The right to write

One of the most difficult aspects of my last assignment on multicultural and diverse literature (MCD) was coming to grips with the extent to which all literature, including MCD literature is dominated by white and/or western based authors.  When I have more headspace I'd like to write an article on what kind of criteria one could apply to assess the legitimacy of authors to tackle MCD themes - aka "the right to write". It would be a set of guidelines that librarians and even teachers and students could use to critically look at existing literature and to use when deciding what books should be purchased and/or included in curricula activities.... (read more)

The Power and Potential of Multicultural Diverse Literature

Abstract

This article explores how multicultural and diverse literature contributes to a school library collection through its unique ability to inform, provoke socio-emotional responses and stimulate social justice and reform, while validating the experience and identity of a multicultural and diverse student body. Examples of recently published notable books are provided. Themes and conceptual tools of the genre are introduced and the role, challenges and responses of the teacher librarian are examined.

Introduction

Schools around the world are seeing an substantial influx of diverse students due to migration, immigration and globalisation (Boelens, Cherek, Tilke, & Bailey, 2015), a trend that has long been the norm in international schools. Within international schools, those under the umbrella of the International Baccalaureate (IB) are expected to go beyond literacy and numeracy to equip students with attitudes and values that allow them to become socio-emotionally balanced global citizens (International Baccalaureate Organisation, n.d.).  Focusing on the upper years of the IB primary years program (PYP) how can the inclusion of multicultural and diverse (MCD) literature support both the academic and socio-emotional curriculum to meet those ambitions and what can other schools learn from this?

Key issues

MCD literature is defined as works “that reflect the racial, ethnic and social diversity that is characteristic of our pluralistic society and of the world” (Bishop, 1997, p.3 cited in Hinton & Dickinson, 2007). Cai (2002) expands the definition to cover issues of diversity, inclusion, power structures and the ability to transform society by the inclusion of marginalised people of all races.

Conceptual tools

Tschida, Ryan and Ticknor (2014) combine two conceptual tools for an understanding of MCD literature - texts as mirrors, windows and sliding doors (Bishop, 1990) and the danger of the single story (Adichie, 2009). Using these tools, one can be critical towards what has passed as MCD texts (Botelho & Rudman, 2009; Duren, 2000; Robinson, 2013) with many questions raised about the legitimacy of authors who publish MCD works – including the “insider / outsider” debate (Ehrlich, 2015; Mendoza & Reese, 2001; Short & Fox, 2003; Singer & Smith, 2003). Carefully translated books can overcome some of these issues if not overly ‘localised’ for the market into which they are being translated and there tend to be fewer stereotypes (Kimmel, Garrison, & Forest, 2015).

To ameliorate the dangers of the single story, MCD literature needs a substantial volume of works of quality and legitimacy. O’Sullivan (2004) provides a sober history of MCD literature, commencing with the post-war idealistic creation of institutions such as International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) and the International Youth Library (IYL) in Munich and ending with damning statistics on “how international is international children’s literature?” – hint – it’s not. Facts that are echoed by annual tallying of books in the USA by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (2015).

Power to change

Cognitive literacy theory using scientific research suggests that literature contributes to the socialisation of students, promoting the development of theory of mind through the association of emotion through visual and textual stimuli in a reciprocal relationship between social development and academic performance – MCD literature can play a significant role in this (Biwu, 2014; Elizabeth & Selman, 2012; Nikolajeva, 2012; Rider, 2013). Although many primary school libraries have a multitude of books that portray Begler’s (1998) five F’s – food, fashion, fiestas, folklore, and famous people, these have a touristic superficial view of culture do not provide the mirror or window perspective that sophisticated MCD books provide (Doll & Garrison, 2013).

One of the differentiating factors of education in an IB school is the hope that: “our students will help to build a better world through intercultural understanding and respect” (International Baccalaureate Organisation, n.d., para. 2). Equity, social justice and reform is at the heart of multicultural education (Gorski, 2011; Cai and Bishop, 1994, cited in Short & Fox, 2003). Intrinsic to the inquiry cycle of the PYP is “taking action” – students are expected to go beyond researching and understanding to making a difference in the world. However in order to fulfil its literary and pedagogical potential, MCD literature needs to simultaneously be at the right developmental level, to emphasize desirable attributes, be honest and authentic while fulfilling the other usual criteria for quality including well developed plot, skilful illustrations, appealing characters and connection with the reader (Cai, 2002; McNamee & Mercurio, 2007; Nikolajeva, 2012; Oswald & Smolen, 2011).

