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Jason Reynolds on the books he writes for children.  

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Jason Reynolds on the books he writes for children.  

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Short of the Week Review:
https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2019/05/28/dear-dreamer/

Official Selection - 2019 Atlanta Film Festival
Official Selection - 2019 Roxbury International Film Festival
Official Selection - 2019 Indy Shorts International Film Festival
Official Selection - 2019 Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival - Winner: Best Short Doc
Official Selection - 2019 Monmouth Film Festival 
Official Selection - 2019 Atlanta Underground Film Festival
Official Selection - 2019 Cucalorus Film Festival
Official Selection - 2019 Milwaukee Film Festival

“Dear, Dreamer” is a lyrical portrait of the life and work of rising literary star Jason Reynolds.  Best known as a New York Times Best-Selling author and mentor to young adults, this short documentary finds Jason in the writer’s room preparing for the release of his next book.  Here we catch a rare glimpse of a singular artist and thinker as he traverses the schools and landscapes of modern-day America.   “Dear, Dreamer” is a testament to our shared experiences and the power of seeing yourself in books.  It was produced in collaboration with the hardworking students, educators and dreamers of Atlanta who are dedicated to the written word.  


Directors Notes x Interview
https://directorsnotes.com/2019/05/28/kristian-melom-dear-dreamer/

BOOOOOOOM TV x Feature
https://tv.booooooom.com/2019/05/28/dear-dreamer-kristian-melom/

******

Director, Cinematographer, Editor - Kristian Melom
Produced By - AIR Serenbe
Executive Producer - J. Brandon Hinman
Camera Operators - Justin Newton, Lynsey Weatherspoon, Chris Anthony Hamilton
Music By - Nelson Patton, Public Speaking
Color By - Rodney Johnson, Moonshine Post
Sound Design - Blake Aaron Henderson

Special thanks to the many artists and educators who made this film possible :

Page Turners Make Great Learners
Lithonia High School
Dekalb Early College Academy

ICU Fund : Community Foundation Of Greater Atlanta
Edgar Allan
Teresa Dau 
Amanda Mcmillan
Diane Capriola
Angela Diterlizzi

Helen Simrill
Fefe Handy
Anja Tigges
Priscilla Fletcher
Tammy Horton-rowe
Candace Greene Mcmanus
Michael Bettis
Ryan Peoples
Alexander Wright

Madysen Vault  
Kareem Fofana
Jaida Williams 
Tamaradoye Oki  
Anika Gouhl

Assia Ali
Jesus Hernandez
Tramelle Jackson
Christianah Babalola
Leilani Yates

Kristopher Mcdaniel
Xavier Cottrell
Darrick Mccray
Dr. Felicia Rhone
Michael Lloyd

https://www.jasonwritesbooks.com
http://www.airserenbe.com
http://www.kristianmelom.com

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Include Your Students in the Diverse Books Project

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Include Your Students in the Diverse Books Project

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Including diverse voices is a priority in K-12 classrooms, and we've developed a unique model to make it easier: Reading Diversity. (This model may look familiar: It's a new version of an existing tool called Appendix D.)

Traditionally, tools that aid text selection have focused on quantitative and qualitative measures like complexity, word and sentence length, cohesion, language features and knowledge demands. But these tools do not include diversity and representation, critical literacy, or reader and task as part of the selection criteria.

Reading Diversity is different. This model promotes a multi-dimensional approach to text selection that prioritizes critical literacy, cultural responsiveness and complexity.

We have designed two versions of the Reading Diversity model as two editable PDF tools educators can download, complete, save and share.

Explore these sample Reading Diversity tools, and begin cultivating a more inclusive classroom library today!

Sample Tools K-2

Sample Tools Grades 3-5

Sample Tools Grades 6-8

Sample Tools Grades 9-12

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Including diverse voices is a priority in K-12 classrooms. Learning for Justice offers a unique model to make it easier: Reading Diversity.

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Guide for Selecting Anti biased Children's Books

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Guide for Selecting Anti biased Children's Books

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Based on "Ten Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books for Racism and Sexism." Updated in 2013.*
Children's books continue to be an invaluable source of information and values. They reflect the attitudes in our society about diversity, power relationships among different groups of people, and various social identities (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, economic class, sexual orientation, and disability). The visual and verbal messages young children absorb from books (and other media) heavily influence their ideas about themselves and others. Depending on the quality of the book, they can reinforce (or undermine) children's affirmative self-concept, teach accurate (or misleading) information about people of various identities, and foster positive (or negative) attitudes about diversity. Children's books teach children about who is important, who matters, who is even visible. Consequently, carefully choosing quality children's books is an indispensable educational and child-rearing task.

It is important to offer young children a range of books about people like them and their family - as well as about people who are different from them and their family. All of the books should be accurate and appealing to young children. Fortunately, there are some good anti-bias children's books, which are available as a result of the ongoing activism of many individuals and groups over many years. However, while choices have improved over past decades, the lack of quality multicultural kid's books currently being published has frustrated many communities. The number of children of color in the United States continues to rise, but the number of books published by or about people of color stays the same or even decreases.

Check the Illustrations

Look for Stereotypes: A stereotype is an oversimplified generalization about a particular identity group (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, ability/disability), which usually carries derogatory, inaccurate messages and applies them to ALL people in the group. Stereotypes dehumanize people. So, too, does misinformation. ( See Box 1 below for a list of common, harmful stereotypes).

Unfortunately, all of us absorb socially prevailing stereotypes about a range of people, even if we do not consciously subscribe to them. To alert you to stereotypes in children's books, as well as other media, it is useful to list all the stereotypes you know about various groups of people as precondition for critically reviewing children's books. The books you choose should depict people compassionately and as real human beings. Also consider if images depict all people as genuine individuals with distinctive (rather than stereotypical) features. Books containing stereotypes require you to engage children in critical thinking, but should probably be eliminated from your collection.

BOX 1: Common Harmful/Undermining Stereotypes

Strong, independent girls and women are "manlike"

Book-loving or nonathletic boys and men are "effeminate"

Latino men talk funny, are lazy, gang members, or wear oversize sombreros

Latina women are earth mothers or subservient

African American men are gang members, oversexed, or underemployed

African American women are too independent, oversexed, or "welfare moms"

Arab and/or Muslim men are terrorists

Arab and/or Muslim women are voiceless and passive

All Muslims are Arab / All Arabs are Muslim

American Indians live in teepees, carry bows and arrows, or are half-naked in winter

American Indians were only significant in the past (read)

Disabled people are not independent or are to be pitied

Disabled people must "overcome" their disabilities rather than just live with their disabilities

LGBTQ+ people are invisible

Poor people are invisible

Poor people are depicted as passively needing help from others

AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islanders) are depicted as the "model minority"

AAPI are exotic or their food is exotic/abnormal

All AAPI know martial arts or are meek and compliant

AAPI are portrayed with slanted eyes or just lines to represent eyes

Jewish people are all Zionists (read)

Jewish people are wealthy and yield undue influence in the financial and political world

Look for Tokenism: This is the "one only" message. Regularly seeing only "one" person of any group in a book teaches young children about who is more or less important. Examples of tokenism include books with only one African American child among many white children or having only one book about children with disabilities among many other books. Tokenism also becomes stereotypical. It only allows children to see one view of a group of people, rather than the diversity that exists among all groups.

