Literature, especially literature read by children, offers a unique way to see ourselves in the world. The words of a story can echo one’s innermost experiences in a way few other art forms can. As teachers and educators, it can sometimes be difficult to navigate the complexities of building a classroom library, or even selecting books for one’s curriculum, especially in this age of book banning and censorship. Yet, curating a collection of books that truly mirrors the world is crucial to a student’s development: books can make them feel seen, heard, and appreciated. Sometimes, you just need to open a new page.
Reading Theory
On the Importance of Diversity in Literature
Bishop’s article is a foundational text in children’s literature for its recognition of the impact of literature upon children’s development. Widely cited in support of diverse children’s literature, Bishop’s argument that books can serve as windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors that reflect children’s lives and allow them insight into others’ lives is a cornerstone to the diverse children’s literature movement.
How Reading Diversely Impacts Child Development
While on the more academic side, this article lays out an excellent framework for how reading, and reading diverse literature specifically, allows children find confidence in themselves through character identification while simultaneously expanding their education horizons. Published by the National Library of Medicine, this article provides study-based evidence supporting Bishop’s argument that identification of the self through the lens of literature is crucial to children’s personal development.
While different states may have different requirements, this site provides a standardized resource to determine the age ranges for certain books.
Resources
National Book Finders
The Children’s Book Council is a coalition of teachers and publishers that provides literacy resources and advice on library building across the United States. Check out their reading lists, new releases, and awards sections for book recommendations, or look at their resources to learn about how to provide accessible and diverse literature in the classroom.
This website catalogues diverse books by age range and genre for easy finding. They also categorize reads by topic, so it’s simple to find a book for every occasion. Check it out!
The We Need Diverse Books Movement webpage
The WNDB movement is a nonprofit organization that aims to promote diverse voices in literature through mentorship programs, reading lists, care packages, and teacher resources. Check out their resources page to learn about how to curate a diverse bookshelf, combat censorship, and more!
The Walter Awards is hosted by the We Need Diverse Books Movement and showcases the best of the best in diverse literature each year. Scroll through their past award recipients for a guaranteed great read!
Additional Resources
Lee & Low Books is a multicultural children’s publisher with a wide array of diverse books, including multi-lingual books. Their publishing list is sortable by reading level, topic, and language, allowing you to tailor your searches to your classroom needs. They created the diversity baseline survey, designed to monitor and hold the publishing industry accountable to their commitment to uplift diverse voices, and also have resources for combatting book bans across the nation.
Kokila is an imprint of Penguin Books that specifically highlights historically marginalized stories. They’ve got a lot of great links on their website to author-created curriculum guides and educational guides to pair with their releases, as well as a great collection of books.
Lerner is an independent publisher for K12 readers with a diverse collection of digital reading lists. Their categories encapsulate a wide array of literature, including books regarding social justice, Own Voices literature, literature centering mental health and neurodivergence, and literature centering physical disabilities/illness. Check them out!
Young, Black, and Lit is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing literature featuring Black characters to kids across the country.
BookDragon is an initiative of the Smithsonian Institution to highlight South Asian/Pacific Islander voices in literature and publishing. They have a great bookshelf and reading list for all ages – make sure you click on each title to check the reading level.
Mahogany Books is an independent book store specializing in books featuring Black voices. They have a great online catalogue featuring children’s literature grouped by age range and topic.
Heartdrum is an imprint of HarperCollins that publishes children’s literature and YA books by Indigenous authors and illustrators. They’ve got a great selection of books across a wide variety of genres and age ranges, as seen on their attached reading list!
On the Practice of Writing
A crucial part of understanding language and growing a passion for words is trying your own hand at writing. The standard academic essay is a tricky art to master, but it’s extremely effective in conveying complex ideas and setting up an argument. However, it’s also important to balance the academic with the creative, especially as students learn and grow. This section includes resources to support studetns in both their academic and their creative writing.
The Essay
The Five-Paragraph Essay Breakdown
If you’re trying to get a quick summary of what goes into a 5 – paragraph essay, this is the handout for you! Split into easy-to-read sections, this one-pager lays out each component of a standard academic essay while including gentle prompts to guide students’ thinking.
Published by the University of Maryland, this guide unpacks the theory behind why the 5-paragraph essay works. Utilizing the Rule of 3s, it guides student authors to understand not just how their essays are effective, but why they make an impact.
Your go-to citation guide for quite literally everything. Compiling a multitude of citation styles with easy-to-access formatting and a huge array of mediums to be cited, this resource is your one-stop-shop for how to cite.
Reading to Write
The best way to understand a wide array of writing practices – and to get inspired – besides sitting down to write – is to engage with books about writing. And the best part is, the theory of writing works across both writing essays and creative writing. Here are some of my favorites!
(I’d recommend most of these books for high school age students or older.)
On Writing by Stephen King
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamont
Writing Screenplays that Sell by Michael Hauge
Save the Cat: The Language of Storytelling as a collective series!
Creative Writing Prompt Generators
Sometimes, all you need to start a good story is an idea. Here’s some prompt generators to try that can help you get on your way to writing!
https://www.servicescape.com/writing-prompt-generator
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