Representing Africa in Children's Literature explores how African and Western authors portray youth in contemporary African societies, critically examining the dominant images of Africa and Africans in books published between 1960 and 2005. The book focuses on contemporary children's and young adult literature set in Africa, examining issues regarding colonialism, the politics of representation, and the challenges posed to both "insiders" and "outsiders" writing about Africa for children.

Representing Africa in Children 's Literature explores how African and Western authors portray youth in contemporary African societies, critically examining the dominant images of Africa and Africans in books published between 1960 and 2005. The book focuses on contemporary children 's and young adult literature set in Africa, examining issues regarding colonialism, the politics of representation, and the challenges posed to both "insiders" and "outsiders" writing about Africa for children.

This book explores how African youth are depicted in contemporary literature and popular culture, and discusses the different ways by which they attempt to construct personal and cultural identities through popular culture and social media outlets. The contributors approach the subject from an interdisciplinary perspective, looking at images in children's and adolescent literature from Africa, and the African diaspora, from Nollywood and Hollywood movies, from popular magazines, and from youth cultures encountered directly through field experiences. The findings reveal that there are many stereotypes about Africa, African youth and black cultures, and that African youth are aware of these. Since they juggle multiple identities shaped by their ethnicities, race and religion, it is often a challenge for them to define themselves. As they also share a global youth culture that transcends these cultural markers, some take advantage of media outlets to voice their concerns and participate in political struggles. Others simply use these to promote their personal interests. Contributors ponder the challenges involved in constructing unique identities, offering ideas on how African youth are doing so successfully or not in different parts of the continent and the African diaspora, and thus offer new possibilities for youth studies.

This book explores how African youth are depicted in contemporary literature and popular culture, and discusses the different ways by which they attempt to construct personal and cultural identities through popular culture and social media outlets. The contributors approach the subject from an interdisciplinary perspective, looking at images in children's and adolescent literature from Africa, and the African diaspora, from Nollywood and Hollywood movies, from popular magazines, and from youth cultures encountered directly through field experiences. The findings reveal that there are many stereotypes about Africa, African youth and black cultures, and that African youth are aware of these. Since they juggle multiple identities shaped by their ethnicities, race and religion, it is often a challenge for them to define themselves. As they also share a global youth culture that transcends these cultural markers, some take advantage of media outlets to voice their concerns and participate in political struggles. Others simply use these to promote their personal interests. Contributors ponder the challenges involved in constructing unique identities, offering ideas on how African youth are doing so successfully or not in different parts of the continent and the African diaspora, and thus offer new possibilities for youth studies.

This book acknowledges the existence of high quality nonfiction children's literature that may serve as a basis for conversation about civic engagements and our roles as global citizens. It touches on our social history, and offers ideas for how educators might be able to engage readers in healthy and useful dialogues on what it means to be human and how nonfiction texts attempt to reconstruct this reality in this quest to recognize our collective humanity.

Twelve-year-old Bridget and her friends are excited when they get admitted into one of the most prestigious boarding secondary schools in Kumba, Cameroon. Passing exams is the least of their worries. But surviving the new academic and social culture with hormone driven adolescent boys and unscrupulous seniors remain a challenge. Can the ground rules for survival Bridget and her new girlfriends adopt protect them from the threats they face constantly from the seniors, teachers and the adults in the local community? Can they handle all the distractions in addition to the changes their pubescent bodies are undergoing?