Look for Invisibility: What children do not see in their books also teaches them about who matters and who doesn't in our society. Invisibility in their storybooks - as well as in textbooks as they get older - undermines children's affirmative sense of themselves and reinforces prejudiced ideas about people who are not seen (See Box 2 for examples of groups who tend to be invisible). The booklists on this website include a great variety of books with groups who are often excluded. (The titles are vetted by Teaching for Change.)

BOX 2: Examples of Groups of People Who Are Often Invisible in Children's Books or Mainstream Media

Families who live in rural areas

Blue-collar workers

Musicians, artists, and writers

Families with two dads or two moms

Single mothers or fathers

Homeless families

Families with an incarcerated parent

People of Middle Eastern descent

Families who practice Islam

Transgender adults and children

Check the Story Line and the Relationships Between People

Even if a book shows visual diversity, the story line may carry biases related to how it handles power relationships among people of various identities. Are whites or male characters the central figures with people of color or female characters in essentially supporting roles? To gain acceptance and/or approval does a child of color, a girl, or child with a disability have to exhibit extraordinary qualities or be the one to understand, forgive, or change? Are the achievements of girls and women based on their own initiative and intelligence, or are they due to their looks or relationship with boys/men?

Are people of color, women, low-income families, or people with disabilities depicted as needing help or in passive roles, while whites, men, and "able-bodied" people are in leadership and action roles? How are problems presented, conceived, and resolved? Who typically causes a problem and who resolves it? Your book collection needs a balance of different people in "doer" roles.

Look at Messages About Different Lifestyles

Do the lives of people of color or people living in poverty in the story contrast unfavorably with the norm of white, middle-class suburban life? Are negative value judgments implied about ways of life that differ from the dominant culture or economic class (e.g., people are to be pitied, or the story is about one person who "gets out" of the less desirable way of life)? Do images and information go beyond oversimplification and offer genuine insights into the lifestyle of the characters in the story? Does the setting reflect current life - or past assumptions about life? Does your book collection depict diversity among people within a specific racial/ethnic group, such as a range of family structures, living environments, socioeconomic conditions and types of work, and male/female roles within the family? (Remember that every racial/ethnic group has diversity, including people who self-identify as white).

Consider the Effects on Children's Self and Social Identities

In addition to specific books, also examine your book collection. Do your books reinforce or counteract messages that teach children to feel inferior or superior because of their skin color, gender, family income, able-bodiedness, or type of family structure? At school, will all of the children you serve see themselves and their family's way of life reflected in your book collection? Will all children of color, including those with mixed heritage, girls, and children from the many types of family structures, children living in poverty, and children with disabilities see one or more characters with whom they can readily and positively identify? If they are visible in your book collection, are the illustrations and information accurate and respectful? Does your overall collection balance the backgrounds of all the children in your program? Does it also show diversity within the social indentity groups to which the children belong (e.g., a range of ways to be female and male, families reflecting different kinds of jobs within a racial/ethnic group). Does your book collection also include a balance between diversity within your classroom and beyond your classroom?

At home, does your book collection reflect diversity among the groups to which your family belongs? Does it have stories about people like you who have contributed to creating a more just world? Does it also include a range of books showing diversity beyond your family and neighborhood?

Look for Books About Children and Adults Engaging in Actions for Change

To fully develop a strong sense of self and a disposition toward cooperation and fairness, children need to know how to stand up for themselves and others when faced with unfairness. They also need to know about people from all social identity groups who have - and are currently - working for justice for all. In addition to previous criteria, here are more items to consider: The story line should be about children and adults working together, rather than perpetrating the myth that change happens because of special, individual people who do it by themselves. Does your book collection include a balance of people who have made important and honored contributions to American life as well as the world community - and not just the traditional white, male "heroes?" Do some of your books about important people include struggles for justice? Do they show people who were/are poor or from racial/ethnic groups of color? Are people with disabilities engaged in these struggles for justice?

Consider the Author's or Illustrator's Background and Perspective

All authors write from a cultural as well as from a personal context. In the past, most children's books were by authors and illustrators who were white and members of the middle class. As a result, a single cultural and class perspective dominated children's literature. There are now excellent books by people of color from a range of backgrounds - although not nearly enough. Consider the biographical material on the jacket flap or back of the book. What qualifies the author or illustrator to deal with the subject? If the book is not about people or events similar to the author or illustrator's background, what specifically recommends them as creators of the book? What is the author's attitude toward her/his story characters? Are the images accurate and do the illustrators respectfully render the people in the story? Do you have books reflecting a balanced range of author and illustrator identities and experiences?

Watch for Loaded Words

A word is loaded when it in any way demeans or makes people invisible because of any of their identities. One example is the generic use of the word "man" to stand for women as well as men (although the opposite never occurs). This traditional terminology is now questioned by many because of its sexist implications. Here are some examples of ways to avoid sexist language: community instead of brotherhood; firefighters inserted of firemen; human family instead of family of man; ancestors instead of forefathers; chairperson instead of chairman. Examples of adjectives applied to people of color that carry racist messages include: "savage," "primitive," "superstitious," "backward," "inscrutable" and "treacherous." Always consider the context in which a word is used and to whom it applies.

Look at the Copyright Date

Copyright dates indicate the publication year, not the time of its writing, which might be two to three years before the copyright date. Although a recent copyright date is no guarantee of a book's relevance or sensitivity, copyright dates are useful information. More children's books began to reflect the reality of a pluralistic society and nonsexist and non-ableist perspectives in the 1970s. Since then, the range of accurate, respectful, and caring books reflecting diversity has increased significantly (unfortunately the diversity of books published in the United States still does not accurately reflect the actual diversity of the people living here). When considering new books for your collection, begin with most recently published ones and then continue with descending copyright dates.

Assess the Appeal of the Story and Illustrations to Young Children

Although these guidelines focus on the messages about diversity and equality reflected in children's books, it is also important to take quality into account. Be sure the book is a "good read." If children find the story or illustrations boring, a book will not hold their attention, even if the book adds a specific kind of diversity you need. Check for active, interesting story lines where different kinds of people are integral to the people in the story, not the main topic. For example, in A Chair for My Mother, a young child tries to save money to get a comfortable chair for her waitress mother. Although the book shows a single parent, working-class family, and a resourceful girl, it is not didactic. Also look for illustrations that are colorful and recognizable to young children. Although they enjoy a range of styles, illustrations that are too subdued or abstract may not hold their attention.

Check for age appropriateness. Most booksellers list any picture book as appropriate for early childhood even if the story line is really for primary grade children. Sometimes a book for older children will work if you simplify the story or "tell" the story rather than read it. In some cases, this is the only way to get books that present specific groups of children (e.g., stories with Cambodian children or children with learning disabilities). Some additional issues to consider:

Many children's books use animal characters instead of people and there are some excellent books that explore diversity with animal characters (e.g., And Tango Makes Three or A Coyote Solstice Tale). Children enjoy these. However, such books are not a substitute for exploring issues of diversity and anti-bias fairness with people as the main characters.

Some early childhood teachers wonder if it is necessary for every book in their collection to show diversity. Every book needs to be accurate, caring, and respectful. However, you will want individual books about specific kinds of people (e.g., a biracial family or a family with adopted children). Diversity becomes essential in the balance of your book collection, where you want to avoid invisibility or tokenism of any group.

