Grade K Canon
Posted: October 10th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 2 Comments »
Mike Petrilli of Fordham Foundation has created a canon for little kid literature. He writes:
So I got to wondering: Is there a list of the must-read picture books for preschoolers? The greatest classics, old and new? A “canon,” if you will? I couldn’t find one, so I decided to create one. With help from some friends, I now present to you the Kindergarten Canon.
I love his list.
A canon, after all, isn’t simply a critic’s selection of the greatest books ever written; they also have to be books that everyone reads. You may or may not think Moby Dick was the premier work of American fiction, but you still had to read it because you couldn’t be considered culturally literate without it. Likewise with, say, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. There are plenty of children’s stories more compelling, in my opinion. But if you’ve never read Goldilocks, you’ll miss myriad references in literature, pop culture, newspaper editorials, and so forth. Which makes Goldilocks a must.
Hmm. I wonder. His definition holds true for books like Ugly Duckling, Tortoise & Hare, etc. But does anyone make cultural references to Goodnight Gorilla or Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (my favorites)?
All in all, if you’re a soon-to-be-parent, like 2 folks sitting in this very room as I type, Mike P’s list is something to bring along to the bookstore. Or to Amazon, since that’s how you young ‘uns roll these days.
Interestingly, there is more racial diversity in this list as compared to the kid lit list NPR published a few weeks back.
As I look down the list, I am struck by how many we haven’t read to our almost three year old. But I am also struck by how many we have read with her. Then I am reminded of a quote from the Teach for America magazine that really stuck with me. “I spend all day trying to close the achievement gap and spend all night widening it.” In my two roles as teacher and parent, I do just that.
I have a have a half-hatched plan to someday run a low cost daycare staffed with college graduates through Americorps. I believe that you could train such people easily to talk with kids to build their vocabulary, read the canon, scaffold imaginative play, build phonemic awareness through word games etc… May be 20 years from now I’ll get around to it.