Children’s literature:

Opening the world, one child, one book at a time

For 25 years Lee Galda, professor of children’s literature, has been studying what happens when a young reader connects with a book. “What is it about reading that makes it so engaging?” Galda asks. Her curiosity about this began when she was teaching elementary school.

“My life as an academic has been shaped by my years spent teaching children and learning that the key to getting kids to want to do the hard work of learning to read was to engage them,” Galda says. “They want to read, they want to join their peers who can read. My job became to understand how kids interact with books, with nonfiction texts, and with stories, and how that interaction leads to engagement.”

How the research works

“There are two ways to look at the act of reading,” Galda explains. “One stipulates that the meaning is in the text and the teacher’s job is to teach readers to find that meaning.

“But an alternative way to understand what happens when we read—what’s called the transactional theory—is to see reading as a joint creation between the writer and the reader. The reader herself helps to create the meaning, guided and restrained by the text, of course, but bringing her own experience and thoughts to what she reads. It’s a dynamic process and if you believe this is what happens during reading it will profoundly change the focus of your teaching.”

A teacher basing her approach to reading on the transactional model of reading will not tell her students what a story “means.” She will ask questions of her students, encouraging them to actively create the meaning through filters of their own knowledge and experience.

“You have to be willing to hear the ideas the children come up with,” Galda says. “What we’ve discovered is that children learn more when they’re constructing knowledge in the company of others—through conversations they have about books with their peers—real discussions—led by wise teachers who, in turn, know how to be led by the children. The teacher’s job becomes not one of lecturer but someone who listens to the children and helps them build on their own understanding. This leads to more engaged, more motivated, and skilled readers. When allowed to approach their reading this way, children give it their all.”

How the research is used in the classroom

Professor Lee Galda works with a student
in a children's literature class.

“I want my research to feed directly into applications for educators,” Galda says. “My aim is to help teachers transform their practice so they can begin to value how children respond to, talk about, and understand literature. I’ve devoted my career to making links between research and classroom practice.”

Galda works in classrooms with teachers, is co-author of one of the most influential college textbooks for preparing new teachers, Literature and the Child, and co-authored a book with a classroom teacher that describes the teacher’s literature-based reading program for second-graders. That book also serves as a self-directed teacher development guide. Galda regularly reviews children’s books for numerous publications aimed at literature scholars, teachers, librarians, and parents. In addition to her scholarly work, Galda has been a weekly elementary classroom volunteer for 16 years.

Bringing children’s literature to the community

Galda, who has been a member of the committee that chooses the Newbery Awards, the Pulitzer of children’s books, also spearheads two annual children’s literature events open to the larger community and featuring nationally known figures in children’s literature. The Naomi Chase Lecture in Children’s Literature, held every June, brings an author or illustrator to the Twin Cities to speak. Book Week happens every October and features a week of displays and reviews of new children’s books on the Twin Cities campus as well as a presentation by an author. In addition, Galda coordinates an annual review of children’s books, New Books for Young Readers, designed for use by teachers, librarians, and parents. In the fall of 2003, in a move spearheaded by Galda, the College became a supporting partner of Riverbank Review, a national magazine published in the Twin Cities that focuses on children’s literature.

What others say about the impact of Galda’s work

Taffy E. Raphael, professor of literacy education at the University of Illinois, Chicago, says, “Dr. Galda is recognized for her expertise in the area of children’s and young adults’ literature. Her presence on the faculty at the University of Minnesota is one clear source of evidence. Minnesota has a long history as one of the two major places to study literature for children in the United States. Dr. Galda’s textbook (with Bernice Cullinan), Literature and the Child, is one of the definitive texts in the field. She is published widely in journals ranging from Reading Research Quarterly, the premier journal in the field of reading, to Language Arts and Reading Teacher, with audiences of practitioners and teacher educators.”

“Lee Galda’s work combines methodologically sound research on children’s literacy and response to literature with an informed and extremely practical approach to children’s literature that helps practitioners (teachers, administrators, and other educators concerned with literacy) create exciting environments for teaching and learning,” says Lawrence Sipe, literacy professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. “Her influence has spread to hundreds of schools, school districts, state departments of education, universities, and national organizations such as the American Library Association.”

Priscilla Specht, media specialist at Highlands Elementary School, Edina, says, “As a media specialist, I have come to appreciate Professor Galda as an extremely valuable resource for a number of reasons. I rely on her book, Literature and the Child, and find it to be outstanding. There are few annual events that I look forward to more than the University of Minnesota Book Week, that Lee facilitates. Whether it is answering professional inquires or coming to speak with students on her experience as a member of the Newbery selection committee, Lee provides leadership in the field of literature.”

“Lee Galda is a national expert on children’s literature and the use of literature to increase literacy in the elementary schools,” says Kathy Cahill, Reading Excellence grant specialist with the Minnesota Department of Education and retired Minneapolis principal. “Lee has participated in the professional development summer institutes of the Minnesota Reading Excellence grant for the past two summers where she has provided excellent modeling, rich discussions, and motivation for 600 K–3 teachers in using literature to enhance student’s critical thinking and experience.”

November 2003