Folk and fairy tales have long been a mainstay of children's literature. In the cultures from which they come, folk and fairy tales were used to teach important lessons and values related to their culture of origin. Children love them in their original versions - not their commercially sanitized adaptations. However, folk and fairy tales also carry messages that convey sexism, classism, and racism and must be used thoughtfully as part of introducing young children to diversity and anti-bias values of quality and fairness.

Overuse of folk tales to "teach" about a specific ethnic/cultural group leads to misinformation and confusion. They are about animals and occasionally people from a mythical past and are designed to teach core values and beliefs in their culture of origin. They are not about how people actually live in contemporary society - and that is what young children need to understand. Information and images about how people really live now is what enables young children to build connections to people who are from different cultures while countering stereotypes that children have already absorbed (e.g., how American Indians really live).

Finally there is the somewhat sensitive issue of what to do about "classic" or "well-beloved" children's books. Many of these are wonderful as children's literature, but unfortunately they often convey values of sexism, racism, ableism, or even colonialism. People who love the books that pose this dilemma argue that it is OK to use them because they "reflect their times," which they imply somehow excuses their biased messages. For example, I adored the Babar series of books as a young child and was unpleasantly shocked to realize as an adult how much the images and story lines reflected messages of European colonialism in Africa. I chose not to use them with my own children, wanting them to learn accurate information about how people in Africa really live. Not sharing childhood favorites may sadden some, but it is far better than the harm caused by reinforcing messages of racism and colonialism.
In a nutshell - as you choose books or critically examine your current book selection, always keep in mind the power of books - their words and their images - to nurture or, conversely, to undermine a child's sense of self, positive attitude toward others, and motivation to act for fairness.
Additional Resources

Louise Derman-Sparks is an internationally respected anti-bias educator and author (along with Julie Olsen Edwards) of Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. She has co-authored several additional books with Dr. Carol Brunson Day (Teaching/Learning Anti-Racism), the ABC Task Force ( Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children), Dr. Patricia Ramsey (What If All the Kids Are White?), and Dr. John Nimmo and Debbie Leekeenan ( Leading Anti-Bias Early Childhood Programs: A Guide for Change). She speaks throughout the United States and abroad, and served on the NAEYC Governing Board from 1998 to 2001. Louise has a lifelong commitment to building a more just society for all people. Her children Douglass and Holly, now grown, were her inspiration. A Pacific Oaks College faculty member for 33 years - when its mission and pedagogy reflected anti-bias education principles - Louise is now retired.
*In 1980, the Council on Interracial Books for Children published the book Guidelines for Selecting Bias-Free Textbooks and Storybooks. A shorter version of the book in pamphlet form, "Ten Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books for Racism and Sexism," followed. One of the first guides written for teachers and families, it became an invaluable tool for hundreds of thousands of people. Both the book and pamphlet have been out of print for several years. Rethinking Schools published their adaptation of the original Guidelines in 1994.

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Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children's Books - Social Justice Books

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By Louise Derman-Sparks Based on "Ten Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books for Racism and Sexism." Updated in 2013.* Children's books continue to be an invaluable source of information and values. They reflect the attitudes in our society about diversity, power relationships among different groups of people, and various social identities (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, [...]

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Windows and Mirrors:Grace Lin talks about the books she didn't have

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Windows and Mirrors:Grace Lin talks about the books she didn't have

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The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child's Bookshelf | Grace Lin | TEDxNatick

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What Do To When You Realize  Classic Books are Racist

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What Do To When You Realize  Classic Books are Racist

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What to do when you realize classic books from your childhood are racist

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Article SLJ:  What To Do with Classic Books 

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Article SLJ:  What To Do with Classic Books 

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Figuring out to how to handle classics that critics say haven't aged well can be tough for librarians charged with putting together school collections. Students have been reading To Kill a Mockingbird, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and the "Little House" series for generations, and for many years, having these "classics" available in school libraries was a given. But today, some media specialists are questioning the proper place for these and other novels.

Just two years ago, the American Library Association (ALA) decided to drop Laura Ingalls Wilder's name from its children's literature award, citing her work's "dated cultural attitudes toward Indigenous people and people of color." The phrase "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" shows up multiple times in Little House on the Prairie. ALA was careful to note that renaming the award was not an attempt to "censor, limit, or deter access to Wilder's books and materials."

Andy Spinks didn't consider it to be censorship when he weeded Wilder's series out of his collection at Campbell High School in Smyrna, GA, a suburban school about 20 minutes outside of Atlanta with a student body that's 20 percent white.

"These aren't kids who are really going to be interested in rolling across the plains in a horse and buggy," says Spinks, one of two library media specialists at the school.

Spinks stresses that he doesn't support weeding to "intentionally circumvent" reconsideration policies but notes that "problematic books also often meet the criteria for weeding."

He adds that it's not hard to discard a book or a collection when it's somehow problematic and also unpopular with your students.

But what about when a popular classic is also seen by some as problematic?

"Sometimes I think people don't know what to do with those books," says Meg B. Allison, a teacher librarian at U-32 Middle and High School in East Montpelier, VT.

The problem with Atticus Finch

Published in 1960, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird quickly became popular with readers throughout the country and around the world. The novel is set during the Great Depression and tells the story of Atticus Finch, a small-town Alabama lawyer who takes the case of Tom Robinson, a Black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. The story is told through the eyes of Finch's young daughter, Scout. The Pulitzer Prize winner has never been out of print.

In 2018, PBS named it America's favorite novel, following a national survey of nearly 4.3 million Americans.

"People love that book, but they ignore so many of the racist tropes and the depictions of people of color that are derogatory," says Julia E. Torres, a teacher librarian who serves five schools through her job with Denver Public Schools.

Critics say the novel perpetuates stereotypes about African Americans and doesn't give its Black characters any agency. But the book is still assigned reading for many students, and it remains on the shelves at most high schools.

"There's a lot of area in between taking a book off the shelf and deemphasizing it," says Spinks. " To Kill a Mockingbird used to be my favorite book, so I would recommend it all the time. Now I don't do that."

Instead, Spinks says he encourages students who read it to keep in mind that the book examines "racism from a white perspective."

The novel has faced frequent challenges for its language. The N-word is used liberally in the book, and some parents have complained that reading the book aloud in class is inappropriate.

Fans of the book say it teaches tolerance and helps to awaken racial consciousness.

That's a point that Torres questions. "If it were so successful at raising racial consciousness throughout the United States all these decades, why are people still forbidding their students from reading The Hate U Give or going to see the movie?" Torres asks. "Also, if it [is being read] in high school, that's pretty far along in the game for people to be learning about racial injustice or racialized aspects of our justice system."

Torres has taught the novel a few times in the past, but if a teacher asks for her help teaching it today, she usually suggests another book, like Samira Ahmed's Internment, set in the near future, about a teen sent to a U.S. internment camp for Muslim American people. Or, she suggests they teach To Kill a Mockingbird using excerpts or through a critical consciousness lens, which would include lessons on white saviorism and the weaponization of white women's tears.

Some librarians suggest using modern novels such as Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give to provide context to classics.

