The Power of Simple Play

From the Archives - This is a revised version of a post on 23rd Nov 2009

The erosion of time for play

As I wrote in a post last year, children's play is seen by psychologists, educators and paediatricians as so important to optimal child development that it has been recognized by the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as a right of every child. But in a clinical report to the American Academy of Paediatrics, Kenneth R. Ginsburg concluded that many "....children are being raised in an increasingly hurried and pressured style that may limit the protective benefits they would gain from child-driven play."

Major child rearing agencies, early childhood associations, paediatric groups and government agencies with responsibility for children and families have been raising serious questions about declining spare time, and in particular unstructured playtime for young children. For example, in a recent edition of the Belfast Telegraph a report from 300 teachers, psychologists and children's authors claimed that the erosion of "unstructured, loosely supervised" playtime is dangerously affecting young people's health.

In our 'time poor' age where all parents want their children to be successful in life, there is a temptation to concentrate children's spare time on structured activities. But this may not be the best thing for them. The growth of programs like 'Your Baby Can Read' (reviewed on this blog here & here) is just one example of how this is happening. The program seeks to teach children to read from as early as 6-9 months. Play is critical for children's development; it isn't an optional extra in their lives.

The loss of 'simple' play

There is also a tendency in our age to buy children lots of complex toys that don't necessarily add much to their development anyway. Louisa recently made a useful comment about this on the 4th part of my earlier series on play (here) that I did last year. Far too often, modern toys that are lavished on most children in developed countries do little to develop creativity, problem solving and knowledge. Notwithstanding the fact that you buy wonderful educational toys that can stimulate development, unstructured and spontaneous play offers the best opportunities for the development of creativity, problem solving and learning.

In an interesting article, 'The Play's the thing: Styles of playfulness', Elizabeth Jones has argued that:

In their play, children invent the world for themselves and create a place for themselves in it. They are re-creating their pasts and imagining their futures, while grounding themselves in the reality and fantasy of their lives here-and-now.

In the article I referred to earlier by Kenneth Ginsburg, he concludes that:

• Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength.
• Play is important to healthy brain development.
• Through play, children at a very early age engage and interact in the world around them.
• Play allows children to create and explore a world where they can achieve a sense of mastery.
• Through play children can also conquer their fears while practicing adult roles, sometimes in conjunction with other children or adult caregivers.
• As they master their world, play helps children develop new competencies that lead to enhanced confidence.
• Undirected play allows children to learn how to work and create with others, to share, to negotiate, and to resolve conflicts.
• When play is allowed to be child-driven, children practice decision-making skills, move at their own pace and discover their own areas of interest.
• Play is essential for the building of active healthy bodies.

A simple example of creative unstructured play

I've shared many examples on this blog of unstructured and semi-structured play (check out all posts on play here). A recent example occurred just last week. I was visiting my daughter's for dinner and had a couple of hours to play with her three children (my grandchildren). My wife Carmen had bought two inexpensive packets ($2 each) of multi-coloured modelling clay with some adhesive eyes in the packets. I simply asked all three grandchildren would they like to make something. I joined in (as I often do). This is how the activity unfolded.

All three children chose some colours (I limited them to three sticks of clay at first to share the two packets three ways). Rebecca (5) and Elsie (almost 3) started making animals (a turtle, sheep, snake...), while Jacob (7) began making an invented animal with special body armour. Jacob's animal inspired me to make a strange space creature from a long thin sausage of clay; I called it a "Squiggle Monster". This led Jacob to create another even more unusual fox-like space creature. This led me to build a laser canon "for protection" against all the space creatures. The girls continued to independently create their animals. Rebecca wandered off to play another word game and Elsie kept making (and re-making) more animals.

Above: Rebecca's animals (left) and Elsie's (right)

Jacob and I had now developed quite a collection of strange space creatures and soon their destinies began to merge as we chattered about their bodies, dangerous protective weapons, sounds and so on. Barricades were built, several laser weapons positioned, force shields activated. And then...the battle began (with the demands of dinner all the while pressing in on us as we played on the dining table!). This simple activity generated lots of stimulation for all three children but in particular (on this occasion) for Jacob and Elsie. There was lots of creative thought, problem solving, hypothesising, rich language being used and so on:

"What colour can a Squiggle Monster be?" (Grandad) "Any" (Jacob)
"See these three eyes. They can see 500km." (Jacob)
"How does a Squiggle Monster die? I know, he just unravels." (Grandad)
"He's spitting acid." (Jacob)
"What's this animal Grandad?" (Elsie)
"Do you know why he can't get through the force field?" (Jacob)
"If I make this bigger will it stop them?" (Grandad)
"Look at mine Grandad". (Rebecca)
"See his rotating antennae?" (Jacob)
"What's a laser Grandad?" (Elsie)

Play doesn't need complex toys or structured activities for learning to occur, in fact, there is good evidence to suggest that play of the above type does more for creativity, problems solving, language and learning than lots of expensive toys.

