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Literature-Related
Calendar Days
National Children's
Book Week is from November 12–16, Monday through Sunday, during
the week before Thanksgiving. Visit the Web sites below to plan
your classroom curriculum for the event. In addition to being able
to integrate the portals to author sites with activities on National
Children's Book Week, the sites may also be utilized for Read Across
America Day (March 2), International Children's Book Day (April
2), and Book Lover's Day (August 9). Anytime students want or need
additional information on how the author's work and life connect
to the setting or experiences shared through books the sites listed
above may be of use.
AUTHOR/SPONSOR:
David K. Brown, University of Calgary
LEVEL: All ages, Professional; 3 pages printed.
SUMMARY:
David K. Brown lists dozens of author links to Web pages mounted
by many children's and young adult authors or their fans. They include
contemporary as well as classic authors and illustrators.
LANGUAGE
ARTS: Connect with an author's site and choose one or more of
the author's books to read. Utilize the information on the various
Web sites to focus on a particular author and his/her writings.
SOCIAL STUDIES:
Connect the locations relating to the author's life or the settings
of the books.
TITLE OF
SITE: Children's
Literature - Authors & Illustrators - Fairrosa Cyber Library
AUTHOR/SPONSOR:
Roxanne Hsu Feldman, a.k.a. Fairrosa
LEVEL: All ages, 3 pages printed.
SUMMARY:
Fairrosa lists dozens of links to Web pages mounted by children's
and young adult publishers and authors, contemporary as well as
classic.
LANGUAGE
ARTS: Connect with an author's site and choose one or more of
the author's books to read. Utilize the information on the various
Web sites to focus on a particular author and his/her writings.
SOCIAL STUDIES:
Connect the locations relating to the author's life or the settings
of the books.
TITLE OF
SITE: Children's
Literature Authors & Illustrators
AUTHOR/SPONSOR:
Jennifer M. Brown
LEVEL: All ages, 3 pages printed.
SUMMARY:
Brown lists dozens of author links to Web pages that are part of
authors' and publishers' sites, other lists of compiled author sites,
and sites that include information about several authors such as
the Harrison Author Page (see site information that follows).
LANGUAGE
ARTS: Connect with an author's site and choose one or more of
the author's books to read. Utilize the information on the various
Web sites to focus on a particular author and his/her writings.
SOCIAL STUDIES:
Connect the locations relating to the author's life or the settings
of the books.
TITLE OF
SITE: Author
Pages
AUTHOR/SPONSOR:
Kay E. Vandergrift, Rutgers University
LEVEL: All ages, Professional; 3 pages printed.
SUMMARY:
Vandergrift lists dozens of author links to Web pages from a variety
of sources. Links include contemporary as well as classic authors
and illustrators. Also included are biographical links.
LANGUAGE
ARTS: Connect with an author's site and choose one or more of
the author's books to read. Utilize the information on the various
Web sites to focus on a particular author and his/her writings.
SOCIAL STUDIES:
Connect the locations relating to the author's life or the settings
of the books.
TITLE OF
SITE: Literary Calendar:
An Almanac of Literary information (month year)
AUTHOR/SPONSOR:
P. Timothy Ervin
LEVEL: All ages, Professional; 2 pages printed.
SUMMARY:
This almanac of literary information features adult authors, but
some young adult and children's authors are included. A subscription
feature enables users to receive the calendar by e-mail on a daily
basis.
LANGUAGE
ARTS: Each day various years appear featuring authors, for example:
28 November 1757: William Blake, artist, poet, and mystic, is born
in London. Visitors can use the search option to search by author,
phrase, or date.
TITLE OF
SITE: Harrison
Elementary: Visiting Authors
AUTHOR/SPONSOR:
Harrison Elementary School (Cedar Rapids, IA)
LEVEL: Primary, Intermediate, Middle School; 2 pages printed.
SUMMARY:
Authors who have visited the school include: Craig Brown, Jacqueline
Briggs Martin, Carol Gorman, Patricia Hermes, David McPhail, David
Wisniewski, David Greenburg, and Ashley Bryan.
ARTS/CRAFTS:
Create icons or graphics to use on the author page in the writing
activity.
LANGUAGE
ARTS: Investigate the biographical and bibliographical information
about an author and use the information in conjunction with an author
focus in the classroom.
WRITING:
Using these pages as a model, create a page on a specific author
for your school's Web site. Obtain permission for posting any student
work or any photos of author/students.
Adapted from
Chapter 12: November- National Authors Day, pages 148-149. WWW Almanac:
Making Curriculum Connections For Special Days, Weeks, and Months
by Sharron L. McElmeel and Carol Smallwood (Linworth, 1999). Linworth
Publishing, Inc. 480 E. Wilson Bridge Rd., STE L., Worthington,
OH 43085. http://www.linworth.com
An
Addendum
A
new listing of links includes pages whose existence is sponsored
by the author/illustrator him/herself or in some cases by a devoted
fan. The links do not include publishers' sites, although portals
or suggestions for locating those are given on the page. There are
links from this page to several of the portal sites cited above.
Sharron L. McElmeel
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