"The themes of To Kill a Mockingbird are about coming of age and agency and finding one's voice as a youngster," says Allison. "Well, Angie Thomas does that very, very well with The Hate U Give, and so they've been augmenting and supplementing curriculum with some more contemporary choices, especially written by #OwnVoices authors."

In 2015, author Corinne Duyvis started the #OwnVoices movement on Twitter. The movement aimed to support kid lit that spotlighted diverse characters written by writers from the same background.

Sometimes authors backed by the movement face obstacles when it comes to getting their work in front of young readers in the classroom. The Hate U Give, which tells the story of Starr Carter, a Black high school student who witnesses the fatal shooting of her friend Khalil by a white police officer, has been challenged because of its language and its depiction of police.

Read: Kid Lit Authors (Re)Make History

Huck Finn and the N-word

Torres argues that many people who challenge these books ignore problematic classics such as Mockingbird and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain's novel, which follows a white boy and a runaway slave who make their way along the Mississippi River on a raft, includes the N-word hundreds of times. Torres notes that reading it can cause distress for Black students, particularly if they're the only one in a class.

"A child of color sitting in the classroom listening to that word said over and over again with no discussion about it, which I know happens, that's upsetting," says Torres.

Allison says that's where a good teacher should step in and provide information about when the book was written and some of the factors that might have gone into Twain's choice to use that word.

"You have to understand that time period and what language was doing at the time and compare it to what we're doing now and not just let students read that book in a classroom setting without some sort of context and support," says Allison.

Kimberly N. Parker, assistant director of Shady Hill Teacher Training Center in Cambridge, MA, says that type of support is important when teaching texts such as Huckleberry Finn.

Parker, who holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction, spent nearly 20 years in the classroom before taking on her current role and often taught the novel, which was required.

"The problem is that we can do so much damage and harm," says Parker. "We do harm if we don't teach that text in ways that are antiracist, if they are not culturally sensitive, and also if that's the only time that children have to see themselves reflected in text. I'm really convinced that we can do better."

Curation vs. censorship

Sometimes that impetus to do better comes from parents and other members of the community.

Miranda Doyle, district librarian for the Lake Oswego (OR) School District, where she oversees 10 schools, says it's not unusual for the district to receive informal requests to reconsider a book.

"If it's one of our assigned curriculum books, then I think it would be worth looking at whether that's something we want to continue to teach, whereas if it's in the library, I would advise leaving it on the shelf as long as it's something that is currently within the guidelines of what we have in the library," says Doyle, who also serves as the intellectual freedom chair for the Oregon Association of School Libraries. For many librarians like Doyle, the answer is to add more contemporary books to the collection through careful curation. "Making sure when we're promoting books, when we're putting up displays, when we're doing reading programs and we're adding to the curriculum that we are choosing books that are not problematic and are, in fact, diverse and respectful and from a wide variety of authors," says Doyle.

That's also the approach favored by Allison, who says she worries about librarians who pull books simply because they find them personally offensive.

"That's a slippery slope, because for some people an LGBTQ character might be offensive," says Allison. "I firmly believe in the freedom to read statement by the American Library Association that even books that are offensive to some people need to be available to students, so from the standpoint of my librarianship and my role in the library, I'm not removing texts, but I certainly may not promote them or display them."

She cited her decision not to display the work of Sherman Alexie last year during Native American History Month.

"I put [out] Tommy Orange," says Allison, referring to Orange's novel There There, about 12 Native American characters convening at the Big Oakland (CA) powwow. "I put other authors out, especially #OwnVoices authors, and try to be as inclusive as possible to have texts that are by authors from diverse perspectives, but I'm not removing Sherman Alexie's books from my library shelves because he's somebody that's been implicated in the MeToo movement."

The author of several novels including the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has faced allegations of sexual harassment in recent years and issued a statement in 2018 acknowledging "there are women telling the truth about my behavior."

Still, librarians note that they're trying to strike a delicate balance. "Trying not to censor and not to further oppression at the same time is challenging," says Spinks.

Torres, who says she would never tell another educator not to teach a certain book, is not in favor of pulling texts from the shelves. "I believe in a child's right to read what they want," she says.

But, she says, it's important to allow the canon to grow and evolve.

"I do think teachers need to work together with their students to figure out what do we value as a community, what do we want to learn about, what are we curious about?" she says. "What texts can we bring into our community that will help us grow?"

Freelance journalist Marva Hinton is a contributing editor to Edutopia and the host of the "ReadMore" podcast, an interview show that primarily features authors of color.

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Little House, Big Problem: What To Do with "Classic" Books That Are Also Racist

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Figuring out to how to handle classics that critics say haven't aged well can be tough for librarians charged with putting together school collections. Students have been reading To Kill a Mockingbird, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and the "Little House" series for generations, and for many years, having these "classics" available in school libraries was a given.

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ADL's online bibliography of recommended children's and young adult books about bias, bullying, diversity and social justice.

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These booklists for children celebrate a wide range of cultures, languages, and experiences. They are perfect for read-alouds and bedtime stories, as well as for author studies! You can also get to know some of the featured authors in our Meet the Authors section. To see our large selection of titles representing cultural diversity, take a look at the following sections:

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These booklists for children celebrate a wide range of cultures, languages, and experiences. They are perfect for read-alouds and bedtime stories, as well as for author studies! You can also get to know some of the featured authors in our Meet the Authors section.

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Windows, Mirrors, and Sliding Glass Doors

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Windows, Mirrors, and Sliding Glass Doors

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When the Black Caucus of NCTE established the African American Read-In (AARI) over 25 years ago, their ambitious yet confident premise was that a school and community reading event can be an effective way to promote diversity in children's literature, encourage young people to read, and shine a spotlight on African American authors.

They knew what NCTE member Rudine Sims Bishop wisely wrote:

"Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created and recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books. (1990, p. ix)"

In his recent interview on Education Talk Radio, member Ezra Hyland noted:

"Humans don't make our stories, it's stories that make us human (paraphrasing Amiri Baraka). It's not until we know the stories of each other that we embrace our humanity. When I know the stories of my people and my culture, that's when I become human myself."

Yet, as important as it is for children young and old to read African American texts, these texts are regularly challenged in schools, making ALA's top ten most frequently challenged books lists nearly every year for the past decade.

At NCTE, nearly every quarterly challenge report for the last 10 years has featured at least one title written by an African-American: books like Ernest Gains' A Lesson Before Dying; Mildred Taylor's Role of Thunder, Hear My Cry; Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon and Beloved; and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

How are we to provide all our students with the windows, mirrors, and sliding doors that allow them to read themselves into their own cultures and the cultures of others if there are those who won't allow the students to read these texts?

The African American Read-In is one way to open windows, mirrors, and sliding doors.

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When the Black Caucus of NCTE established the African American Read-In (AARI) over 25 years ago, their ambitious yet confident ...

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Alfred Tatum

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Alfred Tatum writes that our textual lineage includes the things we have read that have been significant in shaping our identities. Scholastic's Global Literacy Campaign describes textual lineage as "a reading and writing autobiography which shows that who you are is in part developed through the stories and information you've experienced."

That words can shape who we become, that ideas have the intrinsic capacity to change the future, is profound validation for all teachers.