Some quick practical implications from the above

So play is critical to children's development, and time is essential to create 'space' for play. There are challenges here for parents and teachers. How do we resist the temptation to structure children's life in and out of school so much that there is little opportunity for play? As well, how do we encourage children to spend time with other children engaging in play? Here are some quick suggestions:

• Parents and teachers need to create and promote regular opportunities for free play.
• Play should be as active as possible and where possible encourage interaction with others.
• Remember that simplicity usually works best (remember the tendency of the baby to like the box rather than the toy!)
• Play needs to be as child-centred as possible, not teacher centred or parent centred.
• Try to provide access to materials and simple toys that stimulate imagination, creativity and problem solving.
• Parents, teachers and caregivers should try to provide as much spontaneous time and play as possible.
• Make good use of story, most play involves some type of inventive story telling.
• Parents, teachers and care givers need to spend more time being good listeners and observers of children at play and be prepared to respond to, assist, offer materials, engage and ask questions rather than simply correcting, redirecting and controlling such play.
• Parents, teachers and care givers should sponsor and support children having a range of interests that can be the springboard for play and learning.

Evaluating your child's play

If you wonder whether your child has sufficient good opportunities for play you might ask yourself the following questions:

How often does my child (or my children) have time for spontaneous play?
How often do I direct the play rather than responding to or supporting it?
How varied are my child's opportunities for play?
How often does my child have the opportunity to interact with others in creative play situations?
How often do I provide materials for creative play?
How often does my child's play stimulate creativity, problem solving, language use and learning?
How often do planned activities lead to creative play (e.g. TV or a story leads to play. Or, a lesson on some topic leads to playground play)?

What are your thoughts? Any ideas that seem to work?

Related links and resources

All posts on Play from this blog (HERE)

A recent post on creativity (mainly for teachers) HERE and another (mainly for parents) HERE

All my posts with relevance to creativity (HERE)

Elizabeth Jones article 'The Play's the thing: Styles of playfulness'

Kenneth R. Ginsburg's report on play

Catching a glimpse of our Nation through Children's Literature

What makes Australia a nation?

A new family of Australians 26.1.09 (Parramatta)

Today is Australia Day, the official national day of our nation. It commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, which marked the start of British colonisation. For the last three years I have suggested that Australia Day is a time to remember the first citizens of this nation and the traditional owners of the land on which the nation has been built.  It is a time of flag waving and celebration, but in the midst of this, it is easy to assume that it is people just like me that are Australian and lose sight of just how diverse our nation is in terms of the origins of the people and the richness of each family's ethnicity and culture. In 2009 I featured the wonderful picture book by Nadia Wheatley and Donna Rawlins, 'My Place' on the blog as a reminder of the way the modern nation of Australia has been shaped, built and changed by successive waves of immigration. This is a must read for all children (especially on Australia Day). Like last year I offer some other children's literature that also offer an insight into the richness and diversity of the people who make up our nation.

The reality is that other than Indigenous Australians, the vast majority of us (97%) have come from other lands. True, many of us are second to fifth generation Australians, but all have a cultural heritage in other nations; but together we make up this great nation. One of the most wonderful things that happens on this day is that in every town across the country there are celebrations at which our newest Australians are presented with their certificates of citizenship. It is wonderful to be at one of these events and to see how excited and grateful that each person is to become a part of this nation.

As I've said before, one of the best ways to understand a people is in its stories, so I want to suggest that one way to celebrate with our children is by trying to help them understand something of the richness and complexity of what it is to be Australian. Children's books offer a wonderful window on the rich tapestry of people, places, events and cultural practices that make up this nation. There are many facets to our nation, the people who form it and place that is our home; here is just a sample of the books that illustrate some of these many dimensions.

1. Indigenous Australian's stories of our beginnings

Australia's Indigenous people have a rich tradition of storytelling. Stories of the history and culture of their people, handed down in this way through countless generations, stories from the beginnings of their known time, which Indigenous people refer to as the Dreamtime. The 'Stories of the Dreaming' belong to Indigenous people (tribes or nations). Storytellers of these tribes and nations have an obligation to pass the stories down through the generations. While some of these stories are secret, or are seen of such a sacred nature that they are only told to certain people, in the last 30 years many Indigenous Dreamtime stories have been shared through children's books.

Some of my favourite Indigenous Dreamtime stories have been passed down to all Australian children through the storytelling and wonderful art of Dick Roughsey (1924-1985) or Goobalathaldin to use his tribal name, from the island of Langu-narnji in the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia. His first picture book 'The Giant Devil Dingo' received wide acclaim for the richness of the storytelling, the distinctiveness of his painted illustrations with their vibrant colours, fascinating detail, and the integration of art and word. One of my favourite works by Roughsey is 'The Rainbow Serpent' first published in 1975 and still available. It won the Children's Book Council Australia award for best picture book in 1976.

