Gloria Houston An Author that …. Hits Close to Home.

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Gloria Gloria Houston Houston An Author that …. Hits Close to Home

Transcript of Gloria Houston An Author that …. Hits Close to Home.

Page 1: Gloria Houston An Author that …. Hits Close to Home.

Gloria HoustonGloria Houston

An Author that …. Hits Close to Home

Page 2: Gloria Houston An Author that …. Hits Close to Home.

Getting PersonalGetting PersonalBorn:

March 24 in Marion, NC Ruth (Ruthie) Greene and J. Myron

Houston (Littlejim)Childhood:

Sunnybrook store Played piano Wrote stories and plays

Education: ASU: Bachelor’s Degree In Music

Education University of South Florida:

Master’s in English Ed. University of South Florida: Ph. D.

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CareerCareer

Educator: Began teaching in

Winston-Salem, NC Relocated to Dallas Then to New Orleans 1981-Tampa University

of South Florida Author-in-Residence

and Visiting Assistant Professor in College of Education Western Carolina

Writer: 1976-Tried to get

My Brother Joey published

• Rejected 54 times 1982-My Brother

Joey was finally published

Next wrote The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree

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Published BooksPublished BooksPicture Books:

My Brother Joey Died (1982)-Written to help adopted daughter to deal with birthmother’s death.

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree (1988) But No Candy (1992) My Great-Aunt Arizona (1992)Dr. Houston’s favorite

picturebook Littlejim’s Gift: An Appalachian Christmas Story

(1994)Novels:

Littlejim (1990) Mountain Valor (1994)- Civil War Dr. Houston’s favorite novel;

Worked on this book 10 years, while she was getting her Master’s and Ph.D.

Littlejim’s Dreams (1997)- Coming of age Bright Freedom’s Song (1998)- Underground railroad

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““Mountains” Mountains” of of

AwardsAwardsand and

RecognitionRecognition

Who’s Who… in Education of American Women in the South/Southwest International …. of Authors

Something About the Author Contemporary…

Authors NC Authors

Forever-Young Author Award, NC Reading Association

Junior Authors and Illustrators National Literacy Award from

PARTNERSHIPS IN EDUCATION 1990 Distinguished Alumni Award,

Appalachian State University Distinguished Educator-

International Reading Association

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The Author’s GuildSociety of Children’s Book

Writers & IllustratorsNational Council of Teachers of

EnglishChildren’s Literature Council International Reading

AssociationPhi Kappa Phi, education honor

fraternity

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Personal ContactPersonal Contact

Three page letter concerning a field trip to Spruce Pine, NC

Follow-up letter concerning field tripConfirmation email about field tripField Trip details – photosPhone call to confirm date/time of tripEmail after tripResponses to 4 students about their field

trip experience

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“We have lost the concept of reading for pleasure, for the experience. Dr. Louise Rosenblatt at NYU says we do not teach

students to read aesthetically, for pleasure. The questions at the end of books or chapters,

the analyses we subject children to in the classroom is creating a world of little word

processors, not readers! This is one of my soapbox issues.”

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Levi Houston

Matilda“Valor”-Mountain

Valor John Houston

Arizona Houston Hughes

My Great-Aunt Arizona

Jim Houston“Bigjim”-Littlejim

J. Myron Houston“Littlejim”

Married Ruth (Ruthie)The Year of the Perfect

Christmas Tree

Gloria Houston“Lee”- ButNo Candy

Jerry

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A Walk

Through

Gloria

Houston’s

BooksA Fieldtrip

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The Year of the The Year of the Perfect Christmas TreePerfect Christmas Tree

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The Year of the The Year of the Perfect Christmas TreePerfect Christmas Tree

SettingSetting: Mountains of North : Mountains of North CarolinaCarolina

Main CharacterMain Character: Ruthie Greene : Ruthie Greene HoustonHouston

IllustratorIllustrator: Barbara Cooney: Barbara Cooney

1988 1988 Publisher’s Weekly Publisher’s Weekly Best Seller Best Seller

ListList

Published in JapanesePublished in Japanese

Sold over 500,000 copies worldwideSold over 500,000 copies worldwide

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The Year of the The Year of the Perfect Christmas TreePerfect Christmas Tree

“Ruthie

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My Great-Aunt ArizonaMy Great-Aunt Arizona

SettingSetting: Mountains of North : Mountains of North CarolinaCarolina

Main CharacterMain Character: Arizona Houston : Arizona Houston Hughes Hughes

IllustratorIllustrator: Susan Lamb: Susan Lamb AwardsAwards: :

Named Notable Children’s Book (ALA)Named Notable Children’s Book (ALA) Notable Trade Book in the Language Notable Trade Book in the Language

ArtsArts

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My Great-Aunt ArizonaMy Great-Aunt Arizona

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Plan of study for the classroom:

Gloria Houston’s Family Tree Read The Year of the Perfect

Christmas Tree -Noting Sunnybrook Store, the Train Depot, Pine Grove Church, Grandfather Mountain Have students write Dr. Houston Plan a field trip to Spruce Pine Visiting

the places that the children read about in the book and meeting Ruthie.

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Plan of study (cont.) Students will take pictures

The pictures will be scrap booked-children will write captions or paragraphs relating the picture to the book or connecting it to the fieldtrip.

Students will illustrate a cover for the scrapbook. Maps will be added to the scrapbook to

encourage students to use map skills. Dr. Houston’s family tree will be included to help

children see the connection between the author and the characters.