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Teaching Tolerance - Diversity, Equity and Justice

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April is National Poetry Month! In this edition of The Moment, we offer three poems to delight, inspire and encourage you and your students. To browse more student-friendly poetry, visit Perspectives Texts (under the Classroom Resources menu) and search for the word "poem."

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Old Turtle and the Broken Truth by Douglas Wood

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Old Turtle and the Broken Truth by Douglas Wood

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This is probably THE BEST picture book: "I am special, and so are they."

https://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Broken-Truth-Douglas-Wood/dp/0439321093/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502461215&sr=1-1&keywords=Old+turtle+and+the+broken+truth

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A book about the African diaspora:
https://www.amazon.com/Saw-Your-Face-Tom-Feelings/dp/0803718942

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Blind Spot: The Hidden Biases of Good People

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Blind Spot: The Hidden Biases of Good People

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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004J4WJUC/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004J4WJUC/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

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This resource guide was created in direct response to the multiple requests made by educators, parents and students. Like Marley Dias, so many of you have asked for books with black girls as the main characters. And because of you, we have received thousands of books. Here we are sharing with you the first 700 book titles. We have not yet catalogued all the books. As a small organization with only two full-time staff, our resources are limited. Beginning in April, each month we will provide you with updates of new book titles.

This resource includes words of welcome from Marley Dias, Creator of the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign. It also includes comments from Dr. Lauren Wells, Chief Education Officer, City of Newark who offers us tips on how we can foster and promote reading and literacy among our children.

As the President and Co-Founder of GrassROOTS Community Foundation, I have added a few words and call to action to the guide. My charge to parents and caregivers is a simple one: listen to your children, encourage them as well as promote their reading and literacy skills. Reading is a pathway to freedom and liberty. As caregivers it is our responsibility to develop the imagination of children so that they can dream, create and structure opportunities for freedom and equity.

We have reviewed the titles and descriptions of books to ensure that they fit the criterion of having a black girl as the main characters. We have also catalogued the books by reading level. This time-consuming task would not be possible without your financial donation to hire some interim part-time staff. We could not do it without all of you who donated, our volunteers and the librarians from West Orange Public Library.

Each month we will update the list and continue to serve as an information repository for Black Girl Books.

If you know of a black girl book, not listed here, please send us a copy so we can add it to our collection. We would like to see this list grow. Our address is:

GrassROOTS Community Foundation
59 Main Street
Suite 323
West Orange, NJ 07052

Financial donations are always welcomed. All donations are tax-deductible.

Thank you.

Welcome to the #1000blackgirlbooks Resource Guide. I started this campaign because I wanted to read more books where black girls are the main characters. With your help we have collected over 11,000 books; many of them are have the same title, but we do have lots of unique ones as well. This guide includes 1000 of those books and more is coming.

Love,

Marley Dias
Founder
#1000BlackGirlBooks

Sadly, in today's society we often lack the imagination to deal with some of the most deeply rooted social issues. Family and work obligations as well as our biases can stunt our imaginations; however, as adults it is our charge to foster the imagination of our youth. Marley Dias has an active sociological imagination. She imagined a world where black girls are the main, not minor, characters in children's books. She thought she was dealing with a personal matter, but she quickly learned from the outpouring response from the public that her personal problem is in fact an engrained social issue. Children's literature in the United States and abroad is homogeneous and exclusionary. Black girls are underrepresented and in many cases missing. Girls of color are almost completely absent relative to the majority culture.

As caregivers of children we must nurture our children's imaginations and equip them with the resources so they can be emboldened to act. The GrassROOTS Community Foundation through Super Camp enhances girls' sociological imagination and teaches them confidence grounded in the knowledge of history and self-hood so that they feel confident enough to feel like they can create change in their communities. Each year GrassROOTS encourages girls to develop a social action project. We choose the words social and action carefully. We want our children to understand themselves as social actors, connected to the world. In addition, we teach our girls that to achieve justice they must ACT. The #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign is Marley's 2015 social action project. As Marley's mom and the President of GrassROOTS Community Foundation, I have learned first hand what can happen when we foster and promote children's love of reading, educate them about their community, and their desire to create social change as well as fan the flames of their sociological imaginations.