2. Bush & Country Traditions

From the beginnings of European settlement, one of the great challenges in this country was to tame the land and enable white Australians to survive. This has left rich bush traditions and distinctive country life. Most Australians can't imagine an Australia without small country towns, farming on a large scale, struggles with fire, drought and flood and traditional bush tales, ballads and poetry. Our famous song 'Waltzing Matilda' is reflective of this, as is to some extent our national anthem, 'Advance Australia Fair'. You can share this with children in a wonderful picture book form that features well-known Australian art as the illustrations (here).

a) Bush traditions

There are many places to go for a sample of Australia great bush ballads and poetry, but on Australia Day I have to mention works by Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson. Both are writers whose work for adults and children still has the same appeal over a century after their first publication. They capture something of the toughness of early life, the character of the people and the larrikin spirit and determination of Australians. A couple of my favourites picture books for children are 'A Bush Christening' (Quentin Hole's illustrated version is wonderful) and 'Mulga Bill's Bicycle' by A.B. Paterson (illustrated by Kilmeny & Deborah Niland) and 'The Loaded Dog', by Henry Lawson. The illustrated version I have is out of print but available on the web, but there are many versions of the story, and even the plain text version is still exciting enough for most children to enjoy. You can even find it on the Internet (here). It's a wonderful tale about Dave Regan, Jim Bentley and Andy Page who are trying their luck on the 19th century goldfields of the NSW Central Tablelands. As a break from mining, fishing in the creek was a good past-time. But being the lazy type, Dave decides to see if he can shortcut the process with some dynamite in a local waterhole with unexpected consequences.

b) Country life

The Australian countryside still serves as a wonderful setting for many good examples of Australian literature. This includes the delightful picture book 'Hector and Maggie' by Andrew and Janet McLean, a fun story about a cattle dog and a rooster who tussle for control of the farmyard. More complex novels for older children include Libby Hathorn's 'Thunderwith', which tells the story of a girl named Lara who is coping with her mother's death while living with her father on a remote property in the rainforest of northern New South Wales. Another favourite is Colin Thiele's classic 'Sun on the Stubble'. The latter is a story about a 14-year-old boy from a German immigrant family growing up in a small farming community in South Australia during the 1930s. Life for Bruno can be hard but it also offers him rich opportunities for many adventures and fun.

3. The contribution of other nations to what makes Australia special

Australia today cannot be understood without an appreciation of the contribution that the many immigrants have made to our country. While the first White settlers (convicts and eventually free men) were British, as likewise were most of the immigrants in the 19th Century, this was changed by two waves of immigration following each of the world wars. The inflow that followed World War II saw the most dramatic diversification of Australia's population as large numbers of mainly Southern European immigrants came to Australia's cities and countryside. Greek and Italian immigrants came in greatest numbers but all other European nations were represented. As a result, Australia saw rapid growth, expansion of our cities and the enrichment of our way of life in varied ways - food, clothing, art, theatre, music, sport, language and so on. Since the 1970s we have also seen a steady flow of immigrants from other parts of the world, namely South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Australia's children's literature has reflected this changing face of the nation. This is seen in the characters and stories of the many children trying to live in a new country, or in a country that is not the country of their parent's birth. These stories often deal with struggles, challenges and triumphs as children cope with a new world. One of my favourite examples for older readers is 'Looking for Alibrandi' by Melina Marchetta. Josephine Alibrandi is a second generation Italian Australian completing her last year of high school. She is the School Vice-Captain of St Martha's in Sydney but has to overcome the narrow mindedness and tensions caused by racial and cultural differences.

An author who has contributed a number of interesting novels for younger readers that focus on children growing up in diverse urban communities is Brian Caswell. For example, in his 'Boundary Park Trilogy' for readers aged 7-10, he presents three stories about children who have to negotiate complex worlds and deal with different challenges. 'Mike' tells the story of boy who moves to Boundary Park with his mother only to face bullying. 'Lisdalia' is about a child of Italian heritage who struggles in a class where she is the brightest child. 'Maddie' was been born in Vietnam as Mai Linh and is haunted by the memories of her past.

