New Brunswick Books and Community Libraries, 2021

 

Hello there! I am the owner of the Little Free Library in Upper Cape, NB. I just checked my Little library and noticed the very generous donation of new books from your organization. What a wonderful surprise! Thank you so very much for thinking of us and adding to our library. Your kindness truly made my day.

Cheers!

For the second summer in a row, QLNB responded to an absence of community events by bringing books written, illustrated and/or published by New Brunswickers to free community libraries from Passamaquoddy Bay at the western mouth of the Bay of Fundy, east to Baie Verte in the south of the Northumberland Strait.

We stocked NB books in two libraries in St. Andrews, as well as one each in Saint George, L’Etete and Lorneville.  We stocked an inner-city library in Saint John's south-end, and another in an east side neighbourhood, as well as libraries at the Little River Reservoir, Red Head and Hampton.

We placed books beside the Saint John river in libraries located in Brown’s Flat, Bates Landing and Long Reach, and also further inland at Tracy, Waterville and in Rusagonis.  Finally, we placed books in both of St. Martins' little free libraries, as well as a library in Riverside - Albert and another in Upper Cape.

 Major funding for this project comes from a New Brunswick Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture Literacy Promotion Grant.  Additional support has come from private and corporate donations.

Summer Reading Club in a Box, 2021

 

Quality Learning NB is again offering “Summer Reading Club in a Box” in three Saint john neighbourhoods.  Approximately 20 children in each neighbourhood will be signed up to the provincial library's Summer Reading Club, receive two new books, and then two more on a second visit later in the summer.

Families can sign-up for SRC-in-a-box at

• Courtenay Bay - Monday, July 5th (5-7, beside Brunswick Drive Apartment)

 

• Anglin Drive - Tuesday, July 6th (4-6, Pigeon Terrace)

 

• Roxbury Drive - Wednesday, July 7th (5-7, common area behind the buildings)

 

Families can also sign up for the NB Public Library's Summer Reading Club online at https://www1.gnb.ca/0003/src=cle/2020/en/index-e.asp  

This project is made possible by financial support from Saint John Energy, the the Department of Social Development - Housing, and the Saint John Free Public Library.

 

 

Literacy, Learning and Popular Family Culture

Still from Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut (2012)

We were talking popular culture, family literacies and about our Easter viewing - the films and specials we'd seen as children and still watched with our families today.  The Ten Commandments (1956), of course.  Sometimes Ben-Hur (1959).  And to fill out the 'Heston Holiday' trilogy, The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965).

Of course, these films are a half century old at this point and maybe no longer qualify as 'pop culture.'  Cheryl mentioned that Showcase (a Canadian English-language specialty channel that streams on BellTV, Shaw Direct and most cable networks) was running a 9-film Star Wars marathon.

WD: I've only ever seen the first three - or the middle three... however you want to say it.  The only Star Wars worth watching is the crowd-sourced Star Wars on YouTube.

CB: The one all the fans made pieces of then somebody put together? That they made out of short clips?

WD: Star Wars for the masses, from the masses!

CB: What a rich example of pop culture literacy making its way into family literacy...

WD: All those kids being made to help dad with his crazy Star Wars film...

CB: All that dramatic play and symbolic representation that's so important.

 

The 2012 Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut can be found here on YouTube.  And, for the true fan, The Empire Strikes Back Uncut: Full Movie can be viewed here.

Obviously, such low-brow fare isn't for everyone.  The discerning reader may wish to instead spend their time reading William Shakespeare's Star Wars, William Shakespeare's Empire Striketh Back, and William Shakespeare's  The Jedi Doth Return (Ian Doescher, Quirk Books).

www.quirkbooks.com

 

 Cheryl Brown (@CherylAnneBrown) is co-creator of the Storytent and Bookwagon programs, QLNB's Community Literacy Coordinator, and long-time advocate for and facilitator of a variety of family literacy initiatives.

