1. Le Bon Libre:
The Good Book
Choosing Children’s Literature
Fall 2009
ELE 616 Research in Children’s Literature

2. editor from 1974 to 1985

3. What Makes a Good Children’s Book?
literature for children
A good book latches onto a child and
won’t let go. What a child needs is to be
exposed to the pleasures of reading and to
have access to a large collection of books
from which to choose when the child is
ready to read. What a child does not need
is to be pushed into reading or to have an
adult force a child to read a certain book
by insisting that it is a good book.
• literature for children. Britannica Student Encyclopedia.
Retrieved November 29, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica.
<http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/article-203946/literature-for-
children>

4. What makes an effective children’s book?
Depends on the particular book in question
A story picture book should have all the
elements of story, engaging writing, a hero who
grows and changes, and the best fit art for the
protagonist and tale.
A concept book should convey the concept (be
it, say, alphabet, numbers, colors) in a clear and
engaging manner, one that will engage young
minds.
Humorous books should be funny. Adventure
books suspenseful and exciting. Mysteries
intriguing. Fantasies imaginative. Gothics
scary.
• http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2004/11/effective-
aspects.html
Children's
author Cynthia
Leitich Smith

5. More from Cynthia Leitich Smith
A good book should be the best book it
can be
A children’s novel must do all that an adult
novel does, but the hero and sensibility is that of
a younger person. They are generally a bit
leaner, though, less self-indulgent on the part of
the author. The audience tends to have a shorter
attention span.
No kid reads a book because of what the New
York Times has to say. To them, it must sing.
Basically, a good book should be the best book it
can be, in whatever manifestation fits best for its
unique nature.
• Effective aspects

6. What Makes a Good Children’s Book?
A good children’s book:
Stimulates the imagination
Has fun language, rhythm, rhyme, and
patterns
Has big, clear print, and pictures
Is developmentally appropriate
Keeps a child’s attention
Gets children involved with the story
Has sensory appeal
• http://www.kingstonliteracy.com/FamLit/goodbook.htm/

7. What about books for young adults?
Former English professor Don Gallo:
“Good young adult books deal honestly
and openly with teenage issues and
problems”
The best novels for teens, he believes,
are well written, yet less complex than
the famous classics
Short stories, too, are successful at
addressing popular themes such as
multiculturalism and character
development.
• In the Interest of Teenagers

8. What makes good children’s literature?
Bev Clark, Alcott Fan and Children’s
Literature Expert:
“In my mind, what makes good children’s
literature is the same as what makes great
adult literature: The work must be
excellent in its own right, never
condescend to the reader and raise
interesting questions.”
“It must speak to children and their
parents -- and also to the editors,
publishers and sellers who first
make it available.”

9. What is good children’s literature?
Good children's literature is good literature.
Period.
Good children's literature isn’t silly or
lightweight. Look closely at enduring
classics such as Charlotte’s Web and
you’ll find a complex work of art, every
bit as interesting and rich as an adult
novel. Even a children’s book as
seemingly simple as Goodnight Moon is
in reality a subtly beautiful poem that
speaks to the deep longings and fears of
both children and adults.
• Why Parents Should Read Harry Potter
by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P.

10. Choosing Books for Young Readers
Too Easy? Too Hard ? Just Right?
Not every book a child reads must be a challenge.
Length and reading level are not everything when it
comes to good literature.
Just because the stories are shorter and illustrations
have been used in a picture book does not make the
writing any less powerful.
. . . children's series books are often looked down upon
as “garbage” and not providing any educational
opportunities. Yet, these books are also important
to a developing and even the gifted reader.
Please allow your child to choose the books
they want to read as long as it is not
inappropriate material for children.
• Book Nuts’ Mom

11. Classroom libraries
Why have a classroom library?
One of the main tasks of a K-5 teacher is
to teach children to read. Reading is a
skill that requires a great deal of
practice. To practice, you need books.
Thus, every elementary classroom needs
its own library.
• Build and Use A Classroom Library on

12. Arguments against classroom libraries
Books become restricted in their availability
. . . when we look at the big picture -- the needs of the
whole school -- it is obvious today's limited funds must
be spent for the global good of all. A centralized
collection is the most economically viable solution to the
heavy demands for learning resources in today's
classrooms.
Books are only inanimate objects until their potential
for learning is utilized by a teacher or teacher-librarian.
If a book is perceived to be of use with only one student,
in a particular grade, at a certain time of the year, to
meet a specific need, then the potential of that book is
being wasted. I have seen teachers put books away in a
box until next year when they do the same theme again.
• The classroom library: Are we returning to the 1950s, or
developing better collaboration?

