By Adam Crawley and Elizabeth Bemiss on behalf of the CLA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Committee We are living and navigating in troubling times. Across the country, educators (e.g., K-12 teachers, librarians, teacher educators, etc.) experience censorship of and challenges to texts that center historically marginalized races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and other ways of being. In several states (e.g., Florida, Georgia, Utah), such representations and discussions in K-12+ schools. Simultaneously, cities across the country are supporting newcomers ..read more

Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.” For approximately four weeks this spring, fourth-grade students at Oakdale Elementary in Salina, Kansas read and discussed, We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball (Nelson, 2008) as part of a language arts unit.  Students found the book highly engaging and the art extraordinary.  Numerous discussions occurred as students read, wondered, and conducted research in order to learn more about Negro League players and team owners.  Ideas i ..read more

By S. Adam Crawley, Craig A. Young, and Lisa Patrick on behalf of the CLA Master Class Committee Starting in 1994, the Children's Literature Assembly (CLA) has sponsored a Master Class at the annual NCTE Convention. This session provides K-12 teachers and teacher educators, as well as other members of the organization, the opportunity to gain insight about the use of diverse children's literature through interactions with leading scholars, authors, and illustrators in the field. The 28th annual Master Class is titled “Reading Queerness at the Intersections: Using LGBTQ-Inclusive Literature to ..read more

Spotlight on Recent Middle-Grade Portrayals of Deafness Although the fight for increased diversity in children’s literature has been going on for decades, there has been a recent surge in attention to this need since 2014 and the creation of the We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) campaign. The states that they advocate for “essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people” (We Need Diverse Books, n.d.), and their definition of diversity extends beyond diversity in sexual orientation, gender, and race, but also inclu ..read more

By Bettie Parsons Barger and Jennifer M. Graff For so many of us, books can feel like best friends, close family members, long-lost relatives, or trusted mentors. We gravitate toward them through our desire to connect or understand, to be inspired, or to experience a new or fresh perspective. As educators and literature advocates we also strive to help youths develop relationships with books, often relying on their curiosity about themselves and the unknown to help forge those connections.The United States Board of Books for Young People’s  (OIB) lists are excellent resources for such pur ..read more

Stories from Asian America: Picturebooks of Lived Experiences At the tail end of 2020, I completed my dissertation, a large-scale study of Asian American children’s literature. In total, I immersed myself in over 350 Asian American picturebooks, published across the last 25 years. This number surprises many, in part, because it is admittedly a large number to study, but also because few Asian , bicultural stories are popularly known beyond perennial classroom favorites such as (Recorvits, 2003). Below, I share an adapted excerpt of this work and suggest titles for teachers, librarians, and par ..read more

by Rachel Skrlac Lo & Donna Sabis-Burns on behalf of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee Challenges to books and reading lists are . In recent conversations with students, educators, and school board members, folks have shared that book challenges are taking up valuable time, distracting from and interfering with learning, and creating new tensions in the classroom and in the boardroom. Students are denied access to texts while challenged books undergo reviews, and they often have no say over districts’ decisions. Teachers are asked to modify carefully constructed curriculum or ..read more

A Lesson from Faith Ringgold about the Radical Power of the Picturebook Last week I was able to visit the long-awaited Faith Ringgold exhibit, at the New Museum in New York. Many know Ringgold from her book , but this retrospective - her first - features Ringgold as artist/organizer/educator and showcases paintings, murals, political posters, sculptures, and story quilts that span the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, critical feminism, and reach into the landscape of contemporary Black artists working today. After years of a relationship with the book version of , it was moving to ..read more

By Mary Ann Cappiello, Jennifer M. Graff and Melissa Quimby on behalf of The Biography Clearinghouse Over the last two years, we’ve enjoyed sharing excerpts from We hope that our interviews with book creators and our teaching ideas focused on using biographies for a variety of classroom purposes has been helpful to the CLA membership and beyond. This month, we’re very excited to share something different - a voice directly from the classroom.   Melissa Quimby, a 4th grade teacher in Massachusetts, has written the in our new feature Melissa is the genius behind #MeetSomeoneNewMonday ..read more

By Sara K. Sterner, Lisa Pinkerton, and Mary Ann Cappiello Nodes of Literary Connection—How Culturally Diverse Imprints are Building Pathways for More Inclusive and Representative Children’s Literature | Saturday, November 18, 2023 from 5:45 PM - 7:00 PM EST (GCCC Room B-130-132) Starting in 1994, the Children’s Literature Assembly (CLA) has sponsored a Master Class at the annual NCTE Convention. This guaranteed session provides K-12 teachers and teacher educators, as well as other members of our organization, the opportunity to gain insight about the use of children’s literature through inter ..read more