And with this post ends the documentation of the inquiry! I specify “documentation,” as the inquiry isn’t ending here. Only the official record of it (for now) on this blog. Who knows, maybe I’ll come back to post here and there! I wanted to take a quick space to just reflect and talk about how this exploration was supported by tech and the format of the assignment.
One other reason I chose this topic (beyond what I said in the first post) was that, for my undergrad thesis, I had actually written a draft of a children’s picture book about old growth forests and the environment. My thesis supervisor and I had played around with the idea of submitting it for publishing, but that task seemed far too daunting. I wanted to use this project to give myself a reason to take the time to explore, and to document what I found. Even if I don’t submit it any time soon, I now have these posts as a bank of information for if or when I do want to enter that sphere.
Regarding tech and reading, the way this inquiry shifted to cover books in general was more driven by passion than anything. I love books, if that wasn’t made abundantly clear by now! Exploring the ways tech, books, and reading all intersect opened more doors into this thing I love; it showed more ways that reading can be made accessible and brought into the classroom. I loved taking the time to explore just some of the many online resources there are. As well, this inquiry gave me a chance to explore some of the topics we had discussed in class (graphic design, screen recording, video making, and Google Slides). Taking these tools to explore something I was passionate about made the practice of tech usage that more fun.
I’m not done with books and the world of publishing. If anything, this project only strengthen those interests. Talking to Michael in our last meeting, he prompted me to look into open access textbooks and other educational texts—something I hadn’t considered at all! Well, as that shows, there’s always more pages and that this may not actually be the end. Or if it is, it’s the back cover of the first book in the series.
In both of my university degrees, I have been lucky enough to live within a 10 minute walk of a public library. As well as books, libraries are record keepers (holding census data, legal documents, and historical records). Libraries also are extremely useful community supports—running programs for all ages. In particular, libraries have supports for newcomers, with English practice sessions and entire sections dedicated to adult English learners.
I hadn’t truly appreciated the importance and range of the library until I read Susan Orlean’s The Library Book, which discussed the instance of the L.A. public library burning down as well as a condensed history of libraries. For this last content-focused inquiry post, I wanted to spend some time exploring the websites of the uVic library (focusing on the guides made by the Education Librarian, Pia Russel) and the Greater Victoria Public Library (GVPL)—both its digital category and the library website. This inquiry also let me continue to practice using the QuickTime screen recording tools built into my computer. (Because of their size, both videos are shared using Google Drive) Enjoy!
In this inquiry project, I’ve explored how books get onto shelves. Recently, due to current political climates and my own interest in education and libraries, I’ve been wanting to look deeper at what takes books off of shelves. Where better to explore these resources then in this inquiry post?
American Library Association’s “Banned Books”
I began by simply looking up “banned books.” This brought me to the American Library Association’s “Banned and Challenged Books” page. When exploring this site, I found it interesting seeing all the banned, or challenged, book reports—especially looking at ones that I had read before. I thought that these online records of censorship (reminding that the individual instances part of something larger) is such an important task. From this site, I’ve attached below the ALA’s 2023 report infographic: both the numbers around censorship, as well as the top 10 challenged books of 2023.
Exploring the website, I found it disturbing seeing both the challenged books, as well as their reasonings for challenges. It did feel a little daunting at first, but the ALA gave supports through the data (showing patterns of challenge), as well as providing what they called “Book Resumes”: PDFs that provide summaries, reviews, resources, and accolades of banned and challenged books. Tools like these offer some help to educators and librarians when they receive a challenge for a book they’ve chosen. It makes me think about how I may have to explain and defend my choices in teaching and reading in a classroom. I will definitely keep an eye on this resource as I enter the classroom sphere.
Library and Archives Canada’s “Freedom to Read Week”
Looking to the Canadian context, I wanted to explore the “Freedom to Read” website. Through this degree in the literacy classes, I had heard of this movement before—as well as around book stores and libraries during the week itself. From their website, they state their reasoning for documenting these challenges as: “Freedom to read can never be taken for granted. Even in Canada, a free country by world standards, books and magazines are banned at the border, and schools and libraries are regularly asked to remove books and magazines from their shelves. Few of these stories make headlines, but they affect the right of Canadians to decide for themselves what they choose to read. See our Challenged Works section for the real story on censorship in Canada.”
