Mid-Term Reflection

I was unaware that we were supposed to do a reflection about the class at mid-term but I do remember how I felt around that time. At mid-term I was really starting to enjoy the class and see how important it was to be critical of childrens books. I think that before we discussed some of the books I just thought any old childrens book would be good enough to read to a class because I thought they were all the same. But right around mid-term is where I really started to distinguish "good" books from "bad" and I know that terminology isn't really used when referring to childrens books but I think it is realistic. Before taking this class I didn't really pay attention to the messages and things that childrens books could send to their readers I just thought it was always fluffy stories that had happy endings. I believe this was around mid-term when you showed us the video of your husband reading the book to your son where the boy gets naked. If we wouldn't have talked about the fact that the boy was naked and that there was a form of a male body part I might not have noticed or thought it could have been controversial. But thinking critically about books and analyzing them deeper than the name of the book and how colorful the illustrations are is really important in selecting books you want your students to read. I think mid-term was right about where I started to actually think deeply and actually care about the books I was reading and the content they consumed.