4. The inspiration of Australia's unrivalled biodiversity

Above: The famous Koorong in South Australia

Australia is a beautiful country with incredibly diverse and unusual flora and fauna. It's hardly surprising that Australia's landscape, its animals and its plant life, have inspired more than just interesting background settings in children's books. In fact, it's difficult to write an Australian children's book without (at the very least) seeing Australia's unique environment and amazing biodiversity as a backdrop.

a) Books that weave together story and the environment

As I wrote in a previous post on Colin Thiele (here), books like his 'Storm Boy' can introduce us to the wonders of the environment, taking us to places we can't easily visit. The Koorong estuary at the mouth of the Murray River is a backdrop to this junior novel about a boy who lives a reclusive life among the sand dunes on the edge of the Southern Ocean. However, the word images that Thiele uses to describe this place and the boy's rescue of a pelican mother who has been shot and her three chicks, bring the wonders of the environment and the narrative together. Another good example is 'Aranea' written by Jenny Wagner and illustrated by Ron Brooks that tells the story of a day in the life of a backyard spider.

b) Celebrating Australia's outdoor life

Australia is known for its temperate climate that makes outdoor life easy and pleasant. Whether it's our competitiveness in sport or simply our desire to be outside, there are many books that reflect this. 'Terry's Brrrmmm GT' by Ted Greenwood reflects this outdoor life and tells the story of Terry's attempt to win the local billycart derby. Tales of seaside adventures are even more common, with 'Grandpa and Thomas' by Pamela Allen and 'Looking for Crabs' by Bruce Whatley two of my favourites.


c) Characters inspired by the uniqueness of Australia's plants and animals

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to non-human creatures, objects or even concepts. Animals and plants have commonly been attributed human qualities in fables, legends and fairy stories. So it is hardly surprising that Australia's unique flora and fauna would inspire a number of children's books. In fact, some of the earliest children's books to be international successes were books in this category. 'The Complete Adventures of Blinky Bill' by Dorothy Wall was published in 1933 and introduced us to a mischievous little koala (Blinky Bill). Blinky has many adventures in the Australian bush and its many creatures, including his adopted sister Nutsy, his kangaroo friend Splodge, Flap the platypus, Mr Wombat and some sinister characters who bring drama.

Other well-known examples in this category are May Gibb's timeless 'The Tales of Sugglepot and Cuddlepie' published in 1918. Two gumnut babies are its main characters who experience many dramas in the Australian bush, as they meet a raft of other characters, including the villains, the Banksia men and Mrs Snake and their hero friend Mr Lizard. Norman Lindsay's classic 'The Magic Pudding' published in 1918 has surely one of the most novel characters, a plum pudding with human qualities, who can be eaten many times. And of course there are more contemporary examples such as Ruth Park's 'Muddle-headed Wombat' and Mem Fox's 'Sail Away: The Ballad of Skip and Nell'.

5. Australians and environmental challenges

Like all people around the world, Australians are becoming more aware of the threats to biodiversity. This is seen in some of our children's literature, with authors seeking to challenge readers to appreciate it and seek to protect it. One of my favourite author/illustrators of this type is Jeannie Baker. Jeannie uses incredible collages made from natural materials to tell the story of the challenges in protecting our environment. One of her best examples of this is 'Where the Forest Meets the Sea' that tells the story of a boy and his Dad who spend a day fishing in a lagoon near the famous Daintree Forest in Northern Queensland. This amazing wet tropical rainforest meets the ocean waters of the Great Barrier Reef (the world largest tropical reef) but only 296,000 acres of it remains. The boy and his Dad contemplate its historic past and its possible future - the boy asks as the story concludes, "but will the forest still be here when we come back?"

Other excellent examples include 'The Fisherman and the Theefyspray' by Paul Jennings (illustrated by Jane Tanner) that tells of an encounter between a fisherman and a fish of a kind he has never encountered before and which changes him in the process; and Graeme Base's 'The Sign of the Seahorse' that addresses the impact of man on the ocean and its wildlife.

6. Other facets of Aussie life and our Nation

This is a blog post not a book chapter so I'll resist the urge to keep on writing. There are so many other facets to Australian life that I could have found books to illustrate:

Aussie kids love fun - way they demonstrate this is through playground chants, games, jokes and rhymes. For a particularly Aussie touch (that still has many rhymes and chants that other nations will recognise) have fun reading some of June Factor's series of books (here). How could I go past 'All Right Vegemite' and Australia Day?

Aussies love sport - 'The Race' by Christobel Mattingley and illustrated by Anne Spudvilas offers an insight into the Australian desire to achieve in sport.

The everyday struggles of life - Like children everywhere, Australian children have to cope with adversity. We like to see ourselves as being able to cope well. Examples include Robin Klein's 'Boss of the Pool' and John Marsden's 'So Much to Tell You'.

There are many more books, maybe you have some favourites - share them! Happy Australia Day. Read some books to your children.

Stories in a Box: Stimulating language, writing & imagination

Echoes of the past in the objects of our lives

Have you ever tried to clear out your shed or attic and found that a job that was to be a 2-3 hour exercise in shedding your life of junk, becomes a nostalgic walk through long forgotten objects and artefacts that were once part of your life. I fight my way into the shed to find an electric fan and I pull out a box of cameras to get at it.  In the box I find my mother's Box Brownie camera, the source of all my baby photos. The first camera given to me as a child; no more than a plastic pinhole camera. A tool to catch my Mum in awkward poses, my first two dogs in the back yard, my first pedal car. Out of focus shots to be hidden away in other boxes. Out comes the first serious camera I bought. I remember its untimely 'death' in Amsterdam; the victim of just one drop of syrup from a wonderful Dutch Waffle. Objects that 'spoke' of my past, whispering and prodding forgotten memories.

