For Educators: Voting Rights Act of 1965
Using primary document sources, students will learn about the creation and ratification of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the history of the Congressional Black Caucus’ on-going efforts to ensure the enforcement of the law and the reauthorization of portions that had an expiration date. Students will also learn about the power of voting in a democratic society and why it is important to protect this right for all citizens.
Grade Level: 8-12
Essential Question: What social and political structures, particularly in the South, galvanized the protest and advocacy for an eventual ratification of the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
National U.S. History Standards
Era 9: Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)
Era 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)
National Social Studies Standards
How does the government established by the Constitution Embody the Purposes, Values, and Principles of American Democracy?
National Standards for Civics and Government
Content Standard V: What are the roles of the citizen in American Democracy?
National Visual Arts Standards
Select an activity below to view full activity guidelines:
Warm-Up Activity: Know, Want, and Learned (KWL) chart organizer (pdf)
Activity 1: Interpretation: What is the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
Activity 2: Obstacles to Participation in the Election Process
Activity 3: Protecting Our Right to Vote
Following the Civil War, African Americans received citizenship rights through a number of legislative achievements including the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 which gave African Americans the right to vote and prohibited racial discrimination in voting. Even with these protections in place, many southern states resisted racial equality and skirted the law by administering tests designed to prevent African Americans from registering to vote and thus keeping them from participating in the electoral process.
In March 1965, on a bridge outside Selma, Alabama, civil rights activists, led by Dr. King and others, took to the streets in a peaceful protest for voting rights for African Americans. They were met with clubs and violence. Many were beaten and severely injured, including a young activist named John Lewis—later to be Congressman Lewis.
But the activists did not march in vain. Television brought this conflict of angry violence against peaceful, moral protest into living rooms across America.
Five days later, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, introduced to Congress the idea of a Voting Rights Act in what is considered to be one of his best speeches:
“Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. Yet the harsh fact is that in many places, in this country, men and women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes. Every device of which human ingenuity is capable has been used to deny this right. The Negro citizen may go to register only to be told that the day is wrong, or the hour is late, or the official in charge is late, or the official in charge is absent. And if he persists and he manages to present himself to register, he may be disqualified because he did not spell out his middle name or because he abbreviated a word on his application. And if he manages to fill out an application he is given a test. The register is the sole judge of whether he passes his test. He may be asked to recite the entire constitution, or explain the most complex provisions of state laws. And even a college degree cannot be used to prove that he can read and write. For the fact is that the only way to pass these barriers is to show a white skin. This bill will strike down restrictions to voting in all elections—federal, State, and local—which have been used to deny Negroes the right to vote.”
President Johnson announced to a joint session of Congress that he would bring them an effective voting rights bill. Echoing the spiritual anthem of the civil rights movement, he said simply, “We Shall Overcome.”
On August 6, 1965, President Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, hailed by many as the most effective civil rights law ever.
The Act outlawed literacy tests and poll taxes as a way of assessing whether anyone was fit or unfit to vote. As far as Johnson was concerned, all you needed to vote was American citizenship and the registration of your name on an electoral list. No form of hindrance to this would be tolerated by the courts.
The impact of this act was dramatic. By the end of 1966, only four out of the traditional 13 Southern states had less than 50% of African Americans registered to vote. By 1968, even hard-line Mississippi had 59% of African Americans registered. In the longer term, far more African Americans were elected into public office. A few years later, when the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) was established in 1971, there were thirteen members of the U.S. House of Representatives and one black member of the U.S. Senate. The Act was the boost that the civil rights cause needed to move swiftly along. It was a combination of demonstrations and federal support which paved the way for this important legislation. President Johnson proved this and his efforts were labeled by some as a “legislative revolution.”
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) leads the fight to protect the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The CBC’s tireless efforts to protect the rights of underrepresented people resulted in the amendments and reauthorization of various provisions of the Voting Rights Act in 1970, 1975, 1982 and 2006. Since its inception, the CBC has introduced and co-sponsored legislation ensuring that all Americans have fair and equal opportunity to participate in the election process.
Recently, the CBC members rallied in support of the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006. Initially the bill was stalled in the House, but the Senate voted unanimously to renew the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It was passed and signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2006.
Voting Rights Act of 1965 Online Exhibit at www.avoiceonline.org
Protect Voting Rights: Renew the VRA at www.lccr.org.
Activity 1: Interpretation: What is the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
For this activity the students will read and analyze the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and discuss why this act was needed despite the existence of the 15th Amendment.
Class Time Needed: two or three class sessions
To begin this activity, ask the students to respond to the “What I Know” column on their KWL chart (pdf) about the Voting Rights Act of 1965. After they have completed this task, the teacher will play the following videos:
Based on the information presented in the videos, what event or discriminating practices motivated President Johnson to address Congress about providing federal protection for the rights of African Americans and other minorities to vote? (The March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, Jim Crow segregation laws, tactics to prevent voters from registering, etc.)
Tell the students that they will now have the opportunity to read portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that was discussed in the short videos to learn about and understand the impact of the act then and now. This reading activity also gives the students an opportunity to review and interpret an actual bill.
Divide the class into five smaller groups. Print a copy of the document for each group.
Assign each group (see assignments below) a section of the Act for them to read and interpret its meaning. Remember, a word or phrase has been given to each assigned section as a clue to the students in interpreting the passage.
Give each group a large sheet of white paper and marker. Once they have read the passage within their group, they should write on the paper the group’s interpretation of what the requirements are of that section of the act.
In a large group discussion, have each group share their interpretation of their assigned portion of the Act. After each presentation post the written interpretations on the wall for reference throughout the lesson.
Based on your interpretation of the act, what impact do you think it had on changing laws and practices to prevent voting registration in the 60s and now?
To stimulate further discussion about the challenges of ensuring every American’s right to vote, refer the students to the
Leadership Conference and Civil Rights (LCCR) web site to view
video testimonials from real people whose lives have been affected by the Voting Rights Act. These are contemporary stories supporting the need to renew and enforce the requirements of the Act.
Drawing from class discussions, video viewings and readings, engage the students in creative writing assignments. These exercises will enable the students to view the issue from the perspective of another person.
Creative Writing 1: Write a short story or poem based on the photo image: “Voting Rights Poster and Man on Grass.” To focus students’ observation of this image, share with them a copy of the Photograph Analysis Worksheet. The information they draw from reviewing the image may be incorporated in their writing.
Creative Writing 2: The Voting Rights Act Impact on other Minorities
Have the students write a narrative description of a discriminating experience that could impact one’s ability to vote, i.e. personal experience or an immigrant American experience, or the elderly.
Ask the students to now complete column two, “What I Want to Know” of their KWL chart organizer.
Activity 2: Obstacles to Full Participation in the Election Process
In the years immediately following the Civil War, landmark legislation granted African Americans citizenship rights, including the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, which gave African Americans the right to vote and prohibited racial discrimination in voting. But for years, many southern states resisted racial equality and skirted the law by administering tests designed to prevent African Americans from registering to vote in the first place. From 1964 through 1965, the State of Alabama used 100 different literacy tests to make it difficult for people to “study” for the test. Applicants were asked to pick a test at random from a loose-leaf notebook. However, many organizations like Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama conducted voter education classes to help individuals to prepare to take the test.
Black citizens who managed to pass the registration tests were often threatened, fired from their jobs, or beaten. In other states like Louisiana, they had to be identified by two registered voters. In states where the Ku Klux Klan maintained power—Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi, for example—scare tactics and lynching intimidated many African Americans from trying to register at all.
Class Time Needed: one class session
Share with each student a copy of the registration test as well as a copy of the Written Document Analysis guide sheet. Using the guide sheet, instruct the students to review the test.
Now share with the students the Poll tax receipt document. Using the Written Document Analysis guide sheet allow the students time to study it.
To deepen students’ understanding of the impact of these and other discriminatory practices on individuals, assign the students two short readings of testimonies from the book, Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell about Life in the Segregated South, by William Chafe. The book also comes with a CD-ROM and DVD of individual testimonies. The recommended readings are:
Have the students share with their family or community members copies of these documents and interview them about experiences they may have had trying to vote. Invite family members to your classroom to share their experience.
Activity 3: Protecting Our Right to Vote
In 1970, Congress extended Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act for five years. Section 5 focused on the use of discriminatory tests and other devices like the poll tax designed to exclude certain individuals from the voting process. These extensions required that jurisdictions with a history of illegal discrimination obtain permission from either the Justice Department or a panel of federal district court judges before changing any voting practices.
In 1975, Congress extended Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act for seven more years. The definition of “test or device” was expanded to include the practice of providing election information, including ballots, only in English in states or political subdivisions where members of a single language minority constituted more than five percent of the citizens of voting age. Congresswoman Barbara Jordan from Texas proposed to expand the “test or device” term to include ballots printed only in English in areas with a high concentration of Spanish-speaking Americans. This became a major issue during the debates for the extension of the act.
Class Time Needed: two class sessions
Tell the students that they are going to analyze Congressional documents from 1975 to gather information about the debates and issues raised by members of Congress about the impact of providing election information and ballots in other languages like Spanish and securing the extension of the act.
Divide the class into small groups. Distribute to each group copies of the documents, 1975 CBC memo to Caucus Members from Congressman Charles B. Rangel and the handwritten letter from CBC member Parren Mitchell. Using the written document analysis guide sheet, allow the students to review the documents.
Ask the students to share what information can be gathered from the documents. See sample questions below:
Q: Who were members of the CBC in 1975?
