Frank W. Baker’s New Graphic Novel: We Survived the Holocaust

October 20, 2022 In an era that’s ushered in multitudes of media misinformation with societal outcomes ranging from extremist denialism and revisionist history to banned books and autocratic usurping of human rights, it’s readily apparent the “why you, why now” line of inquiry that I often ask authors can pretty much hit the fast forward button. Given that author Frank Baker … [Read more...]

Speaking Out: A Rainbow of Reasons We Need Diverse Books

June 26, 2015 Update Photo essayist/youth archivist Rachelle Lee Smith of visual literacy book Speaking Out will be in town signing copies at Reach and Teach San Mateo tonight 7-9pm. Apropos on this day of historic family diversity with the 5-4 Supreme Court decision ruling that gay couples have the right to marry, as her photos in the book point to the many youth voices not … [Read more...]

Family Diversity In Books: A Child’s View of DOMA

Update: June 26, 2015It's official. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 5 to 4 in favor of marriage equality (see Justice Kennedy's closing paragraph summation which poignantly concludes, "it is so ordered.") Here's hoping this "kidlit" gets revisited with fresh eyes and an empathetic lens to see how profoundly meaningful this is for children whose families have been denied this … [Read more...]

Talk To Me: Because Media Matters For Youth Outreach

Sept. 9, 2011 “Text, poke, like, or chat...” What about TALK? I love how this Trevor "Talk To Me" 3-word anti-bullying campaign by The Trevor Project goes back into time to cut through the social media layers to get real with face time. The Talk to Me campaign for conversation succinctly sums the “Alone Together” dynamic that MIT sociologist Sherry Turkle mentions in her … [Read more...]

Harry Potter Alliance: Using Pop Culture Pervasiveness Positively

July 17, 2011 No, I haven’t seen the Harry Potter grand finale yet.Yes, it’s been covered from every angle, dominating Twitter streams, Facebook status lines and yielding the largest weekend box office on record with one out of four tickets sold going ka-ching for the wizard boy.And maybe it'll be worthy of the 3D hyped up media zeal, but like the Twilight series or any other … [Read more...]