Mem Fox tapped this sentiment in her wonderful book 'Wildfred, Gordon McDonald Partridge'. When Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge visits an old people's home next to his house he makes lots of friends. One of them is Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper. "He called her Miss Nancy and told her all his secrets."  When his parents tell him that Miss Nancy has "...lost her memory" he sets out to discover what a memory is. His friends at the home all give different definitions - "something that makes you cry", "..something that makes you laugh", "something as precious as gold". He goes looking for Miss Nancy's memory, and along the way he collects objects that he thinks match the definition of a memory and takes them to her in a box.  When he hands them to her she begins to remember things from her past. "She put a shell to her ear and remembered going to the beach by tram long ago..", "She touched the medal and talked sadly of the brother she had loved who had gone to war and never returned". "And the two of them smiled and smiled because Miss Nancy's memory had been found again by a small boy, who wasn't very old either".

Above: Hear Mem Fox read 'Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge'

Stories in a box

Using an object or group of objects to stimulate language is not new, but some enterprising teachers from Ainslie School have used the idea to good effect. They describe the practice in 'Practically Primary' (Vol. 15, No.1, February 2010). The concept is simple and was adapted from a strategy Daniel Meadows uses to stimulate digital storytelling. As part of an annual writing festival the teachers developed 21 different boxes with carefully chosen objects. They placed 5-6 objects in a box that had some relationship to one another. The only exception was the inclusion sometimes of a single object that was unrelated, to allow additional creativity to be used.

The objects in one box consisted of:

A set of WWII medals
Photo of an Australian soldier
Photo of a family standing around an old man
A WWII photo of a soldier in Egypt
Epaulets showing the rank of lieutenant
A small decorated hand fan from the 1940s

The boxes were used in varied ways by different groups of children but many poems, stories, books and digital stories were produced that had their 'seeds' in the items from the class story box. 


How might the Story in a Box strategy be used?

Obviously the idea has many applications at all ages. The teacher or parent would need to model the process of story creation before asking children to do it.  They might also jointly construct a story or two with children before letting them do it independently. With that proviso, here are just some of the ways I'd suggest you might use the strategy:

1. A group of 5 year-olds might explore the objects in a box and try to tell a joint story or simply take turns creating individual stories. You could allow them to supplement the box with a dress-up box if there is a need for children to become specific characters or take on roles.

2. A group of 6-12 year old children might discuss the objects and then prepare a joint monologue to be presented to others (with the objects used as artefacts or aids). Alternatively, a group story or picture book could be produced based on the objects.

3. The box of objects might simply be used to create a digital story (individually or in groups). Have a look at Daniel Meadows' 'Scissors' video to see what might be produced, as wells as my previous post on digital storytelling (here). This approach could also be used with high school children.

What is the value of this simple strategy?

There are many potential benefits of the strategy:

• It encourages creative storytelling.
• It offers a way for a group of children to create something together, allowing collaboration skills to develop, leading to joint learning, stretching each other, firing their collective imaginations.
• It offers an authentic and powerful way to generate stories in digital, print or oral form.
• This is a strategy that can encourage divergent thinking as the learner is required to generate ideas, connections and storytelling solutions.
• It works well with children of varied abilities including learners who lack fluency in language and others who are gifted speakers and writers. You can even mix children of varied abilities. 

Related Posts

All my posts on creativity (HERE)
'Digital Storytelling' (HERE)

Review of Newbery & Caldecott Awards for 2011

The Newbery & Caldecott awards for children's literature were announced this week (10th January). The Newbery Medal was named after the eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery.  It is presented to the author of the book judged to have made the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. A committee of librarians and literary experts is chosen each year to select the winner and the runners up on behalf of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC); this is a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The books can be works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The author must be a citizen or resident of the United States and the work written for children up to 14 years of age.

The Caldecott Medal was named in honour of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. The awards commenced in 1938.

There are also a number of other specialist awards for fiction and non-fiction that were announced on the same day and are outlined at the end of the post.

1. The Newbery Medal and Honour Books

a) Newbery Medal 

The Newbery Medal for best children's book has been awarded to first-time author Clare Vanderpool for the book 'Moon Over Manifest'. Vanderpool lives in Wichita with her husband and four children. Her 346-page novel is set during the Depression and narrated by a motherless 12-year-old girl, Abilene Tucker. Abilene is sent to spend a summer in her father's hometown, Manifest, Kan., where she stumbles on a mystery from in 1918. Vanderpool based the town of Manifest in the book on Frontenac, Kansas where her maternal grandparents grew up.

