Club Amick - Selection Criteria

Southern Ontario Library Service (SOLS) and the Ontario Library Service – North (OLS-N) are coordinating the selection of the books and the creation of an engaging and child friendly newsletter for Club Amick. Working on these two aspects of the project are three professional librarians who together bring over 20 years of experience in selecting books for children and expertise in working with First Nation communities to meet their information and leisure reading needs.

The initial aim of the project is to distribute books and newsletters through designated contacts (mostly teachers) in the same northern Ontario communities involved in the Lieutenant Governor’s Aboriginal Literacy Camps. The books are selected for two age groups (kindergarten to grade three and grade four to six) with a suggested 25 books for each age group for each distribution. With these numbers, each child becomes the owner of a new book four times a year, and duplication of books within every household and community is minimized, making it an added pleasure for the children to share their books with each other.

While no one book will meet each of the following criteria, the body of books chosen by the librarians and shared by the children will, as a whole, reflect the best literature available needed to achieve the goals of this project.

Quality writing: Well written books promote literacy and a love of reading as their authors carefully weave words and ideas that transform the ink dots on paper to stories that can enhance a child’s view of herself and the world she lives in. The child’s efforts to make sense of her world are profoundly influenced by reading books that reflect her own life experience, as well as books that expand her world by introducing her to other realities and the fantastical lands of the imagination. To ensure quality, the selection librarians use book reviews by such esteemed publications as CM: Canadian Review of Materials http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/index.html, and book suggestion lists from Library and Archives Canada and the Toronto Public Library. Some of the selected authors, such as Paul Yee and Tomson Highway have received prestigious honours such as the Governor General’s Literary Award or the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards.
Quality illustrations: The picture book, a growing art form for all ages, is recognized as an intensive form of cultural communication in Canada (Canadian Children’s Illustrated Books in English, 2005). By selecting books illustrated by award winning artists such as Anne Blades (Governor General’s Award) and Marie Louise Gay (The Canada Council Children's Literature Prize for Illustration) the librarians are facilitating an opportunity for the readers to share in the collective imagination of Canadian childhood. As well, illustrations are an excellent way of engaging children with books.
Canadian: Leaders in children’s librarianship, such as Judith Saltman and the late Sheila Egoff have long advocated for children to be able to read quality stories about the nation they live in. This fosters an understanding of the variety of peoples and cultures that live here, and supports the development of national narratives in which we can all participate regardless of who we are and where we live.
Aboriginal: Scholars have noted that stories that reflect a child’s life, home, community traditions and physical appearance benefit the integral relationship between literacy and self-esteem. The most appropriate stories of Aboriginal peoples come from Aboriginal authors and publishing houses.
Appropriate reading levels: The titles selected have all had reading levels assigned by knowledgeable book reviewers and/or professional book publishers. The books chosen for the two different groups of readers have broad reading levels which not only accommodate the age spread in each group but also accommodate the varying levels of literacy found in the communities.
Thematic: The librarians have carefully chosen themes, the first one being family, based on an understanding of First Nation community values and the availability of quality titles to support the theme. The newsletters will use the theme to support family, community and school literacy activities.
Life enhancing: The final, but significant, criteria in the book selection is the joy and pleasure that each of these titles will bring the readers. The stories selected are wildly adventurous, gently humourous, emotionally touching, and at times just plain silly. Books that inform, entertain or challenge are books that not only build literacy skills but also foster a life long love of reading.

Bibliography

The following selected works are part of a growing body of scholarly and professional literature regarding book selection for all Canadian children, and in particular Aboriginal children.

Egoff, Sheila and Judith Saltman. The New Republic Of Childhood : A Critical Guide to Canadian Children's Literature in English. Toronto : Oxford University Press, 1990.

Roy, Loriene, "American Indian Literacy and Reading," School Library Media Activities Monthly. Volume 20, Number 6, February 2004.

Saltman, Judith. “Canadian Children’s Literature at the Millennium,” in Windows and Words: A Look at Canadian Children’s Literature in English. Ed by Aida Hudson and Susan Cooper. Reappraisals: Canadian Writers Series, the Canadian Children’s Literature Symposium. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2003, pp. 23-34.

Seale, Doris, and Beverly Slapin, eds. A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children. 2005

Taylor, Rhonda Harris and Lotsee Patterson. Getting the "Indian" out of the Cupboard: Using Information Literacy to Promote Critical Thinking. Teacher Librarian. Volume 28, Number 2, December 2000. Available at <http://www.teacherlibrarian.com/tlmag/v_28/v_28_2_feature.html>