This blog is about acquiring books for my school library collection that creates a more engaging and compassionate environment for ALL students to want to read. Here is the back story. This year, I walked into my current position as the school librarian at the elementary school I've taught Kindergarten at for past 15 years. I am a teacher at heart. I have always tried very hard to reach all my students by connecting with them and building relationships. My belief as a librarian, teacher and mother is that books can be "Windows, mirrors and sliding glass door" (Bishop, 1990.) But what I have noticed is that our collection of books does not represent the population of students at my school. We are about a third white, a third African American and a third Latino. One day, I was walking through the stacks and randomly pulling books from series to take pictures of different books for students to put on hold. (Because of COVID, students are not allow to be in the library to check out books.) What I noticed was that we were not diverse at all! The only sections of the library that had people of color was the "Historical Fiction" and "Biographies." This means, that more than half of our students are not represented in our school library. I was very sad to see this was the case but now I know it is up to me to be the change. The following resources will be added to our school collection in the next order.
Possible
Standards strand that connect my diverse choices to the resources: (2nd Grade Social
Studies)
-Recognize
the basic elements that make up a cultural region in the United States, including
language, beliefs, customs, art, and literature
- Compare
the cultural traditions of various regions in the United States and recognize
the ways that these elements have been and continue to be passed across
generations
-
Recognize the cultural contributions of Native American tribal groups, African
Americans, and immigrant groups
*Standards
are only a base line to teaching the understanding and respect that comes with “diversity.”
It is more a matter of character and social skills with representation in books
all around them.
Books Added to my Library Collection based on Diversity: (a lot of these titles can be purchased as eBooks as well.)
Elliott, Z. (2018) Dragons in a Bag. New York, NY: Penguin Random House
Selection Tool: Kirkus
About the book: Jaxon is left with a neighbor while his mom has to go to work. He soon finds out that this woman is a witch who carries three dragons in her bag.
Draper, S. (2018) Blended. New York, NY: Antheneum Books
Selection
Tool: Publisher’s Weekly
About the book: Isabella is eleven and bi-racial. Her parents are divorced so she goes back and forth between two worlds trying to find her true self.
Schofield-Morrison, C. (2020) I Got the School Spirit. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Children’s Books Selection Tool: Kirkus
About the book: Summer is over and the little girl is excited about returning to school. She tells the reader all about how she is bringing "the Spirit" to school. The pictures are beautiful.
Franklin, A. Illus. by Ebony Glenn (2019) Not Quite Snow White. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishing
Selection Tool: Booklist
About the book: Tameika, a beautiful and vibrant African American girl loves to be on stage. She wants to be the lead of the school musical, "Snow White." After being told that she couldn't be "Snow White" in the musical by her friends, Tameika tells her parents and they encourage her to be herself. When she auditions everyone realizes that she is the perfect "Snow White."
Sumner, J. (2019) Roll with It. New York, NY: Antheneum Books
Selection Tool: Kirkus
About the book: Ellie has big dreams to be a baker one day but she is also in a wheelchair. It doesn't stop Ellie from pursuing her dream and making friends in the process. This is a great book for students with disabilities that will need to overcome some obstacles.
Percival, T. (2019) Ruby Finds a Worry. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Selection Tool: Kirkus
About the book: One day, Ruby discovers a "worry." She learns that she needs to talk about the worries. This book is great for students that may be experiencing anxiety and worry. It puts a visual to the "worrying."
Walker, T. E. (2020) Nana Akua Goes to School. New York, NY: Random, Schwartz and Wade
Selection Tool: School Library Journal
About the book: Zura is having Grandparents Day at her school. She is bringing her Nana Akua but she is nervous about it because her Nana has marks on her face from her African tribe in Ghana when she was a little girl. On Grandparents day, her Nana paints symbols of the tribe on the students faces.
Umrigar, T. Illus. by Khloe Lee (2020) Sugar in Milk. New York, NY: Running Press
Selection Tool: School Library Journal
About the book: This story is about a little girl that travels to America. She misses her family and pets from back home. Her aunt tells her a Persian story about a people that leaves their land. The people said they would sweeten their land like "sugar in milk" by spreading joy.