Her inspiration for the story and its setting is drawn from a line in Herman Melville's 'Moby Dick': 'It is not down in any map; true places never are.'  This inspired her to think about the type of town that "...would be a true place for a 12-year-old girl who's never had a real home?" 

The central character, Abilene Tucker feels abandoned as her father puts her on a train, and sends her to live with one of his friends over summer while he works on the railway. She hops off the train in Manifest (Kansas) with few belongings and tries to find out more about the boy who grew up to be her father. She is under-whelmed by the town of Manifest but there's a twist when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters and reference to a spy called the 'Rattler'. Abilene and some new friends set off on a spy hunt in spite of warnings to "Leave Well Enough Alone.”

Girls and boys aged 10-14 years will love this book.

b) Newbery Honour Books

Four books have been named as Newbery Honour books.

'Turtle in Paradise' by Jennifer L. Holm

Holm is a two-time Newbery Honour winner.  She brings together family lore and American history in this novel that is rich in historical detail, humour, and the setting, 'Key West' (Florida). The year is 1935 and eleven-year-old Turtle's mother gets a job housekeeping for a lady who doesn't like kids. Turtle says goodbye and heads for Key West to stay with some relatives she doesn't even know.

'Heart of a Samurai' by Margi Preus

It is 1841 and a Japanese fishing vessel sinks. Its crew is forced to swim to a small, unknown island, where they are rescued by a passing American ship. Japan’s borders remain closed to all Western nations, so the crew sets off to America, learning English on the way. The 14 year-old Manjiro is determined to learn as much as he can about cultures other than his own as he heads for New England. He returns to Japan many years later as a 'different' person and with a different relationship to his native land.


'Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night' written by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Rick Allen. The book is a wonderful mix of poetry and science. The author did similar things in Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow and Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems. In this latest of her books of poetry Sidman invites us to learn about creatures that inhabit the night. The poems are a variety of styles. They introduce us to creatures like the Great Horned Owl, moths and snails, spiders and bats, porcupines and crickets. A wonderful book that will be enjoyed by children aged 6-12 years. Allen's

'One Crazy Summer' by Rita Williams-Garcia.

This is a work of historical fiction that tells the story of three sisters whose father sends them to Oakland (California) in 1968, to meet their mother who abandoned 11-year-old Delphine and her younger sisters Vonetta and Fern before they were old enough to know her. Their mother sends them to a summer camp run by the Black Panthers where they encounter new and challenging ideas.  This is an amusing story centred on the challenges of family life, politics and finding your identity. Appropriate for children 9-12 years.

2.  Caldecott Medal & Honour Books

a) Caldecott Medal

Erin E. Stead has won the 2011 Caldecott Medal for her illustrations in 'A Sick Day for Amos McGee', written by Philip C. Stead. Erin Stead's wonderful illustrations are created in woodblock and pencil.

This young husband and wife team has written and illustrated a wonderful picture book about friendly zookeeper Amos McGee. McGee's zoo friends come in all shapes and sizes, but each day he spends time with each of them. He plays chess with the elephant, "who thought and thought before making a move", and has races with the tortoise. He keeps the shy penguin company, and even reads bedtime stories to the owl, "who was afraid of the dark". When Amos is too sick to make it to the zoo, his animal friends decide it’s time they returned the favour and visit him.

Erin Stead says that her husband wrote the text with her in mind as the illustrator - "It's a quiet book, and I make quiet pictures." In an era dominated by electronic devices, she declared "..I love picture books." And you'll love what the Stead's have created.

b) Caldecott Honour Books

Just two Caldecott honour books were announced.

'Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave' illustrated by Bryan Collier and written by Laban Carrick Hill.  This is the story of Dave an extraordinary artist, poet, and potter living in South Carolina in the 1800s. Dave was a slave, but he was gifted and combined artistic skill with wonderful poetry, which he carved onto his pots. Laban Carrick Hill has given us a brilliantly simple text that is complemented by Bryan Collier's wonderful earth-toned illustrations. Together, they offer historical insight through a story rich in hope, and celebrating beauty.

'Interrupting Chicken' written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein.  Stein was inspired by a simple joke to write this funny story. It's time for bedtime stories and a reminder from Papa will not stop the little hen from interrupting the story. No matter what the story is - 'Hansel and Gretel', 'Little Red Riding Hood' or 'Chicken Small', she interrupts to try to save the unfortunate characters. Now that it’s the little red chicken’s turn to tell a story, will her yawning papa listen without interruption? This delightfully illustrated story will amuse children aged 2-6 years and engage them till the end.

3. Other Major Awards

a) The 'Printz Award' - This prize for the best young adult novel, was awarded to Paolo Bacigalupi for 'Ship Breaker'. This was the author's first young adult novel. His adult fiction has won major science-fiction awards.