Dr. Janice Johnson Dias
President & Co-Founder
GrassROOTS Community Foundation
#investingirls

A love of reading is the most important legacy we can offer to our children and our students. Reading opens windows to new ideas, peoples, places, and experiences. Reading also provides mirrors for students to see themselves and their lives reflected in the characters they meet in books. Reading builds vocabulary and background knowledge, empowering children with the tools needed to express themselves and think about the world around them. Nurturing joyful reading in children primes their brains for lifelong learning and develops important social emotional skills like stamina, reflection, and empathy. As we build readers, we must make reading pleasurable and help children understand that reading is a skill that builds over time.

Here are a few tips for parents and educators to create environments that invite children to confidently embrace and fall in love with stories and books.

Tips for parents:

Model reading. Read, read, read to your child, with your child, or in front your child every day.

Immerse your child in books. Transform your entire home into a reading zone by placing books in every room.

Affirm your child's culture, language, and race by choosing books and stories with characters, places, and experiences that reflect their background.

Awaken your child to new ideas, places, people, or experiences in books and stories by asking them questions and always answering the question they have.

Empower your child by allowing them to choose books to read, whether based on what interests them or on book covers and titles.

Arm your child by always leaving home with books. When your child gets older ask them if they have a book before leaving for school, the doctor, or a long ride.

Cultivate your child's use of language and words. Talk with your child about what is happening in their lives and the world around them.

Build your child's ability to make connections. When you watch television or movies, make connections to characters or ideas in books you have read together.

Expand your child's reading beyond fiction. Children have great curiosity about events taking place in the world, plants, animals, and people. It's never too early to expose them to historical fiction or non-fiction books.

Advocate for curricula, partnerships, books, and resources for classrooms and schools that are culturally relevant and responsive.

Tips for educators:

Model reading. Read, read, read to your students, with your students, or in front your students every day.

Immerse school culture in talk about books. Book talks over the intercom, book clubs, social media chats, and school-wide read alouds are a few ways to do this.

Affirm your students' culture, language, and race by integrating books and stories with characters, places, and experiences that reflect their backgrounds into the curriculum.

Awaken students as participants in their own learning by having them create reading goals for themselves, for example, minutes of reading, chapters read, and reading new genres.

Empower students by allowing them to choose books based on what interests them or on book covers and titles.

Arm your students with the power of their own language and stories by providing them with multiple ways to make personal connections to the texts they read.

Cultivate independent reading by creating comfortable reading spaces throughout schools. Classrooms, cafeterias, libraries, and cozy nooks in hallways are all fair game.

Build classroom libraries of interesting, appropriate, and relevant fiction and non-fiction texts.

Expand your reading beyond fiction. Students have great curiosity about events taking place in the world, plants, animals, and people. Use historical fiction or non-fiction books as tools to capture this interest.

Advocate for curricula, partnerships, books, and resources for classrooms and schools that are culturally relevant and responsive.

Dr. Lauren Wells
Chief Education Officer
City of Newark

Donations are the heart of the campaign. Because we value reciprocity, we donate the books we receive to schools and community members who need them. Children deserve to have windows and mirrors to the world. Please complete the form below.

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This resource guide was created in direct response to the multiple requests made by educators, parents and students. Like Marley Dias, so many of you have asked for books with black girls as the main characters. And because of you, we have received thousands of books.

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https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/iatdetails.html

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(Reference for slide 14-15 of presentation)

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The human brain is capable of 10¹⁶ processes per second, which makes it far more powerful than any computer currently in existence. But that doesn't mean our brains don't have major limitations. The lowly calculator can do math thousands of times better than we can, and our memories are often less than useless - plus, we're subject to cognitive biases, those annoying glitches in our thinking that cause us to make questionable decisions and reach erroneous conclusions. Here are a dozen of the most common and pernicious cognitive biases that you need to know about.

Before we start, it's important to distinguish between cognitive biases and logical fallacies. A logical fallacy is an error in logical argumentation (e.g. ad hominem attacks, slippery slopes, circular arguments, appeal to force, etc.). A cognitive bias, on the other hand, is a genuine deficiency or limitation in our thinking - a flaw in judgment that arises from errors of memory, social attribution, and miscalculations (such as statistical errors or a false sense of probability).