Themes

The dominant themes in MCD literature can be summarised as: stories from the original culture; bridged cultural experiences: adoption stories; identity or image stories and refugee, migration or immigration stories (Masuda & Ebersole, 2011).

This article focuses on the latter due to topical relevance; pervasive current media coverage; curricula relevance; the fact that most students in international schools have personal experience of relocation; and the reality of schools as “the most public environment in which diverse student populations come into contact with each other” (Tanners, 1997, cited in Lowery, 2011, p. 268). In addition, migration literature has evolved as a unique genre (Bersh, 2013; Hope, 2007; Kimmel et al., 2015).

Value to the collection

MCD literature provides many benefits to a collection. Three of these will be highlighted – the ability to educate, to develop socio-emotional and meta-cognitive skills and to provoke social transformation.

Educate

Students in primary school may be unfamiliar with the history of the countries and regions that their multicultural peers are from and unaware of differentiations between groups, while being affected by public media portrayal (Lowery, 2011). MCD can serve as a conduit for learning and scaffold enquiry provided it is authentic and accurate. Deepening media presentation with personal factual research is highlighted in Drita my Homegirl (Lombard, 2008) where Maxie researches the Kosovo war, and A Long Walk to Water (Park, 2010) which personalises the “Lost boys of Sudan” story. Julie spontaneously researches Mongolia and presents her findings at every opportunity in Unforgotten Coat (Cottrell Boyce, 2011) and even Shocky learns about Chingas Kahn. Heart of a Samurai (Preus, 2010) weaves in historical information about the early isolation of Japan and the mutual distrust, ignorance and fear between Japan and America whereas The Journey that saved Curious George (Borden & Drummond, 2005) gives an account of fleeing Paris in the second world war.

MCD literature has been shown to enhance the reading comprehension of language learners through its culturally familiar material and creating a window to view others engaged in language learning in a non-trivial manner (Hadaway & Young, 2011).  In nearly all the texts highlighted the learning of English forms a central theme: “Until you children master English, you must think, do, wish for nothing else” - Inside Out and Back Again (Lai, 2011, p. 132); “the boys weren’t just learning English; they were hiding themselves inside English” - The Unforgotten Coat (Cottrell Boyce, 2011, p. 38). Kasienka’s initial low level of English holds her back academically in The Weight of Water (Crossan, 2011); and Maxie has to grapple with Drita’s poor English in Drita my Homegirl (Lombard, 2008) while for Manjiro, Heart of a Samurai (Preus, 2010), learning English is a matter of survival.

Besides the power of story, illustrations contribute to character depth and enhance understanding (Broadway & Conkle, 2011). The use of primary source material to illustrate Heart of a Samurai (Preus, 2010) and The Journey that Saved Curious George (Borden & Drummond, 2005) contributes to the authenticity of the story as well as allowing a segue into aspects of research and information literacy.

Socio-emotional and meta-cognitive skills 

One of the unique aspects of reading is its dual role as an emotional and intellectual act and as such it can perform the function of scaffolding children’s ability to care about people, events and concepts outside their current existence (McNamee & Mercurio, 2007).

 The development of resilience, empathy and theory of mind is articulated as an educational goal by most educational systems and the importance of vocabulary (Bosacki & Wilde Astington, 2001; Figueroa-Sánchez, 2008) and literature in developing theory of mind is well documented (Djikic & Oatley, 2014; Kidd & Castano, 2013; McTigue, Douglass, Wright, Hodges, & Franks, 2015). Although bibliotherapy is a distinct specialisation, from its research we are aware of the power of literature to provoke a socio-emotional response and empathy and to reach individuals who may not be open to other forms of intervention (Djikic, Oatley, Zoeterman, & Peterson, 2009; Gomm, 2012; Johnson, 2012; Montgomery & Maunders, 2015; Riahinia, Azimi, & Seify, 2010).  Both William her boyfriend-in-spe and Konoro – her “too black” immigrant-doctor-who-is-a-cleaner neighbour tell Kasienka she has the resilience to save herself - Weight of Water (Crossan, 2011), Manjiro’s mettle is tested on the whaling boat, in America and when he attempts to return to Japan - Heart of a Samurai, (Preus, 2010) and Hà survives fleeing Vietnam and settling in Alabama – Inside Out (Lai, 2011).

