Special Project Grant: Novel Study

Submitted by: Nerissa Brownridge, Nicole Ziemianski, Elise Robson

École Varennes

École Varennes contains many multi-age classes including the grades 5/6 and 7/8s. Although there are lots of benefits to multi-age classes, one challenge for teachers is the selection of novel studies. Unlike straight-grade classes which can select a novel and teach it every year to a new set of students, multi-age teachers must have two different novels and rotate between year A and year B. 

The novels that were currently available to teachers at École Varennes were in poor condition, showed little diversity and were very old. It was therefore within this context of urgent need, and with an additional aim of providing BIPOC representation to the available novel study collection, that the decision to apply for the MAME Special Projects Grant was made. 

What a happy day it was when we heard that our application had been successful! Suzanne Simpson, the Teacher-Librarian invited the 5/6 teachers to the library where they discussed possible novels and looked at some samples of books to consider. The grade 7/8 teachers met and had a similar discussion and decided to proceed with the purchase of two English sets and two French sets of novels:

Novel  #1: Amari and the Night Brothers

Novel #2: Le voleur des sandwich

Novel #3 : It’s Trevor Noah : Born a Crime

Novel #4: Percy Jackson: Le voleur de foudre

We are very grateful to MAME for this grant as it will undoubtably leave a lasting legacy at École Varennes and will impact over one hundred students annually. These novels were purchased in February and have been immediately put to good use. They’ve even inspired some weeding of the novel study collection and the creation of a new centralized novel study storage area. These titles have allowed BIPOC students to see themselves represented in the literature we highlight in classrooms, and have raised important themes for discussions in our classrooms.