About

This web resource was created for the class CEDC 704 Childhood Literacy taught by Prof. Virginia Russell at Hunter College in New York City in the summer of 2012.  It was written and compiled by Chioma Bennett, Sydney Plummer, and Nicholas Pelafas.

We have made this resource for Ezra Jack Keats because of his enormous contribution to the development and expansion of multicultural children's literature in the 20th century.  Additionally, Keats hailed from Brooklyn and as teachers in New York City's public schools for us his works are particularly relevant.

In addition to English, many of his books can also be found in Spanish (Un día de nieve, Sílbale a Willie, y La Silla de Pedro) for use in bilingual classrooms.

Research methods of an author study

This website, which was created using the simple blogger platform, could itself be used as a template for an author study. An author study requires knowledge and skill development in the areas of library and online research methodology, and if students wish to make their study into a web resource they must also be familiar with the basics of creating blog page. Perhaps the most important aspect of online research is being able to ensure information comes from a trusted and credible source.

For this project we utilized some of Keats's books from the library and home, but most of the information was taken from various sites on the internet. Since there is an official website for The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation and a well researched website by The Jewish Museum, it was easy to verify our information from credible sources. Other information came from online newspapers such as The Washington Post and The New York Times, which are generally seen as authoritative because newspapers are subject to editorial fact checking.

As a teachers, if we would like for our students to properly research their favorite authors it is pertinent that we prepare them for this task. We would have to teach them about credible sources by giving them a definition and examples of a basic bibliography. In our lesson, we would make a list of sources, from books, articles, journals and video clips, as possible references in their author research on easel pad paper for them to refer to. We would also write down critical questions of what we would want to know about the author, such as “When and where was the author born?” and “What inspired him/her to write books?”

For second or third grade we would use a computer with a custom search to find information for their authors. We would then transfer the credible information that we find to Power Point slides (about 2 slides), and insert pictures, change the background, and write the information on each slide, giving them basic strategies for how to layout digital media. We would also go to the school’s library and look for books from the author and show students how to find relevant information on the title page, inside covers, and back of the book.