Chapter 16
Chapter 16 is a question and answer article with Ebony Elizabeth Thomas that discusses the importance on why children need more diverse books. The article began by stating, “what children read shapes, what they think of themselves, of others, and of the world”, and I wholeheartedly agree with that statement. This may only be my third year teaching, but I pride myself greatly in my classroom library because “kids need a balance of stories”, and I believe my classroom library offers a great deal of diverse books.
Every summer, I go to Half-Priced Books and buy a bulk of new books to add into my library, and I love searching for books that will show my students a great deal of diversity. Recently, my school library hosted the Scholastic Book Fair (another time during the year that I like to buy a bulk of books for my classroom library) and I came across the book Hair Love. Before buying this book, I had no idea that it is based on an animated short film shown in theaters, but I knew it would be great to have in my library because it shows an African-American father learning how to style his African-American daughter’s hair. Even though this book may not come off as being “impactful”, the article states that “if they get that narratives can be about different people when they are very young, when they are older, maybe they won't react so harshly to de-centering”. With “they” being young children, having a simple book such as Hair Love shows students a book of diversity in a simple way so that they may appreciate reading diverse books without it being known to them or being forced onto them.
Comments
Post a Comment