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Diversify Your Personal Library

by Bridget Voltz on 2022-04-18T16:50:00-04:00 in Diversity, Education, Literature | 0 Comments

 


As part of the 150th Anniversary, the University Libraries and College of Education and Social Work are celebrating the unveiling of the Rudine Sims Bishop African American Children’s Book Collection. Dr. Bishop graduated in 1959 from what was then West Chester State Teachers College and went on to be considered “the mother of multicultural literature.” She is best known for her theory of the importance of Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors in children’s literature. Her collection of diverse children’s literature has been generously donated to the university.

We invite you to diversify your personal libraries as part of this celebration. To encourage a love of reading, we must make sure children see their lives mirrored in the books they read. This can be especially difficult for Black, Indigenous, and other children of color because more children’s books are published with animals as protagonists than non-white children (Cooperation of Children’s Book Center). It’s also essential for children to have windows into the lives of others who don’t look like them or experience the world in the same way. To help expand your personal library of children’s books, Education Librarian Katelyn Manwiller has curated a list of resources to find diverse titles and learn more about the importance of representation in children’s literature:


  • DiverseBooks.org: We Need Diverse Books is a non-profit dedicated to changing the publishing industry and promoting literature that reflects the lives of all young people.

           

  • DiverseBookFinder.org: Diverse Book Finder is a “comprehensive collection of children's picture books featuring Black and Indigenous people and People of Color (BIPOC).”

        

  • TheConsciousKid.org: An Education, Research, and Policy Organization, The Conscious Kid supports families and educators in disrupting inequity.

         

  • HereWeeRead.com: This blog by Charnaie Gordon connects people with diverse and inclusive books and kid-friendly products.

           

  • ColoursOfUs.com: Colours Of Us is an international blog dedicated to multicultural representation in children’s books, with titles recommended by ethnicity and age.

 

         

  • ImYourNeighborBooks.org: I’m Your Neighbor Books works to provide inclusion to first-through-third-generation Americans through diverse children’s literature.

 


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