A: Charles Rangel, Yvonne Burke, Walter Fauntroy, Andrew Young, Shirley Chisholm, William Clay, Cardiss Collins, John Conyers, Ronald Dellums, Charles Diggs, Harold Ford, Sr., Augustus Hawkins, Barbara Jordan, Ralph Metcalfe, Parren Mitchell, Robert N.C. Nix, and Louis Stokes
Q: What states did they represent?
A: New York – Rangel and Chisholm; California – Burke, Dellums, Hawkins; District of Columbia – Fauntroy; Georgia – Young; Missouri – Clay; Michigan – Collins, Conyers, and Diggs; Tennessee – Ford; Texas – Jordan; Illinois – Metcalfe; Maryland – Mitchell; Pennsylvania – Nix; Ohio – Stokes
Q: What role did Charles Rangel play in the CBC in 1975?
Q: What was the status of the act?
A: It needed to be reauthorized
Q: What was the major issue for extending the act?
A: Ballots and election materials written for Spanish speaking citizens
Q: As a U.S. House Representative from Texas, why do you think this issue was very important to Congresswoman Barbara Jordan?
A: Texas had one of the biggest Spanish-speaking populations at the time
Tell the students that their group will play the role of news reporters. Each group is to prepare a news announcement based on the information provided in the documents as well as Barbara Jordan’s February 19, 1975 speech to extend the Act with the inclusion of addressing the needs of Spanish-speaking citizens as recorded in the Congressional Record.
Engage your students in a debate about the relevance of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to individual lives and American citizens’ right to practice civic responsibility. Based on current events, have the students prepare a persuasive argument in response to one of the following statements:
For a recent event related to the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, listen to a National Public Radio report, July 14, 2008 on voting fraud activity in Alabama.
For additional primary documents see the National Archives web site for the following:
A timeline is a calendar of events that have occurred in a day, a month or several years. Illustrations or images are often used to give a visual chronology of key events highlighted on the timeline. Using the Avoice Voting Rights Act Timeline, arrange the students in teams and assign each team a period of events on the timeline. Tell them to use images and drawings to create a collage interpretation of their assigned period. In the classroom or school hallway, create a timeline exhibit about the history of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Consider including the students written assignments and oral interviews.
Amendment: an alteration of or addition to a motion, bill, constitution, etc.
Bill of Rights: a document containing a formal statement of rights; i.e. a summary of fundamental rights and privileges guaranteed to a people against violation by the state&emdash;used especially in reference to the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution.
Caucus: a faction within a legislative body that pursues its interests through the legislative process, i.e. the Congressional Black Caucus.
Civil Rights Movement: movement in the United States beginning in the 1960s, led primarily by blacks, to establish the civil rights of individual black citizens.
Constitution: the basic principles and laws of a nation, state, or social group that determine the powers and duties of the government and guarantee certain rights to the people in it.
Ku Klux Klan: a secret society formed in the South after the Civil War to resist the emancipation of slaves and suppress African Americans through terrorist tactics.
Legislature: an elected branch of government having the power to make laws.
Literacy Test: a test many southern states administered to prevent African Americans from registering to vote.
Poll Taxes: a tax required as a qualification for voting. After the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution extended the vote to blacks in 1870, many southern states instituted poll taxes to prevent blacks from voting. The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1964, prohibits poll taxes for federal elections.
Primary Documents: primary sources that may include letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, speeches, interviews, memoirs, and documents produced by government agencies.
Ratify: an authoritative statement, i.e. to formally approve a law.
Reauthorization: the process by which Congress prescribes changes, additions, and deletions in the re-approval and extension of a current law.
US Congress: the legislature of the United States government.
Vote: a formal expression of a wish will, or choice made by an act or process of voting.
Voter Registration: the requirement of citizens to register with their local board of elections before being qualified to vote.
Visit the Avoice exhibit on the Voting Rights Act.
Chafe, William H. Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South. The New Press, New York. 2001
Marable, Manning, Leith Muelings. Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal: An African American Anthology. Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland. 2003
Pauley, Garth. Lyndon B. Johnson’s American Promise: The 1965 Voting Rights Act. Palgrave MacMillan, New York. 1995
Taylor, William. Voting Rights in America: Continuing the Quest for Full Participation. University of Illinois Press, Champaign, IL. 1992
Aretha, David. Selma and the Voting Rights Act, Civil Rights Movement Series. Morgan Reynolds Publishing, Greensboro, North Carolina. 2007
Colman, Penny. Fannie Lou Hamer and the Fight for the Vote. Millbrook Press, Brookfield, Connecticut. 1993
Harvey, Miles, Women’s Voting Rights: Story of 19th Amendment. The Children’s Press, San Francisco, California. 1998
Letwin, Laura. Fannie Lou Hamer: Fighting for the Right to Vote. Enslow Publishers, Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. 2002
Lusane, Clarence. No Easy Victories: Black Americans and the Vote. Franklin Watts Publisher, London, United Kingdom. 1996
Scott, John H. with Cleo Scott Brown. Witness to the Truth: My Struggle for Human Rights in Louisiana. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia. 2003
Scriabine, Christine. Black Voting Rights: The Fight for Equality. Jackdaw Publishers, Amawalk, New York. 1992 (Out-of-Print, must obtain from local library)
Avoice: African American Voice in Congress
Congressional Black Caucus (CBC)
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF)
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
The Library of Congress
The National Archives
The National Park Service: Teaching with Historic Places
The Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March: Shaking the Conscience of the Nation
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 lesson unit was created through the combined efforts of:
Adrena Ifill, Project Director, Avoice, CBCF Virtual Library Project
Alison Kootstra, Project Coordinator, Avoice, CBCF Virtual Library Project
R. Maria Marable-Bunch, Education Consultant
This lesson unit was reviewed by the following educators:
Michael Bartlett, Ph.D., Teacher, Stone Mountain, CA
Rita Johnson, Principal, Washington, DC
Lynn Long, Curriculum Specialist, former Principal, Washington, DC
Tanya Brown Merriman, Curriculum Specialist, Chicago, IL
Mwasaa Sherard, Teacher, Stone Mountain, GA
Sonya Fordham, Teacher, Dorchester, SC
Mable Roche, Teacher, New Orleans, LA
This project was made possible by the generous support of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Dell Inc. and The University of Texas at Austin.


What Teachers Need to Know About the "New" Nonfiction
Children's nonfiction picture books is a genre that is exploding in both quality and quantity. Recent nonfiction books reveal an emphasis on the visual, an emphasis on accuracy, and an engaging writing style. Suggestions are included for choosing and using nonfiction picture books in the classroom.
"Hey, kids! Did you know that in the 1930s most Americans did not own TVs? But you know what they did have? The radio!" So begins the text of Aliens Are Coming! The True Account of the 1938 War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast (McCarthy, 2006). In these few words, author and illustrator Meghan McCarthy invites young readers into the book by using a reader-friendly tone, asking a question to make the reading interactive, and helping readers make connections between their experiences with television and the way people in the 1930s experienced radio. Even before they begin to read the text, however, children are attracted to this book by the cover, end papers, and title page. Illustrated in cartoon style, the cover features two green aliens with eyes on stalks and octopus-like appendages. The title is done in a childlike font, and the word Coming looks like it is written in oozing green goo. The endpapers show cartoon spaceships and flying saucers, while on the title page a cartoon alien points toward the earth. The title, with its exclamation point and colorful block letters, is reminiscent of an old-time movie poster. Together these features give the book a light-hearted tone and invite children inside.
Written with only a few lines per page, the book tells the story of Orson Welles's famous radio broadcast that caused widespread fear and panic. Illustrations in black and white depict scenes of the 1930s, while bright colors are used to show how people imagined the scenes being described on the radio. Excerpts from the text of the radio broadcast help readers understand the impact of the broadcast on radio listeners. Detailed endnotes give more information about the story of the broadcast and include a sidebar about H.G. Wells and a bibliography.
Aliens Are Coming! is just one of many recent nonfiction books that have features that attract young readers, help them learn about a topic, and invite further thinking and exploration. The purpose of this article is to help teachers understand and share the features of these new nonfiction picture books, a genre that is exploding in both quantity and quality.
The rise of nonfiction
Although teachers today use many trade books in their classrooms, most of these are fiction (Duke, 2000). For years, fictional stories were thought to be more appropriate for young children, and few nonfiction books were written for younger readers. Nonfiction was virtually ignored by children's literature experts and teachers alike (Moss, 2003). In recent years, however, we have come to realize that young children delight in learning about the world. In addition, there has been a growing realization of the importance of helping children learn strategies for reading the nonfiction texts they will increasingly be faced with in the upper grades. Moss (2003) asserted that "early exposure to the language of nonfiction can help enhance children's understanding of exposition and may prevent the difficulties many students encounter with these texts later on" (p. 9).
At the same time, recent years have seen "an explosion of this genre in terms of availability, variety, and excellence for all ages" (Bamford & Kristo, 2000, p. 50). No other genre of children's literature "has changed as radically in recent years as nonfiction" (Moss, 2003, p. 10). Although many of the award- winning books in this genre have been lengthy chapter books that required advanced reading skills, I have found a number of recent nonfiction books in picture book format that are absolutely enchanting. This "new" genre-the nonfiction picture book-will delight teachers and students alike.