Wendell Dryden (@wendelldryden) is co-creator of the Storytent and Bookwagon programs, a Community and Adult Literacy worker, and long-time advocate for and facilitator of a variety of family literacy initiatives.

 

Literacy, Learning and the Visual Arts

My 2021 Group of Seven wall calendar (Wyman Publishing) features J.E.H. MacDonald's 1912 "Early Evening, Winter" on its February page.  I was thinking about it, about MacDonald's work, and about how much I've always enjoyed sharing famous Canadian paintings with adult learners.  I re-read Katharine Child's "Giving Students Roots and Wings" (Literacies, 2, fall 2003, 12-17), and then called up my QLNB literacy colleague Cheryl Brown to talk about educative uses of one of her favourite painters, Maud Lewis.  Here's a snippet of that conversation.

CB: Illustrators are artists - sometimes their work makes it into museums.  There are artists who are already in museums, and sometimes their work makes its way into books for children.  Like Maude Lewis 123 [Carol McDougall and Shanda LaRamee-Jones] and Katie and the Starry Night [James Mayhew] and Tomie dePaola's books.  There are all kinds of them.  There are books that talk about Frida Kahlo.  Even Mi’kmaw Animals - Alan Syliboy is an artist.  I think about the Maud Lewis book in particular because it's for babies.

I find this exciting because sometimes art isn't accessible.  It's in a museum somewhere.  Maybe you can look at it in an art book, but you're not going to let your two-year old play with that art book.  Having this art in a children's book makes it accessible.  To have something like Maud Lewis 123 in a format that makes it accessible to toddlers is what I find exciting.  They'll get to know Maud Lewis' cows and cats.

In the same way we make words and letters visible in children's early learning worlds, we need these pieces of art available to them.  The art is pleasing, and also part of our cultures. I've got a Rene Collins in my home that future little ones will see.  They'll know who Emily Carr is, and so on.

WD:  Yes, that makes sense.  At times, I have had European artwork by Monet or Van Gough - I mean pictures of work by Monet or Van Gough - available in my adult learning classrooms; sometimes in books and sometimes on the wall.  I usually have a Tom Thompson or an Emily Carr reproduction up.  I will always have a Group of Seven calendar in my class.  I haven't had reproductions of Maud Lewis' painting which seems like an oversight that I'll want to correct.  But whether I'm helping adults prepare for the Canadian GED or welcoming newcomers into sharing in Canadian history, it feels like my job, as an adult educator, is to constantly offer visual representations of this part of Canadian culture.

And if you're going to take a test like the GED or the citizenship test, the Emily Carr and Group of Seven seems like something that’s going to come up; something you ought to, at least, have heard about.

When you talked about facilitating your own adult literacy classroom, you said that you used art to offer some adults....  That the chance to explore a different medium or a different modality gave some learners the opening they needed to work on their skills.

CB: Yes, well, it appeals because it’s more sensory and also multi-modal.  That's the thing about it - that it's multi-modal.  It's no accident that, quote, "fore-grounding the language, tools and practices of art" is in the "Communication and Literacies" goals of the New Brunswick Curriculum Framework for Early Learning and Childcare.

Some educators don't have an art background.  They don't have a lot of information around this, which is why some of the professional learning workshops I’ve seen involve the facilitators bringing art materials and engaging with the video and using the materials with educators so that the educators then know, "Well, this is how I could use charcoal with pre-schoolers." Or, “These are the words associated with clay and its tools.”

One of the biggest things for pre-schoolers is the words.  So, with clay there are words: "modeling and molding, balls, coils, bridges, columns" or "squash, poke, carve" and so on.  This vocabulary that goes with the actions is one reason why this is part of "Communication and Literacies."  Being artistic by using the materials or looking at art is a way we create meaning and obtain meaning.

WD: Right, although I'd think, in this context, it’s also about fine motor skill development?

CB:  Yes, that too.  But that's under "Play and Playfulness." [Laughs.]  You take your "Communication and Literacies" glasses off and put your "Play and Playfulness" glasses on.  Or you take your "Play and Playfulness" glasses off and put your "Well-Being" glasses on and recognize that painting or using play dough is cathartic and expressing yourself improves your well-being.

