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Students and Staff Explore Non-Fiction for Children
Each year a group of Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) students and staff take part in the children’s book award for the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA). They select a category of books and, from a shortlist of titles within that category, they vote for a winner. They then send our choice forward to the UKLA to join the votes from other shadowing groups at schools and universities around the country. The overall winner from each category is announced at the UKLA’s Conference which takes place in the summer. This year a new category, non-fiction books for children, was added to the awards and the BGU shadowing group have chosen to explore its titles. Dr Mary-Louise Maynes, Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Studies, and Janice Morris, Teaching Resources Librarian, explained what makes the shadowing exercise worthwhile and why the new category appealed to the group: “The process is an enjoyable and interesting one: we have the chance to read a range of new and exciting children’s books and to debate and discuss our choices over tea, coffee and biscuits! We explore books we might not have chosen to pick up and share some often very different reactions to them. Seeing a book from a different perspective can help to develop our critical thinking around texts and broaden our understanding of children’s literature. This year we chose to focus on non-fiction books for children. This was a new category introduced just this year to the book award. The introduction of the category reflects the rich and diverse range of non-fiction books being published for children at the moment and an increased interest in this category of texts. Unlike the other categories, books in the shortlist are suitable for children aged from 3 to 14+ years. They cover a wide range of topics and styles and a preference for artistic illustrations rather than photographs and beautifully presented texts is a feature of these new books. The shortlist is given below and all of the books can be found in the Teaching Resources Collection: we look forward to sharing them with you when the library re-opens and will let you know who the winner is when this is announced in the summer!” Unfortunately, the restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 has meant that the group have been unable to carry on with their usual shadowing group meet ups this year, but they fully intend to get involved again for next year’s book award. All students and staff are very welcome to join, look out for information about the group if you are interested early in 2021. Full Shortlist of Information Books 3 -14+ Mary and Frankenstein written by Linda Bailey and illustrated by Jũlia Sardὰ, (Andersen Press) (Print version only) A Book of Bears written and illustrated by Katie Viggers (Laurence King) (Print version only) A Child of St. Kilda written and illustrated by Beth Waters (Child’s Play) (Print version only) Counting on Katherine written by Helaine Becker and illustrated by Dow Phumiruck (Macmillan) (Print and Kindle version available) Questions I am asked about the Holocaust written by Heidi Fried (Scribe) (Print and Kindle version available) Once Upon a Raindrop written by James Carter and illustrated by Nomoco (Caterpillar Books) (Print version only) -
Sunbathing, Shopping and Social Distancing: A Cat's Life in Lockdown
Sunbathing, Shopping and Social Distancing: A Cat’s Life in Lockdown by Johnty – Head Cat of Bishop Grosseteste University It has been a strange few weeks but so far I’ve adapted well to this social distancing, in fact, as a cat, solitude is often my preference. I’m making sure to get my daily exercise and am doing my best to use each excursion wisely. If I’m not on an essential food trip I’m ensuring that my fellow felines are adhering to social distancing. I’ve come across several on my regular patrols but have quickly made it clear they should be relaxing in their own home, not mine. Most of my sunbathing spots around campus (particularly the Peace Garden) are still available, although frustratingly the IT building seems to be locked and my servants, I mean the people who work there, are not in so I can’t get to my favourite window sill (but this is a small price to pay if it means they’ll all be back sooner rather than later). On top of that I’m also making sure my human home worker is keeping his spirits up. He doesn’t always seem impressed with my shopping choices (I’m doing my best to avoid stock piling food so I’m sticking to one mouse or small bird on my daily hunting trip) but removing them from the house is certainly keeping him active. I’m also struggling to get him to follow my advice on recommended sleep time but I’m hopeful the upcoming Bank Holiday will give him a chance to try things my way. Despite my preference for peace and quiet, I am looking forward to seeing campus return to its usual bustling state. I’m certainly looking forward to more attention and joining in your photographs. Until then I hope you’re all staying well and looking after yourselves. If the move to home learning and working has given you a new animal office buddy make sure to share their picture with us! Send them to us through social media or by emailing marketingteam@bishopg.ac.uk -
Maintaining a balance in your home working arrangements
Jonny Richardson, PR & Communications Officer at BGU shares his experience on how finding balance helped him adjust to working from home. -
Why adults shouldn't rule out children's book from their reading lists