What are the features of today's nonfiction picture books? To find out, I began by reviewing recent award-winning and honor books from three children's books awards: the Sibert Medal winners for 2008, given by the American Library Association to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book published in English each year; the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children given by the National Council of Teachers of English in 2008; and nonfiction books from the Children's Choices list for 2007. Although many of the books on the Children's Choices list were not winners of other awards, I included books from this list because I wanted to see what features appealed to children, as well as to adult reviewers.
Although not all of the books winning these awards were picture books (which I defined for this study as books with no more than 48 pages, in which pictures and text were equally important in conveying information), many of them were, especially those on the Children's Choices list. Using interlibrary loan at my university, I did my best to obtain copies of all of the Sibert and Orbis Pictus winners for 2008, along with nonfiction books on the Children's Choices list for 2007. In my analysis of these books, I found several outstanding features: an emphasis on the visual, including illustrations and design layouts; an emphasis on accuracy; and engaging writing styles, including formats that invite interaction. In the following sections, I discuss and give examples of these features, which teachers use to help them select nonfiction books. See below to find criteria for selecting nonfiction picture books.
Criteria for selecting nonfiction picture books
Is the book visually appealing?
- Are the front and back covers appealing?
- Are the endpapers appealing? Do they contribute to the topic, theme, or tone of the book?
- Do the title page, dedication page, table of contents, and other pages contain illustrations?
- Is the typeface easy to read? Does the book use typefaces or text layout to highlight information? Does the choice of typeface contribute to the topic, theme, or tone of the book?
- Are the illustrations appealing?
- Is the text broken up with illustrations, sidebars, headings, white space, and other features?
- Are the illustrations and book design colorful? Do the colors contribute to the topic, theme, or tone of the book?
- Are borders used?
Is the book accurate and authoritative?
- Are consultants listed?
- Is information about the research process provided in introductory or endnotes, source notes, or bibliographies?
- Are there suggestions for further reading?
- Are supplemental materials such as glossaries and tables of important dates included?
- Do illustrations accurately depict the text?
- Are animals depicted accurately without anthropomorphism?
- Is the book a blend of fact and fiction? If so, is it clear which parts of the book are fact and which are fiction?
Is the writing style engaging?
- Does the author draw the reader in with an engaging lead?
- Are ideas logically ordered?
- Is the background knowledge of the reader considered? Are new ideas connected to what children already know?
- Is the language appropriate for the audience?
- Does the author write without condescension?
- Is the author able to explain difficult concepts clearly and simply?
- Does the author use an appropriate tone?
- Are there interactive elements that help involve the reader?
- Are new terms clearly explained, highlighted, and defined in a glossary?
Features of nonfiction picture books
One radical change in recent children's nonfiction has been the emphasis on visually attractive design layouts (Giblin, 2000). Carter (2000) said that
Forty years ago, children read nonfiction books with small type and limited illustrations… Today, they encounter books with carefully designed illustrations that partner with the text to contribute to their thinking… Illustrations introduce core concepts necessary for understanding a topic and serve as integral portions of each book. (p. 707)
Every book I reviewed contained illustrations or other visual features on almost every page. Although all of the books are visually appealing, many also use the visual elements to convey information. Illustrations appear on the covers, endpapers, copyright pages, and title pages, as well as in tables of contents and end matter such as notes from the authors. Many nonfiction books now contain sidebars, use different typefaces to emphasize text, have additional information in the margins, and include captioned photos.
In Sled Dogs (Haskins, 2006), two-page spreads provide information in the form of large and small captioned photographs, sidebars, and text. Design elements such as the black background, blue frames around photographs and other features, and even the blue shape around the page number, contribute to a whole that is visually pleasing.
In another well-designed book, Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses? (Coren, 2006), each page has a subtle background print with a dog-bone pattern, a border of dog bones across the top, and a dog bone over the page number at the bottom of the page. Photographs of varying sizes, some in frames and other with text wrapping around them, help break up the text, as do the headings written in a playful, uneven typeface. The same typeface is used on the cover, which features a photograph of a cute puppy with his head tilted inquisitively.
Stunning, high-quality, glossy photographs by wildlife photographers dominate the book Slippery, Slimy Baby Frogs (Markle, 2006b), providing information in visual form that is as important as the information in the text. Nic Bishop's Spiders (2007) combines beautiful photographs, colorful backgrounds, and typefaces that change in size and color to emphasize important or interesting points.
A unique and creative approach to illustration can be found in What Athletes Are Made Of (Piven, 2006), in which portraits of famous athletes are composed of simple painted shapes and everyday objects chosen to convey something about the athlete. Muhammad Ali's portrait, for example, includes a bell for a nose and tiny microphones for eyebrows. A hot dog on a bun makes Babe Ruth's mouth, golf tees make up Tiger Woods's eyebrows, and Michael Jordan's tongue is a piece of basketball skin!
Clearly, visual elements play an important role in today's children's nonfiction books. Moss (2003) asserted that today's nonfiction books are "designed to engage today's visually oriented learners" (p. 12). Information is conveyed in both text and illustrations; in addition, the visual elements often enhance the reading experience in more subtle ways. For example, kids will enjoy reading about the largest and smallest dogs in the world and learning about how dogs communicate in Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses? (Coren, 2006), just as they'll enjoy and learn from the photographs of the dogs. Other features, too, such as the subtle dog-bone print in the background and dog-bone borders, are a part of the pleasure of this experience.
Another feature in recent children's nonfiction books is the emphasis on accuracy. Many books now include information about the research process, which might be found in introductory comments or endnotes, as well as source notes, bibliographies, and suggestions for further reading (Bamford & Kristo, 2000; Giblin, 2000; Hepler, 2003). Often, expert consultants are acknowledged. Glossaries, tables of important dates, indexes, and other kinds of supplemental materials provide further information for the reader.
Many of the books reviewed showed this kind of concern for providing accurate and authoritative information. For example, Aliens Are Coming! The True Account of the 1938 War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast (McCarthy, 2006), Sled Dogs (Haskins, 2006), Little Lost Bat (Markle, 2006a), Sporting Events: From Baseball to Skateboarding (Kaufman, 2006), Spiders (Bishop, 2007), and Slippery, Slimy Baby Frogs (Markle, 2006b), all contain author's notes and other features that provide more information, describe the research process, or acknowledge the contribution of experts. The author of Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth (Davies, 2006) has a degree in zoology. Author Sarah L. Thomson added authority to her books Amazing Dolphins! (2006a) and Amazing Snakes! (2006b) by teaming up with the Wildlife Conservation Society, which provided the photographs for the books. Many of the books contain bibliographies and suggestions for further reading, including online resources. Such features not only "help readers evaluate a book's accuracy" (Bamford & Kristo, 2000, p. 50); they "honor young readers by giving them entry into processes of writing" as they learn "how writers of nonfiction think and work" (Wilson, 2006, p. 62).
Although accuracy and authority may be a trend in recent nonfiction, not all books reflect this trend. Wilson (2006) described how members of the Orbis Pictus Award Committee are interested in "the presence of back matter, the bibliographies or reference lists, endnotes, author notes about the references and quotations included in the book, the photo credits, and the acknowledgements of people connected with the research and writing of the book" (p. 56), but they are concerned that a number of books they review, especially those for younger readers, do not have such features. Although not all of the nonfiction books reviewed have all of these features, the vast majority had at least a consultant listed. Even so, there are some problems with accuracy in several of the books I reviewed.
Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth (Davies, 2006), is engagingly and authoritatively written by zoologist Nicola Davies. The author's expertise is clearly evident in her descriptions of animals that can survive extreme temperatures and pressures (and one animal that can be put in a blender, and when placed back in seawater, will pull itself back together- it's a sponge!). Unfortunately, the illustrations for this book, childlike drawings by Neal Layton, do not always convey accurate information. An illustration showing how penguins keep heat from escaping from their feet does not match the explanation in the text (pp. 14-15). On page 16, the text says that some birds sleep huddled together to keep warm, but the illustration is an anthropomorphic depiction of birds sleeping in a row of beds.
Accuracy is also a problem in The Adventures of Pelican Pete: Annie the River Otter (Keiser & Keiser, 2006). This book is obviously intended to be an informational children's book. Six different experts from the North American River Otter Liaison and elsewhere are acknowledged; supplemental features include a bulleted list of information about otters and a feature showing readers how "To Learn More" about woodland fires and wildlife rehabilitators. In the "About the Author and Illustrator" section, the book is described as "an accurate and educational depiction of nature" (n.p.). In the story, Annie the river otter tells Pelican Pete the story of growing up with her family and then being separated from them by a fire. Pelican Pete then tells Annie about an animal rescue center, which is described by Pelican Pete as "a wonderful place I'll lead you to./They rescue animals and heal them quick-/Orphaned, strained, injured or sick./When we're in need, we hurry there/ For wildlife rescue and animal care" (n.p.). The book does not show how wildlife are found or taken care of; in fact, no people appear in the text or illustrations. Children are led to believe that animals make their own way to rescue centers, and they are given no information about the kind of care animals receive there. The blending of fiction and nonfiction in this book has caused the facts to be distorted out of all reality. (The book is understandably classified as fiction by the Library of Congress.)
