And the Newbery Goes To . . . A Picturebook?

In 2016, the top prize for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children went to a picturebook: Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña. Previously, only one other picturebook had won the Newbery Medal.As a member of the 2016 Newbery Award Committee, I had a voice in selecting a picturebook for the coveted Newbery Medal. But after the announcement, I started to wonder just how many picturebooks had received either the medal or the honor title in the past.

“Other” Characters: The Gendering and Racialization of “Disability” Within Newbery Award-Winning Books, 1922-2012

Disability rights activists have long urged recognition of the import of cultural representations and their salience in the Othering process. Previous research on children’s picture books and novels has noted that persons with disabilities are commonly depicted in stereotypic and dehumanizing ways. This article explores the extent to which stereotypes of disability may be gendered and/or racialized by examining children’s books that won the American Library Association’s Newbery Medal between 1922-2012. It notes that the crafting of female and male characters with disabilities within these books pays homage to traditional gender roles, images and symbols and, most notably, reiterates an active-masculine/passive-feminine dichotomization. In addition, these representations suggest how racial essentialism is implicated in the production of “disability” within children’s literature, with non-white “racial” identity equated with various forms of impairment.

“Taking Risks” with Literacy Acoustics

<p>This article is a May 28, 2015, National Writing Project (NWP) interview with Newbery Award-winning author Kwame Alexander about contributions he made to yearlong professional development collaboration between K-8 teachers at Hill Central in New Haven, Connecticut, and Connecticut Writing Project at Fairfield University. The interview, <em>A Talk With Kwame Alexander</em>, is available in its entirety via BlogTalkRadio. <em></em></p>