Monica Edinger's Blog, page 2

This Teacher is NOT a fan of Teacher Appreciation Week

Just saw this headline which encapsulates my problem with this week:

Where teachers can get free food and discounts for Teacher Appreciation Week May 6-10

I’d prefer to put my own paid-for-myself food on the table, thank you very much.  This is a challenging, challenging job and we need to be (all of us) properly compensated for it so free food and discounts are not so critically needed. (Not to mention working extra jobs, summers, etc, etc, etc.)

Appreciate us by recognizing how important ou...

White People Apologizing

Recently, there have been a few prominent instances of white people apologizing for racist behavior.

Early this morning I came across Martha Brockenbrough’s excellent Twitter thread on this prompted by two situations. One is Anita Hill’s refusal to accept Joe Biden’s apology for his culpability in the dreadful way she was treated during the Clarence Thomas hearings. The other is the demand for an apology in a letter here (cosigned by hundreds, myself included) from the Children’s Book Guild o...

Debbie Reese on “An Indigenous Critique of Whiteness in Children’s Literature”

I highly recommend viewing Debbie Reese’s Arbuthnot’s lecture “An Indigenous Critique of Whiteness in Children’s Literature.” You will learn, think, and consider. I have known Debbie for decades and she has pushed my thinking in uncountable ways. The lecture was live-streamed and archived here.

Dr. Debbie Reese is a critic and scholar whose research and writings on representation of Indigenous people in children’s and young adult literature have informed the work of librarians and teachers an...

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Suggestions Please!

I’m chairing the current committee for the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards and would love suggestions of your favorites. For the categories of Fiction/Poetry, Nonfiction, and Picture Books we are looking at titles published between June 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019. You can see the award guidelines here.

Jerry Craft’s New Kid

I hadn’t heard a thing about it when an ARC of Jerry Craft’s New Kid showed up in my mail last fall, but the description drew me in immediately:

Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade.

As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartm...

Teaching and Learning About Slavery: Portugal’s Role

I am just back from a delightful one week sojourn in Portugal. The weather, food, and landscape were gorgeous. But this post isn’t about that; it is about African slavery. For, alongside all the fun vacation/tourist activities, I was paying attention to what I saw and what was said about Portugal and African slavery. Now a caveat: what follows is from a teeny tiny slice of time in Portugal, in a few parts, and listening to a very few people (all white). I would like to think that if I had dug...

In the Classroom (and Anywhere for that Matter): We MUST Do Better, Fellow White People

From Teaching Tolerance:

Slavery Simulations: Just Don’t

We’re saddened by the news of yet another classroom lesson on slavery involving a troubling simulation—but we’re not surprised. Our research has shown some common pitfalls when teaching and learning about slavery. In this edition of The Moment, we explain why mock auctions—along with simulations of the Middle Passage—do more harm than good, and we provide resources for teaching this history more effectively.

Please read the whole ar...

Diverse Voices in Latinx Literature Conference Report

Yesterday’s mini-conference at Bank Street College of Education, Diverse Voices in Latinx Literature, was outstanding. Every panel, every panelist, every moderator, every keynoter — all were wonderful. The moderators asked great questions that inspired the panelists to give fascinating and informative answers. And added bonus — they were all delightful storytellers! Kudos to Cindy Weill and everyone else involved in creating this unique day. Hopefully, they do it again. And guess what — you d...

Philip Pullman’s The Secret Commonwealth (Second Volume of The Book of Dust) is Anon

Seven years after readers last saw Lyra Silvertongue, sitting on a bench in Oxford’s Botanic Garden, Philip Pullman’s most beloved heroine is set to return as an adult this autumn in the second volume of his trilogy The Book of Dust.

Pullman announced on Wednesday that The Secret Commonwealth would be published in October, just ahead of BBC One’s TV adaptation of his bestselling His Dark Materials trilogy, starring Dafne Keen as the child Lyra, Ruth Wilson as the sinister Mrs Coulter and Jame...

Teaser Trailer for BBC’s His Dark Materials is Here!