The fictionalization of children's nonfiction seems to be a recurring trend. Giblin (2000) noted that before 1960,
many nonfiction authors and editors thought the best way to interest youngsters in science was to surround the facts with a fictional framework… The Let's Read and Find Out series and others like it put an end to this particular brand of nonfiction hybrid, which usually succeeded neither as fiction nor as nonfiction. (p. 419)
More recently, however, this trend toward fictionalization has reemerged. Zarnowski (2001) noted that although some authors and critics have argued for strict accuracy in children's nonfiction, "there are several strong proponents of intermingling fiction and nonfiction" (p. 16). For example, Avery (2003) argued that the use of narrative "captures the hearts and the minds of readers of all ages" and that narrative stories have "opened nonfiction to many more young readers" (p. 241). Avery referred to books that blend fiction and nonfiction, such as those that present factual information from the perspective of a fictional character, as "faction," and asserted that they "qualify as nonfiction in our classrooms" (p. 242). Yet Smith (2001) asserted that "while they may be interesting to read, 'factions' are at best deceptive, and they are unacceptable to those seeking accurate interpretations of events, issues, and phenomena" (p. 32). Similarly, Bamford, Kristo, and Lyon (2002) wondered "if this kind of book sends a distorted message to young readers about what nonfiction is. High quality nonfiction doesn't preclude an author from using personal narrative but, in doing so, the writing should never mask the truth or the facts to be clever or cute" (p. 9).
Bamford and Kristo (2000) used the term informational picture storybook to describe books like the popular Magic School Bus series, which "look and read like picture storybooks because information is carried within the narrative by invented characters or situations. However, these books are supported by facts because the primary purpose is to provide information" (p. 13). They asserted that problems with informational picture storybooks arise "when it is not clear to the reader what is fact and what is fiction" and suggested that teachers should "help readers separate fiction from nonfiction by highlighting text notes, afterwards, and acknowledgments" (p. 13).
Colman (2007) argued for strict accuracy in children's nonfiction, yet she added that simple definitions, such as fiction is made up and nonfiction is true, fiction is narrative and nonfiction is expository, fiction is for pleasure and nonfiction is for information, are misleading and inadequate. She pointed out that "fiction and nonfiction can have many similar and overlapping characteristics" (p. 267) including the use of both narrative and expository writing.
Little Lost Bat (Markle, 2006a) used a narrative structure to tell the story of a baby Mexican freetailed bat. In Look What Whiskers Can Do (Souza, 2006), the author used both expository and narrative text. To give general information, an expository style is used. Sometimes, however, a more narrative style is used: "An animal is sleeping high in a tree. Its legs are wrapped around a branch. Its tail covers its eyes" (p. 14).
McClure (2003) described elements of style that authors of the best children's nonfiction books use to make their work appealing. She explained that good nonfiction books are clear and coherent; they are "carefully organized, using logically ordered ideas and understandable language along with examples that account for the background knowledge of readers" (p. 80). She added that good nonfiction authors communicate their passion for the subject and write in a tone that does not condescend to children. They use language appropriate for the intended age level of the reader, but must be able to explain difficult vocabulary and concepts. They draw their readers in with engaging leads and write conclusions that "leave the reader either feeling satisfied or wanting to know more" (p. 92).
In the excerpt from Aliens Are Coming! The True Account of the 1938 War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast (McCarthy, 2006) that began this article, author Meghan McCarthy draws readers into the story with her reader-friendly style and a thoughtprovoking question: "Hey, kids! Did you know that in the 1930s most Americans did not own TVs?" Authors of nonfiction picture books use many elements of style and organization to make their writing both engaging and informative.
Author Lori Haskins (2006) grabs the reader's attention with the first line of Sled Dogs: "The people of Nome, Alaska were in trouble." In Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth, Nicola Davies (2006) presents fascinating information in a lighthearted tone:
Polar bears can keep warm in conditions that would kill a human, but in one important way, a polar bear is just as much of a wimp as we are: if its body temperature drops by more than a few degrees, it can die. The Truly Tough Animals are the ones that can let their bodies get really cold right through and still survive. (p. 19)
Author Hanoch Piven (2006), in What Athletes Are Made Of, gains readers' interest and communicates his enthusiasm for his subject in an author's note at the beginning of the book:
Do you know how many home runs Babe Ruth hit in his career? Do you know how many soccer goals Mia Hamm scored in her first year on the U.S. National Team? Lots of people know scores and records about their favorite athletes. But sometimes we don't know as much about what great athletes are like as people.... There are many great athletes in the world, and I could not include all of them in this book. Instead I have selected athletes whose stories have a personal meaning for me. Some were chosen because of their undisputed greatness, and some because they have an inspiring or interesting story to tell. (n.p.)
A number of nonfiction picture books engage readers with an interactive format. Food Creations: From Hot Dogs to Ice Cream Cones (Ball, 2006) and Sporting Events: From Baseball to Skateboarding (Kaufman, 2006), ask readers to guess "Which Came First?" Readers are given information about a pair such as hot dogs and hamburgers or basketball and golf, are asked to predict which came first, and must turn the page to find out if they were correct. Venom (Singer, 2007) keeps readers actively involved through a variety of activities such as quizzes and a matching exercise in which pictures of venomous animals are to be matched with the venom delivery system they use.
Sarah L. Thomson's (2006a) Amazing Dolphins!, an easy reader written with short sentences, is still informative and thought-provoking: "Dolphins whistle and squeak. They chirp and pop. They make noises that sound like clicks or claps. Why do dolphins make all these sounds?" (pp. 4-5). Thomson relates new information to what children already know:
Dolphins live underwater, but they are not fish. They are small whales. Whales are mammals. People are mammals, too. All mammals need to breathe air. You use your mouth to breathe, to eat, and to make sounds. A dolphin uses it mouth to eat. It uses the blowhole on top of its head to breathe and to make sounds. (pp. 10-11)
Similarly, Look What Whiskers Can Do (Souza, 2006) begins with what kids already know. "Have you ever noticed a cat's whiskers? The hairs are long and stiff. Each one is two to three times thicker than the animal's other hairs" (p. 7). Headings appear in large print, and words in bold in the text are defined in the glossary. Author D.M. Souza explains new vocabulary extremely well: "Scientist call whiskers vibrissae. The word once meant to shake or vibrate. Whiskers let many animals called mammals feel movements or vibrations in both air and water" (p. 8).
Sandra Markle's (2006b) photo-essay Slippery, Slimy Baby Frogs is well organized into sections that follow one other in a logical, cohesive manner. For example, the "On Their Own" section begins, "Because most adult frogs leave their eggs once they are laid, most baby frogs grow up without parents (n.p.)". The next section, "Taking Care of Baby," follows logically from the previous one: "Some baby frogs do get special care from their parents while they're growing up" (n.p.).
In contrast, two books I reviewed had some problems with style and organization. Horses, a photo- essay by prolific and award-winning children's nonfiction author Seymour Simon (2006), has beautiful glossy photos on the cover, endpapers, title page, and each page throughout the book, yet the text seems to present a succession of unrelated facts in no order, with photos that don't always support the text. On one page, Simon discusses the names for horses of different colors; the accompanying photograph, however, does not show the kinds of horses discussed. There is also a discussion of breeds of horses that includes the terms hotbloods, coldbloods, and warmbloods. Unfortunately Simon doesn't explain that these terms have nothing to do with being warm or coldblooded as the terms are normally used, which makes this highly confusing for the reader.
Lukens (2003) has said that nonfiction authors sometimes condescend to children by "oversimplifying, thinking of the readers as dear little things, or guarding their ears from the whole truth" (p. 290), and that "condescension often takes the form of anthropomorphism, an attitude that suggests a lack of interesting qualities in the animals themselves" (p. 292). In addition to its use of anthropomorphism, The Adventures of Pelican Pete: Annie the River Otter (Keiser & Keiser, 2006) uses a sappy, condescending tone: "For all the children good and sweet:/ I'll tell a tale of Pelican Pete: And for all who were bad today:/ I'll tell the story anyway" (n.p.).
Choosing and sharing nonfiction picture books
Sources of Information About Nonfiction Picture Books
Teachers who want to discover the possibilities of nonfiction picture books may start by browsing local libraries and bookstores. Book awards are another source for good nonfiction picture books. In addition to the Children's Choices list (www.reading.org/ resources/booklists/childrenschoices.aspx), the Orbis Pictus Award (www.ncte.org/awards/orbispictus), and the Sibert Medal (www.ala.org), there are other nonfiction book awards that teachers may want to consult. The National Science Teachers' Association and the Children's Book Council publishes a yearly list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 (www.nsta.org/publications/ostb), and the Children's Book Council also teams up with the National Council for the Social Studies to create an annual list of Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People (www.socialstudies.org/resources/ notable). The Caldecott Medal and its Honor List (www.ala.org) may also include nonfiction picture books, and the Boston Globe-The Horn Book Awards (www.hbook.com) include a category for nonfiction. The Horn Book also publishes a list of best picture books, fiction books, and nonfiction books each year in its "Fanfare" list.
In addition, many nonfiction authors have their own webpages, like Steve Jenkins, author of Caldecott Honor Book What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? (Jenkins, 2004) and many other beautifully illustrated books (www.stevejenkinsbooks.com).
Choosing Nonfiction Picture Books
Teachers can use the three features of nonfiction picture books discussed herein to help them choose books for their classrooms.
- Are the books visually appealing? Look for books with attractive and accurate illustrations, page layouts that break up text, borders and other interesting design features, attractive and readable typefaces, and appropriate use of color for page backgrounds, text, and other features.
- Do the books provide accurate, authoritative information? Look for books with consultants listed and source notes or other features that contain information about the research process. In addition, choose books in which the illustrations accurately depict the content, and in which the information is presently realistically, without anthropomorphism.
