781941026403

9.      Mabry, Samantha. (2017). All the wind in the world. Algonquin.                       

    ISBN 9781616206666

10.  Marquardt, Marie. (2017). The radius of us. St. Martin’s Griffin.                       

   ISBN 9781250096890

11.  McLemore, Anna-Marie. (2017). Wild beauty. Feiwel & Friends.                       

  ISBN 9781250124555

12.  Older, Daniel Jose. (2017). Shadowhouse fall. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books.  (Shadowshaper Cypher: book 2)   ISBN 9780545952828

13.  Perez, Celia C. (2017). The first rule of punk. Viking. ISBN 9780425290408

14.  Reynolds, Jason. (2017). Miles Morales: Spider-Man. Disney/Marvel.

 ISBN 9781484787489

15.  Rivera, Lilliam. (2017). The education of Margot Sanchez. S&S.                   

        ISBN 9781481472111

16.  Sanchez, Erika L. (2017). I am not your perfect Mexican daughter. Knopf.        

   ISBN 9781524700485 

17.  Silvera, Adam. (2017). They both die at the end. HarperCollins/Harper Teen. 

     ISBN 9780062457790    

18.  Stork, Francicco. (2017). Disappeared. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books.      

   ISBN 545944472

19.  Engle, Margarita. (2017). Bravo! Poems about amazing Hispanics. Holt.          

    ISBN 9780805098761       

20.  Otheguy, Emma. (2017). Marti’s song for freedom. Lee & Low.                      

      ISBN 9780892393756  

21.  Ramirez, Saul & John Seidlitz. (2017). The champions’ game. Canter        

          ISBN 9780997740240  

22.  Tonatiuh, Duncan. (2017). Danza! Amalia Hernandez and El Ballet Folklorico de Mexico.  Abrahams. ISBN 9781419725326

23.  Weatherford, Carole Boston. (2017). Schomburg: the man who built a library. Candlewick.  ISBN 978076368046

 

Professional Reading:     

           

Clark, Ellen Riojas, Belinda Bustes Flores, Howard L. Smith, and Daniel Alejandro Gonzalez. (2015).  Multicultural literature for Latino Bilingual Children: their words, their worlds. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781475814910

 

Culham, Ruth. (2016). Dream wakers: mentor texts that celebrate Latino culture. Stenhouse. ISBN 9781625311115    

 

Naidoo, Jamie, Campbell & Katie Scherrer. (2016).  Once upon a cuento: bilingual storytimes in English and Spanish. ALA Editions. ISBN 9780838914113