{"id":251,"date":"2017-09-25T16:27:10","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T16:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/?p=251"},"modified":"2021-10-28T04:30:35","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T04:30:35","slug":"classic-csk-titles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/2017\/09\/25\/classic-csk-titles\/","title":{"rendered":"Classic CSK Titles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oftentimes when the term \u201cclassic\u201d is used in discussions about children\u2019s books, there are references to titles such as Charlotte\u2019s Web<\/em>, Where the Wild Things Are<\/em>, and The Polar Express<\/em>. Seldom are \"\"books written by and about African Americans like Everett Anderson\u2019s Goodbye, Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World<\/em>, and The Watsons Go to Birmingham\u20141963<\/em> mentioned in these discussions. In my opinion, books written by and about People of Color can also be designated as classics.<\/p>\n

In an article published in The Reading Teacher<\/em> in 2010, I argued that there are African American classic children\u2019s books. I identified a \"\"sampling of such titles\u2014after surveying scholars of children\u2019s literature\u2014 and placed them into the following three categories: universal experiences (e.g., death, love, and friendship) from an African American perspective, breakthrough books that are a \u201cfirst\u201d in some way or break new ground, and literary innovation (e.g., use of language, style, etc.). The above-mentioned CSK winning titles reflect these three categories. For example, Everett Anderson going through the stages of grief after \"\"the death of his father is a universal experience, while Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World<\/em> is one of the few African American children\u2019s books to focus on the experiences of Blacks settling in the western part of the United States. \u00a0The Watsons Go to Birmingham\u20141963 <\/em>displays literary innovation for its unique use of racial humor.<\/p>\n

My article identified additional African American classics that are recipients of the CSK Award\/Honor such as Meet Danitra Brown<\/em>, In Daddy\u2019s Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers<\/em>, Monster<\/em>, Toning the Sweep<\/em>, Mirandy and Brother Wind<\/em>, Let It Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals<\/em>, Tar Beach<\/em>, and Middle Passage: White Ships, Black Cargo. <\/em><\/p>\n

What CSK titles do you consider classics?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Post by Jonda C. McNair<\/p>\n

Jonda C. McNair is a past chair of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee. A former elementary school teacher of students in grades K-2, she is currently a professor of literacy education at Clemson University in South Carolina.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oftentimes when the term \u201cclassic\u201d is used in discussions about children\u2019s books, there are references to titles such as Charlotte\u2019s Web, Where the Wild Things Are, and The Polar Express. Seldom are books written by and about African Americans like Everett Anderson\u2019s Goodbye, Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World, and The Watsons Go … Continue reading Classic CSK Titles<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews-recommendations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1500,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions\/1500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}