Leaving Glorytown

In this absorbing memoir, by turns humorous and heartbreaking, Eduardo Calcines recounts his boyhood and chronicles the conditions that led him to wish above all else to leave behind his beloved extended family and his home for a chance at a better future. Eduardo F. Calcines was a child of Fidel Castro's Cuba; he was just three years old when Castro came to power in January 1959. After that, everything changed for his family and his country. When he was ten, his family applied for an exit visa to emigrate to America and he was ridiculed by his schoolmates and even his teachers for being a traitor to his country. But even worse, his father was sent to an agricultural reform camp to do hard labor as punishment for daring to want to leave Cuba. During the years to come, as he grew up in Glorytown, a neighborhood in the city of Cienfuegos, Eduardo hoped with all his might that their exit visa would be granted before he turned fifteen, the age at which he would be drafted into the army.

In this guide, 100 recommended books and booktalks offer the perfect way to start value discussions with teens and teen/adult book groups. With its focus on current, popular titles, Value-Packed Booktalks: Genre Talks and More for Teen Readers is a flexible tool for all educators—from Young Adult (YA) librarians and readers' advisors at public libraries to school librarians and teachers. Booktalks are provided for young adult literature published between 2006 and 2010, organized by values addressed in specific genres. Examples of discussions show how these booktalks can help teens define what is personally important to them and why. Unique in that it ties current popular genres to values (courage with adventure titles, problem-solving with mystery/suspense), the book focuses on 100 recently published YA fiction and nonfiction titles, offering summaries, lists of themes, values statements, booktalks, and curriculum connections. It also cites passages appropriate for read-aloud booktalks, designates a general grade-range (middle, junior, or senior high school), notes gender appeal for the titles (male, female, or cross gender), and lists similar or related works, some published before 2006.

In Reading Globally, K-8, the authors make the case for why it is necessary to be globally literate and multiculturally aware in today's shrinking world, and they provide the tools teachers need to incorporate appropriate reading selections into primary and secondary school classrooms. By using books from or about other countries, teachers empower students to view the world in a more positive manner, enriching and broadening their students' lives, and ultimately preparing them for life in a global economy and culture. This reader-friendly resource guides teachers and reading programme coordinators in selecting quality books for their classrooms, incorporating global literature into different content areas, and facilitating the discussions that follow. Practical guidance is provided on how to: - Integrate the reading of global texts across the curriculum, with specific application to language arts, social studies, science, maths, and the arts - Locate and evaluate the authenticity and literary merit of potential books, avoiding those that depict stereotypes - Get started!-with an annotated list of children's books, samples of student work, and classroom vignettes from teachers.

Contributions by Jarrel De Matas, Summer Edward, Teófilo Espada-Brignoni, Pauline Franchini, Melissa García Vega, Dannabang Kuwabong, Amanda Eaton McMenamin, Betsy Nies, and Michael Reyes Caribbean Children's Literature, Volume 2: Critical Approaches offers analyses of the works of writers of the Anglophone Caribbean and its diaspora—or, except for one chapter on Francophone Caribbean children’s literature, those who write in English. The volume addresses the four language regions, early children’s literature of conquest—in particular, the US colonization of Puerto Rico—and the fine line between children’s and adult literature. It explores multiple young adult genres, probing the nuances and difficulties of historical fiction and the anticolonial impulses of contemporary speculative fiction. Additionally, the volume offers an overview of the literature of disaster and recovery, significant for readers living in a region besieged by earthquakes, hurricanes, and flooding. In this anthology and its companion anthology, international and regional scholars provide coverage of both areas, offering in-depth explorations of picture books, middle-grade, and young adult stories. The volumes examine the literary histories of both children’s and young adult literature according to language region, its use (or lack thereof) in schools, and its place in the field of publishing. Taken together, the essays expand our understanding of Caribbean literature for young people.

Covering the genres popular with today's teens—fiction and nonfiction, including poetry and graphic novels—this resource provides 110 great book choices for young adult reading, interactive booktalks, and individual writing activities. All educators and library professionals need practical resources with easily accessible information and activities that can be immediately applied. Teen Talkback with Interactive Booktalks! is such a resource, supplying ready-to-use, interactive booktalks and curriculum connections for more than 100 recently published young adult books. This unique book is an invaluable tool for motivating teens to read. It shows how to make booktalks interactive and get teens participating in the presentation, rather than passively listening. Book selections include titles published from 2008 to 2012 organized in seven categories: Issues, Contemporary, Adventure/Survival, Mystery/Suspense, Fantasy, Heritage, and Multiple Cultures. Complete bibliographical information for each selection is included along with a literary classification as well as an age/grade level and gender designation. The read-alouds passages include talkback questions to facilitate discussion, and related works are supplied as suggestions for additional reading choices.

This resource book for librarians and teachers of elementary and middle grade readers introduces over 400 titles of books (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry) written and illustrated by international authors and illustrators. Windows on the World: International Books for Elementary and Middle Grade Readers helps librarians and teachers open the eyes of elementary and middle grade readers to what life is like for children like themselves around the globe. In this extraordinary resource, you will find introductions to over 400 fiction, nonfiction, and poetry titles for age levels 4-8 and 8-12, written and illustrated by international authors and illustrators, and matched with related curriculum activities correlated with national curriculum standards. Windows on the World consists of over 100 lead books and over 350 related books published in the last ten years, organized by countries and cultures. It includes work from non-American authors working in the United States and abroad, as well as reissues of classics, and a few American titles noted for their authentic representations of other cultures. Each entry includes bibliographic data, information about the author and illustrator, identification of genre, recommended age level, a synopsis, suggested curriculum responses correlated with national curriculum standards, and related books.

Learn Chinese with a new twist! This full-color illustrated handbook introduces and explains Han characters and idioms through the language of emoji. Even though their dates of origin are millennia apart, the languages of Chinese and emoji share similarities that the average smartphone user might find surprising. These “hanmoji” parallels offer an exciting new way to learn Chinese—and a fascinating window into the evolution of Chinese Han characters. Packed with fun illustrations and engaging descriptions, The Hanmoji Handbook brings to life the ongoing dialogue between the visual elements of Chinese characters and the language of emoji. At once entertaining and educational, this unique volume holds sure appeal for readers who use emojis, anyone interested in learning Chinese, and those who love quirky, visual gift books.

On December 6, 1917, two ships collided in Halifax Harbour. One ship was loaded top to bottom with munitions and one held relief supplies, both intended for wartorn Europe. The resulting blast flattened two towns, Halifax and Dartmouth, and killed nearly 2,000 people. As if that wasn't devastating enough, a blizzard hit the next day, dumping more than a foot of snow on the area and paralyzing much-needed relief efforts. Fascinating, edge-of-your-seat storytelling based on original source material conveys this harrowing account of tragedy and recovery. This thoroughly-researched and documented book can be worked into multiple aspects of the common core curriculum.