- Are they engagingly written? Look for books that make good teachers! Good nonfiction books should be well organized, should grab readers' attention, take readers' likely background knowledge into consideration, and clearly explain new terms. In addition, look for books that present information in creative ways, and that encourage reader interaction with the text.
Sharing Nonfiction Picture Books With Children
Because today's nonfiction children's books provide new ways to convey information, teachers need to learn new ways to share these books with children. Nonfiction picture books convey information not only in the text, but also in endpapers, supplemental materials such as tables of important dates, and so on. On each page of the text, they may convey information with illustrations, sidebars, typefaces, boxed information on outside margins, captioned photos, and other features. Instead of reading from top to bottom and front to back, these kinds of features can be viewed in any order; they "permit, and actually invite, nonlinear, nonsequential exploration" (Kerper, 2001, p. 27). Teachers can demonstrate such nonsequential exploration, showing students the many different ways they can learn about the topic. Teachers can also help students notice the features of nonfiction picture books by asking students, "How does this page help you understand this topic?" They can point out text in bold or unusual typefaces and ask why they are used. They can draw students' attention to information gained in illustrations, captions, and sidebars.
In another lesson, teachers may want to focus on the accuracy of the book. By asking, "Who wrote this book? How did he or she find out this information?" teachers can interest students in the author's notes, source notes, or other information provided, and help them understand what writers do.
In particular, teachers will want to think carefully about the types of books they present as "nonfiction," and help students notice when some books blend fact and fiction. When using blended books, teachers should help students understand what is factual and what has been fictionalized, and why the author may have chosen to blend the two.
Finally, teachers may want to invite students to study nonfiction picture books as they write and design their own books. Asking questions such as, what features make this book fun to read? What helped you learn about the topic? may help students think about the various tasks of writing, illustrating, and designing a nonfiction book.
The nonfiction picture book is a genre that is exploding in both quality and quantity. By sharing and filling their classrooms with good nonfiction picture books, teachers can help children learn about the world and get them started on a lifetime of reading and learning.
Click the "References" link above to hide these references.
Avery, C. (2003). Nonfiction books: Natural for the primary level. In R.A. Bamford & J.V. Kristo (Eds.), Making facts come alive: Choosing and using nonfiction literature K-8 (2nd ed., pp. 235-246). Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.
Bamford, R.A., & Kristo, J.V. (2000). A decade of nonfiction: Ten books with unique features. Journal of Children's Literature, 26(2), 50-54.
Bamford, R.A., Kristo, J.V., & Lyon, A. (2002). Facing facts: Nonfiction in the primary classroom. The New England Reading Association Journal, 38(2), 8-15.
Carter, B. (2000). A universe of information: The future of nonfiction. The Horn Book, 76(6), 697-707.
Colman, P. (2007). A new way to look at literature: A visual model for analyzing fiction and nonfiction texts. Language Arts, 84(3), 257-268.
Duke, N.K. (2000). 3.6 minutes per day: The scarcity of informational texts in first grade. Reading Research Quarterly, 35(2), 202-224. doi:10.1598/RRQ.35.2.1
Giblin, J.C. (2000). More than just the facts: A hundred years of children's nonfiction. The Horn Book, 76(4), 413-424.
Hepler, S. (2003). Nonfiction books for children: New directions, new challenges. In R.A. Bamford & J.V. Kristo (Eds.), Making facts come alive: Choosing and using nonfiction literature K-8 (2nd ed., pp. 3-20). Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.
Kerper, R.M. (2001). Nonfiction book design in a digital age. In M. Zarnowski, R.M. Kerper, & J.M. Jensen (Eds.), The best in children's nonfiction (pp. 22-31). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Lukens, R.J. (2003). A critical handbook of children's literature (7th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
McClure, A. (2003). Choosing quality nonfiction literature: Examining aspects of writing style. In R.A. Bamford & J.V. Kristo (Eds.), Making facts come alive: Choosing and using nonfiction literature K-8 (2nd ed., pp. 79-96). Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.
Moss, B. (2003). Exploring the literature of fact: Children's nonfiction trade books in the elementary classroom. New York: Guilford.
Smith, K.P. (2001). Acknowledging, citing, going beyond: Issues of documentation in nonfiction literature. In M. Zarnowski, R.M. Kerper, & J.M. Jensen (Eds.), The best in children's nonfiction (pp. 32-41). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Wilson, S. (2006). Getting down to facts in children's nonfiction literature: A case for the importance of sources. Journal of Children's Literature, 32(1), 56-63.
Zarnowski, M. (2001). Intermingling fact and fiction. In M. Zarnowski, R.M. Kerper, & J.M. Jensen (Eds.), The best in children's nonfiction (pp. 13-21). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Ball, J.A. (2006). Food creations: From hot dogs to ice cream cones. New York: Bearport.
Bishop, N. (2007). Spiders. New York: Scholastic.
Coren, S. (2006). Why do dogs have wet noses? Tonawanda, NY: Kids Can.
Davies, N. (2006). Extreme animals: The toughest creatures on earth. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.
Haskins, L. (2006). Sled dogs. New York: Bearport.
Jenkins, S. (2004). What do you do with a tail like this? Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Kaufman, G. (2006). Sporting events: From baseball to skateboarding. New York: Bearport.
Keiser, F., & Keiser, H. (2006). The adventures of Pelican Pete: Annie the river otter. St. Augustine, FL: Sagaponack.
Markle, S. (2006a). Little lost bat. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
Markle, S. (2006b). Slippery, slimy baby frogs. New York: Walker & Company.
McCarthy, M. (2006). Aliens are coming! The true account of the 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast. New York: Knopf.
Piven, H. (2006). What athletes are made of. New York: Atheneum.
Simon, S. (2006). Horses. New York: HarperCollins.
Singer, M. (2007). Venom. Plain Cit y, OH: Darby Creek Publishing.
Souza, D.M. (2006). Look what whiskers can do. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner.
Thomson, S.L. (2006a). Amazing dolphins! New York: HarperCollins.
Thoms on, S.L. (2006b). Amazing snakes! New York: HarperCollins.
Pilonieta, P., & Medina, A.L. (2009 October). Reciprocal Teaching for the Primary Grades: "We Can Do It, Too!" The Reading Teacher, 63(2), 120-129.


SHORT READINGS: 25 MG/YA Short Story/Personal Essay Anthologies
by Lesley Roessing
The Value & Importance of Short Stories
There are a multitude of reasons for including short stories in the curriculum and student reading.
Many readers have not built up reading stamina. When they do read novels, they choose novels below their reading levels, they abandon novels before finishing, or they read Spark Notes, summaries, or find other ways to avoid actually reading. Short stories are, by definition, short. Short stories range in lengths, varying from 1,500 to 10,000 or more words. Therefore, reader stamina can be slowly increased with complete texts, while giving readers a sense of accomplishment because they have finished an entire text.
Short stories also are valuable resources when classes or students are short on time or when students neglect to bring their independent reading books to class.
Short stories provide useful teaching tools. At the beginning of the year, before tackling a class novel, I used short stories to teach or review literary elements, author’s craft, and to teach and apply reading strategies. I would choose a short story based on the element, such as setting, that I wished to highlight in my focus lesson and would also use that short story to focus on a reading strategy. We would then put it all together when reading our whole-class novel.
Short stories can be employed as an introduction to, and practice for, Book Clubs. Teachers can employ Short-Story Clubs to teach and practice Book Club social skills, such as preparing for and holding effective discussions, and for practicing meeting strategies and guidelines before a class embarks on novel book clubs (see Talking Texts: A Teachers’ Guide for Book Clubs across the Curriculum for more on short story and other text clubs). Short-Story Clubs offer the same opportunities as Book Clubs; members of a club can read and discuss a short story over 1-2 meetings and make a short presentation for the class. Advanced readers could read different short stories on the same topic or theme within a Club, comparing and contrasting stories individually read, or each Short-Story Club member could read a different story by the same author and the members could analyze the author’s craft.
The Value of Anthologies
- They introduce students to new authors, most of whom have written YA novels which students might become interested in reading.
- The stories/essays in most of these anthologies are centered around a topic (sports) or theme (prejudice), offering differing perspectives and voices on that topic or theme.
- Anthologies contain stories of various lengths, reading and interest levels, genres, and formats, allowing readers to find one or more stories that match them as readers.
- Anthologies, especially the more current publications, offer culturally-diverse characters and authors as well as an assortment of genres and perspectives.
22 Short Story and 3 Personal Essay Anthologies
Flying Lessons & Other Stories (2017) – Ellen Oh, ed. (with We Need Diverse Books)
These ten stories about family, neighborhood, young love, racism, loss, poverty, sports, compassion, and dreams, written in a variety of genres and representing characters with diverse in ethnicity, race, religions, ability, and sexuality, represent multiple perspectives. The stories were written by popular MG authors Kwame Alexander, Soman Chainani, Matt de la Peña, Tim Federle, Grace Lin, Meg Medina, Walter Dean Myers, Tim Tingle, Jacqueline Woodson, and Kelly Baptist.
Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America (2019) – Ibi Zoboi, ed.
Zoboi invited “sixteen other Black authors to write about teens examining, rebelling against, embracing, or simply existing within their own ideas of Blackness” (xiii) in a book that invites some adolescents to see their lives and experiences reflected and invites others to experience the lives of their contemporaries. This anthology featured some of my favorite authors—Jason Reynolds, Nic Stone, Tracey Baptiste, Kekla Magoon, while meeting authors new to me, such as Leah Henderson, Dhonielle Clayton, Justina Ireland, and Ibi Zoboi. But even more interesting to me was that my favorite stories in the anthology were the type of plots I don’t usually gravitate to—stories with a bit of a twist. These stories broadened my reading horizons.
