My Literature Autobiography

Early view - books are text based - learning occurs in school - empowerment is other people that choose what to read.

My personal experience for this belief begins with my experience in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where I went to school from first grade till twelfth. Yes, it was time after dinosaurs but before kindergarten. From first through sixth grade we never went to a library. Several times a year in the elementary grades Scholastic orders were passed out. However, my parents didn't think I needed to spend money on books and I would look at the paperback books on the advertisement wishing to purchase some, but not having the cash. To be fair to my parents I am sure there were discussions that went something like, if you get it you won’t read it... And the truth of the matter at that time, I probably wouldn't have. My understanding of the world was reading of books and book learning was done in school and I would rather be doing other things outside school. There were books in the house among them were books that my father used in college, novels such as Return of the Native, biographies like A trip into Africa, reference books like a collection of the President’s Papers, a collection of about 50 red history books with groupings of histories of various countries around the world, Christian religion books, a half dozen golden books including The Little Engine that Could, a four or five volume set of Puss 'n' Boots, The Adventures of Peter Rabbit, and when I was in fifth grade a set of World Book Encyclopedias. I personally didn’t own and read a trade book from cover to cover until eighth grade The Mysterious Island - Jules Verne and didn't check out a book from a library until seventh.

I was fortunate enough that in every grade the teacher did read aloud a chapter or two from a trade book either to start the day or afternoon. Some of the books that I remember include The Boxcar Children, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House on the Prairie, several of The Black Stallion, David and the Phoenix, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates and many others. My relationship with books seemed to be they belonged to the world of school and the adult world. Not much thought about where the teacher got the books or that there could be a large collection of books for children or adolescents. That began to change in Junior high with my introduction to the school library.

My first memories in school of course was the Basil reader Dick and Jane. The first story I remember actually wanting to read more than once, in a basil reader, and was about a merry-go-round horse that went galloping through the country at midnight. I was accused of not paying attention several times during round robin oral reading when I was reading or rereading that story.

Other experiences I had that began to change my views were visits to historical residences of early Americans. A visit to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello introduced me to his personal library, stories of how he created it, and donated a larger portion of it to the Library of Congress.

Junior high - books as text based or novels - learning occurs in school and at home - empowerment still others choose, but I can manipulate some choice as what to read, sometimes.

In seventh grade I read my way through all the books in the library that were biographies of baseball players (I was an avid Pittsburgh Pirates fan). In eighth grade I had a social studies class that required outside reading in social studies. I read mostly We Were There Books, and from a geography set - one for each country all in mostly red bindings, and articles in the American Heritage series. I continued to read through high school mostly for school assignments.

Later college years and beyond - books as text, picture, combinations, fiction, or non fiction - learning occurs everywhere - empowerment I can chose for my personal life, but manipulate of choice or others decisions are involved with my professional reading/ literacy.

After a few years at college my reading literature increased. I took elective classes in Novels, American Drama, Western Drama, and Children's Literature. My children's literature instructor was adamant about the need of all elementary teachers to literally read everything that your students read or might read. His rationale was, if reading and literacy is the most important subject, then each teacher has to be totally fluent in the language of books so they can engage each student not only in reading, but in the conversation of literate scholars. Well not exactly his words. His were more like, "If you don't read it, why should they?" Sixteen years teaching elementary students and book order coupons opened the door of opportunity to read children's books and I became addicted. I have read most of the Newbery and Caldecott Award winners and thousands of others. I spend hours searching new releases looking for quality literature, buying, and reading any likely candidate on the market. One of the greatest pleasures is finding such a treasure, reading it, and recognizing it as quality before it wins awards. Number the Stars was such a book. I bought it on vacation, read it, and suggested it was a must read to several people before it won the Newbery Medal. Several teachers that were in this literacy class, way back then, incorporated it into their independent project. Hopefully you will discover a treasure or two this summer. I have been fortunate enough to teach this Literacy Course about once every other year since 1989, which encourages me to spend more time investigating Children's Literature than I otherwise would. A few recent great finds are The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead and Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. I was delighted to have bought these and read them before they won the Newbery.

Dr. Robert Sweetland's notes