The Brothers and Sisters Learn to Write: Popular Literacies in Childhood and School Culture

Language and Literacy

by Anne Haas Dyson

Building on her groundbreaking work in Writing Superheroes , Anne Dyson traces the influence of a wide-ranging set of “textual toys” from children’s lives―church and hip-hop songs, rap music, movies, TV, traditional jump-rope rhymes, the words of professional sports announcers and radio deejays―upon school learning and writing. Wonderfully rich portraits of five African American first-graders demonstrate how children’s imaginative use of wider cultural symbols enriches their school learning. Featuring lively and engaging vignettes of children who are often left behind by our educational system, this

Genres: Academic

255 pages, Paperback

First published November 26, 2002

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Countering the popular belief that television, movies, hip-hop, and video games are at odds with education, Dyson presents her research into how elementary school children use their knowledge of pop culture to support their quest to learn to write. It changed many of my perceptions