Some social psychologists believe our cognitive biases help us process information more efficiently, especially in dangerous situations. Still, they lead us to make grave mistakes. We may be prone to such errors in judgment, but at least we can be aware of them. Here are some important ones to keep in mind.

Confirmation Bias

We love to agree with people who agree with us. It's why we only visit websites that express our political opinions, and why we mostly hang around people who hold similar views and tastes. We tend to be put off by individuals, groups, and news sources that make us feel uncomfortable or insecure about our views - what the behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner called cognitive dissonance. It's this preferential mode of behavior that leads to the confirmation bias - the often unconscious act of referencing only those perspectives that fuel our pre-existing views, while at the same time ignoring or dismissing opinions - no matter how valid - that threaten our world view. And paradoxically, the internet has only made this tendency even worse.

Ingroup Bias

Somewhat similar to the confirmation bias is the ingroup bias, a manifestation of our innate tribalistic tendencies. And strangely, much of this effect may have to do with oxytocin - the so-called "love molecule." This neurotransmitter, while helping us to forge tighter bonds with people in our ingroup, performs the exact opposite function for those on the outside - it makes us suspicious, fearful, and even disdainful of others. Ultimately, the ingroup bias causes us to overestimate the abilities and value of our immediate group at the expense of people we don't really know.

Gambler's Fallacy

It's called a fallacy, but it's more a glitch in our thinking. We tend to put a tremendous amount of weight on previous events, believing that they'll somehow influence future outcomes. The classic example is coin-tossing. After flipping heads, say, five consecutive times, our inclination is to predict an increase in likelihood that the next coin toss will be tails - that the odds must certainly be in the favor of heads. But in reality, the odds are still 50/50. As statisticians say, the outcomes in different tosses are statistically independent and the probability of any outcome is still 50%.

Relatedly, there's also the positive expectation bias - which often fuels gambling addictions. It's the sense that our luck has to eventually change and that good fortune is on the way. It also contribues to the "hot hand" misconception. Similarly, it's the same feeling we get when we start a new relationship that leads us to believe it will be better than the last one.

Post-Purchase Rationalization

Remember that time you bought something totally unnecessary, faulty, or overly expense, and then you rationalized the purchase to such an extent that you convinced yourself it was a great idea all along? Yeah, that's post-purchase rationalization in action - a kind of built-in mechanism that makes us feel better after we make crappy decisions, especially at the cash register. Also known as Buyer's Stockholm Syndrome, it's a way of subconsciously justifying our purchases - especially expensive ones. Social psychologists say it stems from the principle of commitment, our psychological desire to stay consistent and avoid a state of cognitive dissonance.

Neglecting Probability

Very few of us have a problem getting into a car and going for a drive, but many of us experience great trepidation about stepping inside an airplane and flying at 35,000 feet. Flying, quite obviously, is a wholly unnatural and seemingly hazardous activity. Yet virtually all of us know and acknowledge the fact that the probability of dying in an auto accident is significantly greater than getting killed in a plane crash - but our brains won't release us from this crystal clear logic ( statistically, we have a 1 in 84 chance of dying in a vehicular accident, as compared to a 1 in 5,000 chance of dying in an plane crash [other sources indicate odds as high as 1 in 20,000]). It's the same phenomenon that makes us worry about getting killed in an act of terrorism as opposed to something far more probable, like falling down the stairs or accidental poisoning.

This is what the social psychologist Cass Sunstein calls probability neglect - our inability to properly grasp a proper sense of peril and risk - which often leads us to overstate the risks of relatively harmless activities, while forcing us to overrate more dangerous ones.

Observational Selection Bias

This is that effect of suddenly noticing things we didn't notice that much before - but we wrongly assume that the frequency has increased. A perfect example is what happens after we buy a new car and we inexplicably start to see the same car virtually everywhere. A similar effect happens to pregnant women who suddenly notice a lot of other pregnant women around them. Or it could be a unique number or song. It's not that these things are appearing more frequently, it's that we've (for whatever reason) selected the item in our mind, and in turn, are noticing it more often. Trouble is, most people don't recognize this as a selectional bias, and actually believe these items or events are happening with increased frequency - which can be a very disconcerting feeling. It's also a cognitive bias that contributes to the feeling that the appearance of certain things or events couldn't possibly be a coincidence (even though it is).

