In your library whose stories are not represented and why?
W2-Q6: In your library whose stories are not represented and why?
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W2-Q6: In your library whose stories are not represented and why?
Most of my books that feature characters of color are of the sports stars or heroes variety. I also have a lot of historical fiction with characters of color. These books are important as windows, but I would like more books that provide a mirror to my students. I’m craving fiction about kids of color going to school, solving mysteries, defeating monsters, etc. I teach 4th grade and the only series I can think of that really fits the bill is The Stories Julian Tells.
The stories of Native Peoples are also greatly under represented in my room.
I think I need to write a Donors Choose…
In many libraries (including my own), there is a dearth of diverse reads. We are lacking books about people of color, differently-abled people, immigrants, low SES, women, LBTQ+, and so much more.
As far as the why: Threse stories are available, but have not been given the same support as stories of other types of people.
I have been happy to see the popularity of some diverse books in the past year: “Everything, Everything,” “The Hate You Give,” “All American Boys.”
I have been really working on including more stories with Indian families. Also different family structures need a broader representation in my class library.
I am working on getting more books about indigenous people and LGBTQ+. Over the years I have built up my diverse literature, but those two areas still need work.
Johanna Parkhurst is a dear friend of mine and she writes YA for LGBTQ. I highly recommend her books.
I try to represent everyone, but I know I’m lacking some titles. Thinking about my titles and my student population, I’m trying to find more books with Asian-American characters—especially second generation protagonists. Two of my favorites from last year are when Rishi met Dimple and You Bring the Distant Near.
Grace Lin would be a good addition:)
I feel for the most part I have books that offer windows and mirrors for my students. Now that I’m thinking the books I have, Native Americans are under represented in my library and maybe Books with Asian characters too. As for a why, there is no purposeful reason.
I’m also trying to get more “sports” books with female athletes as the protagonist or main focus.i just order Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad’s memoir.
Oh so many not represented in my current school. I was a bit disappointed when I moved to teach in international schools – the two that I’ve taught in here in Singapore anyway – and have seen that the classroom libraries are very small. While there tend to be some books that are about culture, as they should be, there are just so many holes in what’s available. The school libraries are great and well-used, but coming from my classroom in NYC where my co-teacher and I took so much pride in our class library, it was a bit sad to move to sparse book selections!
Although I try to incorporate diverse stories, I definitely need more from other cultures (I teach in primarily Caucasian rural Midwest). I’d like my students (almost 50% free/ reduced lunch) to explore the country/ world through books.
Like you, I too do not have a lot of sports books. I plan to work on that. I also do not have a great representation of poc other than African American and American Indian. I think it’s because most of my students fall into those two groups mainly. I’m working on it.
I recently presented at the International Association of School Library Research the idea of two books from every country in the world in every school library in the world. Until I achieve that, I can not say the planet is well represented in my collection. For American representation, I calculate what the demographics will look like when my students graduate from high school and buy accordingly, so that they are on the current edge, not the trailing edge of USA representation in their library. Since 80% of American librarians are white, I would suspect most collections are not accurately representing the realities of USA demographics.
Animals. I am lacking in both animal and sport representation because I am lacking in knowledge and interest. I plan on changing that!!!!
Like many have said, my library is lacking stories about Asian cultures. I’m also trying to be really conscious about adding some books that represent characters of diverse ethnicities/races that don’t make that diversity the sole focus of the story.
The Bronze and Sunflower is a Hans Christian Andersen award-winning title. Also a superb wordless picture book that will give anyone goosebumps is The Only Child by Guojing. It was a NYT Best illustrated title. There’s a dynamic Korean picture book writer named Hyewon Yum. She has about five picture books out. My students love her book called Puddle.
If you want more Asian children’s books, don’t forget to use Global Literature in Libraries Initiative as a resource. Here is our Library Thing catalog that allows you to narrow the book you want down to country, and then topic. Maybe I should do a separate post about that. We just got the catalog interface up. https://www.librarycat.org/lib/glli
Thanks for these suggestions for Asian/Indian culture books. This is the area my library has needed some help. I will have to look at these suggestions.
you rock for sharing this! Thank you!!!
Also- not sure…I have not looked with this lens….
I am just starting to build my library, I know I want to represent the students in my class, but also those who are not.