Australian-born Lucy Christopher's novel 'Stolen' was named as a Printz Honour Book. Other honour books in this category were 'Please Ignore Vera Dietz' by A.S. King, 'Revolver' by Marcus Sedgwick and 'Nothing' by Janne Teller.

b) The 'Coretta Scott King' Award - This award recognises African American writers and illustrators of children's books. It was awarded to Rita Williams-Garcia for her book 'One Crazy Summer'.

c) The 'Young Adult Library Services Association' (YALSA) Award - This is a prize for the best work of nonfiction for young adults. It was awarded to Ann Angel for 'Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing'.

d) The 'Pura Belpre Award - This is an award to a Latino or Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays the Latino cultural experience in a work of literature for children or youth. It was awarded to 'The Dreamer', written by Pam Muñoz Ryan and illustrated by Peter Sis.

e) The 'Theodor Seuss Geisel Award' - This is an award for the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English. It was awarded to 'Bink and Gollie' by Kate diCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile.

Full Awards List

The full list of awards is now available HERE

Literacy & the iPad: A Second Review of Children's Literature Apps

In my last post I reviewed 5 popular ePicture book apps for the iPad and iPhone (here). While not everyone has an iPad or iPhone I intend to keep reviewing a sample of these apps as they become available, as this market will expand quickly. I will use the same framework as in my last post to review another 5 apps. I will give ratings for each app from 1 (Poor) to 5 (Excellent) in terms of a) Fun & interactivity, b) Useability, c) Benefit for learning, d) Benefit for language and literacy, e) Value for money. I will also calculate the total score for each.

1. 'The Cat in the Hat' & other Dr Seuss books

There are a number of Dr Seuss books that have been turned into ePicture books by Oceanhouse Media. These include 'Dr Seuss's ABC' (also available in a free LITE edition), 'Green Eggs and Ham', 'One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish', 'The Lorax' and 'The Sneetches'. I could have chosen any title because they are essentially all the same in design and format. It's hard to go wrong with Dr Seuss books but I have to say that this is a case where the ePicture version does little more than the paper book version.  Why? Because the only interactive element in these books is the ability to click on pictures which then leads to an appropriate word appearing. While this focus on individual words might be good for some young children to learn sight words, there is the potential to turn every reading of these books into a lesson, rather than the enjoyment of the book, the fun of the language, meaning, the rhyme and rhythm and so on. The text is also highlighted word by word in the 'Read to me' function as it is read. This could be helpful for some beginning readers, but distracting for others. You can try out the LITE version for free.

a) Fun & interactivity (3) - there is always fun in a Dr Seuss book, but the iPad versions don't add much to the paper version of the experience.

b) Useability (4) - very easy to use with read yourself and listen to options.


c) Benefit for learning (3) - while these books might reinforce single word by word reading, they could detract from the essential joy of Dr Seuss books, not to mention the wonderful rhyme and rhythm.


d) Benefit for language and literacy (4) - As long as the click on picture option doesn't disrupt the stories there will be obvious benefit due to the natural qualities of the Seuss books.

e) Value for money (4) - at $4.99 US they are good value. 

Total = 18/25



2. 'Jack and the Beanstalk'

This is a very amusing little app from Ayars Animation. While it is a well-known version of the traditional fairy tale, the animations have a sense of fun and add to the experience of the story rather than simply trivialising it (like some apps). It can be read in readalong mode or can be read yourself.  It has a number of hidden features on each page and has a summary menu that can be accessed showing what features are on each page. The varied forms of interactivity include a variety of elements in the illustrations that speak, move or do funny things. There is also a hidden egg, characters that can be moved, a sun that you can set, a page that you can 'paint' and so on. While some forms of interaction on ePicture books can distract from the story some of these quirky animations add value to the reading experience.

a) Fun & interactivity (5) - this is an excellent version of a traditional tale that is a lot of fun and has varied forms of animation and interactivity.
 
b) Useability (4) - very easy to use although I took a while to realise that you had to tap 4 times to stop the automatic play.

c) Benefit for learning (3) - this book offers a traditional tale that will help children's language development and sense of story.

d) Benefit for language and literacy (4) - there are a number of pluses for literacy with this app. Whereas the Dr Seuss books reviewed above highlight each word as the child reads along, this app uses phrase highlighting that tends to encourage reading for meaning.

e) Value for money (5) - at $3.99 US this app is excellent value.

