Jane Yolen Author Study

• English
• 1st Grade

Jane Yolen

Author Study by Kristen Moore

Have you heard or read any of Jane Yolen's books?

On the next slide, there are various books written by Jane Yolen. Look at the title and the cover of the book and think about if you have read or heard the book. Then you will drag each book to the three sections: Never heard of the book, I think I have heard of the book, or I have heard of the book/I have read the book, depending on your answer to if you do or do not know the book.

Never heard of the book.

I think I have heard of the book.

I heard of the book/ I have read the book.

Life Before Writing

• On February 11, 1939, Jane Yolen was born in New York City and has one younger brother.
• Before she was one year old, her family moved to California then back to New York a few years later.
• Growing up, Jane was a gold star kid surrounded by music and art
•  She wrote constantly and sang with her friends, took piano lessons, and studied ballet at Balanchine’s School of American Ballet.
• In 1962, Jane married David W. Stemple. 

Career as an Author

• During junior high, Yolen and her brother created a newspaper for their apartment by writing articles and interviewing neighbors.
• At Smith College, Yolen was president of the Press Board won all the poetry writing awards and the journalism award.
• In her college years, many of her poems were published in small journals like The Grecourt Review and, i.e., the Chicago Jewish Forum.
• Yolen considered herself a journalist/nonfiction writer but became a children’s book writer and sold her first book, Pirates in Petticoats, in 1961.
• in 2018, she celebrated #Yolen365 for her 365th book being published, which has grown to 378

Author's Inspiration

• Yolen enjoyed writing poetry throughout elementary school, which inspired her love of writing.
• She moved to New York City and worked as an editor but wrote during her free time.
• Jane Yolen enjoyed every book she read, which helped inspire her writing.
• Both of Yolen's parents were writers and were very supportive in her writing, which helped inspire her writing.
• Many of the ideas for her books are inspired by the things she hears or sees from books, songs, newspapers, paintings, conversations, and even from her dreams. This inspiration allows her to ask herself - what if? and when trying to answer the question, a story.

Genres Written by Yolen

• Novels
•  Poetry
• Fiction
• Nonfiction
  
• Fairy tales
• Mythology
• Historical Fiction
• Science Fiction
• Fantasy

What do you think was the genre of Jane Yolen's first published book?

1. historical fiction
2. nonfiction
3. fantasy
4. mystery

Jane Yolen Honors/Awards

Yolen's Owl Moon received a Caldecott Medal in 1988.

Yolen received the Regina Medal Catholic Children's Book Life Award in 1992.

Yolen's The Emperor and the Kite received a Caldecott Honor Award in 1968.

Yolen's The Girl Who Cried Flowers and Other Tales received the Golden Kite Award in 1975.

Yolen's The Transfigured Hart received the Golden Kite Award Honor in 1976.

Yolen's The Moon Ribbon and Other Tales received the Golden Kite Award Honor in 1977.

Yolen received the Kerlan Award, Kerlan Collection, University of Minnesota, in 1988.

Yolen's Sister Emily's Lightship received the Nebula Award in 1998.

Yolen's received the Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers of America Damon Knight Grand Master Award in 2016.

Yolen's received the World Fantasy Assn. Life Achievement Award in 2009.

How many Caldecott Medals or Honors has Jane Yolen recieved?

1. 7
2. 4
3. 1
4. 2

Interview with Jane Yolen

Watch a portion of the interview with Jane Yolen about the different types of books she has written and the different factors to her writing.

What type of text does Jane Yolen recite to students to inspire their writing?

1. a chapter from a novel
2. a picture book
3. a poem
4. a music book

Owl Moon

Jane Yolen's Owl Moon, one of her best-selling books, has been translated in a dozen editions in foreign languages, including French, Mandarin, German, Chinese, and Korean.

Watch a portion of the following video for the Mandarin version of Owl Moon.

Teachable Themes 

• The How Do Dinosaurs... series can be used to teach readers little life such as learning manners, social skills, and so much more.
• Monster Academy helps readers learn the value of accepting and embracing everyone's differences.
• Owl Moon teaches readers the idea of the power of hope, having perseverance, the importance of family, the respect of nature, and more.
• Bear Outside can be used to teach readers the importance of resilience and one's inner strength and confidence. 

Reoccurring Text Features

• Rhyming 
• Different fonts
• Different colored fonts
• Onomatopoeia
• Capitalized words for emphasis
• Repetition

Appealing Features to Children

• Vibrant Colors
•  Animals as the main characters
• Spread Illustrations
• Different Story Perspectives

Literary Skills Practiced While Reading

• Decoding Skills
• Spelling Skills
• Figurative Language
• Academic Vocabulary 
• Oral Language Skills
• Concepts of Print

Targeted Content Areas

• Science: Yolen's I am the Storm can be used to teach readers the nature of weather. This book addresses weather emergencies such as a tornado, forest fires,  blizzards, and hurricanes. Her book Sing a Season Song teaches readers about the natural cycle of the four different seasons and their distinct characteristics.
• Math: Her How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten? teaches young children how to count from one to ten through a rhyme scheme while telling a dinosaur story.
• History: Yolen's Encounter teaches children the story of Christopher Columbus's exploration of San Salvador in 1942 from the perspective of a young boy from the island. Also, several of Yolen's books are based in Scotland and feature elements of Scottish history.

Creating Timeline Center Lesson

Materials: Monster Academy book, timeline template, sequencing template, 

paper, pencil, markers, and books from spinning wheel written by Jane Yolen

ELA Standard: 23) Identify and describe the main story elements in a literary text.

b. Retell the plot or sequence of major events in chronological order.

Social Studies Standard: 1) Construct daily schedules, calendars, and timelines.

Objective: The students will be able to construct a timeline to represent the schedule

of the main story elements in chronological order of a day at Monster Academy.

Differentiated Instruction: The students will have the option to complete 

the timeline individually, with a partner, or as a group. The students may also 

represent the main story elements through illustrations. Lastly, the students 

use a sequencing chart to map out the story elements instead of a timeline.

Lesson Procedures

1. The students will explore the presentation during the center as a group. 
2. When the students reach slide 19 of the presentation, they will each individually get a copy of Monster Academy and read the entire story to themselves.
3. After reading the story, the students will get a piece of paper to construct the timeline. The students will write a sentence for each main event in the story on the timeline. While creating the timeline, students will be required to use sequence words in the timeline such as first, then, next, and last.
4. When each student has completed a timeline, students will get into pairs to discuss the main events in the story. While with a partner, the students will evaluate whether each timeline is correct with the main events and the events are in chronological order. Then the students will hang their timelines in the hall.
5. The students will then spin the wheel on slide 21. The book the spinner lands on is the book the student will read and create a different timeline for the remainder of the time at the center.

Spin the Wheel

 Grab the book from the stack and complete a timeline!

What is something that you
learned about Jane Yolen?

References

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Jane Yolen. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Jane-Yolen/314292 

Jane Yolen. (n.d.). Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://www.janeyolen.com/ 

Jane Yolen. Simon & Schuster. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2022, from https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Jane-Yolen/1294707 

Scholastic Parent Staff. (2022, March 9). Here are the hilarious books in the how do dinosaurs...? series. Scholastic. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/book-lists-and-recommendations/animals/books-in-the-how-do-dinosaurs-series.html 

Scholastic Storybook Treasures. (2018, April 4). Owl Moon (Mandarin). Retrieved March 12, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFb4j_Dt74Y 

A video interview with Jane Yolen. Reading Rockets. (2021, February 6). Retrieved March 12, 2022, from https://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/yolen

Adjectives: What words describe YOU?