Lately, I've been thinking about the textual lineage that shaped my identity as an educator. These are some highlights:

I read The Color Purple by Alice Walker years before becoming a teacher. Its feminist theme of knowledge as power, represented in the sisterhood of Celie and Nettie, stirred my consciousness, and I saw how education could be used to legitimate and subvert systems of oppression. Other stories of how learning generates personal and political agency followed me into the classroom, among them The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley and The Miracle Worker.

When I flirted with law school, I got interested in legal scholar Lani Guinier. Her central point in The Miner's Canary helped me think about issues of diversity and inclusion more structurally. Rather than further marginalize the underrepresented or stigmatize the less "successful," Guinier wrote that we should heed their experiences and challenges like we would the health of a canary in a coal mine. Their struggles are, in fact, warnings to all of us that something is wrong with the systems that surround us. It's not the canary-it's the mine!

I circled back to this idea in a different context years later when I realized that I'd learned some of my most effective teaching strategies from my special education colleagues. Techniques first introduced to "accommodate" students with IEPs (e.g., scaffolding, kinesthetic alternatives and visual aids) later became "mainstream" best practices that helped me remove obstacles for all kinds of learners. It was through the "miner's canary" lens that I read Carol Ann Tomlinson's The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners- a must-have for any teacher's bookshelf.

The Night Is Dark and I Am Far from Home: Political Indictment of US Public Schools is one of Jonathan Kozol's earliest works. I read it when I was still a pre-service teacher. In Chapter 3, "Saying No," Kozol makes the case that American schools are where pint-sized citizens learn to obey rather than think for themselves. In a beautiful defense of critical thinking, he analyzes our all-too-common insistence that students replace self-advocacy and moral indignation with "constructive criticism."

Kozol's book helped me understand some of my students a little better. I believe the best teachers strive relentlessly to understand their students and to "crack the code" of their sometimes confusing behavior. The most perplexing and frustrating to interpret, of course, can be those students we believe in but who continue to make what we label "poor choices." With each outburst, failing grade and discipline write-up, our efforts to make a difference can feel like flailing.

What if we look more closely-or differently-at our students? Are there conditions under which misbehavior or academic failure is a rational choice and not a "poor choice"? I am grateful to have encountered Herbert Kohl's answer in I Won't Learn From You: And Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment:

"Because not-learning involves willful rejection of some aspect of experience, it can often lead what appears to be failure. ... Not-learning tends to take place when someone has to deal with unavoidable challenges to her or his personal and family loyalties, integrity, and identity. ... not-learning is a healthy, though frequently dysfunctional, response to racism, sexism and other forms of bias."

With Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom, Lisa Delpit made sure I did not ignore the ever-present dynamics of culture and power in my work. My well-intentioned, liberal-progressive efforts had the potential to unknowingly enact culturally specific rules and codes that undermined those efforts and disempowered my students. Where there were differences between my own background and the community in which I was teaching, I needed to listen more and talk less-to my students, their families and my colleagues of color.
So what? Now what?
Alice Walker inspired my inner teacher. Guinier taught me that if I wanted to improve the system I was teaching in, I needed to listen to the canaries in my classroom. Kozol and Kohl helped me interpret what I heard. Thinkers like Sonia Nieto, Christine Sleeter and Lisa Delpit helped me discover what I could do about it.

What are the most important textual touchstones in your life? What kind of teacher would you be today if not for these big ideas?

Most importantly, are your students being exposed to the kinds of texts that will change their lives?

Use this textual lineage graphic organizer, and reflect on the powerful role reading has had in shaping who you are. Then try it with your students.
Chiariello is a teaching and learning specialist at Teaching Tolerance.

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Alfred Tatum writes that our textual lineage includes the things we have read that have been significant in shaping our identities. Scholastic's Global Literacy Campaign describes textual lineage as "a reading and writing autobiography which shows that who you are is in part developed through the stories and information you've experienced."

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What’s Wrong With This Diorama? You Can Read All About It (Published 2019)

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The American Museum of Natural History corrects a Native American story in full view of visitors, inviting them to “reconsider this scene.”

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Diverse BookFinder | Identify & Explore Multicultural Picture Books

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Are you looking for multicultural children’s books? We’ve got you covered! You can search our circulating collection of picture books (2002-present), explore our quick lists, then borrow our books from your own library through interlibrary loan. We believe that too many children are left out of main…

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Kendrick Lamar: white-washing curriculum 

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Kendrick Lamar: white-washing curriculum 

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Pernille Ripp supports us with manageable ways to revise our libraries

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Pernille Ripp supports us with manageable ways to revise our libraries

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Small Ideas for a Better Organized Classroom Library

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With 12 days left of the school year, they trickle in. Some worn and tattered, others still as crisp as the day they entered our room. Found in lockers, backpacks, discovered under beds and pulle…

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ccbcbooksearch_booklists] Can't find what you're looking for? Our Recommended Book Search includes subject access to CCBC-recommended titles based on subject headings created by our staff. Finding CCBC-recommended books video tutorial.

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On January 21, Oprah Winfrey announced her latest Oprah's Book Club pick, the new novel American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. Winfrey tweeted: "From the first sentence, I was IN ... Like so many of us, I've read newspaper articles and watched television news stories and seen movies about the plight of families looking for a better life, but this story changed the way I see what it means to be a migrant in a whole new way." Winfrey also posted a video of her endorsement to the Oprah's Book Club Twitter account, saying, "I was opened, I was shook up, it woke me up, and I feel that everybody who reads this book is actually going to be immersed in the experience of what it means to be a migrant on the run for freedom. So I want you to read. Come read with us, and then join the conversation with Jeanine Cummins on Apple TV+ coming this March."

Hello, fellow book lovers! My next @oprahsbookclub selection is "American Dirt" by @jeaninecummins. From the first sentence, I was IN. pic.twitter.com/uonqIa3QRK
- Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) January 21, 2020

Our next book club selection is "American Dirt" by @jeaninecummins. It's a heart-wrenching page-turner, and you won't be able to put it down.

Download your copy on @applebooks and #ReadWithUs: https://t.co/w62380H4Lz #AmericanDirt@Flatironbooks @Oprah pic.twitter.com/v6K23tEyPM
- oprahsbookclub (@oprahsbookclub) January 21, 2020

Book Twitter reacted to the announcement with swiftness, although perhaps not in the way Oprah's team would have wanted, citing the recent #OwnVoices movement. American Dirt has been the subject of controversy and criticism since 2019, when early readers first offered their opinions after seeing advance copies. The book has been called " stereotypical," and " appropriative" for " opportunistically, selfishly, and parasitically" telling the fictional story of a Mexican mother and son's journey to the border after a cartel murders the rest of their family. One of the more common knocks is that the book engages in " brownface," incorporating a nominally Mexican perspective that was written by a woman who - as recently as 2016 - identified as "white." In the lead-up to American Dirt's release, Cummins revealed she has a Puerto Rican grandmother. The conversation surrounding American Dirt's "ripped from the headlines" approach to telling this migrant story in an American voice for American readers places it within ongoing debates in the lit world about who can tell what stories.

