Amy Foster

12/3/2014

Literature of the Young Child and Response

Storyboost Paper
Dr. John McCracken
Fall 2014
Mr. Popular and the Outcast: How Social Standing Aects Reading
The hallways at Frances Slocum Elementary are narrow. The eect this has on
two dierent students is rather telling of the rest of their school experience. Sitting
down to read books with me, Trevon will scoot away from the wall so he can hi-five the
students walking past him. He points out kids he knows and calls them by name. They
all acknowledge him. The other student, Cassy, experiences something very dierent.
Cassy has balance problems. Shes intelligent, sweet, and strong, but she cant stay
upright to save her life. To get around she uses her walker. When story time comes
around, she slinks into the wall and leans against me. She lowers her head and tries to
pull her walker into the wall. When kids come by, they say hello as they kick her walker.
The gap between the social standing of Trevon and Cassy has created a completely
dierent reading experience for each.
We often consider the socio-economic standing of children when we are
interacting with them. Socio-economic standing is a major contributing factor to how
kids get along with others at school and who they talk to. But at times something like an
outgoing personality or a dierence in the way a child walks can change the way their
own peers treat them. So how does an adult address children that have been labelled
one way or another by their own generational peers? Do we ignore their social standing

or cater to it? These were questions I had to consider when picking out the books I
would read to Trevon and Cassy.
Both of my kindergarteners want to show their strength. They gravitate towards
books of a physical or interactive nature like Press Here by Herve Tullet. Even within this
similarity, there are dierent motivations for why they enjoy books that require activity.
Trevon wants to make noise and bring attention to himself. He wants you to hear and
see him. Books that involve using dierent voice characters and making noises delight
him, because he is able to interact with other readers and impress them. Dinosaur
books (particularly the How Do Dinosaurs...? Series by Jane Yolen) enable Trevon to use
rawrs. Audrey and Don Woods book King Bidgoods in the Bathtub involved many silly
characters, which Trevon enjoyed using dierent voices for.
Cassy prefers books like Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, which show how a
little and seemingly unassuming school girl does extraordinary things in the face of
opposition. She also gravitates towards books that have excellent written stories, as she
likes to prove her intelligence through her reading skills. It is very important to Cassy
that her peers know that she is strong and intelligent. Her place in the special
education classroom could cause other kids to view her as physically and mentally
slow. So Cassy runs fast in her walker and works harder to learn. While Cassy reads to
reduce negative attention, Trevon reads to actively encourage positive attention. Their
reading styles are a sign of the way they interact throughout the rest of the day.
Becoming more aware of her situation every time I came to Frances Slocum, I
brought a book called Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson. The story features a new
girl who has a dicult time fitting into school. Told from the perspective of one of the

other children, the book ends sadly with the new girl moving away again, leaving the
protagonist to suddenly wonder why she was so cruel to the girl. When I read this book
to Trevon, he became uncomfortable and fidgety. He laughed at the parts where the
new girl attempts to impress the other kids and stopped paying attention when the
protagonist begins to feel convicted of her unkindness. Cassy, on the other hand,
identified with the bullied character, saying things like But Maya dressed up all pretty
and they were still mean to her. Why are they so mean to her? and returning to parts of
the book that bothered her.
Life experience can be of more importance than age when assessing the
maturity level of a child. While Each Kindness is probably directed at kids more like
Trevon, a single book of that nature cant touch his heart. The experience he needs to
deeply appreciate that book could possibly be produced by reading more stories that
oer similar lessons. But a compromise must be made- given the chance to continue
with Trevon, I would ease him into the idea with books that are more fun or that have a
redeeming ending. I do believe that given the time, books similar to Each Kindness
could bridge the gap between kids like Trevon and Cassy.