Similar to the ALA’s website, the “Freedom to Read” site provides an ongoing list of books and other works that have been challenged, or even banned: https://www.freedomtoread.ca/challenged-works/
I hope to continue looking into the movement of the week, and bring it into my own classroom if I can. Being aware of books, challenges to books, and banned content is integral to being fully conscious of what is going on around us. Banning, or challenging, books isn’t just about the act itself of removing a book from a shelf, but it covers the challenging of information, the removal of representation, and the possibility of stifling critical thought. Looking through both of these resources, it made me extremely unnerved to see the amount of books challenged for the reasoning of “LGBTQ+ content.” These bans remove the representation, insinuate these identities are “wrong,” and overall work for suppression. It’s disempowering to think that a parent or board’s challenge of a text I choose to bring into my classroom could make my classroom less of a safe space for all my students. It’s important that all these bans are put together to make the trend of banning or challenging visible; when the pattern is clear, it’s easier to unite to defend our books.
Why Books Matter
The freedom to read, the ability to discuss, the right to think—all connected. Books are entertainment, are knowledge, are the practice of thought. Encouraging our students to not only read, but to consider what they’re reading, why it was written, who it affects, and so much more all contribute to creating a better world. To make us, our society, and our schools better, we develop and we consider and we challenge and we learn. Books and stories invite us into their stories to reflect on our own world. By keeping books accessible, we encourage our students to think and explore. I wanted to end this post with a quote from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Reading this book, I was still reminded by the importance of books and reading for building a society that keeps structures of power accountable. The quote below is the fire chief explaining to Montag why they burn books to keep society complacent:
“You can’t build a house without nails and wood. If you don’t want a house built, hide the nails and wood. If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides of a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change.”
For undergrad, I wrote my thesis on how environmentalism is discussed in children’s picture books. As the name would insinuate, I had to read a lot of picture books for this research. While the public library had many of the ones I was looking for, they weren’t always available for check-out. Through trying to solve this problem, I stumbled across the world of picture book read-alouds.
I had heard a little about read-alouds. I began hearing about them epecially during the COVID quarantine, when elementary teachers and daycares would upload read-alouds of picture books for the students at home. I love how they make reading accessible—giving children and families access to a wide range of books from their home. In my L2P placement, I also saw these used as teaching tools. My teacher would put on a read-aloud of a thematically connected book as a hook or introduction into a lesson.
For this post, I wanted to showcase some read-alouds I found (as well as their associated YouTube channels) and take a try of making one myself from home!
Read-Aloud Channels: e.g., So’oh Story Time
First, I wanted to talk about So’oh Story Time. In her channel description, she introduces herself: “Hi, I’m Shannon LaRance — I am Diné (Navajo), Hopi, and Assiniboine. “So’oh” means “Grandmother” in Hopi, reflecting the heart of our rich storytelling traditions. Here, stories aren’t just read—they’re brought to life to educate, entertain, and connect generations.” https://www.youtube.com/@soohstorytime
I loved how she discussed a focus on reading as connection. That is one thing that read-alouds are perfect for: they connect everyone to a story together. Having these video read-alouds gives the chance to utilize the video format, so that the pictures can be projected larger onto the board. As well, the video can be paused to bring in discussion or to answer/ask questions!
Author Channels: e.g., Bruce Simpson
This is a video I included in my previous inquiry post, but wanted to highlight it here again. Bruce Simpson is not only reading Paislee and the Talking Tree, but he is also the author. In making this video, he has made his book accessible for anyone to access completely for free. With his background as a kindergarten teacher, I appreciate how he shared his book for other teachers to access and bring into their classrooms. His entire channel also opens another way teachers can incorporate tech into their teaching: through a YouTube channel.
His channel is not dedicated to read-alouds, like So’oh Story Time, but instead to the songs he writes (as evident in the channel description): “I started writing children’s songs for my Kindergarten students and can’t stop. Lyrics in the videos to help children learn the words.” https://www.youtube.com/@BruceSimpsonSongs/featured
Visually Enhanced Storytelling: e.g., Marcus Winter the Sandman
This one is a little different than the above-mentioned read-alouds, but I love this channel too much to not include it. Marcus Winter is an artist who creates live representations of Māori oral traditions and histories through sand art. His videos both narrate the story, and show his live sand design. I came across his channel when looking for a representation of the Great Fish of Māui story and have been made a fan! Here’s his introduction from the channel description: “Kia ora tatou katoa! My name is Marcus Winter – a multi-disciplinary artist from Aotearoa ( New Zealand). I have a passion for creating sand art, transforming your ideas into reality. I am dedicated to helping artists earn a living from their craft and inspiring future generations of sand art storytellers.” Ki te Wheiao ki te Ao Mārama! Bring Your Ideas to Life! https://thesandman.co.nz” https://www.youtube.com/@nzsandman
Videos like these, that use technology to combine stunning visuals with stories and information, are engaging ways to share knowledge in any classroom. Even bringing in cross-curricular connections with art! In my upcoming practicum, I am doing a unit on Polynesia and will definitely be bringing in Marcus’s videos when I discuss Māori oral traditions.
