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The NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction was established in 1989 to honor the contributions of authors and illustrators to children's nonfiction literature. This year's winner of the NCTE [...]

The NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction recognizes books, authors, and illustrators that make outstanding contributions to children's nonfiction literature. This award was established in 1989 by the elementary [...]

The set of books recognized by the 2021 committee of the Orbis Pictus Award for Excellence in Nonfiction reflects an array of perspectives, topics, and genres of nonfiction literature for [...]

This teacher research study took place in a bilingual second-grade classroom in the southwestern United States. The study investigates the "cuentos" told during "platicas literarias"/literature discussions and explores how five young Latinas used their cuentos to communicate meaning through intertextual connections. These intertextual connections revealed that young children from linguistic, cultural, and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds are indeed capable of drawing on their cultural traditions--in this case storytelling--to make meaning. Their "cuentos" were used as the building blocks for the "platicas literarias" and provided counternarratives to the prevailing deficit view used to measure the academic potential of Latinos. (Contains 3 tables.)

Because schools place such high importance on text-based analysis often devoid of opportunities to draw on home knowledge, diverse ways of making meaning from books are often ignored. This qualitative study of a bilingual second-grade classroom examined the manner in which four young Latina students told stories about their life experiences in order to make meaning from the books they read for literature discussions. The findings illuminate that the stories told by the young Latinas were told for specific purposes; to make sense of their own and others' life's experiences, as responses to questions, connections to texts, and connections to each other. The study speaks to the necessity to include children's talk in all classrooms, particularly those with a high Latino population. (Contains 1 table and 1 footnote.)

This qualitative study examines what early childhood preservice teachers enrolled in a field-based literacy methods course deemed relevant regarding teaching, literacy, and learning. This study is based on postcourse interviews with 7 early childhood preservice teachers. Findings suggest that "contextualized field experiences" facilitate preservice teachers' development of "noticing and naming" as a social practice. Early childhood preservice teachers developed understandings regarding early literacy learning, teaching, and the nuanced but powerful ways learning and identity are linked to early childhood literacy learning. Implications include the need for more contextualized learning experiences in early childhood teacher education.

Countering the position that colorblindness is desirable for teachers and children, this article encourages early childhood education teachers to engage in conversations about race and racism with young children. We discuss why the early childhood years are important for interrupting racism and make suggestions for helping children develop tools for addressing it. Annotated examples of children's drawings about racism from a second grade classroom are shared to demonstrate that young children are not colorblind and that they think about and experience racism in their daily lives. We conclude that it is both an educational and ethical necessity to address racism with young children.

Teachers and preservice teachers offered initial assumptions about children and families from backgrounds different from their own, "Letting them speak Spanish in school will hinder their ability to learn English and also hold back the other children" and "His house will be messy and dirty." Through experiences in the children's homes and communities, however, teachers and preservice teachers began to recognize that assumptions such as these are inaccuracies that negatively define and label children and families and limit teachers' visions for what is educationally possible. They also began to recognize the power that teachers hold to either perpetuate single stories or interrupt them by providing counter narratives that make visible the rich resources that children and families bring to schools. (Contains 2 photos.)

Tim O'Keefe, Rise Reinier and Kevin Gallagher, Bruce Morgan, Julia Lopez-Robertson, Donna Santman, JoAnn Wong-Kam, Sharon Hill, and Linda Christensen provide short essays describing their personal visions of possibility about literacy and how they maintain that passion and vision. Across a range of contexts, they reflect on the ways in which their work with children and teachers connect to larger issues of literacy, language, inquiry, voice, and social justice.

Describes how the authors introduced and organized small-group literature discussions in a first-grade bilingual class. Discusses the four most frequent types of student responses in discussions: living through the experience; looking closely at text and illustrations; exploring social issues; and making connections (to other books, life experiences, and oral stories). (SR)

Tells the story of a primary classroom in which bilingual children engaged in thoughtful dialogue about critical issues, such as racism and discrimination, through small group literature discussions. (SR)

The benefits of being a bilingual person and how it was perceived in a non-Spanish community such as Columbus, South Carolina are discussed. Children have seen the value of being bilingual and were proud of it since bilingualism was considered cool among their peers. Adults must learn to drop the issue with bilinguals and embrace the children's attitude toward the Spanish language.

All children, regardless of their first language, social language, social class, culture or beliefs have the right to a quality education. A teacher relates her experience of culminating a project based on teaching in a holistic manner while at the same time incorporating the children's home language and culture.

The article discusses the lack of Spanish language bilingual books for use in schools and what can be done to increase their publication. The authors state that Latino children and Hispanic culture are often not adequately represented in the textbooks and materials that Latino students use in schools. The authors also contends that Latino students need to be able to see their culture and values represented accurately in order to feel a sense of belonging. The authors analyze issues within the Spanish bilingual book publishing industry.

An introduction to a series of articles that review several books is presented including "Change Is Gonna Come: Transforming Literacy Education for African American Students," by Patricia A. Edwards, Gwendolyn, Thompson McMillon, and Jennifer D. Turner, "Writing: Teachers and Children at Work," by Donald H. Graves, and "A Fresh Look at Writing," by Donald H. Graves.