Status-Quo Bias

We humans tend to be apprehensive of change, which often leads us to make choices that guarantee that things remain the same, or change as little as possible. Needless to say, this has ramifications in everything from politics to economics. We like to stick to our routines, political parties, and our favorite meals at restaurants. Part of the perniciousness of this bias is the unwarranted assumption that another choice will be inferior or make things worse. The status-quo bias can be summed with the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" - an adage that fuels our conservative tendencies. And in fact, some commentators say this is why the U.S. hasn't been able to enact universal health care, despite the fact that most individuals support the idea of reform.

Negativity Bias

People tend to pay more attention to bad news - and it's not just because we're morbid. Social scientists theorize that it's on account of our selective attention and that, given the choice, we perceive negative news as being more important or profound. We also tend to give more credibility to bad news, perhaps because we're suspicious (or bored) of proclamations to the contrary. More evolutionarily, heeding bad news may be more adaptive than ignoring good news (e.g. "saber tooth tigers suck" vs. "this berry tastes good"). Today, we run the risk of dwelling on negativity at the expense of genuinely good news. Steven Pinker, in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, argues that crime, violence, war, and other injustices are steadily declining, yet most people would argue that things are getting worse - what is a perfect example of the negativity bias at work.

Bandwagon Effect

Though we're often unconscious of it, we love to go with the flow of the crowd. When the masses start to pick a winner or a favorite, that's when our individualized brains start to shut down and enter into a kind of "groupthink" or hivemind mentality. But it doesn't have to be a large crowd or the whims of an entire nation; it can include small groups, like a family or even a small group of office co-workers. The bandwagon effect is what often causes behaviors, social norms, and memes to propagate among groups of individuals - regardless of the evidence or motives in support. This is why opinion polls are often maligned, as they can steer the perspectives of individuals accordingly. Much of this bias has to do with our built-in desire to fit in and conform, as famously demonstrated by the Asch Conformity Experiments.

Projection Bias

As individuals trapped inside our own minds 24/7, it's often difficult for us to project outside the bounds of our own consciousness and preferences. We tend to assume that most people think just like us - though there may be no justification for it. This cognitive shortcoming often leads to a related effect known as the false consensus bias where we tend to believe that people not only think like us, but that they also agree with us. It's a bias where we overestimate how typical and normal we are, and assume that a consensus exists on matters when there may be none. Moreover, it can also create the effect where the members of a radical or fringe group assume that more people on the outside agree with them than is the case. Or the exaggerated confidence one has when predicting the winner of an election or sports match.

The Current Moment Bias

We humans have a really hard time imagining ourselves in the future and altering our behaviors and expectations accordingly. Most of us would rather experience pleasure in the current moment, while leaving the pain for later. This is a bias that is of particular concern to economists (i.e. our unwillingness to not overspend and save money) and health practitioners. Indeed, a 1998 study showed that, when making food choices for the coming week, 74% of participants chose fruit. But when the food choice was for the current day, 70% chose chocolate.

Anchoring Effect

Also known as the relativity trap, this is the tendency we have to compare and contrast only a limited set of items. It's called the anchoring effect because we tend to fixate on a value or number that in turn gets compared to everything else. The classic example is an item at the store that's on sale; we tend to see (and value) the difference in price, but not the overall price itself. This is why some restaurant menus feature very expensive entrees, while also including more (apparently) reasonably priced ones. It's also why, when given a choice, we tend to pick the middle option - not too expensive, and not too cheap.
Images: Lightspring/Shutterstock, Tsyhun/Shutterstock, Yuri Arcurs/Shutterstock, Everett Collection/Shutterstock, Frank Wasserfuehrer/Shutterstock, George Dvorsky, Barry Gutierrez and Ed Andrieski/AP, Daniel Padavona/Shutterstock, wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock.