Fresh Ink: An Anthology (2019) – Lamar Giles, ed. (with We Need Diverse Books)Twelve new stories—10 prose, 1 graphic story, and a 1-act play (published posthumously by some of the most popular, culturally-diverse, contemporary YA authors, such as Walter Dean Myers, Jason Reynolds, Gene Luen Yang, Nicola Yoon, Daniel Jose Older, and Sharon Flake. These stories present Muslim, Native, LBGTQ, Black, Iranian, Latinx, Filipina, and Japanese characters whose race or gender presents a challenge. Editor Giles states in his Introduction that his hope is, with this book, readers find heroes that looks, thinks, or feels like them and, “if not, …find glimpses into other worlds that are both respectful and enlightening.”
How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity (2009) – Michael Cart, ed.Twelve stories that present modern views of love, sexuality, and gender identification and LGBTQ experience by such authors as David Levithan, Margo Lanagan, Francesca Lia Block, William Sleator. Jacqueline Woodson, Gregory Maguire, Ron Koertge, Emma Donoghue, and Julie Ann Peters.
Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices (2013) –Mitali Perkins, ed.
Ten fiction and memoir stories, written in a variety of genre—graphic stories, free verse, and prose—and perspectives—first person and third, about growing up between cultures by authors Mitali Perkins, Varian Johnson, David Yoo, G. Neri, Naomi Shahib Nye, Cherry Cheva, Debbie Rigaud, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Francisco Stork, and Gene Luen Yang.
The Hero Next Door (2019) – Olugbenisola Rhuday-Perkovich, ed. (We Need Diverse Books)
These thirteen MG short stories explore everyday acts of bravery among our families, neighbors, and friends; deeds that make our world a better, kinder place to live. A true multicultural collection, authors include familiar and new (to some readers) names from diverse cultures, such as R.J. Palacio, Linda Sue Park, Hena Khan, Cynthia Leitich, Ellen Oh, Lamar Giles, and Joseph Bruchac, whose stories offer diverse characters and a variety of perspectives.
Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens (2018) – Marieke Nijkamp, ed.
The protagonists in each of these fictional stories are challenged by a diverse range of disabilities, such vision and ambulation impairment, anxiety, chronic pain, Bi-Polar Disorder, schizophrenia, cerebral palsy, and autism, and are offered different levels of support. This is a true windows-mirrors collection that will invite readers into the worlds of those who navigate life differently, even in different time periods and also feature culturally-diverse characters. As an #OwnVoices collection, all the authors identify as disabled along a physical, mental, or neuro-diverse axis, authors, many new to me, such as Francisco X, Stork, Heidi Heilig, Dhonielle Clayton, Corinne Duyvis, and Kody Keplinger.
Prejudice: A Story Collection (1998) – Daphne Muse, ed.
A collection of short stories about adolescents facing prejudice and ignorance of many types—prejudice about body image, disability, sexuality, gender, race, religion, and class issues. The stories expose the impact of prejudice on adolescents but also how it is possible for prejudice to transform into understanding, giving us hope for the future. The characters are diverse—Latinx, Black, Asian-American, Jewish, LBGTQ, immigrant, and teens with disabilities. The authors of these fifteen stories include such well-known names as Jacqueline Woodson, Flannery O’Connor, Sandra Cisneros, Chris Crutcher, and Mitali Perkins. Even though this anthology is over twenty years old, the stories are still relevant.
Shelf Life: Stories by the Book (2003) – Gary Paulsen, ed.
In his Introduction, author Gary Paulsen states, “Books saved my life. First reading and then writing them.…books are the reason I survived my miserable childhood.” Paulsen tasked ten authors to write stories for this collection, stories that feature books, real or fictious and the young people who are changed by their encounters with books. The stories, which “range from fantasy to farce, from realism to science fiction,” were created by authors such as Margaret Peterson Haddix, Ellen Wittlinger, M.T. Anderson, A, LaFaye, and Joan Bauer.
Necessary Noise: Stories about Our Families as They Really Are (2003) – Michael Cart, ed.
All families are different and can be defined by connections between people not necessarily biologically related. Some children live in ever-changing family structures. Editor Michael Cart invited ten sYA authors, such as Nikki Grimes, Sonya Sones, Walter Dean Myers, and Lois Lowry, to write stories about what “family” means in today’s world.
Going Where I’m Coming From: Memoirs of American Youth (1995) - Anne Mazer, ed.
These fourteen memoirs about immigration and bridging cultures, are set in Watts, Hawaii, New York, Boston, Cleveland, San Antonio, NJ, the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, the San Joaquin Valley, and rural Alabama. These stories of identity and self-discovery were written by such diverse authors as Luis Rodriguez, Ved Mehta, Thylias Moss, Naomi Shihab Nye, Lensey Namioka, and Gary Soto.
Connections (1990) – Donald R. Gallo, ed.
Seventeen stories about connections among teens divided into ‘Encounters,” “Clashes,” “Surprises,” and “Insights,” introducing readers to such authors as Sue Ellen Bridgers, Robin Brancato, Gordon Korman, Ouida Sebestyen, M.E.Kerr, and Judie Angell.
Ultimate Sports (1995) – Donald R. Gallo, ed.
Sixteen original stories about basketball and football, track and cross-country, water sports, racquetball and tennis, boxing and wrestling, featuring both male and female athletes. These stories are not only about the sports, they are about the advantages, such as teamwork, self-esteem, overcoming adversity, and perseverance, as well as the disappointments, competitions, and physical and psychological injuries that can result. Authors include Harry Mazer, Norma Fox Mazer, Carl Deuker, Will Weaver, Todd Strasser, and sports reporter Robert Lipsyte.
First Crossing: Stories about Teen Immigrants (2007) – Donald Gallo, ed.
From 1994 to 2017, the population of immigrant children in the United States grew by 51 percent, to 19.6 million, or one-quarter of all U.S. children. The ten fictional stories in this collection describe teen immigrants navigating not only the typical challenges of adolescence but also a new country and will provide a mirror and map for immigrant readers and help other readers gain insights into the lives of some of their peers. The diverse group of authors include Minfong Ho, Jean Davies Okimoto, Dian Curtis Regan, and Pam Munoz Ryan.
What Are You Afraid Of?: Stories about Phobias – Donald R. Gallo, ed.
A phobia is not just a fear but an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something, a debilitating anxiety. Eleven authors, including Joan Bauer, Alex Flinn, Neil Shusterman, Nancy Springer, Angela Johnson, and David Lubar, present ten stories about agoraphobia, claustrophobia, and intense fears of clowns, sharp knives, crossing streets, string, and public speaking and how their characters deal with these phobias.
No Easy Answers: Short Stories about Teenagers Making Tough Choices (1999) – Donald R. Gallo, Ed
Daily, adolescents face moral dilemmas and have tough choices to make and, when doing so, will face consequences—positive or negative. Some decisions affect their current lives and some will affect their futures. Sixteen YA authors, such as Will Weaver, M.E. Kerr, Gloria Miklowitz, Graham Salisbury, Virginia Euwer Wolff, Jack Gantos, and Walter Dean Myers, have contributed stories about teens dealing with such crises as peer pressure, unplanned pregnancy, drug us, gang violence—problems to which there are no easy answers.
Owning It; Stories about Teens with Disabilities (2008) – Donald R. Gallo, ed.
Ten original short stories about physical and psychological disabilities, such as ADD, Tourette’s Syndrome, alcoholism, blindness, obesity, asthma, brain damage, and cancer, written by such authors as Chris Crutcher, David Lubar, Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson, Gail Giles, and Robert Lipsyte.
Visions: 19 Short Stories (1988) – Donald R. Gallo, ed.
Nineteen original short stories about the joys and sorrows of teens, including romance, family divorce, death and loss, written by such authors as Fran Arrick, Joan Aiken, Cin Forshay-Lunsford, Jane Yolen, and Lensey Namioka.
Join In: Multiethnic Short Stories by Outstanding Writers for Young Adults (1993) – Donald R. Gallo, ed.
Seventeen original short stories about connections and confrontations, friendships, identity, prejudice, expectations by such authors as Rita Williams Garcia, Linda Crew, Minfong Ho, Gloria Gonzalez, Julius Lester, and Danny Romero.
Twelve Shots: Outstanding Short Stories about Guns (1997) – Harry Mazer, ed
Twelve stories featuring the world of guns and how they different adolescents in divergent paces and situations, written by such authors as Walter Dean Myers, Richard Peck, Chris Lynch, Frederick Bush, and Rita Williams-Garcia.
Visions of Fantasy: Tales from the Masters (1989) – Isaac Asimov aand Martin H. Greenberg, eds
According to editor Asimov, “Fantasy is an story that isn’t true, and can’t be.” This collection will introduce adolescent readers to fantasy or to acquaint fantasy-readers to a variety of popular fantasy authors. The twelve stories feature witches, princes, dragons, victims, and evil forces and were written by such writers as Ray Bradbury, Madeleine L’Engle, Jane Yolen, Bruce Coville, and Isaac Asimov.
Hope Nation: YA Authors Shares Personal Moments of Inspiration (2018) – Rose Brock, ed.