Some professional critics also had at American Dirt in the days before its January 21 release. New York Times book critic Parul Sehgal said that the "rapturous and demented praise" the book has received in the press might be owed in part to the fact that "tortured sentences aside, American Dirt is enviably easy to read" and "determinedly apolitical. The deep roots of these forced migrations are never interrogated; the American reader can read without fear of uncomfortable self-reproach." Some of that praise also comes from the Times; in the Book Review, Lauren Groff was ultimately ambivalent but called the book "propulsive" and "swift," and regarded its polemical "uncomplicated moral universe" as a feature rather than a bug. Groff (who, for the record, is white) praisesCummins's efforts and excuses her appropriation, whereas Sehgal (who is not) questions Cummins's stated motivation in writing this story:

Shouldn't the story matter, her effort to individuate people portrayed as a "faceless brown mass" (her words)? In the book's afterword, she agonizes about not being the right person to write the book ("I wished someone slightly browner than me would write it") but decides that she has a moral obligation to the story.

Groff caused an even further Twitter stir when the New York Times Booksaccount tweeted a link to her review with this ( since-deleted) pull quote: "'American Dirt' is one of the most wrenching books I have read in a few years, with the ferocity and political reach of the best of Theodore Dreiser's novel." Groff responded: "Please take this down and post my actual review." Apparently this quote was from an "early version" of her review, to which she had made "radical changes." Still, this gaffe was enough to ignite Twitter discourse about who should have the platform to review certain stories, in addition to who should write them.

https://t.co/dlJZWJHFxL pic.twitter.com/egaYkd7BGT
- bradley babendir (@therealbradbabs) January 19, 2020

After Oprah announced Jeanine Cummins's controversial American Dirt as her latest Book Club pick, immigration reporter Aura Bogado shared a tweet the author posted back in November, showcasing a "pretty" nail-art interpretation of her book jacket, which features a barbed-wire design. Bogado critiqued Cummins's "vulgar pleasure of proudly wearing this exact symbol of oppression as a fashion statement," sparking a new wave of outrage over what's seen as a blatant visual representation of how Cummins is insensitively capitalizing on immigrant trauma.

Jeanine Cummins got a barbwire manicure. The fetish here, the vulgar pleasure of proudly wearing this exact symbol of oppression as a fashion statement and claiming it's "pretty," is literally making me nauseous. I wanna throw up. https://t.co/AdOlPwz6mw
- Aura Bogado (@aurabogado) January 23, 2020

What is wrong with all of you? Barbed wire manis? Are you intentionally trolling for bad press or just legit this dumb and or like actually cruel?
- Chelsea Peretti (@chelseaperetti) January 23, 2020

Then on January 26, Oprah posted a two-minute video to the Oprah's Book Club Instagram, announcing that as a response to the "outpouring ... of very passionate opinions," she spoke with members of the Latinx community about their concerns with American Dirt and will air an Apple TV+ event in March to "bring people together from all sides to talk about this book, and who gets to publish what stories. I'm hoping that that is going to resonate with many of you and your concerns."

After this announcement, writers Roberto Lovato, David Bowles, and Myriam Gurba began tweeting under the hashtag #DignidadLiteraria as a "call to politico-literary action," and many authors and activists are using the hashtag along with # ownvoices in their calls for better representation. Vox reported that Immigrant Youth Group United We Dream is petitioning Oprah to include more Latinx and immigrant authors in the Book Club. On January 27, the Oprah's Book Club Instagram account moved forward as usual, posting the reading schedule for American Dirt.The account posted the schedule with the caption: "Over the next several weeks we will be using this platform to share a diverse array of content, including books by Mexican and Latinx authors. More to come."

On January 29, American Dirt's publisher Flatiron Books released a statement from its president, Bob Miller, about how they were "surprised by the anger that has emerged from members of the Latinx and publishing communities" in response to the book's release and Flatiron's role in tone-deaf publicity. Miller acknowledges "serious mistakes," such as barbed-wire centerpieces at a bookseller dinner, and that they "should not have said that Jeanine's husband was an undocumented immigrant while not specifying that he was from Ireland." In the statement, Miller announced that Flatiron will cancel the book tour, citing "concerns about safety" and "specific threats to booksellers and the author."

Statement from Bob Miller (President & Publisher, Flatiron Books) regarding AMERICAN DIRT: pic.twitter.com/S4sQetyS2s
- Flatiron Books (@Flatironbooks) January 29, 2020

Many replies to this statement find it to be inadequate, using language of "white privilege," "victimhood," and "dog whistling" to frame Latinx concerns about the book as violent and scary, rather than simply writing an apology with a promise to improve their practices. Many commenters took issue with passages from the statement, like "it's unfortunate that she is the recipient of hatred from within the very communities she sought to honor. We are saddened that a work of fiction that was well-intentioned has led to such vitriolic rancor."

Flatiron Books: "We apologize..."

"Well that's a start."

Flatiron Books: "...for how savage & horrible black and brown people in the Latinx community are acting towards us." pic.twitter.com/3gLSO6tUGU
- X (@XLNB) January 30, 2020

Just say you messed up. Organziers, activists, writers like us who are also committed to social justice and change do not threaten harm the fact that you are using this stereotype to cancel the tour reinforces your unwillingness to be accountable.
- Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) January 29, 2020

At the end of the statement, Miller announced that in place of the book tour, Flatiron Books will organize a town-hall series "where Jeanine will be joined by some of the groups who have raised objections to the book." There are no further details yet about this series of meetings.

On February 4 at a pre-Oscars brunch event in Beverly Hills called "Defining Women: The Power of Lifting Up Women's Voices From Hollywood to Washington, D.C.," Eva Longoria drew a connection between the American Dirt controversy and similar concerns over white gatekeeping in Hollywood. InStyle quoted her saying:

"I have not read the book. I will not read the book. It's just parallel and synonymous with what's happening in entertainment, what's happening in government. The gatekeepers of the industries do not reflect the people and the consumers that they serve," Longoria said. "That's the problem."

"There's a bidding war over this book, which means all the publishers wanted this book. And they wanted some sort of way in to a different community. The problem with that is that the publishing industry is 80% white, from agents to editors and publicists."

Longoria also critiqued Flatiron for the way it handled concerns from the Latinx community about American Dirt, saying,"What made me really upset was when the publisher said, 'We had to cancel the book tour because of safety concerns,' which made my community look like we're crazy people going to cause trouble. We're not. We're just being outspoken about the inaccuracies of what this book represents." Longoria also endorsed novels that depict similar stories to American Dirt that were actually written by Latinx authors - Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario, and The Beast by Óscar Martínez. But, as Longoria pointed out, "Oprah didn't pick them."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, American Dirthas already been optioned for a movie adaptation by Charles Leavitt, the writer of Blood Diamond, and Imperative Entertainment, the production company behind Clint Eastwood's . While you wait for that come out, you can add your name to a 150-plus person hold list for American Dirtat your local library and catch Oprah's Apple TV+ feature on it in March.
This post has been updated throughout.

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Why Is Everyone Arguing About the Novel American Dirt?

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On January 21, Oprah Winfrey announced her latest Oprah's Book Club pick, the new novel American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. Winfrey tweeted: "From the first sentence, I was IN ...