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The 12 cognitive biases that prevent you from being rational

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The human brain is capable of 1016 processes per second, which makes it far more powerful than any computer currently in existence. But that doesn't mean our brains don't have major limitations.

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This resource is a sample of diverse texts purchased at Montello Elementary School in Lewiston, Maine

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Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking

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Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking

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Malcolm Gladwell (Reference for slide 12 of presentation)

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blink: the power of thinking without thinking

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business & economics / decision-making & problem solving

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business & economics/decision making & problem solving

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psychology / cognitive psychology & cognition

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self-help / communication & social skills

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business & economics / decision-making & problem solving

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business & economics/decision making & problem solving

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psychology / cognitive psychology & cognition

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self-help / communication & social skills

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Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

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Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking [Gladwell, Malcolm] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

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Why Racism Isn't Just a Southern Problem

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Why Racism Isn't Just a Southern Problem

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Why Racism Isn't Just a Southern Problem | Decoded | MTV News

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Franchesca Ramsey: https://twitter.com/chescaleigh Brought to you with love by: http://mtvother.com Produced by: http://www.kornhaberbrown.com Written By: Danielle Henderson https://twitter.com/knottyyarn While the stereotypical racist in the US might be a southern good ole boy, the reality is that "progressive" Northern and Western states have had a pretty long and terrible history with racism as well.

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Exploring Race, Bias & Identity with Students

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How do we get students to consider perspectives different from their own? How do we get them to challenge their own biases and prejudices? If, as Atticus Finch famously said, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it," how do we get our students to do that?

Teachers traditionally turn to literature, history and current events to open up these conversations, but it's always helpful to have a bigger toolbox to tackle such important and difficult issues. That's why we pulled together these 26 short New York Times documentaries that range in time from 1 to 7 minutes and tackle issues of race, bias and identity.

To help teachers make the most of these films, we also provide several teaching ideas, related readings and student activities.

In the comments, we hope you'll share how you use these films in your own classroom.

_________
The 26 Films

* The Collector "We Are Not That" (2 min.)
* The Activist "They Think We're Just Historical" (3 min.)
* The Seller "It's Weird to Me, but It Sells" (2 min.)

Hyphen Nation- What makes someone American? How do you define American identity? In these films, nine American citizens describe their struggle to belong in a nation that both embraces and rejects them.

* Mallika (2 min.)
* Jason (2 min.)
* Amanda (1 min.)
* Roy (1 min.)
* Russell (2 min.)
* Wendy (1 min.)
* Ayman (2 min.)
* Armando (2 min.)
* Michaela (2 min.)

The latter three series were produced in collaboration with " POV," television's "longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films." For more educational resources from "POV," visit its website.
__________ Teaching Idea #1: Ask Open-Ended Questions for Reflection and Discussion

Horsing around with white friends in a parking lot as a teenager, only one person got singled out.

Sometimes the best way to prompt reflection and discussion after watching a film is simply to let students share their personal reactions. The four open-ended questions we use in our weekly Film Club are intended to encourage thoughtful and honest dialogue. Students might write a response first, or meet in partners or small groups before discussing with the class as a whole.

* What moments in this film stood out for you? Why?
* Were there any surprises? Anything that challenged what you know - or thought you knew?
* What messages, emotions or ideas will you take away from this film? Why?
* What questions do you still have?

While students watch the film, they can take notes using our Film Club Double-Entry Journal (PDF) to help remember specific moments.
Teaching Idea #2: Offer Students Choice

It doesn't get more American than putting your hand over your heart at a Yankees game. And it doesn't get less American than being called a terrorist at a drug store.

Different film topics might appeal to different students and classes. If you plan to watch one or more of these films as a class, you can do a quick survey to decide which film in a series to watch. Or, if students are watching on tablets or laptops, you can let them decide individually or as small groups which film or films they'll watch.

If students do end up watching different films, you can have them share their observations and reflections with the rest of the class in a jigsaw activity or class share.
Teaching Idea #3: Go Further With Short Activities

These 26 films raise all sorts of questions about how we see other people, how they see us, and even how we see ourselves.

Extending classroom discussions with formal activities can help push the conversation forward and help students draw connections between their own lives and the ideas expressed in these films. Here are just a few possibilities that can be used before, between or after watching.

