A grandfather vividly describes to his grandson a typical day from his youth, when he worked as a peddler selling fresh fruits and vegetables from a horse-drawn wagon throughout the city.

This teaching resource offers great lesson ideas and activities based on quality children's literature. All titles center around the theme of work, giving children an insight into today's working environment and the skills that are needed to succeed. Each chapter assists the teacher in planning exciting classroom activities and projects. Through literature, important concepts and role models are presented that will help children think about teamwork, cooperative learning, and economic issues.

A Treasury of Hundreds of Books that Help Boys Grow and Flourish "Images-strong, proud and happy, brave, and now also humorous . . . what a joy it is to see black faces of all shades in our children's books."-Doug E. Doug, Actor, The Bill Cosby Show "As a child . . . I wish there had been more books that reflected my world and my interests."-Earl G. Graves, Chairman, Publisher, and CEO, Black Enterprise magazine How do you know which books are the best for boys at every age? Now, two of the mothers who founded the esteemed Black Books Galore!-the nation's leading organizer of African American children's book festivals-and the authors of the highly acclaimed Black Books Galore! Guide to Great African American Children's Books, share their expert advice. Let BBG! help you open the door to a wonderful world of reading for the boys in your life. Invaluable for parents, teachers, and librarians, this easy-to-use, delightfully illustrated reference guide features: * Quick, lively descriptions of over 350 books * Hundreds of young black heroes and positive role models * Reflections from kids, famous authors, illustrators, and public figures about their favorite childhood books * Easy-to-find listings organized by age level and indexed by title, topic, author, and illustrator * Recommended reading for parents of boys "This is a great resource that fills a tremendous need. It should be on parents' shelves at home as well as in every school."-Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D., Harvard Medical School, on Black Books Galore! Guide to Great African American Children's Books

Common stereotypes portray black fathers as being largely absent from their families. Yet while black fathers are less likely than white and Hispanic fathers to marry their child's mother, many continue to parent through cohabitation and visitation, providing caretaking, financial, and other in-kind support. This volume captures the meaning and practice of black fatherhood in its many manifestations, exploring two-parent families, cohabitation, single custodial fathering, stepfathering, noncustodial visitation, and parenting by extended family members and friends. Contributors examine ways that black men perceive and decipher their parenting responsibilities, paying careful attention to psychosocial, economic, and political factors that affect the ability to parent. Chapters compare the diversity of African American fatherhood with negative portrayals in politics, academia, and literature and, through qualitative analysis and original profiles, illustrate the struggle and intent of many black fathers to be responsible caregivers. This collection also includes interviews with daughters of absent fathers and concludes with the effects of certain policy decisions on responsible parenting.

As multicultural education is becoming integral to the core curriculum, teachers often implement this aspect into their courses through literature. However, standards and criteria to teach and promote active discussion about this literature are sparse. Cultural Journeys introduces pre-service and experienced teachers to the use of literature to promote active discussions that lead students to think about racial diversity. More than just an annotated list of books for children, Pamela S. Gates and Dianne L. Hall Mark provide systematic guidelines that teachers can use throughout their careers to evaluate multicultural literature for students in grades K-8. At the same time, the text leads the reader to a deeper understanding of how to use multicultural literature throughout the entire curriculum and not just during specially designated months or time periods. With the example unit plans and extensive annotated bibliography, this book is a valuable resource that pre-service teachers will utilize when they begin teaching and in-service teachers will reference repeatedly during their planning periods.

Black Authors and Illustrators of Books for Children and Young Adults is a biographical dictionary that provides comprehensive coverage of all major authors and illustrators – past and present. As the only reference volume of its kind available, this book is a valuable research tool that provides quick access for anyone studying black children’s literature – whether one is a student, a librarian charged with maintaining a children’s literature collection, or a scholar of children’s literature. The Fourth Edition of this renowned reference work illuminates African American contributions to children’s literature and books for young adults. The new edition contains updated and new information for existing author/illustrator entries, the addition of approximately 50 new profiles, and a new section listing online resources of interest to the authors and readers of black children’s literature.

This book is about effective literacy instruction for students in grades K-4 who use the language variety that many linguists call African American English, but which, as explained in the Introduction, the author calls Black Communications (BC). Throughout, considerable attention is given to discussing the integral and complex interconnections among African American language, culture, and history, drawing significantly on examples from African American historical and literary sources. Although it is theoretical in its description of the BC system and its discussion of research on language socialization in African American communities, the major focus of this book is pedagogy. Many concrete examples of successful classroom practices are included so that teachers can readily visualize and use the strategies and principles presented. *Part I, ‘What is Black Communications?” presents an overview of the BC system, providing a basic introduction to the major components of the language—phonology, grammar, lexicon, and pragmatics, and illustrating how these components work in synchrony to create a coherent whole. *Part II, “Language Socialization in the African American Discourse Community,” examines existing research on African American children’s language socialization. *Part III, “Using African American Children’s Literature,” draws connections between strategy instruction and the linguistic and rhetorical abilities discussed in Part II. Each chapter ends with suggestions for using African American literature to help children develop their speaking and writing abilities. *Part IV, “Children Using Language,” moves from a focus on teaching comprehension strategies to helping BC speakers learn to decode text. This volume is directed to researchers, faculty, and graduate students in the fields of language and literacy education and linguistics, and is well-suited as a text for graduate-level courses in these areas.