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Each December, we observe Universal Human Rights Month-an opportunity to reflect upon historical and ongoing struggles for human rights around the globe. Yet understandings of human rights are constantly evolving, raising new questions, and calling into question aspects of social life that some of us take for granted. In the following five books published within the last year, scholars, a biographer, and a memoirist reflect upon different dimensions of human rights, offering educators a number of areas for further exploration of this important subject. Below, the publisher of each title outlines what is to be found within each book:

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Facing Today - A Facing History Blog | Reading List

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Each December, we observe Universal Human Rights Month-an opportunity to reflect upon historical and ongoing struggles for human rights around the globe. Yet understandings of human rights are constantly evolving, raising new questions, and calling into question aspects of social life that some of us take for granted.

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Why Are We Still Teaching To Kill A Mockingbird in Schools?

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Why Are We Still Teaching To Kill A Mockingbird in Schools?

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A Mississippi School Board sparked outrage this month when it voted to cut "To Kill a Mockingbird" from eighth-grade reading lists in Biloxi. The issue? Some people complained that the book's language made them uncomfortable.

While the backlash was swift, those who blindly defend "Mockingbird" are missing an important point. If the criteria for inclusion on a middle school syllabus was simply whether the novel provokes tough discussions, Harper Lee's opus belongs in as many classrooms as possible. But that is not the only question.

Let's be clear: "To Kill a Mockingbird" is not a children's book. It is an adult fairy tale, that is often read by children in wildly different - and sometimes profoundly damaging - ways.

Some of that damage is obvious: the black child who has been verbally abused by being called a "nigger" in the schoolyard could be more hurt hearing that word taught in the classroom, for instance. Another kind of damage less often discussed is how the text encourages boys and girls to believe women lie about being raped.

These damages can be mitigated or evaded by an excellent teacher.

Students are strong enough for tough discussions; they easily can untangle the use and misuse of the word "nigger" in "Mockingbird." But Mayella Ewell's lies, which are the crux of the false charges brought against Tom Robinson, are far more complicated - too complicated for the eighth grade, perhaps even with an excellent teacher.

And the book cannot continue to be taught as if every person in the classroom is white, upper middle class and needs to be prodded into being Scout. It should be taught by asking questions about why there are no black characters with agency in the novel, by wrapping it in with the history of the Scottsboro boys - a group of black teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women - and through raising questions about how "Mockingbird" (and American history) complicates the modern "believe victims" movement.

We need to be asking what we are teaching when we teach "To Kill a Mockingbird," and how useful those lessons are to 21st century students. We should be asking whether then novel, written by a privileged daughter of the Old South should still take up space in curriculum that could be well used to expose students to literary voices on race and injustice that have emerged in the past 50 years - voices who wouldn't have been published at the time that Harper Lee was first published.

Take, for instance, "Monster," a 1999 novel by award-winning African-American novelist Walter Dean Myers that also takes place in a courtroom. Here, however, the focus is on the young black defendant and narrator, Steve Harmon; the white lawyer, on the other hand, plays a lesser, but still complex, part. Monster is a complex and powerful modern classic that does much of the same work - providing a portrait of a young artist budding ethical integrity while confronting racism - as "Mockingbird" but does it with arguably more complexity.

We are often in practice censoring books like "Monster" from the curriculum to maintain a space for "Mockingbird." Often, we maintain that the book's inclusion is in fact necessary to prevent censorship. But what if keeping it in the curriculum maintains the status quo of the past as much as it illuminates it? Many who defend "Mockingbird" as a choice for curriculum are imagining students emboldened by Atticus to "fight for right" or inspired by Scout to be better than the society into which she is born.

But imagine instead that you are an African-American eighth-grade boy in Mississippi today, and are asked to read "Mockingbird." Perhaps it reinforces your growing suspicion that you are unlikely to get a fair trial should you stand accused of something like Tom Robinson.

Or imagine instead that you are an impoverished, white eighth-grade girl in New York today, asked read "Mockingbird." Perhaps it fuels your growing suspicion that people don't believe girls who say they have been raped - and that, should you be raped and try to tell people about it, people will have reason to doubt you like the book says everyone should have doubted Mayella Ewell.

Or think of Calpurnia, the older black maid who cooks and serves without seeing much: she isn't developed as a character as much as written as a set piece, suggesting the worst to young readers about the role of black women and black female intelligence.

And then, of course, there is Tom Robinson, falsely accused and "crippled," in the parlance of the book, meant to indicate that he would have been physically incapable of sexual assault. Asking a child reader to decode that artistic choice of Lee's is to ask them to think about whether black men are not desirable, impotent or marred - or that rape is a crime that can only be committed by an able-bodied person.

Every student who reads Lee's book does not identify with Atticus or with Scout, and teaching it as though they do, or they must, may reinforce the very stereotypes about black men and impoverished women that teaching the book is supposed to combat. Some identify with Tom Robinson, or with Calpurnia, or with Mayella Ewell and, for these students, "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a far more complex text which, in the hands of a less-than-effective teacher, can be damaging.

So let's move beyond a debate about censorship, about banning of books in classrooms, about the word "nigger." All of that has been hashed over more or less effectively. Characters in novels think and act differently, and often in opposition to, the ways in which their authors think and act. It may be a sign that you are not a racist if you shine light on racists by creating one in fiction. Or it might not.

Let's instead think about how, why and when we invite books into our classrooms, about the needs of an increasingly diverse student body and about how we can use difficult books to both illuminate our shameful past and better shape the young minds of our future. Though it holds sentimental pride of place for so many as the first book they read about race and injustice, "To Kill A Mockingbird" is more than a book about race and injustice, and it is not the only book about race and injustice. In the 21st century, it may not be the best book to illuminate those themes, especially when it reinforces so many stereotypes and misconceptions many eighth graders are hardly equipped to consider.

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Opinion | Why do we still teach 'To Kill a Mockingbird' in schools?

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A Mississippi School Board sparked outrage this month when it voted to cut "To Kill a Mockingbird" from eighth-grade reading lists in Biloxi. The issue? Some people complained that the book's language made them uncomfortable. While the backlash was swift, those who blindly defend "Mockingbird" are missing an important point.

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The #DisruptTexts Twitter chat isn't afraid to put classic texts in the hot seat. The titles addressed would ring familiar to most students, past and present: Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Crucible. As educators discuss how best to teach (or not teach) these books in week-long Twitter chats, one title at a time, they call out the perils of a K-12 literary curriculum long set in stone.

All children deserve to see themselves and their experiences reflected in books, but too many students, especially students of color, are denied such opportunities. White-authored "classics" still dominate the top 10 most-read lists for high schoolers, according to research from assessment company Renaissance Learning. What's more, diverse literary perspectives face a multitude of challenges to exposure. Of the 416 books flagged for questionable content in schools and libraries in 2017, the American Library Association's Top Ten Most Challenged Books list includes titles by black authors (Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give) and books that discuss Islam ( The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini) and LGBTQ experiences ( George by Alex Gino).

For decades, scholars have decried the harmful disconnect between young, diverse readers and the mostly white, middle-class, straight, and able-bodied characters and storytellers they engage with in the classroom. In her 1990s essay "Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors," scholar Rudine Sims Bishop wrote that when students see images of themselves that are absent, negative, or distorted, "they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society."

Decolonize the Curriculum

The founders of the #DisruptTexts movement-English educators Tricia Ebarvia, Lorena Germán, Kim Parker, and Julia Torres-offer a new set of tools to create a more equitable ELA curriculum through recurring chats and a crowdsourced website of resources. They started the hashtag in 2018 to center perspectives of marginalized voices, especially people of color, in student literature. They now present on #DisruptTexts at gatherings such as the National Council of Teachers of English conference and Teachers College's Social Justice Saturday.