Short readings that provide additional perspectives or entry points for exploring issues of race, bias and identity can also deepen the conversation. We selected the following from Facing History and Ourselves' collection of resources:

* "Little Things Are Big" by Jesús Colón (also used in our Text to Text lesson plan)
* "The Bear That Wasn't," an illustrated children's book by Frank Tashlin
* "The Danger of a Single Story" by Chimamanda Adichie
* "Orientation Day", a short personal essay by a 17-year-old student, Jennifer Wang
* Defining Race, short readings about "race" as a shifting social construct
* The Blink of an Eye, short readings about unconscious or implicit bias
* Words Matter, an interview with Niin, an Anishinaabe woman of both Cree and Ojibway descent
* The 'In' Group, a reflection by Eve Shalen, a high-school student
* Street Calculus, a cartoon by Garry Trudeau

For most of these readings, Facing History provides connection questions or even a related lesson plan.
Teaching Idea #5: Take Action

These films naturally raise questions about the daily choices we make, consciously or unconsciously, to treat others with respect and dignity. They also push us to think about the lengths we should go to as schools, communities, a nation and as a world to make sure that all people are treated fairly - so, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, people "will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Students can brainstorm:

* What can we do in our individual lives to make sure others are treated with respect and dignity, and not based on stereotypes and prejudice?

* What can we do as a class or as a school to make sure our community is welcoming of people from different backgrounds - different races, ethnicities, religions, disabilities, gender and sexual orientations?

* And what about as city, state, nation or world? What can we do to make a difference in promoting equality and understanding across divides and in the face of intolerance?

Then, as individuals or as a class, students can come up with their own plans of action to challenge stereotypes and fight against discrimination.

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26 Mini-Films for Exploring Race, Bias and Identity With Students (Published 2017)

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How do we get students to consider perspectives different from their own? How do we get them to challenge their own biases and prejudices? If, as Atticus Finch famously said, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ...

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Teaching Young Children About Bias, Diversity and Social Justice

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Teaching Young Children About Bias, Diversity and Social Justice

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Edutopia

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Diverse Classroom Libraries for K-6 Students

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Diverse Classroom Libraries for K-6 Students

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The Reading Teacher

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Children's Literature

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Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Education

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White Authors & Authors of Color

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The conversation about diversity in children's books has become amplified in recent years, in large part due to the creation of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks hashtag and the nonprofit with the same name. The discussion has exploded, with the need for diverse representation in kidlit being talked about in all corners of the publishing world. An initial look at numbers seemed that the conversation has spurred some momentum for change, but is this true?

But, according to new data from the Children's Book Center, as discussed in this blog pos by Lee and Low , the past two years have shown an increase in number of children's books featuring people of color - a big one. In 2013, only 10.5% of children's books depicted people of color. In 2016, the number jumped to 28%. So yes, racial diversity in children's books is increasing.

And this is incredibly important. Representation in literature is essential for children of all races. For children of color, seeing themselves reflected in the books they read is crucial. When they fail to see themselves in books, they internalize the message that society devalues and erases them, and it can negatively affect their self-esteem. For white children, having books that accurately reflect the world around them helps to build empathy for people that are different from them, and helps open up discussions about race and oppression.

But here's the catch: Black, Latinx, and Native authors combined wrote less than 6% of children's books published in 2016 . Let that sink in for a second: the number of children's books with characters of color is going up, but the number of authors of color being published remains dismally low. What this means is that many of the books featuring characters of color are being written by white authors, which means that opportunities are being denied for people to tell their own stories.

Yes, white people should care about addressing the diversity gap in publishing. And yes, white authors should absolutely include people of color in their books. But it's important how those characters are being featured: white authors can be tricky. It raises the potential that some of these "diverse" books may include problematic representations and stereotyping, or white authors writing stories that aren't theirs to tell, writing protagonists of color appropriating culture and stories from other people (Remember that offensive Holocaust romance novel written by a Christian author? That's the kind of kerfuffle we're talking about).