Contributions by Cynthia Neese Bailes, Nina Batt, Lijun Bi, Helene Charderon, Stuart Ching, Helene Ehriander, Xiangshu Fang, Sara Kersten-Parish, Helen Kilpatrick, Jessica Kirkness, Sung-Ae Lee, Jann Pataray-Ching, Angela Schill, Josh Simpson, John Stephens, Corinne Walsh, Nerida Wayland, and Vivian Yenika-Agbaw Children, Deafness, and Deaf Cultures in Popular Media examines how creative works have depicted what it means to be a deaf or hard of hearing child in the modern world. In this collection of critical essays, scholars discuss works that cover wide-ranging subjects and themes: growing up deaf in a hearing world, stigmas associated with deafness, rival modes of communication, friendship and discrimination, intergenerational tensions between hearing and nonhearing family members, and the complications of establishing self-identity in increasingly complex societies. Contributors explore most of the major genres of children's literature and film, including realistic fiction, particularly young adult novels, as well as works that make deft use of humor and parody. Further, scholars consider the expressive power of multimodal forms such as graphic novel and film to depict experience from the perspective of children. Representation of the point of view of child characters is central to this body of work and to the intersections of deafness with discourses of diversity and social justice. The child point of view supports a subtle advocacy of a wider understanding of the multiple ways of being D/deaf and the capacity of D/deaf children to give meaning to their unique experiences, especially as they find themselves moving between hearing and Deaf communities. These essays will alert scholars of children's literature, as well as the reading public, to the many representations of deafness that, like deafness itself, pervade all cultures and are not limited to specific racial or sociocultural groups.

Contributions by Cynthia Neese Bailes, Nina Batt, Lijun Bi, Helene Charderon, Stuart Ching, Helene Ehriander, Xiangshu Fang, Sara Kersten-Parish, Helen Kilpatrick, Jessica Kirkness, Sung-Ae Lee, Jann Pataray-Ching, Angela Schill, Josh Simpson, John Stephens, Corinne Walsh, Nerida Wayland, and Vivian Yenika-Agbaw Children, Deafness, and Deaf Cultures in Popular Media examines how creative works have depicted what it means to be a deaf or hard of hearing child in the modern world. In this collection of critical essays, scholars discuss works that cover wide-ranging subjects and themes: growing up deaf in a hearing world, stigmas associated with deafness, rival modes of communication, friendship and discrimination, intergenerational tensions between hearing and nonhearing family members, and the complications of establishing self-identity in increasingly complex societies. Contributors explore most of the major genres of children's literature and film, including realistic fiction, particularly young adult novels, as well as works that make deft use of humor and parody. Further, scholars consider the expressive power of multimodal forms such as graphic novel and film to depict experience from the perspective of children. Representation of the point of view of child characters is central to this body of work and to the intersections of deafness with discourses of diversity and social justice. The child point of view supports a subtle advocacy of a wider understanding of the multiple ways of being D/deaf and the capacity of D/deaf children to give meaning to their unique experiences, especially as they find themselves moving between hearing and Deaf communities. These essays will alert scholars of children's literature, as well as the reading public, to the many representations of deafness that, like deafness itself, pervade all cultures and are not limited to specific racial or sociocultural groups.

This book recognizes nonfiction text as a staple part of the literacy curriculum and advocates that educators include it in their daily practices. It offers innovative ideas on how these texts can be used to nurture literacy acquisition, growth, and fluency in and out of the classroom.

This book recognizes nonfiction text as a staple part of the literacy curriculum and advocates that educators include it in their daily practices. It offers innovative ideas on how these texts can be used to nurture literacy acquisition, growth, and fluency in and out of the classroom.

Educators who teach children's literature at the college level as part of the pre-service experience seldom allocate enough space in the curriculum for nonfiction literature. This book recognizes the viability of nonfiction as a literary genre that demands critical analysis, celebrates storytelling in its varied forms, and invites teacher educators and pre-service teachers, our primary audience, to nurture a spirit of inquiry and skepticism in the classroom. It is an excellent resource for teacher educators looking for a variety of nonfiction texts to include in their literacy curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. It also offers critical approaches through which students are encouraged to read these texts, and ideas for critical inquiry with young learners.

This book acknowledges the existence of high quality nonfiction children's literature that may serve as a basis for conversation about civic engagements and our roles as global citizens. It touches on our social history, and offers ideas for how educators might be able to engage readers in healthy and useful dialogues on what it means to be human and how nonfiction texts attempt to reconstruct this reality in this quest to recognize our collective humanity.