Total = 21

3. 'Wrong Side of the Bed' by Wallace E. Keller
 

This 3D story has been produced by Seehere Studios. I haven't been able to view the 3D version that uses the typical paper glasses that you can purchase for about $1, but the 2D version works well. It is a delightful story suitable for 3-6 year-olds and tells the story of a little boy who wakes up one day to find everything is upside down. The book has simple and effective cartoon style pastel illustrations. The level of interactivity is limited except for the ability to zoom in on the images and move the image around a little. Younger readers will enjoy it, but this app does little for me and wasn't that exciting for child readers tested.

a) Fun & interactivity (2) - pretty limited interactivity so the ePicture book has to appeal based on the story and illustrations plus the novelty of the cheap 3D glasses if you can get them. 

b) Useability (4) - simple and easy to use.

c) Benefit for learning (3) - beyond the benefits for knowledge and language that you gain reading any book, there is the added benefit of the potential discussion of gravity and other scientific concepts.  Not much more here that you couldn't get from a traditional book.

d) Benefit for language and literacy (2) - not much benefit beyond a traditional book except for the potential for some reluctant readers to be motivated to read by the technology.

e) Value for money (4) - at $2.99 US this is good value, there are few book apps as cheap as this.

Total = 15/25
 
4. 'Toy Story'

While you can buy the more recently released 'Toy Story 2' and  'Toy Story 3' based on Disney and PIXAR movies, I thought I'd review the earlier 'Toy Story' app because it is free!! It is essentially based on Toy Story 1 and includes clips from the movie and some of the songs, pages that can be painted at the touch of the screen and some simple games. It has read to and read alone options as well as an option to record your own version. There is also a fantastic find a page option that allows you to bring up thumbnails of all pages and simply flick from one page to another - brilliant! My only beef with the app is that in the readalong version the text highlighting is word by word. I'd prefer a phrase-by-phrase option for many readers, and would suggest that developers try to incorporate both options. 

a) Fun & interactivity (5) - lots of interactivity and clever design in this app. Top rate.

b) Useability (5) - very easy to use, no criticisms from me. 

c) Benefit for learning (4) - lots of learning from this story app, including benefits for reading, creativity and language development. 

d) Benefit for language and literacy (4) - lots to offer in this app. 

e) Value for money (5) - as it's FREE the value is indisputable.

Total = 23/25 Fabulous free app, get it!

5.  'Little Mermaid and Other Stories by H.C. Andersen'

It's hard to go wrong with a Hans Christian Andersen story and Game Collage has done a great job with this app. They also offer a free LITE version that allows you to try it out before spending $11.99 US to buy it. The app includes three H.C. Andersen stories, 'The Little Mermaid', 'The Emperor's New Clothes' and 'The Happy Family'.  This app does what the developers of 'Alice for the iPad' wanted to do but didn't quite achieve. Unlike 'Alice' this app manages to add a wide rang of interactive elements that use colour, movement, sound and image to engage the reader, complement the story and even, in places, add value to the experience of the book.

Like 'Alice', at times the interactive elements seem a little contrived, but they work. They have used an ornate style for the print and design (in keeping with the age of Andersen's stories) and have added a mass of varied interactive features. These include swimming through the ocean with the Little Mermaid, travelling to different kingdoms in the 'Emperor's new Clothes', shooting fireworks from a ship, watching ants and snails crawl across the screen, being able to rock and switch on lanterns and many more. Unlike 'Alice' the elements are on virtually every page.

The 'Little Mermaid' is a longish story, with the 'Emperor's New Clothes' medium in length and 'The Happy Family' much shorter. There is no readalong option for any of the stories which some will see as a weakness.

a) Fun & interactivity (4) - the developers have given us the benchmark for interactive elements in an ePicture book. Lack of a readalong option is the only negative.

b) Useability (4) - works well and easy to follow. A simple drop-down menu that allowed specific pages to be chosen would be helpful rather than returning each time to the contents to find the beginning of each story. 

c) Benefit for learning (4) - plenty to learn from any H.C. Andersen book, the language alone will stretch children.


d) Benefit for language and literacy (5) - this app has three great stories with interactive elements that will help to engage the readers.

e) Value for money (4) - at $11.99 US it isn't a cheap element but given the sophistication of the app elements and the fact that there are three stories it's reasonable value.

Total = 21/25 - a brilliant app, test the LITE version first with your child to see if they will like the stories, I have no doubt that they will like the interactive elements.



Some final general points

There are some exciting attempts to create electronic picture books that are more than simply read along versions for the iPad. Overall, many of the early attempts so far need further work. I would encourage parents and teachers to keep the following in mind:

• The books need to be more than just fun play with the iPad; they must enhance the reading experience.
• We need to remember that research shows us that the volume of reading is one of the keys to reading improvement for children.
• When choosing apps, avoid those with add-ons that have little to add to the story.
• Look for apps with quality literature and illustrations and rich language.
• Choose books at your child's reading level.
• Avoid apps that turn every reading into either a play activity or a reading lesson.   

Some other resources and links

Literacy & the iPad: A review of some popular apps (HERE)

My post on 'Alice', the iPad and new ways to read picture books (HERE)

TechRadar's '7 Best iPad Apps for Kids' (HERE)

5 Amazing iPad e-books for kids (HERE)