GDC Newsletter Updates
Hawai‘i, Lost and Found
Two new exemplary picture books set in Hawai‘i are devoted to the opposite themes of loss (the extinction of songbirds) and discovery (the aloha spirit). In the Hawaiian language, the word pau means “the end.” In a hauntingly beautiful lament, the talented team of Tony Piedra and Mackenzie Joy use the tragic extinction of one forest songbird, the Kaua‘i ‘O ‘O, to explore the causes of the mass extinction of plant and animal life on Kaua‘i and the other islands of the Hawaiian archipelago. Aloha Everything is one of the most highly honored children’s books in 2025. Poet Kaylin Melia George uses rhyming quatrains to reveal the wonders of Hawai‘i, her native state. The brilliant combination of narration and Technicolor-like illustrations in Aloha Everything is authentic.
Forest's Climate News: Conservation
One of the most powerful tools we have in the fight for a livable planet is the work of making young people stewards of their places. This means giving young people the opportunity to explore natural places in their area to learn the flora, fauna, and funga. Learning about the ecosystems, watersheds and environments of our places and being able to observe changes in these systems over time is the first step in becoming conservationists.
We Will Miss You, Jim
Jim Delisle was a passionate, child-centered leader in gifted education for more than 40 years. He championed the social and emotional development of the gifted.
Why Inclusion Poses a Risk for the Gifted
"Neurodiversity,” as it is currently intended in the public discourse, is an intellectual (i.e., non-scientific) construct originally adopted as the foundation of a human rights movement intended for autism advocacy.
Should Giftedness Be Subsumed Under Neurodiversity? A Discussion
The global trend toward considering the gifted neurodivergent is rapidly expanding, and a major debate has emerged: Should giftedness be included under this umbrella term? This isn't just an academic question; the answer has significant implications for how gifted students are identified, funded, and supported in education systems worldwide.
Kelly Parks (Educator of the Gifted) Responds
Kelly Parks, gifted educator from Colorado, shares her perspective on giftedness's place under the umbrella of neurodivergence.
The Hiding Place
The central subjects of most mature picture books are famous people, animals, geography, sports, holidays, and alphabet tributes. Rarely is a house or a home the focal point of an illustrated book for young readers. However, the house at 263 Prinsengracht in the middle of Amsterdam is unique because for 25 months from 1942 until 1944 the structure was the hiding place of Anne Frank, one of the most famous adolescents ever known. The annex at the back of the nearly 400-year-old structure on the canal housed eight Jewish persons during one of the darkest and most frightening times in history.
Forest’s Climate News
AI is everywhere, in the news, on your computer and smartphone, it seems as though we can’t escape it. AI can be a useful tool that can do many things to help us in our day-to-day lives and has the potential to help us solve big scale problems too. However, AI is also having a devastating impact on the environment.
Pearl in a Petri Dish: Poetry, Gifted, and the Visual-Spatial Learner
I feel like a midwife. Bruce Allen’s labor of love was born in fits and starts, with many years of encouragement. I believed in Bruce. I kept asking how the writing was coming. We were at a National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) meeting when Bruce finally handed me the manila envelope with his Pearl. I am often asked to review other people’s writing, but I read very slowly with an editor’s eye, so it is not something I relish. It took awhile before I picked up the envelope. I was stunned. Its contents filled my senses with delight. And when I finished, I kept saying over and over again, “I had no idea.” “I had no idea.”
Forest’s Climate News
In the final days of December last year, the state of New York approved their new “Climate Change Superfund Act”, a measure that will make Big Oil companies pay more to help clean up the damage they have done. The act will force the biggest oil companies to pay a total of $75 billion over the next 25 years.
Jerry Flack’s Children’s Book Reviews
Peter Rabbit is very likely the most famous rabbit in all of children’s literature. He is no doubt as famous today as he was well over a century ago when children first discovered his naughty behavior. Peter is one of four young rabbits and the only son of Mrs. Rabbit. His well-behaved sisters are Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail. On a lovely morning, Mrs. Rabbit encourages her children to play, but she warns them to avoid Mr. McGregor’s garden, where their father met with an unfortunate accident. He ended up in one of Mrs. McGregor’s pies.
Genius Triumphs Over Gender Bias: The Life of Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter is known throughout the world as the author-illustrator of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, one of the most beloved and cherished books in the global library of children’s literature. However, what few of her fans know is that she was an extraordinarily gifted woman who was decades beyond the limitations forced upon women in the late nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth centuries, especially in Great Britain’s Victorian and Edwardian eras. At the very least, Beatrix Potter was exceptionally talented as a writer, artist, storyteller, scientist, gardener, farmer, preservationist, conservationist, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. Perhaps the most impressive of her exceptional accomplishments is that they occurred during a time frame when gifted women suffered terrible discrimination because of their sex.
Gifted Children Through the Eyes of Their Parents
Last year, in response to our survey, we received requests for research on giftedness. I will be offering brief research updates periodically in our newsletter. In this issue, I am summarizing a recent article from a group of Italian researchers on themes they found in interviews with parents of gifted children. Welcome to our families from Italy!
Climate News December 2024
Forest Olson’s Climate News December 2024 | Researchers at UC Berkeley have made a carbon-capturing powder that can achieve the same feat.
Glorious Shakespeare
Review by Dr. Jerry Flack | Shakespeare’s First Folio is one of the most exquisite publications for children in the past decade. It is sure to remain a classic in homes, classrooms, and libraries.
Diversity Within Diversity
Review by Dr. Jerry Flack | Kevin Noble Maillard uses bold verses to highlight important elements in his tribute to the delicacy that is the most celebrated food entree in the collective Native American diet. Fry bread is food, time, art, history, place, and nation.
How Do You Feel About Your Own Giftedness?
While school systems may offer resources and services for the identification and support of gifted children, the idea of “giftedness” seems to evaporate in adulthood. Adults who were identified as gifted in childhood tend to wave off this aspect of their life as a fun class they attended in grade school. This, combined with the misconception that giftedness simply means that one is “good at school,” creates a dearth of understanding regarding the unique challenges and joys experienced by gifted adults.
Climate News July 2024
Three recent slawsuits, among others, are examples of youth holding their governments accountable for providing them with a livable future. We should all be inspired by these young people and the work they are doing through the legal system.
The Power of Words
Review by Dr. Jerry Flack | Words can sing, exalt, encourage and cause children to soar. But, they can also sting, hurt, and cause children to stop believing in themselves and their dreams. BIG tells such a story. The picture book is proof that a book need not have a sea of words to be astonishing, triumphant, and forever memorable. It is, indeed, a book about words and the exceptional power they manifest.