So the key to closing the diversity gap needs to include not just who is in the books being published, but who is writing those books. Because as long as books are being written predominantly by white people, the diversity issue isn't being solved on a deeper level. Instead, white people are profiting off of stories that don't belong to them, and taking money and platforms from authors of color. As Innosanto Nagara, author of social change books for kids, , " diversity doesn't just mean the same books with a brown face on it (though that is needed too), but that we are also able to reflect an expanded perspective, cultural, political, and otherwise."

Perhaps one of the most important findings of the Lee and Low data is how societal anti-Blackness is reflected in who is being paid to write children's stories. Only 25.5% of books about African-Americans were actually written or illustrated by African-Americans (the numbers were 40% for Native people, 61% for Latinxs, and 89% for Asian Pacifics). This resistance to letting Black people tell their stories is not new; mainstream white culture routinely steals , , , and intellectual property from Black culture and claims it for their own. It's one of the most insidious aspects of white supremacy.

This is an age-old issue. When the New York Times raised the issue of diversity in children's literature in 2013, it wasn't a new or never talked about one. An article had been published in The Saturday Review back in 1965 that called attention to the all-white world of children's books.

When a problem is so entrenched, it doesn't budge overnight. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying, and trying hard. Today, if the predominantly white publishing world really cares about diverse books, they need to not just put diverse characters on the pages, but open the door to authors from marginalized populations who have all kinds of stories to tell.

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The Children's Book World Is Still Racially Biased

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The conversation about diversity in children's books has become amplified in recent years, in large part due to the creation of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks hashtag and the nonprofit with the same name. The discussion has exploded, with the need for diverse representation in kidlit being talked about in all corners of the publishing world.

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Steps to Creating a Diverse Text Collection

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It's not easy to create an inclusive book collection. Whether you're a librarian creating a collection for an entire community, a teacher creating a collection for your classroom, or a parent creating a collection for your children, choosing books that reflect the diversity of human experience can be a challenging job.

That's because creating a diverse book collection is about more than just making sure X, Y, and Z are represented. It's not a matter of ticking off check boxes or making sure quotas are filled. For those committed to doing it right, building a diverse book collection requires contemplation, research, and awareness. But the rewards are great: a truly diverse collection of books can turn children into lifelong readers and promote empathy, understanding, and self-confidence.

To make things a little easier, we've created a checklist to help.
Here are eight steps to all-inclusive reading:

1. Does your book list or collection include books with characters of color? LGBTQ? Differently-abled?

2. Does it include books with a main character of color? LGBTQ? Differently-abled?

3. Does it include books written or illustrated by a person of color? Of different nationalities, religions or sexual preference?

4. Are there any books with a person of color on the cover? Do the characters on the book covers accurately reflect the characters in the book?

5. Think about your student population. Does your list provide a mix of "mirror" books and "window" books for your students-books in which they can see themselves reflected and books in which they can learn about others?

6. Think about the subject matter of your diverse books. Do all your books featuring black characters focus on slavery? Do all your books about Latino characters focus on immigration? Are all your LGBTQ books coming out stories?

7. Do you have any books featuring diverse characters that are not primarily about race or prejudice?

8. Consider your classic books, both fiction and nonfiction. Do any contain hurtful racial or ethnic stereotypes , or images (e.g. Little House on the Prairie or The Indian in the Cupboard)? If so, how will you address those stereotypes with students? Have you included another book that provides a more accurate depiction of the same culture?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, here are some resources that can help:
Where can I find great diverse children's books? A resource list Beyond Good Intentions: Selecting Multicultural Literature Seven Ways to Explore Race in the Classroom How inclusive is my classroom library? A Toolkit Disability in KidLit I'm Here, I'm Queer, What the Hell Do I Read? American Indians in Children's Literature Diversity in YA
What questions would you add? What resources would you recommend? As always, leave 'em in the comments!

*Many thanks to librarian Edith Campbell for her corrections and feedback on our list!

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Checklist: 8 Steps to Creating a Diverse Book Collection

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It's not easy to create an inclusive book collection. Whether you're a librarian creating a collection for an entire community, a teacher creating a collection for your classroom, or a parent creating a collection for your children, choosing books that reflect the diversity of human experience can be a challenging job.

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http://www.imyourneighborbooks.org/

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Chimamanda Adichie

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