Booktalking Kit: 

WNDB and School Library Journal have partnered to produce the Booktalking Kit, which highlights children’s literature with diverse characters or authors. The kit will help teachers, librarians, and booksellers discuss these diverse works with students and customers, which includes book lists, brief descriptions, comparative titles, and signs to help spread the word about excellent diverse reads. 

Download the kit here.

Internship Program: 

Thanks to funds raised during the IndieGoGo campaign, WNDB is kicking off the internship program, designed to foster the publishing careers of promising individuals from diverse backgrounds. Five diverse recipients have been awarded with grants to fund internships at major publishing houses. Congratulations to the first-ever recipients, Julie Jarema, Feather Flores, Kandance Coston, Esther Cajahuaringa, and Yananisai Makuwa. 

BEA/BookCon: 
WNDB was present and active at BEA and BookCon, prompting discussion and conversation, including: 

• A feature on NPR with Ellen Oh and Daniel Jose Older, discussing WNDB one year later
• Bustle’s article about the power of diverse books
• Overviews of the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday panels
• A C-SPAN video of the BEA panel focusing on diversity in publishing

WNDB will be at the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco this weekend.

On Friday, June 25th, WNDB will be honored as one of Library Journal’s “Movers & Shakers 2015.” 

Find us at two panels: 

• Sunday, June 28th at 9:00 AM: a WNDB panel, co-sponsored with ALA-OIF featuring E.E. Charton, Susan Kuklin, Lyn Miller-Lachman, Karen Sandler, Tim Federle, and Greg Neri. The panelists will discuss censorship and the top challenged books in 2014.

• Sunday, June 28th at 3:00 PM: an official WNDB panel sponsored by the APALA (the Asian Pacific American Librarian’s Association) on how librarians can engage in dialogue about diverse books will feature Aisha Saeed, Cindy Pon, Cynthia Leitich-Smith, Ellen Oh, Soman Chainini, and Stephanie Kuehn.