Issues Addressed in Children’s Literature: [Fly Away Home: Homelessness]

Written by : Brittany Rosell

          Thibault states in her article entitled, “Children's Literature Promotes Understanding” that “using children’s literature, teachers can help their class through difficult situations, enable individual students to transcend their own challenges, and teach students to consider all viewpoints, respect differences, and become more self-aware.” One challenging issue might be homelessness. In Fly Away Home, written by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Ronald Himler, a homeless boy lives in the airport with his father. They go to different terminals to try not to be noticed by airport security. The boy compares his life to the bird, who is trapped in the airport. The bird in a way symbolizes hope for the father and son.
 

In addressing the issue of homelessness, this story is an eye opener for many students and gives the readers a chance to learn about the challenges that exist in cities around the world. A third grade teacher, for example, could easily tie in the Common Core by working on describing characters (RL3.3) or asking and answering questions (RL3.1) while they are reading this story. Carol Hurst’s book review of Fly Away Home states that, “[Bunting and Himler] had to walk a fine line to tell us this story. A misstep in any direction would have brought condescension, over-simplification, false cheerfulness or hopelessness yet Fly Away Home is free of all these things.”

It is our job as teachers to make sure that students are being respectful of other students’ backgrounds and situations. Perkins, in her article entitled “Straight Talk on Race: Challenging the Stereotypes in Kids’ Books”, states “our calling as educators and authors is to pay attention, both to the young people we serve and to the books they’re reading, and to ask questions with them.” This can be done by using bibliotherapy or critical literacy, according to Thibault. She explains  that “two approaches will help you get the most out of children’s literature: bibliotherapy, which uses books to help children deal with specific situations; and building critical literacy, the ability to consider various points of view." I look forward to using bibliotherapy as well as critical literacy to help my students grow and learn.

Resources

Hurst, Carol. “Fly Away Home.” Review. Web blog post. Carol Hurst’s Children’s Literature Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2016. http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/flyawayhome.html.

Perkins, Mitali. “Straight Talk on Race: Challenging the Stereotypes in Kids’ Books.” School Library Journal. N.p., 1 Apr. 2009. Web. 6 Nov. 2016 http://www.slj.com/2009/04/standards/straight-talk-on-race-challenging-the-stereotypes-in-kids-books/#_.

Thibault, Melissa. “Children’s Literature Promotes Understanding.” Learn NC. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2016. http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/635.