The deployment of virtual reality (VR) tools such as Clouds over Sidra (Arora & Milk, C., 2015), where one not only observes but is immersed in the experience takes situating students inside a story further, with many authors hailing the ability of VR to enhance empathy. There is some debate around the problems and potential of VR, to promote empathy through mirror neurons (Constine, 2015; Hamilton, 2015; Sutherland, n.d.) as well as its suitability for children (Lewis, 2015).

Social transformation

Good MCD literature promotes higher order thinking and engages students cognitively emotionally and motivationally in order to provide socio-emotional support, and foster bonds and peer relationships between students (Triplett & Buchanan, 2005). Migration themed books can provoke thought and discussion about the respective roles and responsibilities of the ‘incumbent’ versus ‘incoming’ characters. The more successful books show the complexity and ambivalence of these relationships. In Weight of Water (Crossan, 2011) Kasienka, when not being bullied by Clair, is met with exclusion and indifference. Julie, becomes the “Good Guide” to Chingis and Nergu in Unforgotten Coat (Cottrell Boyce, 2011) and finds their presence fascinating but confusing and disruptive to her understanding of the world she lives in. The contact between Maxie and Drita in Drita (Lombard, 2008) is initially enforced by their teacher and gradually evolves into authentic friendship while Hà and Manjiro find friends outside their peer group. Hà is relentlessly bullied by a “pink-colored boy” but taken under the wing of an elderly neighbour, Miss Washington, - Inside Out (Lai, 2011) and Captain Whitfield befriends Manjiro - Heart of a Samurai, (Preus, 2010).

Role of the teacher librarian

The role of the teacher librarian (TL) in selection and promotion of materials and creating an literary environment is well documented (Claasz, 2014; Hinton & Dickinson, 2007; La Marca, 2003), however the curation and provision of MCD literature places unique demands on the TL (Colbert-Lewis & Colbert-Lewis, 2013; Marcoux, 2009; Mestre, 2009). MCD materials in the collection should validate a student’s home cultural experience and language; use technology to facilitate learning and self expression including students’ own writing; create cooperative, interactive learning opportunities and encourage home / school collaboration (Hinton & Dickinson, 2007; Kim, Greif Green, & Klein, 2006).

Availability

The existence of MCD literature faces three substantial barriers. In the first place it does not get published at all, secondly, if it does, it is from an outsider’s perspective and finally once in existence it may not get into the school library or the classroom (Ehrlich, 2015; O’Sullivan, 2004; Tschida et al., 2014). Besides the usual lists and awards such as the Batchelder, Jane Addams or Stepping Stones awards, the TL committed to MCD literature needs to tap into international librarian, author and publisher networks as well as the school learning ecosystem – particularly the parents of non-English speaking students. In addition books may not be available through the usual procurement channels requiring creative solutions.

Suitability

MCD curation involves ensuring the cultural authenticity of the collection including literary qualities, believability, portray of power relationships, response by insiders, origin of the book, accuracy of details, authenticity of values and attitudes, providing the audience personal connection to the story, authorship, perspectives, being at the correct socio-emotional developmental level and relationship to other books in the collection (Masuda & Ebersole, 2011; McNamee & Mercurio, 2007). Combining Selman’s theory on interpersonal understanding with an understanding of the types of books that fit in with cognitive developmental stages, the TL can ensure suitable MCD books are available at every age and stage (Cornett, 2007; Elizabeth & Selman, 2012; Selman, Jaquette, & Lavin, 1977).

The TL needs to constantly be vigilant as the criteria of suitability changes with increased cultural awareness and as research into MCD literature is published. Fortunately today more sophisticated and relevant MCD works are being published that can replace dated and unsuitable material. Part of the role of the TL involves the diplomatic ‘re-education’ of teachers who may automatically reach to favourites from their youth that have subsequently been condemned by cultural insiders as prejudiced, or portraying stereotypes or negative cultural images (Short & Fox, 2003). Extreme sensitivity should be shown towards ‘insider’ readers of books in the collection and the TL needs to make teachers aware of ‘insider’ reviews of the books included as curriculum resources (Doll & Garrison, 2013).

