From The Little Red Computer to The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez
May 7, 2005
xposted to Kairosnews.org
Quick—how would you say children first learn about and experience technologies? My typical answer used to point to television and movie depictions, commercials and advertisements, video games, access to computers in the home. As I’ve spent more and more time reading and exploring children’s and young adult literature for my work with ReadWriteThink, I’ve found that computers and other technologies are more and more frequently integrated in the books that students read. Students without computer access may first experience the format of instant messages and e-mail in a novel, and students’ experiences with the many netiquette and social issues surrounding technology issues may stem just as often from picture books and novels as it does from what they see on television or at the movies.
Over the last 3 years or so, I’ve been gathering fiction (and some nonfiction) that is directly aimed at pre-K to 12th grade readers to try to determine how the books that students read shape their attitudes about technology. The earliest picture book, The Little Red Computer, published in 1969, entertains listeners with the tale of a computer that doesn’t understand numbers but ultimately succeeds because it is “a computer with a mind of its own” (27). Over the intervening years, children could choose from such picture books as Kermit Learns How Computers Work, Franklin and the Computer, Patrick’s Dinosaurs on the Internet, and A House with No Mouse. Chapter books over the years have included The Computer That Ate My Brother, The Boggart, and Doing Time Online. Books published most recently not only include computer technologies as part of the setting, but they also include faux computer-mediated messages and texts as part of the story. M.T. Anderson’s Feed shows readers a sci-fi vision where computers feed directly into the characters’ heads, feeding these characters just-in-time facts and information. Lauren Myracle’s TTYL and Ellen Wittlinger’s Heart on My Sleeve are told through IMs and e-mails (and some letters). Click Here: To Find Out How I Survived Seventh Grade by Denise Vega and The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez by Judy Goldschmidt tell their stories through blog entries and Web pages.
I’d like to propose a conversation about the resources that students are likely to encounter, how they are likely to think about technologies as a result, and how we can tap these experiences in the classroom. It’s unlikely that participants in the conversations will know (let alone, have read) the various texts that will contribute to this conversation. As a result, I’m thinking of this discussion as a highly hypertextual series of book talks that provide summaries and key issues from several of the books and then invite discussion about these texts. Rather than a polished piece, I am thinking of this presentation as an extended opportunity to make online resources that share the information that I have been gathering on my bookshelves. My goal is to begin and develop a project on technologies in children’s literature that will be an ongoing source of information for K12 teachers as well as college teachers who are exploring how students’ literacy skills are shaped before they reach the college classroom.
Tags: children’s literature |
computers in fiction |
juvenile fiction |
technological literacy |
technology
It’s 1:30 AM. I am not in bed. Perhaps a random picture of a duck dressed as a pig will help. 
Despite the fact that today is Lisa’s birthday and there was much celebration including 3 bouquets of flowers, I managed to get my draft ready for this week’s