Office Hours: MN Children’s Press
Tuesday, October 13 | Session notes and recording
Pandemic Publishing with Children
This is a case study of an innovative broadband-based local history project of Minnesota Children’s Press publishing club called Story Scouts for rural children ages 5-15, in Cook County, Minnesota. Our goal is to connect community, enlarge children’s agency, mentor 21st century communication and digital skills by creating and publishing local history based on primary source oral interviews and archival research. We successfully published our pilot book during Book Camp August, 2020, called Ice Cream & Fish. We are now documenting a children’s history of the coronavirus pandemic of 2020-21
Anne Brataas is an award-winning journalist, science writer, (www.thestorylaboratory.com) children’s author, (www.mirasbigdays.com) teacher, instructional designer and publisher of bespoke publications who has served a wide-range of clients for 45 years. These include Nobel prize-winning scientists, individuals and families pursuing memoirs, corporate and local history projects—and children. Since 2000, Anne has been a master teacher for the Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth in St. Paul where she is known for her innovative curriculum, particularly her movement-based curriculum for grades 4-6 on reporting, writing, illustration and digital arts — the “Aerobic Newspaper” class— during which students move the whole time. Anne prioritizes the concerns and world views of children, and works to amplify their voices through books, newspapers and websites (www.borealcorps.org) they produce. Too often children are not included in history. Their concerns and contributions are diminished, trivialized, overlooked and unrecorded. Minnesota Children’s Press is committed to changing this in rural Minnesota—particularly as the turning point year of the coronavirus pandemic radically remakes their futures. Books by kids reclaims their futures. anne@minnchildpress.org