Curriculum

In the past, literature was relegated to language / arts programmes. Due to its multi-faceted benefits to inform, enhance understanding and critical thinking and to change perspectives and encourage social action, it is now infused through the entire curriculum. Besides encouraging reading and ‘evangelical outreach’ TL’s need to be embedded in curriculum development (Loertscher, 2002 cited in Hinton & Dickinson, 2007). A five phase model of integration of MCD literature into the curriculum is suggested, commencing with traditional literature moving towards contemporary fiction, biography and poetry (Smolen, Oswald, & Jenkins, 2011) while Bersh (2013) and Barone (2011) and all the authors in Multicultural Literature and Response: Affirming Diverse Voices (Smolen & Oswald, 2011) encourage the creation of literature sets along MCD themes to enhance the curriculum as well as suggestions for response activities and give excellent examples of these.

Accessibility 

The role of the librarian goes beyond identification and acquisition of books, to ensure the promotion and accessibility of books in this genre and their integration into the curriculum and pleasure reading opportunities of students. In addition to curating lists of books that meet the criteria for the learner profile or attitudes, matched to the unit of inquiry (UOI) these books need to be selected and distributed to classrooms in time for the relevant UOI, or put on display as appropriate in the library. Teachers’ limited time and experience in selecting literature or ambivalent attitude to reading (Cox & Schaetzel, 2007; Cremin, Mottram, Bearne, & Goodwin, 2008) should not be allowed to form an additional access barrier to MCD books for students. Besides books in the collection, virtual curation of books, multimedia texts, materials and resources should be made accessible through the online learning platform, curriculum planning system, library blogs or library guides.

A small collection of books that meet the MCD criteria is no longer sufficient – every book should be scrutinized in order to ensure its potential to: validate experience and identity; appreciate other cultures; understand socio-political factors; critically examine the society we live in and prevent and reduce prejudice (Hinton & Dickinson, 2007).

Conclusion

The provision of MCD literature in a school library can be likened to an exciting quest - the librarian as the hero surmounting the barriers of accessibility and availability while warding off demons of the single story, stereotypes and negative portrayal.  Ensuring suitability and reaching for the holy grail of a learning community of readers embracing the benefits of global citizenship, and ultimately the creation of the next generation of diverse multicultural authors and illustrators.

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Diversity and "multicultural" literature

Deep into my readings on this topic and it's not making me feel particularly cheerful.  The statistics are appalling.
On the one hand one should be glad that there are enough people who care enough to keep count. On the other, it doesn't appear that the counting leads to any measurable improvement.

Here are the statistics from 2002 to 2014 from Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison.  And to take note of their criteria - it's only the diversity of the United States that is counted - i.e. African / African Americans; American Indians; Asian Pacifics / Asian Pacific Americans and Latinos. The diversity in the rest of the world? Well who is counting? Who cares? Or are we just not able to access it?  What about the glory of the international librarian networks? Or are we really just still in our bubbles?

Looking at the translation scene in the USA via the Batchelder Awards; Garrison, Forest and Kimmel (2014) remark how:

"A brief skim of the most recent winners and honors shows that most of the books derive from European languages including French, German, and Dutch. The story settings show somewhat broader geographic diversity including places throughout Europe as well as Asia, Africa, and South America. Garrison and Kimmel (in press) found that a composite Batchelder Award winner or honor from the years 1997-­2013 would be a realistic fiction novel set in Western Europe featuring a male protagonist and dealing with a serious topic like World War II." (Garrison, Forest & Kimmel, 2014, p. 72).

The absolute skewness in publishing is highlighted in this (dated, but probably still relevant and apparently not recently updated) dichotomy:

"While children’s literature from so-called developing countries hardly ever reaches European and American readers, a recent survey revealed that 80 per cent of books for children set in non-European and non-American cultures are written by European and American authors (Fremde Welten 2001) (O'Sullivan, 2004, p.20)...Alongside these countries which only export children’s books while almost failing entirely to import any are those which provide a market for the global corporations – 70 to 90 per cent of books available to reading children in non-European/American cultures are by European or American authors – but whose own books rarely cross the linguistic, political or cultural divide to partake in the Western market (O'Sullivan, 2004 p.22)."

