Day two at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content was on 27 May, but I caught up with all the sessions I wanted to just yesterday. I felt like I had a time-turner because I attended three simultaneous sessions, thanks to a virtual AFCC 2022! Here’s an overview of how the day was for me.
Environmental Advocacy in Children’s Books
This was one of the sessions I attended synchronously, and the experience of doing that is quite different from catching up with an event later.
The environmental is a subject close to my heart, and I read a lot of literature about nature and being outdoors. However, I’m a little iffy when it comes to books that are clearly issue-based, no matter what the issue may be. Story, for me, comes first, and advocacy second, not the other way around. I like it when books are subtle, with characters nudging us in particular directions. And that was one of the reasons I wanted to attend this session!
And it was a rewarding one. A great takeaway was the list of books Sarah Ang shared to promote eco-consciousness amongst children. In addition to books, however, she spoke of activities we can do, emphasising that books are important, but even more important is being outdoors. Environmental advocacy can begin in a book, but must go further!
Bonds, Bridges & Books: Building Better Mental Wellness
Much of Dimity Powell’s session worked with ideas that are not new, and I think I enjoyed listening to it for exactly that reason. Had I been younger, I would probably have found a lot to take home from the session – including the idea of balancing the story you want to tell with marketability, something a younger me would have been quite disillusioned by!
The discussion about the interpretative nature of books made me think of both my book clubs and the books I’ve written. When we read When the World Went Dark, for instance, the children were convinced that Pitter Paati was not dead – and this is something that Powell spoke of too, in the context of another book. Children do not necessarily make links that adults make very easily. However, this makes a book more relatable, rather than less understood.
The discussion on illustration was enriching too! Once upon a time, I used to think that writers and illustrators work closely together. Now, having written four picture books and two chapter books, I know that an author may not even know who the illustrator is until the final pdfs are ready! And this is a good thing because, as the moderator David Liew said, the book then tells not one, but two stories. One story is told through the words and the other through the pictures. One of my favourite examples of that is The Monster Hunters, which we read at my book club!
Finding the Light: Hope and Despair in Children’s Literature
What a beautiful session this one was! I wish I could have attended it synchronously because I would have loved to “talk” to Margarita Engle in the chat box. Especially as I’ve been writing a lot of verse recently, much of what she said resonated with me.
While teaching a poetry module recently, I began to do some research on how to introduce children to free verse. I came across the idea that breaking sentences up into smaller lines creates poetry.
I was uncomfortable with this.
No.
This does not create free verse, or so I feel.
That’s why it was especially heartwarming to hear Margarita Engle put this into words! You have to be in love with poetry to write poems, she said. Inserting random line breaks into prose does not create poems.
Yes!
And yet, poetry can be whatever you want it to be. Engle spoke of the white spaces in poetry being open spaces where the reader can meet the writer, where emotions and thoughts can interact. Verse novels, she said (and I agree), are so full of open space that a young reader who may not always enjoy reading is not intimidated by dense text. It’s approachable, easy, accessible – diametrically opposed to the idea that poetry is somehow erudite and incomprehensible. And again, I found myself saying, yes, yes, yes!
Developing Critical Reading Skills for our Children
The moment I saw that there was a session on developing critical reading skills at the AFCC, I knew I wanted to attend it. And guess what? Already, less than a week after the event, I’ve used some of what I picked up from the session.
Often, I conduct workshops for teachers on Bloom’s taxonomy and the importance of critical thinking. The more I engage with critical thinking in its many forms, listening to new perspectives and reaffirming older ones, the more I have to share in the form of training. Debra Ann Francisco’s clear list of challenges we face while attempting to develop critical reading was useful!
What is critical reading? This is the question we began with. Mary George drew a lovely analogy, comparing reading with SCUBA diving, and critical reading with deep sea diving. What I particularly liked about the comparison is that reading is a kind of diving too; it isn’t skimming the surface!
I also found it interesting to think about the importance of listicles in providing information in a capsule while also understanding that listicles take a toll on reading stamina. It’s easy to think that we know a lot because we’re exposed to a variety of subjects thanks to social media. But how much do we know? Have we considered that there might be other perspectives? Developing the ability to formulate these questions and answer them is really what critical thinking is all about.
Using Picture Books to Promote Inclusion
What a sweet, fun session this one was! I do not work much with very young children, so I wondered how useful I would find a session on picture books. Even post-session, I don’t know about its usefulness, but I am glad I attended it because of the step-by-step approach the speakers took.
Inclusion is a three-step process – awareness, acceptance and appreciation. How do books help with that? When we read picture books with children, we help them notice difference, building awareness. With leading questions, we move towards acceptance. And finally, by taking the story beyond the book and into the world around us, we begin to appreciate difference.
Moving forward with this methodical approach, Soh Aiwen and Stephanie Ng spoke of three reading strategies to promote inclusion. When we read, we begin with literal questions before moving on to inferential and evaluative questions. Using clear examples of both texts and questions, the speakers went on to explore hands-on activities linked to the book too, which I loved!
That was day two for me – I’m still catching up with the sessions that happened on day three!
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