My Inclusive Storytime Challenge

Libraries are for everyone. I really believe that, and I want my storytimes to be for everyone too. But in looking back at my storytime titles over the past year, I realized that my storytime families didn’t see everyone represented in the books I had chosen. That concerned me, and after a boost of inspiration from colleagues who presented on inclusive storytimes at our last department meeting, I decided to make it a priority in the form of a challenge: include at least one book by or about a person of color every week.

Maybe that seems impossible to you. Or maybe it seems like you’d end up compromising and choosing not-as-good books just to say you were inclusive. There are probably other maybes popping up in your head, but I’m here to debunk them. Sometimes it took a little more digging for find the just right books to share for a certain theme, but I always got there. I never felt like I was compromising, and I discovered some great books that I’m sure I’ll be adding to my regular storytime rotation.

For this next session, I am stepping up my challenge to attempt to feature more #OwnVoices titles and to talk about race when it is appropriate to do so. Even just pointing out the race of the characters or author models affirming differences and identity, which is very important to me as a disabled person with a very obvious physical difference.

So here’s what I did:

J is for Jump

Jump! By Scott M. Fischer

Hop Jump by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwell (I love this one! It is definitely a storytime favorite.)

 

L is for Library

Lola at the Library by Anna McQuinn

Read it, Don’t Eat it by Ian Schoenherr

You Can Read by Helaine Becker

 

M is for Moon

Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

If You Were the Moon by Laura Purdie Salas

A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin

 

N is for Numbers

Feast for 10 by Cathryn Falwell

Grandma’s Tiny House by JaNae Brown-Wood (This is a favorite!)

Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett (Interactive books always go over well with my storytime kids.)

 

P is for Pirate

Pirate Jack Gets Dressed by Nancy Raines Day (FYI, Pirate Jack has a hook for a hand just like me.)

Pirate Nap by Danna Smith

Pirate Princess by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen (Honestly, this was a little long for my group, but it’s a cute story.)

 

S is for Socks and Shoes

Duck Sock Hop by Jane Kohuth

Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin (Always a good choice!)

Maggie and Michael Get Dressed by Denise Fleming

 

T is for Trucks and Trains

Freight Train by Donald Crews

Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia

Old MacDonald Had a Truck by Steve Goetz (My group loved this one.)

 

W is for Wild Animals

Old Mikamba Had a Farm by Rachel Isadora

Tiny Little Fly by Michael Rosen

Don’t Wake Up the Tiger by Britta Teckentrup (Another great interactive book.)

 

Follow me on Instagram to see what I’m doing for the spring session, and definitely check out the Talking to Kids about Race in Storytime post on Jbrary for more about inclusive storytime.

Start with a book

I have been thinking a lot recently about what it means to be an ally to people of color or other marginalized groups.  I’ve been seeking out commentary about what someone like me can do to make the world a better place for everyone.  I don’t have all the answers, but I would like to amplify the words of children’s author/poet Nikki Grimes.  She writes:

“Instead of looking the other way while hatred takes root in young hearts and minds, why not try this: Plant the seeds of empathy. Teach the young to feel the heartbeats of races and cultures other than their own. Replace any possible fear of the unknown, with knowledge of the knowable. Teach them the ways in which we humans are more alike than we are different. Teach them that the most important common denominator is the human heart. Start with a book.

Give young readers books by and about peoples labeled ‘other.’ I’m not talking about one or two books, here and there. I’m talking about spreading diverse books throughout the curriculum, beginning in elementary grades, and continuing through to high school. Why? Because racism is systemic and teaching empathy, teaching diversity, needs to be systemic, too.”

I agree wholeheartedly.  Perhaps one of these books will be a good place for you to start:

  

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña, One Family by George Shannon, and I am the World by Charles R. Smith.

But don’t stop there.  Keep reading diverse stories and talking about them with kids.  We will change the world one story at a time.

Read More:

• About my love for Last Stop on Market Street
• About the danger of the single story
• About the diversity conversations at the AWP conference earlier this year

Where have we been?

“You know where you’re going if you know where you come from.”

Michele Norris was talking about her book, The Grace of Silence, with Kerri Miller on MPR with the words above.  She spoke of how her parents, who were among the first African-American families in their South Minneapolis neighborhood in the 1940’s, passed on their hopes and dreams to their children instead of their angst.  This sounds lovely, but it also meant that there was much that didn’t get discussed in Norris’ family.  Her memoir, which I have yet to read, explores the un-talked-about aspects of her family, the way race has played a role in her family’s story, and the way the way we talk about race is changing.  I am excited to read the book, and I hope to join in the conversation around the book that is going on as part of the One Minneapolis One Read program.

I wrote some time ago about how we can use books like Let’s Talk About Race to open a discussion about diversity with kids, and this photograph of a display at a Hennepin County Library Branch shows that there are many books that bring alive African-American history for kids, including Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson.

You might also use All the Way to America by Dan Yaccarino or Grandpa Green by Lane Smith to share family history stories, and don’t forget to share your own mini-autobiography on the Hennepin County Library’s web site.  Your life in 50 characters or less.

Share your story with the community, and share it with your children.  This is how we determine where we are going to go from here.  The stories of our parents and grandparents may not be easy to talk or write about, but one of my favorite writers, Jonathan Safran foer, who took on a fictionalized version of his family history in his book Everything is Illuminated, offered this advice:

“I was always writing from a position of loving my family so I knew I couldn’t betray them. The worst that could happen was that the execution of my writing wouldn’t be as good as my intentions. So if you have good intentions — to be forthright and honest — you can’t really fail.”

 

Disclosure: I am not affiliated with MPR, Hennepin County Library, or One Minneapolis One Read. I have not (yet) read Michele Norris’ book. Amazon links are affiliate links. I may earn a percentage of purchases made through those links.

Talking about diversity with kids

Po Bronson writes in Nutureshock (which I blogged about here),

“We all want our children to be unintimidated by differences and have the social skills to integrate in a diverse world.  The question is, do we make it worse, or do we make it better, by calling attention to race?”

The book makes a strong case for talking about race with kids, and this column on Newsweek talks a little bit about why and when to start talking about race with kids.  But for those who are looking for concrete suggestions for the “how” part of the discussion, I think that Julius Lester’s Let’s Talk About Race is a great place to start with elementary-school-age kids.  This picture book is designed to generate discussion.  It asks questions and provides much food for thought about the ways that people are different and the ways that we are the same.

Whether talking about race will help or hurt when it comes to embarrassing situations for parents, I’m not sure.  But as I blogged about regarding my physical difference, I’d rather kids ask questions than learn that questions are taboo when it comes to people who are different.

What are your favorite books for talking about diversity with kids?  Share your recommendations here or let’s connect on Facebook.