Other low points include the depiction or even existence of racially / culturally mixed children or people (Chaudhri, 2013) - a reality that is strikingly obvious the moment you walk into any (international) school. 

Onwards and upwards... it can't get any worse after all.

References:

Chaudhri, A. (2013). Growing up mixed/up: Multiracial identity in children’s and young adult literature. In J. C. Naidoo & S. P. Dahlen (Eds.), Diversity in youth literature: opening doors through reading (pp. 95–123). Chicago, Ill: ALA-Ed.

Garrison, K. L., Forest, D. E., & Kimmel, S. C. (2014). Curation in translation: Promoting global citizenship through literature. School Libraries Worldwide, 20(1), 70–96. 

O’Sullivan, E. (2004). Internationalism, the universal child and the world of children’s literature. In P. Hunt (Ed.), International companion encyclopedia of children’s literature (2nd ed., pp. 13–25). London ; New York: Routledge. Retrieved from EBook Library

Conversations and thoughts about diversity in literature

I’ve plunged into the abyss of reading 1,000’s of articles for my current course and next assignment. Well, not 1,000’s – my Evernote count tells me 333.  Nice number.  I’m also engaged in conversations, in real life with colleagues and ex-colleagues and online with my peers and people I’ve been introduced to by people who know I’ve entered this specific rabbit warren.  Not that I know what this specific rabbit warren is or where it’s leading to.   I have but a vague notion of where I think I’m directed, and until I’ve waded through those 333 thoughts that are other’s takes on 10,000’s more thoughts may I have an inkling of what my own thoughts may be.... read more

Blog post 4: Analysis of a peer-reviewed journal article - Censorship & Diversity

1. A detailed description of the activity undertaken

In July 2014 the Singapore National Library censored, removed and pulped all copies of three children’s books with a gay-theme (Lee, 2014; Vincent, 2014). This created quite a lot of news and brought to light the question of public interest and individual right of access to diverse material versus majority consensus and community values (Schrader, 2009; Weisman, 2009).

I wanted to read more about the impact of public opinion on censorship and how librarians could best understand and counteract attempts to remove books from the library, and therefore chose the article: “Removal of Gay-Themed Materials from Public Libraries: Public Opinion Trends, 1973-2006” (Burke, 2008) for review. 

In the article, the author examines data from the General Social Survey (GSS), in the USA over the indicated period, related to survey answers on the removal of a homosexually themed book, and attempts to relate this to other questions on demographic and geographic factors and personal belief.  She concludes that people are becoming less conservative viz a viz homosexuality and even if people do not believe homosexuality is wrong, they generally do not support the removal of gay-themed books and the trend is downwards in all groups. Higher educated and younger people were less likely to support removal and the largest variation in data was to be found in people from different religious backgrounds and between denominations, with people self-reporting stronger beliefs more likely to support removal.  Gender and political party affiliation was neutral.

In relation to the Singapore situation, the relationship between belief and supporting removal is the most relevant.  Singapore is known as a strongly religious community and it has been implied that political and social power is concentrated in conservative Christianity (Waipang, 2011).  It also appears that the books were removed under pressure from a targeted campaign originating in one of the religious organisations. 

2. Answers to the following questions:

What did you learn?

The most interesting finding from the article was that although people may not accept homosexuality, they still did not believe that books with homosexual themes should be removed from library collections and thereby not be accessible to those with lifestyles different to them.

How was the activity relevant to your professional practice?

Reading the article (Burke, 2008) and also reading related articles (Gutman, 2010; Lukenbill & Lukenbill, 2007; Schrader, 2009; Weisman, 2009) gave me a better insight into censorship challenges to books and the positive and professional duties of a librarian within the framework of ethics, inclusive service, access to information and guarding against discriminatory or censorship practices. 

Were any gaps in your knowledge revealed? How might you fill those gaps?

Until now I didn’t have a very clearly articulated view on censorship beyond the fact that I didn’t think it was appropriate. The articles I have read have given me some concrete strategies for dealing with challenges to books in the library as well as an opportunity to revisit our collection in the light of recommended books.

