Chapter 17- #Weneeddiversebooks


Chapter 17- #Weneeddiversebooks

We Need Diverse Books is a non-profit organization for children’s and YA book lovers to advocate change in the publishing industry. Their goal is to “help produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people.” This movement started via a hashtag on twitter in 2014 after frustration rose after an all-white, all male panel of children’s authors assembled for BookCon. This organization offers programs that provide voice to diverse authors and their works including The Walter Award (named after Walter Dean Myers), The Walter Grant to provide financial support for unpublished diverse authors and illustrators, Internship grants, mentorship programs, the OurStory App (a resource for finding diverse books for all audiences), Bookseller of the Year award, WNDB in the Classroom Initiative, WNDB Retreats, WNDB Scholastic Partnership, and Anthologies that feature diverse work. The organization and website provide resources for teachers and librarians to help them find WNDB panels, where to find diverse books, summer reading series, and resources for writers as well. They also have a blog that celebrates the award winners, internship winners, and book talks about recently published works.

Reflection:

It is so important for teachers and librarians look at the bigger picture and make sure that our collections represent the students in our classes and diverse perspectives. This resource is particularly helpful when it comes to making sure that we all invest in and advocate for diverse books. Just like awards given by ALA, this is a great resource for collection development and evaluating the books that you have in your collection. It is especially important for us to celebrate and shed light on diverse books every time we come across them and not just celebrating them during Black History Month, etc. The experiences illuminated in these books are the experiences that people have every day. When we as educators show their value and importance and celebrate it then we are also inherently also showing the value and celebrating the lives of the students we serve. We need to normalize and fight for more diverse experiences in children’s and YA literature if we want to continue to fully invest in our future.


Resources:

We Need Diverse Books. (2019, June 25). Retrieved from https://diversebooks.org/

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