The world of literacy lost a powerful advocate and friend in Bernice “Bee” Cullinan Thursday.
Cullinan was a past president of both ILA and the Reading Hall of Fame (she was inducted to RHF in 1989) and the author of more than 40 books, including her seminal work, Children’s Literature in the Reading Program, the first of what is now in its fourth edition. In particular, Cullinan was an advocate of putting literature in the hands of children. She died Thursday at age 88.
The following is an excerpt from “Creating Lifelong Readers: An Interview With Deborah Wooten,” which appeared in the January/February issue of Reading Today. Terrell Young, a past ILA board member, wrote the piece to mark the publication of Cullinan’s final book, Children’s Literature in the Reading Program: Engaging Young Readers in the 21st Century, co-authored by Wooten, her mentee and close friend.
“She was my academic mom and largely responsible for my passion for children’s literature,” Wooten said of Cullinan Thursday. “I owe my career to her.”
From Reading Today:
In the early 1980s, Ronald Mitchell, then the executive director of IRA, approached Bee Cullinan and asked her, “Don’t you think it’s time IRA did something about children’s literature and reading programs?” Her response was an immediate yes.
The result: Children’s Literature in the Reading Program, an edited book first published in 1987. It was followed by Invitation to Read: More Children’s Literature in the Reading Program in 1992, and Children’s Literature in the Reading Program: An Invitation to Read in 2009. The fourth and highly anticipated edition—Children’s Literature in the Reading Program: Engaging Young Readers in the 21st Century—will be published [in January]. Each edition of this book has been completely different and a reflection of current reading education trends, with the third and fourth editions co-edited by Deborah Wooten.
Bernice Cullinan’s legacy is articulated in the chapter she wrote for the first edition, Why Use Children’s Literature? and How to Make Students Willing Readers. Her mission is to encourage the joy and learning found through children’s books, and the importance of helping children to become lifelong readers. Wooten notes, “Each will be a primary purpose throughout all of the editions. The terminology will shift over time with words like ‘engaging and motivating’ young readers, but the core theme is timeless.”
It was my privilege to interview Wooten recently about the forthcoming book, as well as what it was like to have Cullinan as a mentor and what she hopes educators take from this latest edition.
Terrell Young: Bee once said that studying with Charlotte Huck was like receiving “an endowment of magic.” How would you describe your experience studying under Bee’s tutelage?
Deborah Wooten: Bee changed my life. I quickly fell in love with her and children’s literature. The first time I met her was while I was teaching fifth grade in a New York City public school. Because of her encouragement, I enrolled in the doctoral program at NYU and joined Bee’s beloved organization, IRA. She not only had an impact on my life but also on my entire family. My daughter, Katie, started attending IRA when she was in third grade, presenting a project she did with Pegi Shea’s The Whispering Cloth: A Refugee’s Story. Now Katie is teaching high school and uses children’s and young adult literature with her students and continues to regularly attend and present at IRA.
See the full story here.
ILA would like to extend sincere condolences to Cullinan’s family. Her loss is profound; her legacy will live on for years to come.