3. References

Burke, S. K. (2008). Removal of Gay‐Themed Materials from Public Libraries: Public Opinion Trends, 1973–2006. Public Library Quarterly, 27(3), 247–264. doi:10.1080/01616840802229552

Gutman, D. (2010). How I Corrupted America’s Youth. School Library Journal, 56(5), 28. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ulh&AN=50337475&site=ehost-live

Lee, P. (2014, July 13). 400 gather outside National Library for reading event in response to NLB’s removal of three books. Retrieved August 8, 2014, from http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/250-gather-outside-national-library-reading-event-respon

Lukenbill, W. B., & Lukenbill, J. F. (2007). Censorship: What Do School Library Specialists Really Know? A Consideration of Students’ Rights, the Law and Implications for a New Education Paradigm. School Library Media Research, 10.

Schrader, A. M. (2009). Challenging Silence, Challenging Censorship, Building Resilience: LGBTQ Services and Collections in Public, School and Post-Secondary Libraries. Feliciter, 55(3), 107–108.

Vincent, A. (2014, July 11). Singapore pulps childrens books about gay parenting [News report]. Retrieved August 8, 2014, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/10961880/Singapore-pulps-childrens-books-about-gay-parenting.html

Waipang, A. (2011, August 6). Singapore’s religious landscape from Census 2010 [Weblog post]. Retrieved September 18, 2014, from http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/singapores-religious-landscape-from-census-2010/

Weisman, S. (2009). A Review of “Challenging Silence, Challenging Censorship”: Shrader, A. and Wells, K. (2007). Ottawa, Canada: Canadian Teachers, Federation. Journal of LGBT Youth, 6(1), 92–96. doi:10.1080/19361650802379805

Blog post 3: Write a book review - Diversity

1. A detailed description of the activity undertaken

The visually stunning book: The London Jungle Book by Bhajju Shyam (Shyam, Rao, & Wolf, 2014) was reviewed.  In this recently republished book, an Indian artist from the Gond tribe creates a visual travelogue of his experiences in London where he lives for two months to paint murals in an Indian restaurant.  The title refers back to Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle book – a juxtaposition where an Englishman travelled to the jungle area where Shyam lives and wrote of his experiences there.

The visual story and text

Explanation of drawings

Besides the wonderful illustrations and the poignant but perceptive comments on London and its people, I particularly liked the fact that the book could be read on multi-levels and is therefore suitable for readers of all ages. There is a visual story accompanied by text in translation from his oral storytelling that will appeal as he simply recounts experiences and observations of a foreign land. Then the artist explains his choices of drawing as he breaks with traditional communal symbols and traditions in order to tell a unique and personal story. An additional level is added by the reader, who while reading this will no doubt reflect on his or her own travel experience or knowledge and feelings about London.

Extension activities for students could include investigating and comparing Kipling’s book with this as well as the works of the anthropologist Verrier Elwin who lived with the Gond tribe.

2. Answers to the following questions:

What did you learn?

In the first place I realized that although I’ve been reviewing books informally (in my Goodreads profile, or on my blog) for a while, I didn’t actually know what the principles of a good review were, so I had to first do some research on that. I found three good reputable resources, Owl Purdue writing lab (Brizee, 2012); BookTrust (Playa, 2014) and Scholastic (Philbrick, 2014) and compared the elements.

How was the activity relevant to your professional practice?

As a librarian I am often asked my opinion on books or need to write brief reviews. I had not approached this in a structural way before, so it is good to have a review “template” in mind when talking about a book. I can encourage students to write reviews on the books they have read, and give them tips on how to do so.

Were any gaps in your knowledge revealed? How might you fill those gaps?

At first the illustrations struck me as being reminiscent of Australian Aboriginal art, so I did some more research on the Gond Tribe and ethnic minorities in India. About 30% of our students are Indian, and I recognised that I know very little about India and its vast diversity in language, culture, art and literary traditions. I can fill the gaps in my knowledge both by reading up about the country and its people and by having conversations with students and their parents to better understand the nation.

3. References:

Brizee, A. (2012, September 19). Purdue OWL: Book Review. Retrieved September 7, 2014, from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/704/01/

Philbrick, R. (2014). Writing with Writers: Writing a Book Review. Retrieved September 7, 2014, from http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/bookrev/

Playa, L. (2014). Tips for writing book reviews [Article]. Retrieved September 7, 2014, from http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/teenagers/writing-tips/tips-for-writing-book-reviews/

Shyam, B., Rao, S., & Wolf, G. (2014). The London jungle book. India: Tara Books.