The Summer Children’s Literature Institute is a four-day symposium with outstanding authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers. The institute is held at Simmons University. Esteemed faculty and enthusiastic students do an incredible job running this remarkable event. This year, the theme… Read More ›
diverse books
Books of Our Roots: A Collection of Literature from The Countries of Our Origin
With the summer in full swing, I’m able to take a step back and reflect on the past school year in my high school library. My co-librarian and I accomplished a lot: we taught dozens of research classes, which included… Read More ›
Diversity and Inclusion in Libraries: More Than Books on the Shelves
It is essential that school librarians continuously update our collections with newer, more relatable, more diverse books; and it’s also essential that we do more than that. Note: While diversity and inclusion work has many layers and intersections, this post… Read More ›
Important Books for Young People
Polarizing Times Political polarization in the US is at an all-time high. A Pew Research Center study tracks partisan differences across ten specific political values. The study shows the partisan gap has more than doubled between 1994 and 2017. The divide… Read More ›
We Need Diverse Books Now More Than Ever
As I reflect on the presidential campaign and the hateful comments that have filled my Facebook and Twitter feeds recently, I find myself thinking more and more about my children and my students. They are listening to their parents and teachers…. Read More ›
More, Please! Open Letter to Publishers
Open letter to publishers Publishers try to bring us books that we want to read and to buy. We have asked for more diverse titles and they have tried. The recent uptick in titles by and about minority group characters… Read More ›