WD: Yeah, okay.  And my sense is that a holistic adult learning class would have all those glasses as well.  Well, I guess I just believe that - that humans are humans, and this way of involving art in education is a 'whole-human' approach to learning.

Cheryl Brown (@CherylAnneBrown) is co-creator of the Storytent and Bookwagon programs, QLNB's Community Literacy Coordinator, and long-time advocate for and facilitator of a variety of family literacy initiatives.

Wendell Dryden (@wendelldryden) is co-creator of the Storytent and Bookwagon programs, a Community and Adult Literacy worker, and long-time advocate for and facilitator of a variety of family literacy initiatives.

A Family Literacy Day for all Canadian families

Family Literacy Day celebrates what happens in
Canadian families of all shapes and sizes.

For as long as I can remember, and even before I'd heard the phrase ‘family literacy,’ I've been involved in family literacy activities.  I grew up in a literate household where we read and played and engaged in community events and nature field trips.  This was a lifestyle I carried on with my own children, and one that did not end when they became independent adults.  Shown above is one of my more recent family literacy photos; taken as my parents and I, my spouse, adult son, adult daughter and her partner were gathered around the table, talking and playing dominos after a 2021 New Year’s Day supper.  The imagery is heavy on numeracy since we're playing dominos, but there are a lot of other literacies happening here; as there are when we read books and texts aloud to each other, share maps, make plans, and have fun being together doing what our family does in everyday life.

In many ways, this is a fairly stereotypical family literacy photo: parents, grandparents, children engaged in a fun activity that involves talking, reading, writing and numeracy.  What makes it a little less 'typical,' perhaps, is that no one around this table was younger than twenty.  Family literacy still happens in my family even though there are no preschoolers.

This needn't be noteworthy.  According to the originating non-profit ABC Life Literacy Canada, our national Family Literacy Day (January 27th) "was started in 1999 to raise awareness about the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family" with no particular age limits.[1]  Yet, representations of Family Literacy Day have tended to feature families with young, or younger school-age, children.  This framing is apparent even in how ABC Life Literacy Canada describes ‘family literacy’ itself, calling particular attention to adult family members supporting early childhood literacy development:

Family literacy focusses on parents, grandparents and other family members to improve the reading and writing skills of the whole family.

By reading to children and engaging in fun literacy activities regularly, adults actively keep their own skills sharp and also help children improve their skills.

Family literacy activities strengthen the relationship between family members which, in turn, encourages lifelong learning.

Without adult support and a strong foundation at home, a child is less likely to be successful and engaged in school.[2]

Without diminishing this desire to support fun and healthy family-centered early childhood learning, we might ask how well these conceptions of ‘family literacy’ and ‘family’ suit the country we live in.

According to StatsCan data from the past decade, about one in seven Canadian children (13% of those age 17 or under) are preschool age.[3]  Roughly one in seven (17.5%) of adult Canadians are aged 65 or older.[4]  Too, roughly one in seven (14%) of adult Canadians (age 18+), live alone.[5]  In other words, Canadian households are as likely to be comprised of older and/or single adults as they are to house children age five or younger.

ABC Life Literacy Canada reminds us, rightly, that family literacy “focusses on… the reading and writing skills of the whole family.”[6]  This raises the question: what does family literacy look like in the teenage years?  What if the children are grown?  What if the “whole family” is a childless couple or even a single adult Canadian living alone?

On its 22nd anniversary, and in a time when we all want to honour diversity and strive for greater inclusion, let’s take this opportunity to gently remind ourselves that Family Literacy Day can be a celebration of what happens in Canadian families of all shapes and sizes. 

Cheryl Brown (@CherylAnneBrown) is co-creator of the Storytent and Bookwagon programs, QLNB's Community Literacy Coordinator, and long-time advocate for and facilitator of a variety of family literacy initiatives.