The 9th annual Multicultural Children’s Book Day will take place on January 28, 2022. The mission of this day, held the last Friday of January, is, “to raise awareness for children’s books that celebrate diversity by getting more of these books into classrooms and libraries. This nonprofit also strives to shine the spotlight on the diverse books and authors that often get overlooked by mainstream publishing and media.” Use these resources from NCTE to celebrate Multicultural Children’s Book Day.
This resolution from NCTE calls for all to advocate for more children’s and young adult books from publishers and booksellers that reflect the culturally diverse lives and experiences present in the United States, and also to highlight and support authors, illustrators, publishers, and booksellers whose work represents multiple perspectives and cultural diversity in the lives of all children.
In this blog post, Stephanie R. Toliver shares specific recommendations of books to make available to our students, to help them look beyond what is and imagine what could be.
Lynsey Burkins shares about the types of books she likes to use with her students: books that teach about history, books that support conversations around social justice, and books that represent incidental diversity.
These books, shared by Julia E. Torres, represent a range of #OwnVoices texts, specifically those that capture the intersections between one-dimensional identity markers we so frequently use.
Here are a handful of gorgeous texts—richly nuanced and culturally-affirming—that deserve exalting, as shared by Nawal Qarooni Casiano.
Using example lesson ideas and language choices, the authors introduce a method for engaging the challenging conversations multicultural YA texts elicit in school settings in this article from English Journal.
What are your plans to celebrate Multicultural Children’s Book Day?
Curious about the NCTE and Library of Congress connection? Through a grant announced by NCTE Executive Director Emily Kirkpatrick, NCTE is engaged in ongoing work with the Library of Congress, and “will connect the ELA community with the Library of Congress to expand the use of primary sources in teaching.” Stay tuned for more throughout the year!
It is the policy of NCTE in all publications, including the Literacy & NCTE blog, to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, the staff, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.