This document discusses using children's literature to promote empathy and action. It aims to show how literature can represent challenging times and responses to crises. Literature provides opportunities for developing understanding of others through windows into different lives and experiences. The document also provides strategies for using literature to foster empathy, such as discussion questions, poems, and plans for community action. It emphasizes how literary experiences can create caring attitudes and courage to address social issues.

1. Engaging readers through
children’s literature explorations
for empathy and action
Patricia A. Crawford
University of Pittsburgh
Sherron Killingsworth Roberts
University of Central Florida

2. Welcome!

3. Purposesof
today’ssession
To illuminate the ways in which
challenging times, and responses to
these times, are represented in
children’s literature
To consider ways to use children’s
literature as springboards for
empathy and action
To refocus attention on the role of
the affective domain and critical
thinking during literary explorations

4. Rationalefor
session#1:
Theworld
Difficult times in which we live
Daily challenges for all children
Friendships
Family life
School life
Extreme challenges for many
children around the globe
Human Crises
Natural Disasters

5. Rationalefor
Session#2:
TheWord
Affective role of literature
Literature as windows and
mirrors
Literature as a vicarious
forum for developing
understanding and empathy

6. Daybyday
Kidd and Castano
(2013) found that, as
opposed to generic
fiction or nonfiction,
adults who read a
mere 15 minutes of
quality fiction
significantly increased
their levels of
empathy. Imagine
what 15 minutes of
reading high quality
fiction could
accomplish with much
more impressionable
youth.

7. Let’sstart with an
oldfavorite…
Theworldisfull
ofWORRIES!

8.  Insert the two “What if….?” pages from Wemberly
Worried here….

9. Applicationto
ourlivesand
work…
Worries and Concerns
Remembering my
childhood self’s
worries…
My students’
worries…

10. Literaturemakes
important
connections
 Literature provides provocative
invitations to better understand and care
for ourselves in the midst of difficult
daily life and crisis-oriented situations.
 Literature demonstrates the complex,
layered nature of our lives, even amidst
crises.
 Literature provides models of ways to
respond to others when confronted with
dilemmas.
 Literature provides invitations toward
empathy and action by examining the
complex internal and external factors.

11. Literature changes us; it’s
a transaction between the
reader and the text; the
world and the word…
A book’s not a book until we read it.
Tough times and stressors call for ways to deconstruct
and to figure issues and ourselves out
with vicarious characters in vicarious
situations.

12. THE
TRANSACTION
 I am reminded of ….personally.
 I am reminded of …..locally (something
in my life now).
 I am reminded of … globally.

14. TouchstoneText
Poverty Other crises include…
Homelessness
Loss of employment
Working for minimal pay
Loss of identity & respect

15. TouchstoneTexts
Refugees Other crises include…
 Poverty
 War
 Loss of life
 Homelessness
 Lack of education
 Discrimination against girls
 Leaving friends and the known

16. LiteraryModels
forEmpathy
andAction
Small actions can make
a large impact.

17. LiteraryModels
forEmpathy
andAction
 Helping those in crisis may require personal sacrifice.

18. LiteraryModels
forEmpathy
andAction
 Both material and human costs
accompany crises; solving material
problems may not resolve related deep
human needs and issues.
One day Emaje took me to a
place where she said the lion in my
belly would never roar again…
‘but I cannot go with you.”

19. LiteracyModels
forEmpathy
andAction
 One can learn how to meet the needs of those in crisis.

20. Just as
Wemberly
Worried
Literature gives us
the perfect avenue for
….____________

21. Literature changes us;
Some strategies for
empathy • Frayer model for food scarcity; hunger
• Lessons learned
• Poetry
• Found poems
• I used to …but now…
• Collaborative haiku

22. Literature changes us;
some strategies for action
• Posters
• Graffiti boards
• Petitions
• Social media impacts
• Everyday Acts of Kindness
• Action plans with community
partners
• Maps or timelines for our
journeys
• Letters to make a difference

23. Sharing literature
createscaring
whichcreates
courage…

24. Resources
 Fillable T-Chart for Listing and Comparing
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-
resources/printouts/chart-30225.html
 https://www.ewg.org/kid-safe-chemicals-act-blog/send-
a-kids-letter-to-congress/

25. References
 Bishop, R. S. (1990). Multicultural literacy: Mirrors,windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives:
Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom 6(3). Retrieved from RIF:
https://www.psdschools.org/webfm/8559
 Beckett, S. (2012). Crossover picturebooks: A genre for all ages. London, UK: Routledge.
 Botelho, M. J., & Rudman, M. K. (2009). Critical multicultural analysis of children's literature:
Mirrors, windows, and doors. Language, Culture, and Teaching series. New York, NY: Routledge.
 Crawford, P. A., & Roberts, S. K. (2009). Ain’t gonna study war no more? Explorations of war
through picture books. Childhood Education, 6, 370-374.
 Leland, C., Lewison, M., & Harste, J. (2012). Teaching children’s literature: It’s critical! New York,
NY: Routledge.
 Marsh, E. E., & White, M. D. (2006). Content analysis: A flexible methodology. Library trends, 55(1),
22-45.

26. References-continued
 Roberts, S. K., & Crawford, P. A. (2008). Real life calls for real books: Literature to help children
cope with family stressors. Young Children, 63(5), 12-17.
 Rosenblatt, L. (1994). The reader, the text, the poem: The transaction theory of the literary work.
Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University.
 Sipe, L. (2008). Storytime! Young children’s literary understanding in the classroom. New York,
NY: Teachers College Press.
 Szente, J. (Ed.). (2018). Assisting young children caught in disasters. New York, NY: Springer.
 Szente, J., & Wang, X.C. (Eds.). (2009). Helping children cope with the impact of war, terrorism,
and disaster. Childhood Education, International Focus Issue 2009, 85(6). Olney, MD: Association
for Childhood Education International.
 Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
 Wolfenbarger & Sipe, L. (2007). A unique literary and visual art form: Recent research on
picturebooks. Language Arts, 84, 273-280.