13. Solution? Compromise!
Classroom libraries have undoubted
advantages in promoting reading and
love of reading
By keeping track of your classroom
collection using a spreadsheet or
database manager, and then share that
list with others in the school
See Classroom Libraries on The School
Library Handbook about
how to organize your
collection!

14. Need for policies and procedures
What are policies and procedures?
Policies explain why the collection exists
and what will be in it. A policy tends to
address ideals and generalities.
Procedures explain how the policy will
be implemented and who will be
involved with the implementation. A
procedure should be concrete and
specific.
• Information Access & Delivery: Policies and
Procedures

15. Do policies really make a difference?
Without a policy you may face some of
the situations:
You are open to book censors.
You may be cited on copyright
infringement lawsuits.
You could be accused of being biased in
selection.
• Information Access & Delivery: Policies and
Procedures

16. Importance of a Selection Policy
Why do I need a policy?
haphazard patterns of acquisition will
result in waste because some—perhaps
many—materials will overlap in content,
or will be unrelated to changing patterns
of instruction
when there are complaints about . . .
fiction in the English class, the use of the
“objectionable” item can be explained
more easily
• ALA Workbook for Selection Policy Writing

17. Typical content
A good policy on the selection of
instructional materials will
include basic sections on objectives,
responsibility, criteria, procedures for
selection, reconsideration of materials,
and policies on controversial materials.
Your policy should state succinctly what
your system is trying to accomplish in its
educational program, and, in somewhat
more detail, the objectives of selection.
• ALA Workbook for Selection Policy Writing

18. Word of warning
Know thyself!
It is important that teachers and
administrators are able to recognize
their own biases and also biases that
appear in learning materials. When
teachers and administrators are aware
of their own biases, they can take the
steps necessary to ensure that those
biases do not influence their interactions
with students.
• CRITERIA FOR SELECTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF
TEACHING AND LEARNING MATERIALS
[Website no longer available]

19. Contents of a selection policy
selection criteria
The set of standards used by librarians to
decide whether an item should be added to the
collection, which normally includes a list of
subjects or fields to be covered, levels of
specialization, editions, currency, languages,
and formats (large print, nonprint,
abridgments, etc.). Selection criteria usually
reflect the library’s mission and the
information needs of its clientele, but selection
decisions are also influenced by budgetary
constraints and qualitative evaluation in the
form of reviews, recommended core lists, and
other selection tools.

20. A Philosophical Question
Is Selection a Form of Censorship?
Do public libraries attempt to supervise the
tastes of their readers by making it a fixed
policy not to buy “objectionable” books? It is a
simple expedient and has often been applied.
The public librarian often has the plausible
excuse that as the funds of a library are
limited, he must pick and choose, and naturally
the more “wholesome” books are to be
preferred. He insists that he is exercising not
censorship but the prerogative of free selection.
• Morris L. Ernst and William Seagle, To the Pure . . . A Study
of Obscenity and the Censor cited in Lester Asheim, Not
Censorship But Selection

21. Challenged, like Harry Potter
Look Out, Harry Potter! –
Book Banning Heats Up
The Harry Potter series is keeping
company with such frequently banned
classics as John Steinbeck's Of Mice and
Men and J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in
the Rye.
“Perhaps teachers are self-censored
because they felt the chill [from the
controversy],” said Charles Suhor, a
field representative for the
www.ncte.org National Council of
Teachers of English (NCTE).
• Article by Diane Weaver Dunne Education World® 04/10/2000

22. Or, My Weird School
Exchange on listserv LM_Net:
Original Request Sun 11/29/2009 8:18 PM : Hello all, Has
anyone had a challenge or any parent complaints about
the My Weird School series by Dan Gutman? I have the
unusual situation of having one parent wanting the series
removed and another parent wanting them to remain.
Any help or comments would be appreciated. I'm in a K-3
school.
Reply Sun 11/29/2009 8:57 PM: One idea to help ally the
fears of the parent wanting to remove the books, might be
to show the author's web page:
http://www.dangutman.com/ Perhaps if they knew a little
more about the author and the award winning books
they've done, it might give them a different perspective.
Gutman mentions the series was inspired by his daughter
and one of his goals as an author is to get kids to read. For
reluctant readers, they are pretty engaging.

23. FINIS