My Own Attempt!
To end this post, I wanted to take a try at making my own read aloud. As I don’t have a tripod, this was created using a precarious stack of items on my desk with my phone on top. While simple, it did show me how incorporating tech in this way isn’t as initially daunting as it may seem! Not only are read-alouds accessible for the viewer, but all you really need to make them is a book and a phone camera. While not for YouTube, these could be ways to free up hands in class, or have book read-alouds prepared for substitute plans!
UPDATE: While I did record myself doing a read-aloud, I then thought back to our discussions on copyright laws. I realize that, without seeking the publisher’s permission (like many read-aloud channels do) or not being the author myself, posting my read-aloud here violates the copyright. So, instead, I thought I would share a resource I found answering the exact questions I have now about being a teacher and online copyright for digital recordings of books. This question and answer page was specifically made to discuss copyright laws in Canada in the context of online learning. I found these discussions really interesting, and a reminder of considerations that need to be taken into account when adding tech to learning.
Well, sorry my Sylvester and the Magic Pebble recording is unable to be posted here! If you would like to read the book, I recommend it and would be happy to share my copy! Until then, I will try not to break any copyright laws.
For this inquiry, I wanted to curate a digital shelf of books that I could see myself bringing into the classroom. This was inspired by a project in Roz’s EDCI 412 class (Lang. and Lit.: Reading Diverse Texts) where we created grade-specific collections of texts.
As I’ve explored this inquiry and this degree, I’ve thought of how to bring my love of reading into a classroom; finding and thinking of projects for books is so exciting! That’s the main reason for this inquiry post: to have a mini curation of different grade-level appropriate books and some curricular connections.
For the delivery of this “shelf,” I wanted to use Google Slides to practice making slide shows. In addition, I liked how the PDF exports of Google Slides allow me to add hyperlinks directly into the presentation (e.g., for YouTube read-alouds, author websites, etc.).
I also wanted to showcase a resource I’ve been using since high school: Slides Carnival. This is a free bank of slide presentation templates for PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Canva. I love how the templates have various layouts for slides in so many themes, as well as including a “graphics bank” at the end to make custom slides with all graphics used. As well, they source their images and graphics from other open source sites and credit those in the attributions slide.
For this inquiry post, I wanted to focus on the “how” of getting a piece of writing into the world. As someone who has been doing creative writing as a hobby, I’ve recently been practicing sharing my writing—both for myself, the practice, and also to keep myself accountable for stretching the writing muscles. For this part of the inquiry, I plan to both summarize the ones that I’ve already been a part of, while also exploring how books get to the publishers. (To continue beyond the list of publishers discussed last post).
1. Personal Sites!
A graphic I made on Canva for the blog my friends and I share.
This post you’re reading is actually one of those ways! Starting a blog or personal websites an accessible and easy way to share writing. Whether for documentation, portfolios, or just for fun, these online tools allow work to reach a wider audience. In addition, design tools (like WordPress, WIX, or Substack) make designing these sites and communication to readers easy!
In undergrad, my roommates and I started a shared personal blog on Substack (called “The Big Comfy Couch“) where we all post our thoughts, media reviews, life updates, or any writing we feel like creating. This has been a great way for us to keep in touch after moving away from each other following graduation. In addition, having the blog has encouraged me to keep up writing for fun; sharing writing simultaneously acts as an accountability measure.
2. Literary Journals or Magazines!
Literary journals and magazines usually offer publishing for first-time authors; less length than full novels (usually), they are places where short stories, poems, art, and reviews all come together. Journals and magazines can be online (many are these days) or physically published. My first exposure to literary magazines was writing for, and eventually editing, for my undergraduate program’s creative writing magazine, The Melange. I loved how these magazines were a list of styles. Differing from working on a personal blog, these also exposed me to working with an editor and refining my work with support.