Sriram, M. (2020) A Gift for Amma: Market Day in India. Cambridge, MA: Barefoot Books
Selection Tool: School Library Journal
About the book: The little girl goes to the Indian Market in search of a gift for her mom, Amma. She describes the beautiful colors she sees when she's there.
Barnes, D. Illus, by Gordon C. James (2020) I am Every Good Thing. New York, NY: Penguin Books
Selection Tool: School Library Journal
About the book: This book has a narrator that speaks encouraging words on every page. This books really makes people examine their biases about black men because they start off as these young black boys. Books likes this is where stereotypes and fears around black men are being broken down.
Charles, T. Illus. by Bryan Collier (2020) All Because you Matter. New York, NY: Scholastic
Selection Tool: School Library Journal
About the book: Wow, this story is about the parents of a black child expressing that they matter. This book should be in everyone's library. It is powerful and timely with the racial tension our country is facing.
Cevantes, A. (2019) Lety Out Loud. New York, NY: Scholastic Press
Selection Tool: Booklist
About the book: Lety's first language is Spanish. She loves volunteering at the animal shelter. She gets into a competion with a boy at school over writing profiles for the animals at the shelter.
Warga, J (2019) Other Words from Home. New York, NY: Balzer and Bray/Harper Collins
Selection Tool: Booklist
About the book: Jude and her mother are moving to Cincinnati from Syria to stay safe. She has to learn how to live in America as a "middle eastern" student. Her cousin Sarah isn't all that helpful either.
Johnson, V. (2020) Twins: A Graphic Novel. New York, NY: Scholastic Publishing
Selection Tool: Horn Book
About the book: Twin sisters, Francine and Maureen Carter are taking on sixth grade with some difficulty. Both girls are so different and their middle school experience may cause a rift between their bond.
Books to be used for actual content lessons
Social
Studies Lesson
1.
Cline-Ransome,
L. Illus. by James Ransome. (2020) Overground
Railroad. New York, NY: Holiday House
Selection Tool: School Library
Journal
About the book: Ruth Ellen is traveling north in the Great Migration. Along the ride, poetry is used to describe the ride. I can see students using this as a model for learning about that time in our history as well as creating poetry about their experiences.
2.
Woods,
B. (2019) The Unsung Hero of USA. New
York, NY: Nancy Paulsen/ Penguin Books Selection Tool: School Library
Journal
About the book: This is a moving story about a friendship between a young white boy and a Black WWII veteran who recently returned to the unwelcoming south and its Jim Crow Laws. I would use this as a jumping off point for discussions on race and what it was like during thi time in history. I would imagine students would be able to tell you it doesn't feel all that different in some cases.
3.
Verde,
S. (2016) Water Princess. New York,
NY: G. P. Putman’s Sons Books for Young
Readers Selection Tool: School Library Journal
About the book: This story is based on supermodel Georgie Badiel's childhood and her dreams of drinking clean water in her African village. America's definition of princess is very Disney. I would be curious to compare and contrast the life of a Disney princess to that of the Water Princess.
Science Lessons
4.
Chin, J (2020) Your Place in the Universe. New York, NY: Neal Porter Books
Selection Tool: Horn Book
About the book: This book is all about the scale of us to the universe. I can see many sciences lessons about maps to scale and comparing various other things in our lives to that of the stars in the universe.
5.
Beaty, A. (2016) Ada Twist, Scientist. New York,
NY: Harry N. Abrams Publishing
Selection
Tool: Booklist
About the book: Ada Twist is born to be a scientist. She questions everything and the adults in her life have their heads spinning. Science inquiry standards would be great to teach with Ada because she displays them throughout the book. You could read this as an opening unit for any science class.
Website resources for teachers about Diversity
1.
http://respectdiversity.org/?page_id=926
2.
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plans/teaching-content/multiculturalism-and-diversity/
4.
https://www.teachervision.com/subjects/social-studies-history/culture-diversity
5. https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/diversity-in-the-classroom
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