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Re: ccbc-net digest: February 04, 2014
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From: Crystal Brunelle <brucr_at_onalaskaschools.com>
Date: Wed, 05 Feb 2014 12:13:01 -0600
This topic is one that I has been a concern to me for many years. I want to make sure I have diverse shelves in my school library, but last year around this time I noticed that I had shelves at home that did not reflect my stated values. I was not living what I was saying. My shelves at home are becoming more diverse and I am starting to gift more diverse books too. This year I joined two reading challenges that will help me be aware of more diverse titles. They are explained here http://richincolor.com/2014/01/diversity-on-the-shelf/, One is called Diversity on the Shelf and the other is sponsored by Latin_at_s in Kid Lit. I am hoping that with this emphasis I will be more familiar with titles to recommend and/or purchases if need be when teachers need books for different topics.
Last year was also when I asked myself what I could do to make a change. Fortunately I caught a #diverselit chat that was happening through Lee & Low on Twitter and connected with someone else who wanted to work towards promoting more diverse lit and we started the blog Richincolor.com Even deciding on a name was tricky. Diverse lit and multicultural lit really means having lit from a wide variety of cultures which would logically also include those that are white. Like on Multicultural Kid Lit day (which I loved) I thought well, if I asked my students to create a multicultural literature display, would that mean they couldn't include books about white children? The term multicultural means many cultures, but it seems like in library circles it has come to mean anything not white. Not because we don't know, but because there are plenty of books with white characters and they are easy to find. But by doing this, it does seem like we are sectioning off the "multicultural" books and keeping them something other. I don't know if this makes any sense to other people, but I know that this discussion can get dicey.
I tend to include books from many cultures throughout the year not just during the special months and I purchase many diverse books, but I see my collection and know that it is still sadly lacking. What I noticed as I pulled African American books for an activity this week was that I have a lot more books with animals as the main characters than I do people of color. I still have a long way to go in my collection, but I have made a lot of positive additions in the past years since I came to this library.
Date: Wed, 05 Feb 2014 12:13:01 -0600
This topic is one that I has been a concern to me for many years. I want to make sure I have diverse shelves in my school library, but last year around this time I noticed that I had shelves at home that did not reflect my stated values. I was not living what I was saying. My shelves at home are becoming more diverse and I am starting to gift more diverse books too. This year I joined two reading challenges that will help me be aware of more diverse titles. They are explained here http://richincolor.com/2014/01/diversity-on-the-shelf/, One is called Diversity on the Shelf and the other is sponsored by Latin_at_s in Kid Lit. I am hoping that with this emphasis I will be more familiar with titles to recommend and/or purchases if need be when teachers need books for different topics.
Last year was also when I asked myself what I could do to make a change. Fortunately I caught a #diverselit chat that was happening through Lee & Low on Twitter and connected with someone else who wanted to work towards promoting more diverse lit and we started the blog Richincolor.com Even deciding on a name was tricky. Diverse lit and multicultural lit really means having lit from a wide variety of cultures which would logically also include those that are white. Like on Multicultural Kid Lit day (which I loved) I thought well, if I asked my students to create a multicultural literature display, would that mean they couldn't include books about white children? The term multicultural means many cultures, but it seems like in library circles it has come to mean anything not white. Not because we don't know, but because there are plenty of books with white characters and they are easy to find. But by doing this, it does seem like we are sectioning off the "multicultural" books and keeping them something other. I don't know if this makes any sense to other people, but I know that this discussion can get dicey.
I tend to include books from many cultures throughout the year not just during the special months and I purchase many diverse books, but I see my collection and know that it is still sadly lacking. What I noticed as I pulled African American books for an activity this week was that I have a lot more books with animals as the main characters than I do people of color. I still have a long way to go in my collection, but I have made a lot of positive additions in the past years since I came to this library.
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