The Education faculty of Purdue Uni (USA) has launched a new FREE online journal
called 'First
Opinions Second Reactions' http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/fosr/ which will publish
book reviews of
K-12 titles from authors around the world. Each book is reviewed by a practising
teacher or teacher
librarian (the first opinion) and then has another by an academic (the second
reaction). These
educators come from around the world, so there is a broad perspective. The journal
is overseen by
an advisory board with wide-ranging credentials in the field, and they also
contribute to the
content.
In the first issue Chris Cheng's book 'New Gold Mountain' is reviewed. Although
this book focuses on
a period of Australian history, the review demonstrates its relevance to the US
experience ...
"While there is abundant literature about the experiences of Chinese gold miners in
California in
the nineteenth-century Gold Rush era, I had never seen a book on the Australian
gold rush prior to
reading Christopher Cheng's New Gold Mountain. I was not aware that many Chinese
also traveled to
Australia in search of gold, bearing similar hopes and dreams of prosperity. The
events described in
New Gold Mountain, though set in Australia, shockingly parallel episodes that
happened in the United
States in the nineteenth century."
These sorts of reviews have the potential to expose our students to a wider variety
of literature
because the books are not 'pigeon-holed' as being relevant to just one audience or
nation. Imagine
if you set an assignment where students had to compare and contrast the experiences
of the Chinese
in the gold rushes of California and Australia using literature and then analyse
the reasons for the
similarities - how much more interesting would that be in comparison to a report
entitled "How did
the Chinese fare during the gold rush?" How much broader would the learning and
understanding of
history and sociology become?
As well as reviews it has other interesting articles about children's and YA
literature - for
example the first issue has a most useful compilation of "Further Sources of
Information about
International Children's Literature" by Christine E. King.
I know many of you rely on reviews before you purchase so here is another source to
add to your
toolkit that I thought more than worth sharing.
Barbara
Barbara Braxton
Teacher Librarian
COOMA NSW 2630
AUSTRALIA
E. barbara.288@bigpond.com
Together we learn from each other
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