Instagram account for The Melange.
My friends from undergrad, Amarah and Dani, had some of their work published recently by a both online and in-print literary magazine called Junq. I actually have a physical copy of the journal with Amarah’s screenplay in it! Reading a physical print of a friend’s amazing work was an amazing feeling. In addition, these joint publications open up readers to unique and cool art. Especially for independent publications based in your city or in your school, seeing what is around is both entertaining and inspiring.
3. Traditional Publishing!
Traditional publishing is the one part I had the least experience with. From my explorations, theres two main ways to submit to a traditional publisher: with or without an agent. Smaller or independent publishers will usually accept un-agent submissions, while larger publishers usually require the support from an agent. As I do not have experience in this area, I used this inquiry to search out resources from those either who have been published, or those who are in the publishing/agent industry.
In the above video, Alyssa summarizes the steps in getting published by a larger publishing company. This usually involves sending query emails to agents and working with them before they send your work to a publisher.
For un-agented submissions, I’ve learned you do the work of the agent as well as providing the manuscript. Usually, this involves sending a cover letter describing your piece and work along with a manuscript. In the following website post, author Emma summarizes how she goes around submitting a manuscript to publishers.
For this post, I had fun exploring both my relationship to sharing my writing as well as exploring new ways to take writing from the author to the world. I find it interesting the different ways that a book can be published, even within the world of traditional publishing (publisher type, additional support team, and the necessary parts needed to submit). It gives me even more respect for authors and all the work it took to get their pieces onto my shelf!
For this inquiry post, I wanted to explore the world of traditional publishers—how do books get from authors to the shelves in books? Before this inquiry exploration, I had not taken much time to consider the publishing companies. Of course, after looking at the spines on my bookshelf enough, I had become familiar with some names: Penguin, DAW, Vintage Canada, Harper Perennial to name a few.
As I became more interested in books during my undergrad, I noticed certain publishers’ names coming time and time again. From this, I learned that certain publishers focus on certain genres, book lengths, ages, or just general ~vibes~. For example, DAW focuses on fantasy and sci-fi and Greystone focuses on environmental and nature texts (with a separate section, Greystone Kids, for children’s books). Invisible Publishing is a company I actually found through their booth at a book fair—and indie, not-for-profit Canadian publishing company. This was the publisher that made me note who was publishing books, as their name came up time and time again from hearing about interesting new Canadian reads. In particular, they are the publisher for one of my new favourite authors, Sydney Hegele.
For this post, I wanted to explore how to find Canadian publishers, and how to find if they are accepting un-agented submissions (submissions from authors who do not have a literary agent). This question led me to the Canadian Authors Association website, which has a list of Canadian publishing companies.
While this provides a list of Canadian publishers, I wanted to specifically explore those aimed at Children’s Literature—who are publishers that we will see in our school’s libraries and our classroom shelves? Below are some Canadian publishers that are currently accepting submissions.
Recognized as an innovative publisher for both children and adults.
Based in Toronto.
Founded in 1975.
To end this post, I wanted to share how to use a publishing company’s website to discover whether or not they are accepting submissions. To do this, I wanted to use the Zoom screen share and recording format. Enjoy!
In my dive into the publishing industry, I wanted to take a quick sidestep to focus on children’s literature awards—namely, what are some of the recognitions out there for children’s literature? What are some awards or book lists that involve the reading demographic, children, in their voting?
My older nephew participates in a school club called the “Battle of the Books.” Through this, he is part of a team on his school that competes against other schools in his district in a Jeopardy-style book competition. The students all read a list of books, then compete in teams to answer trivia and analysis questions. The year I went to see him compete, they had all read the nominees for that year’s Red Cedar Book award. A link to the school district’s page talking about the competition is below:
The Red Cedar Book Award (The Award), brought to you by British Columbia’s Young Readers’ Choice Awards Society (YRCABC), aims to encourage students in grades 4-7 to read more, to create an awareness of Canadian books and authors, and to develop a reader’s ability to judge published works. The Award adheres to two core principles – being child-centered and promoting Canadian books written for kids. The Award also values and supports Intellectual Freedom, Literacy, Diversity, Inclusiveness, Integrity, Community, and Sustainability.
