reading plans for fall 2011

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Summer isn't over, but it's drawing to a close.  School starts 8/22, in about 3 weeks.  And I've knocked out articles and book chapters and focused my scholarly reading on primary and secondary historical sources for a long time now, related to each of those projects.  Today I send off the last article for awhile (on evolution).  Then there's one more article-in-progress (accepted!) that needs minor edits this fall (on the historical uses of evaluation in public library children's services).  I have a next project in mind (on race and children's publishing in the mid 1940s) that's on the list for spring.

But for this coming fall, I'm planning to read articles on race, racism, and whiteness from a variety of perspectives.  Some will be assigned for my new Youth Services Community Engagement class.  Others will be from K.L.'s stack that she gave me in spring.  Still more will come from the emerging reading/research group on Critical Race Theory/Critical Theory/research perspectives that I'm facilitating into existence in early fall.  But I'd like it to be a bit more focused than Everything.  So, in addition to that focus, here are a few other threads I'm thinking of:

--fantasy and other children's/YA fiction from the Bulletin meetings  (probably starting with Return of the Dapper Men recommended by DR via fb)  as well as fantasy-related scholarship in the journal Marvels and Tales
--Storytelling-related scholarship (article from CB in email which looks like one of the first sensibly skeptical pieces on digital storytelling I've seen yet)
--General youth-services-related articles (in paper form in my office) and catching up with listservs

So my goal for fall is to read and blog something, book or article, once a week-ish. 


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And I'm out!  Off for vacation.  I may or may not blog for fun before school starts in fall, but whatever I'm doing the aim is to maximize the fun for the next couple of weeks.  Back in the office starting 8/15!

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