Growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Monique Misenga Ngoie Mukuna persevered through many challenges to become a businesswoman, church leader, social activist, and teacher. In this unique and gripping resource, "Maman" Monique tells her own story as she sheds light on the lives of Christian women throughout the Majority World at work in every level of the church and community.

Guiding children’s librarians to define, solidify, and refine their roles as media mentors, this book in turn will help facilitate digital literacy for children and families.

Viewing Art with Babies demonstrates how to facilitate quality art viewing experiences with babies from as young as 2 months old. Such experiences can help to nurture early literacy and receptive language skills, sensory stimulation, and early brain development. Based on the author’s research with babies in New Zealand, Australia, Romania, England, and the U.S., the book provides the reader with information about early brain, vision, sensory and language development, and the aesthetic preferences of babies. Danko-McGhee provides details about the type of art that babies like, how to display art in the learning environment, and how to interact with a baby when viewing art. Case studies of international museums, national museums, and community agencies that have had success with engaging babies in art viewing experiences have been included in the book as a way of demonstrating how theory and research can be successfully put into practice. Viewing Art with Babies details practical ways through which museum practitioners, early childhood and community educators, and parents can provide artviewing experiences in the museum, early childhood classroom or even their own home. It will be of interest to practitioners and parents around the world, and those engaged in the study of museum education.

In an era characterized by the rapid evolution of the concept of literacy, the Handbook of Research on Teaching Literacy Through the Communicative and Visual Arts focuses on multiple ways in which learners gain access to knowledge and skills. The handbook explores the possibilities of broadening current conceptualizations of literacy to include the full array of the communicative arts (reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing) and to focus on the visual arts of drama, dance, film, art, video, and computer technology. The communicative and visual arts encompass everything from novels and theatrical performances to movies and video games. In today's world, new methods for transmitting information have been developed that include music, graphics, sound effects, smells, and animations. While these methods have been used by television shows and multimedia products, they often represent an unexplored resource in the field of education. By broadening our uses of these media, formats, and genres, a greater number of students will be motivated to see themselves as learners. In 64 chapters, organized in seven sections, teachers and other leading authorities in the field of literacy provide direction for the future: I. Theoretical Bases for Communicative and Visual Arts Teaching Paul Messaris, Section Editor II. Methods of Inquiry in Communicative and Visual Arts Teaching Donna Alvermann, Section Editor III. Research on Language Learners in Families, Communities, and Classrooms Vicki Chou, Section Editor IV. Research on Language Teachers: Conditions and Contexts Dorothy Strickland, Section Editor V. Expanding Instructional Environments: Teaching, Learning, and Assessing the Communicative and Visual Arts Nancy Roser, Section Editor VI. Research Perspectives on the Curricular, Extracurricular, and Policy Perspectives James Squire, Section Editor VII. Voices from the Field Bernice Cullinan and Lee Galda, Section Editors The International Reading Association has compiled in the Handbook of Research on Teaching Literacy Through the Communicative and Visual Arts an indispensable set of papers for educators that will enable them to conceptualize literacy in much broader contexts than ever before. The information contained in this volume will be extremely useful in planning literacy programs for our students for today and tomorrow.

"This volume examines early literacy research on a global scale and puts social, cultural, and historical analyses in the front seat--without losing sight of individual and family-level matters in the process. It is comprehensive, ground-breaking, and provocative, and should help literacy researchers to think differently about the field." --Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University "No other publication that I am aware of brings together views from such diverse disciplines, contributing to a comprehensive statement about early childhood literacy. The Handbook not only reviews the current field of situated literacy but presents some important and exciting new research. It is a significant resource that promises to become a landmark text." --Eve Bearne, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education, U.K. "This handbook brings together an astonishing array of writers who explore contemporary political, cultural, and cognitive understandings of early childhood literacy. Literacy and literacy acquisition are broadly defined here to encompass not just traditional notions of reading and writing, but multimodalities, multiliteracies, and critical literacies. . . It is rich and comprehensive, an invaluable resource for scholars, educators, and students of early childhood literacy." --Elsa Auerbach, Professor of English, University of Massachusetts, Boston "This book is unique in its broad consideration of topics and its global focus . . . I particularly appreciate how the editors have situated current research in an historical context. They have also included development issues, pedagogy, research, and the newest areas of interest--critical literacy and popular culture." --Diane Barone, University of Nevada, Reno In recent years there has been a virtual revolution in early childhood studies, with a mass of books and papers seeking to re-examine and reposition childhood. At the same time an equally significant area has developed within literacy studies, reflecting a growing interest in the nature of literacy as a socially situated phenomenon. There is increased interest in literacy as a multimodal concept in which symbolic meaning is a central concept, rather than more conventional and narrower notions of literacy. The Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy is central in providing access to all these different perspectives. The Handbook offers a way through the vast diversity of publications on early childhood literacy by providing comprehensive and up-to-date reviews of research and thinking in early childhood literacy. The arrangement of chapters reflects a contemporary perspective on research into early childhood literacy. Major sections include: the global world of early childhood literacy; childhood literacy and family, community and culture; the development of literacy in early childhood; pedagogy and early childhood literacy and researching early childhood literacy. Contributions by leading authorities focus on literacy as a socially situated and global experience, one that is evolving in relation to changes in contemporary culture and technological innovation.