Contemporary adolescents are dealing with a variety of issues and feelings of powerlessness in a complex world that sometimes feels hopeless. Twenty-four YA authors speak to teens through poetry, essays, and letters of hope in this nonfiction, rather than short story, collection. They inspire readers by sharing difficult childhoods and obstacles and experiences they overcame. Readers will appreciate the personal stories of authors of their favorite novels, such as David Levithan, Julie Murphy, Angie Thomas, Nic Stone, Libba Bray, Nicola Yoon, Jason Reynolds, and I.W.Gregorio.
Nevertheless, We Persisted: 48 Voices of Defiance, Strength, and Courage (2018) - Amy Klobuchar, ed.
A collection of personal stories from actors, activists, athletes, politicians, musicians, writers, and teens who share stories of facing challenges and adversity, and even hatred, because of their race, gender, or sexual identity—but, nevertheless, persisted through these obstacles to achieve success in their fields and lives. These are stories of resilience that will resonate with some readers, enlighten others, and inspire all. Some of the contributors that teen readers will meet are teen activist Gavin Grimm, actor Maulik Pancholy, fashion model Jillian
and chef Maneet Chauhan, While most entires are essays or personal narratives, some are creatively written in such formats as a graphic story, a script, a conversation, and an interview.
You Too?: 25 Voices Share Their #MeToo Stories (2020) – Janet Gurtler, ed.
Teens should realize that no young person—female or male—should be subject to sexual assault, or made to feel unsafe, less than, or degraded. Twenty-five YA authors share personal stories of physical and verbal abuse, harassment, and assault—from strangers, acquaintances, and family members. Included in this volume are stories of trial, loss, shame, and resilience and, most important, acknowledging self-worth. These essays illustrate to adolescent readers that there is no “right” way to deal with trauma; each survivor has to find their own way of processing and surviving trauma. This book will not only provide a mirror, sometimes unexpectedly, for some readers and a window for others, helping to build empathy, but will offer a map for many readers. This is a book that needs to be read and discussed by young women and men and the adults in their lives. Some familiar authors of diverse cultures who share their experiences are Eileen Hopkins, Cheryl Rainfield, Patty Blout, Ronni Davis, Nicholas DiDomizio, Andrea L. Rogers, and Lulabel Seitz.
The Creativity Project: An Awesometastic Story Collection (2018) – Colby Sharp, ed.
Every story starts with an inspiration—a picture, an object, a news article, a scene, a memory, the list can be endless. One of the most creative collections I have read, this Project celebrates not only stories, but story seeds. Editor and teacher Colby Sharp tasked 44 well-known and beloved authors with creating story prompts for each other, and the resulting short prose stories, graphic stories, poems, and illustrations can, in turn, be employed as mentor writings and prompts. Contributors include Grace Lin, Tracey Baptiste, R.J. Palacio, Kate DiCamillo, Lemony Snicket, Naolmi Shihab Nye, Sherman Alexie, Linda Sue Park, Jewell Parker Rhodes, and Kate Messner. This book will be a treasure for teachers of reading and writing and will entice even the most reluctant readers.
Lesley is the author of Bridging the Gap: Reading Critically & Writing Meaningfully to Get to the Core; Comma Quest: The Rules They Followed. The Sentences They Saved; No More “Us” & “Them: Classroom Lessons and Activities to Promote Peer Respect; The Write to Read: Response Journals That Increase Comprehension; the recently-published Talking Texts: A Teachers’ Guide to Book Clubs across the Curriculum and has contributed chapters to Young Adult Literature in a Digital World: Textual Engagement though Visual Literacy and Queer Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the English Language Arts Curriculum, and the upcoming Story Frames. She served as past editor of Connections, the award-winning journal of the Georgia Council of Teachers of English and, as columnist for AMLE Magazine, shared before, during, and after-reading response strategies across the curriculum through ten “Writing to Learn” columns.


Caspar David Friedrich and German Romanticism
To react with wonder and awe to the created world and then endeavour to communicate something of that feeling to the rest of humanity. If this can be said to be the vocation of the artist, then the work of the great German Romantic, Caspar David Friedrich towers above that of all others. Friedrich was born in Griefswald in northern Germany in 1776 and after a brilliant career, died in obscurity in 1840. Only in relatively modern times has his art been discovered and given due recognition.
His mother died in infancy, two of his sisters died young. He witnessed his brother drowning in an ice skating accident in the Baltic, an event that explains his melancholia and his obsession with death in some of his paintings. He had a deep religious faith, deriving no doubt, from his father’s reading of the Bible.
German Romantic painting emerged as a reaction against the Enlightenment. In the 18th century there was a belief that all human problems could be solved by the application of pure reason. The Romantics rejected the emphasis on reason put forward by the philosophers, Rousseau and Kant, replacing the rationalist world view with an outlook based on the sensual and emotional. Romantic art now defined a new set of beliefs, and artists allocated prime importance to intuition and the unconscious, the idea of truth to the individual self and one’s inner feelings.
Romanticism was a return to nature, which had become a new kind of religion, because the age of reason had done away with religion. Hand in hand with the return to nature there arose a new passion for landscape painting. Painters began to discover divine and mystical elements in nature and to explore man’s position within it. In addition, the Romantic landscape became the expression of a German yearning for the unification of a fragmented country: the expression of a German dream.
The biggest influence on Friedrich and other German artists of this period were the ideas of the philosopher, Schelling who said: “Lying beneath the surface appearances of nature is a spirituality waiting to be revealed by the painter or poet.” In his technique and general approach to painting, Friedrich followed the German tradition of respect for traditional rules of space and the representation of the human figure.
Friedrich looked on landscape painting as a means of celebrating the natural world and the divine power that created it. His landscapes are really religious paintings. “The Divine is everywhere, even in a grain of sand,” he wrote. He wanted to symbolize the realm beyond the senses, that place of serenity and peace which he never tired of seeking. His conclusion was that God is in all things and that the landscape in all its manifestations is a reflection of His presence. God, like Nature, is infinite. Through art, spirit becomes accessible to the physical senses.
Friedrich stressed the solitude of man in front of creation. He sought to depict emotions such as loneliness and desolation. His paintings always drew out the spiritual side of the landscape and often depicted nature at its most melancholic: lonely stretches of sea and mountains, or snowscapes bathed in a strange and eerie luminosity.
The middle distance is often eliminated from his paintings. There is a sharp contrast between the foreground, which is often dark and detailed, and the background which fades out of reach, lost in a fog or luminous haze. For him, the fog represented the cloud of our unknowing.
In classical landscape, everything was visually clarified. In the 18th century, according to certain theorists, fog meant separation from God and aimless wandering. Friedrich wrote: “Landscapes wrapped in fog seem more vast, more sublime, fog stimulates the imagination and reinforces expectation.” This introduces the principle of total uncertainty, an uncertainty as to what lies beyond our senses, or what the future may hold. The foreground is the here and now, representing our imprisonment in this world. The background, often shrouded in fog, symbolizes the infinite, the realm beyond the senses, that place of serenity and peace which he never tired of seeking, but which seems to be inaccessible. The vast gulf between the foreground and background symbolizes our separation from what lies beyond. His paintings featured solitary figures absorbed in the meditation of nature, often placed in lonely settings amidst ruins, mountains and the rocky Baltic coast. In many of his paintings a figure in the foreground stands gazing into the distance, representing the solitude of man still firmly rooted to this world but yearning for the infinite – man as a stranger here. His spiritual intentions were expressed in simplified, rather geometric compositions, often using muted colours.
- The solitude of the human in front of creation – man a lonely stranger here, yearning for the infinite.
- The inaccessibility of our goal, or of God – man’s lonely quest.
- Beauty in a transient world. The unity between humans, God and nature.
- Death and resurrection.
He travelled round Germany building up a collection of drawings of natural motifs – trees, rocks, mountains, plants, clouds, ships and old ruins. These natural motifs, which he regarded as descriptive surface appearances, were later transfigured in his paintings as symbols of hidden values, or of invisible reality. He believed that the objects we see in the world around us are like cloaks hiding a greater reality underneath, and that we can find this hidden reality by reflection. “The painter should paint what is inside himself, not what is in front of him,” he wrote.
Evergreen trees are symbols of eternal life or the Christian way of life; the sun a symbol of God; the moon a symbol of Christ; mountains, the goal of the romantic quest, are symbols of God. Dead trees or dying oaks are symbols of death; rocks are seen as symbols of enduring faith; the fog, a symbol of our unknowing; the sky symbolising salvation and freedom - the goal of a quest or of a future existence. Ships and boats symbolise the journey of life and its uncertainty.
The close relationship between Friedrich’s way of life – its simplicity, generosity and love of nature as the ultimate refuge – and his art, is evident in all his work.
The relevance of Friedrich’s art for today’s world lies in the realisation, slowly dawning on us, that nature is not simply inert and lifeless, to be exploited and abused, but breathing its own life and spirit. His art is a wonderful revelation of that spirit.
Der Wanderer uber dem Nebelmeer (Wanderer Looking over a Sea of Fog). Friedrich. 30.005.
“When a landscape is covered in fog it heightens expectation”, Friedrich. The Wanderer represents a man, possibly Friedrich himself, standing on top of a high mountain with his back to the viewer. It symbolizes the solitude of man who has reached what he expected would be the ultimate goal of his life while still remaining firmly rooted to this world. A goal may have been reached but there still remains a yearning for the infinite.