As the country, along with the rest of the world, settles into the possible new normal of social distancing and working from home many are beginning to plan out long lists of exciting potential reads to keep them occupied. These may be well loved classics or unknown literary adventures but the likelihood is that they will be books designed for adults. However, as Dr Mary-Louise Maynes, Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Studies at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) and one of the academics on the new MA in Children’s Literature and Literacies, explains adults shouldn’t be ashamed to include some children’s books in their choices too. On reading children’s books (as an adult) Browsing the adult fiction shelves of Waterstones recently I noticed that the Harry Potter books have yet another new cover without any sign of the boy wizard. This is presumably so that you can read the books on the train without looking silly: without looking as if you are reading a children’s book. Adults read children’s books, but still, it seems, reading them makes many of us rather uncomfortable. As we launch our MA in Children’s Literature and Literacies here at Bishop Grosseteste University, I want to explain why I read children’s books and why I think more adults should too, and not apologise for doing so. They are good ‘reads’… Children’s authors know that children are exacting critics. Junior-aged children in particular (generally) enjoy books which are plot-driven, gripping and engaging from the start, well-paced, and which use cliff-hangers at the end of chapters to make you want to read on. If you want to lose yourself in a thrilling story or a page-turning adventure look no further than a good children’s book such as The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Selznick, 2007) or The Explorer (Rundell, 2018). In literary terms to describe a text as plot-driven often implies a lack of depth and quality, a criticism often levelled, unfairly, at children’s literature as a whole. Many children’s books present examples of beautiful and lyrical writing where there is much to explore below the surface and which invite re-reading. Take for example the slow, ‘outsider’ reflections of the Fox in Pennypacker and Klassen’s Pax (2017) or the haunting, puzzling and disturbing words and images in Shaun Tan’s The Red Tree (2010). They have pictures…. Children’s picture books, non-fiction and poetry will introduce you to the work of some of the most innovative and diverse artists and the images are every bit as important as the words. Children’s illustrators have distinct visual styles and employ a range of artistic techniques: contrast for example Beth Waters’ striking monoprints in A Child of St Kilda (2019) or Mark Hearld’s cut-out collages for Nicola Davies’ A First Book of Nature (2014). Images are not confined to bold colours and simple lines: Emily Sutton’s illustrations have a ‘retro’ feel harking back to the work of Edward Ardizzone and they are not at all twee or cosy: in contrast the images in Greder’s The Island (2008) are dark, gothic and threatening. They explain things…. Children’s books today cover almost all topics including some previously taboo ones (for example Poo, a Natural History of the Unmentionable, Davies, 2014) and present them in ways which are digestible and engaging starting-points for further investigation. The Theory of Relativity is beautifully introduced in Bearne and Radunsky’s On a Beam of light (2016) and astrophysics is presented very simply in Astrophysics for Babies (Ferris, 2018). What we learn from children’s books can often stick with us throughout life: in Everything I need to know I learned from a children’s book (2008) Anita Silvey interviews 100 ‘notable’ individuals who explain how children’s books influenced their thinking and later careers. Yet in contemporary children’s literature the ways in which information is imparted are rarely moralistic or heavy-handed, with enjoyment and engagement being primary motivators for reading so that the reader does not feel ‘talked at’ or instructed. They reawaken memories… Re-reading Alison Uttley’s wonderful A Traveller in Time (1939) recently, I was suddenly transported back to a mental image of the protagonist Penelope wearing a nightdress I wore as a child. I must have dressed her in the nightdress in my imagination and for a tiny moment I felt a connection with the person I was when I first read the book aged eight years old. Such connections are powerful if illusory: as Peter Hunt (1997) said as adults we can never really read as we did as a child. Re-reading reminds us of the difference of childhood and the ways in which our understanding of childhood changes as we grow older. Reading children’s books as adults we cannot help but be aware of the ways in which childhood is ‘socially constructed’. They offer insight about ourselves and our society since they are (usually) written by adults with adult perceptions of what childhood and children should be, and what children should be allowed to read or forbidden from reading. If, like me, you love reading children’s books, why not consider joining our MA Children’s Literature and Literacies, launching September 2020? Discover books that intrigue and move you: yes there are plenty of bunnies getting ready for bed, and wimpy kids writing diaries, but equally there are books which address the key issues of our time and which challenge and upset expectations, books which explore the range of human experience and which take us into worlds beyond our own. Dr Mary-Louise Maynes researches children’s non-fiction literature and will be teaching on the MA Children’s Literature and Literacies. She is a member of the Literature and Literacies RKEU. For more information please visit our children's literature courses pages.
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