"We have a lot of power over what and who we bring into the classroom," said Ebarvia. "Collectively, we have an opportunity to make real change."

The benefits of disruption are wide-ranging: Research has shown that diverse literature reduces stereotypes and increases empathy, global awareness, and academic performance among all students. Absent districtwide shifts in curriculum, teachers can choose which books to highlight and how to frame literary discussions to better reflect the needs and experiences of every student.

Individual awareness is the first step to challenge traditional, whitewashed pedagogy and prevent damaging experiences for readers of color. The #DisruptTexts model asks teachers to audit their personal and classroom reading experiences:

What experiences have shaped and limited your ideas about race, culture, gender, and power?

How inclusive are the books and media you consume personally and professionally?

How inclusive are your class discussions and curricula?

Teachers can then employ two main levers of disruption: the diversity of the texts they choose and the critical pedagogy they use to guide students' engagement with the texts. That might mean using pairings and counternarratives to champion missing voices or replacing texts with alternative titles. Last year's #DisruptTexts chat about The Great Gatsby suggested teaching the text alongside Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me, Harlem Renaissance poetry, and the film Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Empower Students

Any text is prime for disruption, but the movement's founders caution that it isn't just about replacing older texts with newer ones-it's a professional responsibility to both focus on marginalized voices and develop students' critical literacy skills to question the status quo.

Parker works with preservice teachers in Massachusetts to design inclusive units, thinking critically about how to teach about Christopher Columbus using voices of American Indian scholars like Debbie Reese. Ebarvia, who teaches at Conestoga High School near Philadelphia, asks her students to examine national identity in novels like The Things They Carried. In an account of the Vietnam War, why do they hear military voices but not Vietnamese or civilian ones?

To frame discussions of any book, educators should think about the following questions alongside students:

In what ways might a text present problems related to equity and representation?

How do the disruptive texts and multimedia stand with or against the traditionally taught text?

Whether her students devour The Poet X or Othello, Torres-who teaches in a predominantly black public high school in Denver with majority-white colleagues-always keeps in mind: How is this story empowering or disenfranchising students?

"As educators of color, this work is something we do as a means of survival," said Torres, a teacher librarian. "All of us teach in different environments, but all of us have the experience of going to school and not reading stories that reflected our cultural and linguistic realities and beliefs. It was very natural for us to want to create a better experience for our students-helping them reclaim what has been stolen from them."

Lean into Discomfort

#DisruptTexts isn't the only social media movement working to address holes in ELA curricula. Joel Garza, the cofounder of #THEBOOKCHAT, uses his chats to create "units in a box" for titles like There There by Tommy Orange, a novel that investigates American Indian identity.

"Whether it's #DisruptTexts or #APLitChat or #TeachLivingPoets, these self-selecting groups are reading deliberately and tweeting naked," said Garza. "You don't recognize how siloed you've been until you reach out on social media."

Educators can use these online resources to track harmful patterns that might influence their approach to disruption, such as depictions of diverse characters only as victims of violence. Pernille Ripp, founder of Global Read Aloud, uses sources like #DisruptTexts, #WeNeedDiverseBooks, and Teaching Tolerance to consistently check in with her curricular choices. An audit of a book's themes and messages is just as important as title and author choices. Ripp once heard a 7th grader ask, "Why are the books that look like me always about slavery or civil rights?"

"If the only books we're sharing are about basketball and brutality, then it's no better, because those aren't the only stories out there," Ripp said. "Look at the small details: What kind of experiences are you creating for students?"

But challenging a school's literary choices can be uncomfortable for some educators. In a profession where 80 percent of teachers are white, it's easy to default to the dominant discourse. That's why long-term disruption, according to Torres, will require shifts throughout departments and in professional development, not just isolated action. Part of that work involves white educators confronting both their whiteness and schools' unequal balance of race and power.

"Educators are really good at having conversations and sometimes not as good about pushing back," said Torres. "This canon has been so calcified and white for so long and remains for a lot of reasons. What I will trust more than anything is when children say, 'My year was completely different.'"

Disrupt for the Next Generation

Germán, who works at Headwaters School in Austin, Tex., has seen disruptive literacy conversations begin to change school culture. Many of her high school students weren't used to talking about race, bias, and privilege. Now they call each other out on problematic behavior and language and bring up diversity issues at soccer practice, in student council, and in other classes.

That the school is undergoing an inclusive climate assessment and just hired a black male administrator isn't a coincidence, said Germán. She believes the changes correlate directly to the growth of students.

"If things proceed as they have been always, a lot of my students are going to be the folks in power," said Germán. "How do you continue to teach the same thing when our society and demographics have changed? This is where real life and fiction intersect."

This story has been updated to better reflect Headwaters School's efforts.

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The #DisruptTexts Twitter chat isn't afraid to put classic texts in the hot seat. The titles addressed would ring familiar to most students, past and present: Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Crucible.

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Classroom Libraries as Windows and Mirrors: Ensuring Diverse, Representative Books for Our Students

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#DisruptTexts's mission is to aid and develop teachers committed to anti-racist/anti-bias teaching pedagogy and practices. There are four core principles to #DisruptTexts:

As teachers, we have been socialized in certain values, attitudes, and beliefs that inform the way we read, interpret, and teach texts, and the way we interact with our students. Ask: How are my own biases affecting the way I'm teaching this text and engaging with my students?

Center Black, Indigenous, and voices of color in literature.

Literature study in U.S. classrooms has largely focused on the experiences of White (and male) dominated society, as perpetuated through a traditional, Euro-centric canon. Ask: What voices-authors or characters-are marginalized or missing in our study? How are these perspectives authentic to the lived experiences of communities of color?

Apply a critical literacy lens to our teaching practices.

While text-dependent analysis and close reading are important skills for students to develop, teachers should also support students in asking questions about the way that such texts are constructed. Ask: How does this text support or challenge issues of representation, fairness, or justice? How does this text perpetuate or subvert dominant power dynamics and ideologies? And how can we ask students to wrestle with these tensions?

Work in community with other antiracist educators, especially Black, Indigenous, and other educators of color.

To disrupt and transform curriculum and instruction requires working with other educators who can challenge and work with us as antiracist educators. Ask: How can we collaborate to identify, revise, or create instructional resources (like this guide) that can center and do justice to the experiences of historically marginalized communities?

Each principle stands for actions that are culturally sustaining and antiracist. Through each principle, teachers aim to offer a curriculum that is restorative, inclusive, and therefore works toward healing identities and communities.

In the November 2020, the #DisruptTexts team, in collaboration with Penguin Random House, is proud to share eight teaching and learning guides for the following texts:

At the Mountain's Base by Traci Sorrell

Frankly in Love by David Yoon

What Lane by Torrey Maldonado

Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

CLICK HERE to view all eight guides.

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Four Core Principles to #DisruptTexts #DisruptTexts's mission is to aid and develop teachers committed to anti-racist/anti-bias teaching pedagogy and practices. There are four core principles to #DisruptTexts: Continuously interrogate our own biases and how they inform our thinking. As teachers, we have been socialized in certain values, attitudes, and beliefs that inform the way we...