The traveller/wanderer has left the fog-enshrouded depths behind him and climbed to the summit. Does this represent his triumph over the struggles of life? The picture is a metaphor for our journey through this life. As we struggle to what we think is the highest peak of achievement we are still confronted with what seems an infinity of mountains still to be scaled as we look across towards an ever extending horizon. How can we really ever get through the mist of uncertainty to reach our ultimate goal and achieve full contentment? Or is this beyond our grasp in this life?
The wanderer’s head is echoed in the crag on the right, symbolizing the unity of man and nature. The mountain peak to which he is turned represents the goal of his quest, the God symbol. The shape of the mountain is echoed in his shoulders, symbolizing the affinity between man and nature.
Winter Landscape 1811, Caspar David Friedrich Schwerin, Staatliche Museum, Germany.
This is a more pessimistic picture, painted during the uncertainties of the Napoleonic wars. Here, the wanderer represents the artist himself, lost as night falls in a wilderness of snow and ice. He passes tree trunks and dead oaks – all reminders of death, and then faces into a frozen lake or sea. The man is overcome by a feeling of hopelessness. There is no sign of a shelter for the night or even a path. Some of the oaks are already hacked down, reminding him of death. There is no light from the leaden dark blue sky above. The old man with his crutches, staggers and falters. The way ahead is closed. This is the end of the line, the end of the road for one man – and for humanity.
Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon. Friedrich, 1829. Berlin, Nationalgalerie
Later on in his career, Friedrich often placed his wife Caroline in his paintings. Here she is with her arm on his shoulder as if seeking support. The couple have paused while walking through the mountain forest at night-time. Darkness envelops them as they gaze at the crescent moon. Trees and rocks acquire eerie dimensions. They now pause and stand beside a mighty pine tree, seemingly rooted to the top of the ridge from where a great gulf separates them from their goal. The stony up-hill path shrouded in darkness, is the path of life. The serene pose of the couple contrasts sharply with the half-uprooted oak tree on their right – an allusion to their deaths or a reminder of the trials and tribulations of life. However, the ridge of evergreens in the distance (missing from the detail) is a symbol of our hope of eternal life. Having reached the top of the ridge, they have eyes for nothing but the full moon, the symbol of Christ. In the Romantic tradition, the moon can represent an inaccessible goal, drawing us on but not enabling us to get there.
The man is dressed in an old German costume, a medieval style of dress which was illegally worn by German patriots. In this, Friedrich reveals his democratic politics during the return to autocratic rule in Europe following the defeat of Napoleon.
In the autumn of 2004 this painting was exhibited in the National Gallery of Ireland with a selection of other works by Friedrich in a special exhibition of German Romantic painting from the National Gallery of Berlin. It is a very dark toned painting. Most reproductions represent it as being much lighter in tone.
Caspar David Friedrich, Moonrise over the Sea, 1822. Nationalgalerie, Berlin
Friedrich would take long walks at daybreak and at sundown, and even into the night. Alone, he strove to penetrate the surface appearance of things and the hidden aspects of nature, pausing to contemplate a special rock on the seashore, a blackened stump toppled by lightning, or an uprooted tree still green with leaves.
Moonlight, for the Romantic generation, was an extraordinary and magical experience. The moon was a theme in philosophy, music and poetry. Friedrich was dazzled by the moon, but there was also something melancholic about its appearance. It drew him into depths of contemplation as if he were searching for another dimension of being. For him, it was a luminous bridge between heaven and earth.
The Chalk Cliffs of Rugen. 1818 Caspar David Friedrich. Oskar Reinhart Foundation Winterthur, Germany.
In the summer of 1818, shortly after his marriage, Friedrich took his young wife on a tour of his homeland, Greifswald, and together with his favourite brother, Christian, they visited the spectacular white cliffs of the island of Rugen. This picture resulted in that visit.
The central figure is the artist himself gazing over the precipice while holding fast to the grass, you could say holding on for dear life. The figure on the right leans against a dead tree stump (a symbol of death), his feet precariously anchored against a decaying bush as he contemplates the scene with the departing boats (symbolising the voyage of the soul after death). The figure on the left is his wife, Caroline, dressed in red, the colour of love.
According to some authorities, the two men represent Friedrich himself. The standing man is the painter looking at nature in its immensity and saying ‘How vast, how mighty, how glorious!’ The man peering at the blades of grass on the edge of the cliff is the other Friedrich, who said ‘Every flower, every stalk is admirable and beautiful because the divine is present in everything’.
Seen thus, the two men are counterparts of the near and the distant. And the woman? She is not excluded from their relationship but expresses her own experience of nature by her gesture. She draws attention to the depth of the abyss between the nearness of the grass and the distance of the sea. Her eyes are closed as if obeying her husband’s instruction to ‘close your physical eye’. This connects her to the standing man who is ignoring that advice for the moment. The trees and branches meeting above can be seen as a heart, making a coded link between the two of them.
An idyllic scene which seems to belie itself, with a hint of melancholy beneath surface appearances? Is he saying that even the simple pleasures of this world are illusory, that they will not last in the face of the reality of death, or is he referring to the precariousness of life, poised as it is, on the edge of an abyss? Is the painting a reminder of death in the midst of happiness? Can we be really happy in this life? The other side of the coin need not always be death. There is often the loneliness of the artist, his fear of rejection and of failure.
Woman of the Setting Sun. 1818. Caspar David Friedrich. Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany.
This time Friedrich did not eliminate the middle ground, but adopted the classic construction of receding planes. The figure of the woman, dressed in town fashions who has obviously come here on a journey, stands in front of a farmed landscape with rocks, fields and a small church, giving a religious note to the scene. The path on which she stands, symbolising the life-journey, ends abruptly. It is as if thus far she can go but no further. The infinite is inaccessible. She stands alone on the verge of the ‘other world’, far from her everyday cares, like a figure in a dream or a sudden vision. She stands pointing at two rocks on either side of the path as a sign of her belief in eternal life. Her outstretched arms echo the rays of the sun and thus unite the darkest and lightest areas of the picture – in other words, this world and the hereafter.
The coming of the night of death brings with it the certainty of a new sunrise symbolising eternal life. Everything suggests that this picture represents a spiritual landscape in which the woman indicates the way towards the light, the mountains and God. The whole is bathed in a transparent light, in which there is no longer any obstacle, whether rocks, snow or fog, between humanity and the divine presence.
Caspar David Friedrich, Village Landscape in Morning Light, 1822. Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
Village Landscape in Morning light was painted as a companion to Moonrise over the Sea. A shepherd rests against the trunk of a leafy oak while his flock graze peacefully in the fertile plains. Apart from the shepherd who represents humanity, here again are the usual symbols – the oak tree (is it a dying oak, a symbol of death?), the mountains and sky representing God, the goal of the shepherd’s quest, and this time a pool of life-giving water. The middle distance is included indicating that while the shepherd can rest for now, he still has come considerable distance to go on his journey. There are echoes of Psalm 23 in this painting: ‘In meadows of green grass he lets me lie, to the waters of rest he leads me; there he revives my soul’.
Two Men Contemplating the Moon. Caspar David Friedrich.
This picture glows with an unearthly ethereal light, a painting dark in tone. Friedrich was obsessed with the theme of nocturnal contemplation, the attempt to establish a connection between the terrestrial and the lunar realms. The two men are probably Friedrich and one of his pupils, the young man presumably leaning on the wisdom of the older. The location could have been the cliffs of Rugen, but the most reasonable guess (according to art historians) would be somewhere in the Hartz region which the artist knew very well.
The composition represents the end of a journey uphill through rough terrain (life struggle) to observe the moon and to experience a connection with an infinite and otherworldly cosmos which draws us on but remains beyond our grasp – a reality that lends an air of melancholy to the painting. Can we realize all our dreams? Compare with Wanderer Looking over a Sea of Fog.
Morning. 1820. Caspar David Friedrich. Niedersachsisches Landsmuseum, Hanover, Germany.
Friedrich painted a four-part series showing the time of day. Morning symbolises the beginning of a man’s life. A fisherman pushes his boat out through the mists into the deep, heading off on his uncertain journey through the world, the fog symbolising the cloud of unknowing. On the left are nets hung on poles to dry, implying the daily toil involved in earning a living. The house represents the small area of security that humans succeed in creating for themselves in this world. The fir-trees on the left symbolise the Christian way of life which we need to guide us through this life. The man’s goal lies hidden beyond the mists obscuring the distant mountains.
There are echoes of Friedrich’s vision in the writings of the 19th century American poet, Walt Whitman who looked on the things of this world as miracles and said that “a leaf of grass is no less than the journeywork of the stars –
“And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery,
And the cow crunching with depressed head surpasses any statue...
And the running blackberry would adorn the parlours of heaven.“
In a poem entitled Miracles the same poet wrote about –
“The wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring.
These with rest, one and all, are to me miracles.“
“Stand upon the summit of the mountain and gaze over the long rows of hills. Observe the passage of streams and all the magnificence that opens up before your eyes; and what feeling grips you? You lose yourself in boundless spaces, your whole being experiences a silent cleansing and clarification, your I vanishes, you are nothing, God is everything” – Carl Gustav Carus, pupil of Friedrich.
“I must be alone and I must know that I am alone in order to see and hear nature fully. I must be in a state of osmosis with my environment. I must become of the same material as the clouds and mountains of my land in order to be who I am” – Friedrich.
It can be noted that many of Friedrich’s paintings may stimulate a response in creative writing and an awakening to the natural world.
See two further works by Friedrich: Monk by the Sea, 1809/10 and Abbey in the Oakwoods, 1809/10, in The National Gallery, Berlin.