By Gianna Macchia The #OwnVoices hashtag was created by writer Corinne Duyvis in 2015 as a way to shorthand book recommendations by authors who openly shared the diverse identity of their main characters. She used the tag with her own novel On the Edge of Gone, which features an autistic … [Read more...] about Replacing #OwnVoices: Promoting Diverse Library Books With Specificity
educators
This School Librarian Fought LGBTQ+ Book Censorship
By Remi Kalir Today we're honored to welcome a school librarian, who requested anonymity, to the WNDB blog to talk about her students reading the middle grade book Melissa by Alex Gino, their participation in #SharpieActivism, and a subsequent attempt to remove the book from the school’s … [Read more...] about This School Librarian Fought LGBTQ+ Book Censorship
35 Educators Receive Grants to Support Diverse Books
The WNDB team has watched with alarm as book bans have swept the country, from Texas and Idaho to Virginia and Florida. More often than not, these challenges specifically target books that feature diverse characters. Research by PEN America has found that 41 percent of books banned in the United … [Read more...] about 35 Educators Receive Grants to Support Diverse Books
Resources for When LGBTQ+ Books Are Banned
By Karis Rogerson As we’ve seen a rise in book challenges and bans at libraries across America in recent months, it’s important to know not only what is happening, but also who is fighting and how we can help. This resource list is meant to give you background information as well as highlight a … [Read more...] about Resources for When LGBTQ+ Books Are Banned
How Educators Are Keeping the 1619 Project in the Classroom
By Andrea Ruggirello In her Pulitzer Prize-winning essay, The Idea of America, journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones writes, “I had been taught, in school, through cultural osmosis, that the flag wasn’t really ours, that our history as a people began with enslavement and that we had contributed little … [Read more...] about How Educators Are Keeping the 1619 Project in the Classroom
WNDB Establishes Educators Making a Difference Grants To Support Diverse Books by Diverse Authors
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WNDB Establishes Educators Making a Difference Grants To Support Diverse Books by Diverse Authors February 8, 2022 Washington, DC — We Need Diverse Books has learned that an eighth-grade teacher in Charles City, Iowa, was placed on administrative leave in November after … [Read more...] about WNDB Establishes Educators Making a Difference Grants To Support Diverse Books by Diverse Authors
How Educators Can Talk About Inclusive Language With Young People
By Andrea Ruggirello If you’re a supporter of diversity in children’s literature, then you understand the power of story to empower and affirm all identities. But do changes to the smallest bits of those stories—words, format, punctuation, letters—matter just as much? Nikotris Perkins, a … [Read more...] about How Educators Can Talk About Inclusive Language With Young People
