Building internationally literate communities

Editor's Notes

• #3: Everything that we discuss today (including links to books) is available from this website. If there are any titles that you find difficult to source,, please contact us. Feel free just to listen, rather than take notes as like Michael, we have the death by powerpoint presentation!
• #5: Who we are How we met ISLN –power of communities & networks HOL – brief because not the focus of this conference
• #6: Singapore - the Little Red Dot NOT part of Malaysia
• #7: Aim of the Red Dot Award   Promote books from around the world    Create cross-cultural understanding   Increase the enjoyment of reading      Teacher-librarians recommend recent books, including ones related to Singapore    short-list of 8 books in each of 4 reading levels is chosen.    promoted online in schools from October to March    The Readers Cup event, based on a selection of the shortlists, occurs in May Picture Book (may fit into any of the following divisions) · Junior (where Captain Underpants and Geronimo Stilton are the assumed reading level and readers are usually 8-10 years old) · Middle (where Inkheart and The Lightning Thief are the assumed reading level and readers are usually 9-13 years old) · Senior (where Twilight and The Book Thief are the assumed reading level and readers are usually above 12 years old)
• #12: The Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie argues in her 2009 TED Talk "The Danger of the Single Story" that one type of narrative about a time or place, especially when told over and over again, creates a stereotype - and that children are particularly vulnerable to this literary trap.  She points out that the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete.  Children need a balance of stories, not just in terms of many cultures and countries, but also about any one culture or country.
• #13: I nternational-mindedness is a concept central to curricula such as the International Baccalaureate    Being internationally literate can be defined as the ability to 'read' other cultures, whether in person or via a text   Is becoming internationally literate easier in an international school situated in a foreign country? The experience of living overseas is no guarantee that people will break out of their mental cul-de-sacs.      (our schools - how literature is promoted by teachers & parents)    Many 3rd culture kids are a good source of recommendation   Danger of a single story   3 min film clip Food for t hought?
• #14: I n a recent book, The Empathic Civilization, Jeremy Rifkin, a well-known economist and activist, makes the argument that, due to the current economic and environmental interconnectedness of the world, we need to expand our sense of belonging from the nation-state to a global identification and empathy, a mental shift that may be critical to the survival of our species and the biosphere. 
• #16: After World War Two, a German woman named Jella Lepman had a similar idea, envisioning children's books as bridges to peace and understanding. She believed that if children came to understand about other cultures they would be less likely to support wars in the future Providing students with literature in languages other than English is highly desirable, but is not the focus of this workshop; we are looking children's books in English, as translations or original texts.   
• #18: Books are 2 -way mirrors - window or mirror, it depends where you are standing Can you see through it or an you only see a reflection? Is the glass clouded?
• #19: As teacher librarians, we regularly attempt to critically evaluate the resources that we add to our collections, e.g., their relevance to the topic, audience suitability, accessibility and authority.  These critical literacies become particularly important when reading literature from around the world. We have identified three major issues for all readers to consider when evaluating authors and titles for an international audience. First, a word about the various adjectives that could be applied to books.
• #20: Where two cultures meet
• #22: interactions between people from different countries, outside an immigration context
• #27: Books that include references to many cultures or nation-states; intended for an international audience or to promote international-mindedness;
• #30: used in reference to the reader -- where the cultures portrayed are outside the reader's nation-state -- may be written by an author within the reader's nation-state In the context of this workshop, we are looking for transcultural literature -- from the viewpoint of our library patrons. For our readers in Singapore, this could include multicultural novels from a country like Australia, e.g., Looking for Alibrandi , or the US, e.g., A Step from Heaven , as well as intercultural narrative nonfiction, e.g., The London Jungle Book , or multinational nonfiction, e.g. Hungry Planet
• #31: Depends where the reader is placed Is it a clear window? We will go on to things that may cloud the window
• #32: Books must be judged on their relevance to the library's clientele, curriculum, and location Books that explain the local culture The home culture (not necessarily reflected in passport)
• #33: As international schools, we strive to collect literature that reflects the experience of "third culture kids" (EXPLAIN) living and traveling overseas Does the book appeal? self publishing
• #35: Winner Appeal - Diary of a Wimpy Kid Local - not our kids Our donated book
• #36: Another favourite by local author talking about her childhood elsewhere
• #38: Even the most popular may need explanation to cross the cultural divide Glossaries can do this
• #39: Do not take it for granted that children will understand your home culture
• #41: Accessibility includes a consideration of age and reading level appropriateness · The age of the protagonist cannot be taken as the age of the intended reader, even if the reading level is appropriate. While the purpose of using literature to expose children to cultures other than their own is to encourage empathetic connectivity, some stories can be quite confronting and the cultural differences may be simply too distressing (if not for the young reader, in our situation, for the parents monitoring their child's reading!),
• #42: Iqbal Masih, a boy in Pakistan who was sold to a carpet factory at age 4 Escaped at age 10 Helped 3,000 other children escape bonded labor before being murdered, shot in the back with a ten-gauge shotgun, on a crowded street at the age of 12
• #43: A book published in one country meant for a local child may assume cultural knowledge that can render the book unintelligible to a child in another country - e.g., the situation of a book being "too American" or "too Australian".
• #44: Problem genres Bio Sports Historical
• #46: In selecting literature about Asia, should we privilege Asian authors?  Can an author from another culture write an authentic book about a culture? Frederick Lipp's books about Cambodia seem perfect for junior readers, even though he is an older American man who had not yet visited Cambodia at the time he wrote his first book,
• #47: Expatriate Point of View? One aspect of society (not necessarily the norm)?
• #48: Beware the souvenir Self publishing phenomena
• #49: Poor Translations and Unappealing English How would you know? Network
• #51: This is where the benefits of networks -- professional and personal -- kick in.  If we have questions about the authenticity or currency of a cultural representation, the fastest way to get information to support your decision is to ask people in those countries, look at book awards whether via listservs (OZTL for Australia, LM_NET for the US, SLN for the UK, etc.) or through tools like Twitter.  
• #52: To conclude