From: www.redcedaraward.ca
At the end of the competition, the participants in the Battle of the Books voted on which book the district would cast a vote for in the award. I thought this was such a unique and fun way to get students engaged in reading, exploring new Canadian literature, and practicing their analysis and comprehension abilities. Seeing this made me wonder what other community-centred book lists were out there. A similar program is the Forest of Reading, as introduced in the video below:
Over the past few years, I have developed a love for Canadian literature as a genre. I think it is so interesting seeing the explorations of contemporary Canadian identity through writing—maybe part to one of my favourite undergrad courses, “Contemporary Canadian Fiction.”
I find these community-centred book lists and awards, like those in the Forest of Reading and the Red Cedar Award, to be really fun ways to get students engaged in their own backyard and see what’s being written in the spaces around them. In addition, many of these texts explore the history of the land we now know as Canada and its history—exploring themes of Indigeneity, belonging, and the historic (and current) injustices faced by many peoples. Making the reading even more meaningful by connecting to the land and communities we see every day. Promoting literature that explores these topics in engaging and meaningful ways is such an important endeavour. Book lists and awards like these provide educators, such as myself in the future, with a snapshot of what is being written in the here and now. Perhaps even giving inspiration into (possibly cross-curricular) novel study topics.
While not directly about publishing, I wanted to spend this inquiry post exploring a little bit about the “why” of publishing and the “after” process of a book’s reception. To continue on the theme of Canadian literature, my next inquiry posts will dive specifically into the Canadian publishers: what are the resources in our backyard?
Until next time, I’ll be meandering through the forest that is the Forest of Reading lists to get inspiration for my own future classroom library!
To begin the delve into the depths of publishing, I wanted to start by exploring one of the major divisions in publishing: self- versus traditional publishing.
In my dive, I found posts from Writer’s Digest and Paper True. For this inquiry post, I thought I would summarize the content in a graphic created in Canva (to stretch my Canva muscle).
When presented with this inquiry project—the choice to explore any area of interest—I began brainstorming immediately. What was something that I have wanted to investigate, practice, or learn?
To help in narrowing the infinite, I began thinking of things I loved. Perhaps an inquiry could grow from deepening an aspect of an existing interest. As the first image in this post suggests, I landed on books.
I grew up loving books. From my Mom reading me the entire Harry Potter series out loud to the Scholastic Book Fairs in school to my ever-growing childhood bookshelf, I was surrounded by their pages and wrapped in their stories. Around high school, this love left temporarily. It wasn’t that I stopped liking reading, but instead it was as if that the habit of “reading for fun” paused. Cut to moving away from Vancouver to Hamilton for undergrad: a book list recommendation from a friend and a conveniently (and financially dangerously) placed indie bookstore near my new student home rekindled that—temporarily dimmed—love.
From then on, the fire has only grown. My bookshelves are always at (or, to be honest, over) capacity; my library card is on my house keys. Reading offers a moment of “me time” in the ever-busying space of which adulthood sometimes feels. However, let’s transition back to books—the topic of this inquiry.
Me, in 2010, with two books on the go!
To avoid some form of cross-blog-self-plagarism, I’ll instead share my previously written thoughts on books as a medium from a shared personal blog:
I love my books as books. I love them as memories. I love them as gifts from loved ones. I love them as little snapshots of what I wanted, what I had, what I could have had in different times of my life. I love them and the people they often represent.
I Shipped My Books to BC by the big comfy couch A TOTALLY ORIGINAL IDEA… just don’t look at Amarah’s recent post… Read on Substack
Surrounding myself with books, I surround myself with stories, possibilities, memories, history, and so much more. Looking at this inquiry, I want to explore the medium of books—how do these stories physically manifest themselves in bookstores, libraries, and, maybe eventually, our own shelves?
At this point, this inquiry could take shape in multiple avenues. Right now, I am interested in learning about the publishing process. How do books move from the individual (writer) sphere to the collective? Some future sub-inquiries in this larger question may include:
Types of publishing (self, publisher) and writing agents.
What is needed when submitting for publishing?
Beyond physical publishing: websites, online literary journals, etc.
Libraries and curation.
Book awards and accolades.
What types of children’s literature is available?
More to come!
I look forward to this inquiry not only deepening a personal interest, but also exploring an educational one. I look forward to building my own classroom library—one day perhaps even being a teacher librarian! Knowing the processes of how books are published, what or who is prioritized in those systems, and familiarizing myself with publishers will only aid in growing a meaningfully curated classroom library.
I’m ready to hit the books (two puns in one post) and inquire further about the paper that fills the shelves!