Adolescents Rewrite their Worlds: Using Literature to Illustrate Writing Forms offers alternative ways teachers can engage young adolescents with the writing process using literature. The contributors discuss the values of writing in twenty-first-century classrooms and global societies, remarking that writing is first a personal exploration that is informed by cultural practices. Therefore culture is quite central in how we approach, explore, and express through any medium. The chapters consider ways to motivate students to become critically-conscious and active writers who are aware of their surrounding world, and the competing multiple discourses in which they are positioned. This requires intimate knowledge of audience, purpose, and genre and/or writing forms. We provide practical advice for teachers who wish to guide their students toward these goals. Additional features of this book include: *Authors/Contributors' professional experiences of teaching writing using literature *Practical pedagogical practices that may transform the way teachers teach writing and use literature *Interviews with authors that give insight into their writing process *Writing practices for twenty-first-century adolescents using new literacies

Adolescents Rewrite their Worlds: Using Literature to Illustrate Writing Forms offers alternative ways teachers can engage young adolescents with the writing process using literature. The contributors discuss the values of writing in twenty-first-century classrooms and global societies, remarking that writing is first a personal exploration that is informed by cultural practices. Therefore culture is quite central in how we approach, explore, and express through any medium. The chapters consider ways to motivate students to become critically-conscious and active writers who are aware of their surrounding world, and the competing multiple discourses in which they are positioned. This requires intimate knowledge of audience, purpose, and genre and/or writing forms. We provide practical advice for teachers who wish to guide their students toward these goals. Additional features of this book include: *Authors/Contributors' professional experiences of teaching writing using literature *Practical pedagogical practices that may transform the way teachers teach writing and use literature *Interviews with authors that give insight into their writing process *Writing practices for twenty-first-century adolescents using new literacies

The all new essays in this book discuss Black cultural retellings of traditional, European fairy tales. The representation of Black protagonists in such tales helps to shape children's ideas about themselves and the world beyond their limited experiences. Allowing them to see themselves in traditional tales strengthens connections with the world and can ignite a will to read books representing diverse ethnic and cultural characters. Also discussed is the need for a multicultural text set which includes the multiplicity of cultures within the Black Diaspora. The tales referenced in the text are rich and diverse in perspective, illuminating stories such as Aesop's fables, Cinderella, Rapunzel and Ananse. Readers will see that stories from Black perspectives adhere to the dictates of traditional literary conventions while steeped in literary traditions that can be traced back to Africa or the diaspora.

The essays in this collection discuss multicultural issues in children's and adolescent literature, focusing particularly on African and African American cultures. They challenge our understanding of what, in an age of globalization, multicultural texts really are. Cumulatively, these essays illustrate multicultural literature's power to educate young readers about the numerous and varied perspectives on their own cultures and roles in society, as well as those of other cultures. The scholarship presented here makes it clear that not only should multicultural literature be integrated within the school curriculum, but that it can be examined to reveal subtle cultural nuances that show how cultures, customs, and people may be at once similar and different.

Race, Women of Color, and the State University System focuses on challenges women of color experience or have experienced while teaching or pursuing administrative duties within the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The book systematically examines how women of color -- administrators, faculty, and staff -- cope with the demands of the profession, their disciplines, the expectations from the system, and the isolation that comes with working in institutions and/or environments that are predominately all white. The book identifies challenges that are unique to the state system, although they may be applicable to the academy in general. Contributors, through their testimonies and shared experiences, provide academic tools and strategies to navigate the academy successfully.

Educators who teach children's literature at the college level as part of the pre-service experience seldom allocate enough space in the curriculum for nonfiction literature. This book recognizes the viability of nonfiction as a literary genre that demands critical analysis, celebrates storytelling in its varied forms, and invites teacher educators and pre-service teachers, our primary audience, to nurture a spirit of inquiry and skepticism in the classroom. It is an excellent resource for teacher educators looking for a variety of nonfiction texts to include in their literacy curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. It also offers critical approaches through which students are encouraged to read these texts, and ideas for critical inquiry with young learners.