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Around the world in the northern hemisphere, festivals mark the darkest time of the year. Celebrating the victory of light over darkness, candles are lit on trees, and in windows, menorahs, and kinaras; lamps, lanterns, and strings of lights glow. Here are a selection of BIPOC titles from our collection about celebrations of light in ...continue reading "Lighting the Lights"

Our December Shelfie comes to you from our Advisory Council member, Kait Feldmann. Kait joined Scholastic in May of 2014 and is an Editor at Orchard Books, where she is building a list of picture books and graphic novels. Kait is a proud hapa (mixed-race Chinese) and founding member of People of Color in Publishing. She ...continue reading "Romps, Adventures & Fantasies: Where are All the Kids of Color?!"

It's that time of year! Searching for great gift ideas for your family and friends who have children? We've got you covered. We took a look back through our collection and picked out some of our very favorites from 2018 to share with you (we're still working on getting all the 2019 books, so stay ...continue reading "2019 Holiday Gift Guide: Racially/Culturally Diverse Picture Books"

“Any Child: Books featuring BIPOC in which race, ethnicity, tribal affiliation, culture, im/migration, and/or religious, sacred, or origin stories are not central to the story. These elements may be present, but they are not essential to the plot and could be changed without altering the storyline.” Over the next few months, we'll be featuring a list ...continue reading "Every Day Books for Every Child"
Colorful books stacked on top of each other.

Photo Credit: Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash In October, we launched our free, online Collection Analysis Tool (CAT) -- funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services -- to help librarians across the nation diversify their bookshelves. A recent survey done by School Library Journal indicates that the majority of librarians feel it is "very ...continue reading "How to Gain Support for & Navigate Challenges to Diversifying Your Library’s Collection"

Since the launch of our free, online Collection Analysis Tool (CAT) in October – which can tell you which racial/cultural groups are represented and how they’re represented on your bookshelves or in your collection – we’ve received lots of great questions from users about our nine unique book categories. The CAT draws on those categories ...continue reading "Beautiful Life vs. Race/Culture Concepts: What’s the difference anyway?"

“All Hispanics are poor.” As a Hispanic woman and “millennial” born and raised in the U.S., I find this stereotype to be personally offensive. I have experienced and witnessed firsthand the harmful consequences of such beliefs. Yet, in my recent work as a research assistant with the Diverse BookFinder -- during which I took a ...continue reading "Representations of Latinx/Hispanic Characters in Children’s Picture Books"

Have you ever wondered how you might use picture books to make gender norms visible to children? It turns out, you don't have to use books that do the explicit work of challenging gender norms in the story itself (although those are great too -- more on that later)! One way to help children identify ...continue reading "Using Picture Books to Disrupt Gender Norms"

My second grandchild and first granddaughter just arrived this month, and I have babies on the brain. So it’s delightful to notice that the last three years have birthed a wonderful batch of brand-new, beautiful picture books about babies, featuring characters who are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Color)! Two trends we’re cheering in ...continue reading "New Books for New Babies"

Books about going back to or starting school, like those in our first post, can tell stories about an exciting new adventure, an everyday event, or a rich experience of culture. Or, like the titles in this post geared toward older children, going to school books that feature Black and Indigenous people and People of ...continue reading "Back to School! Part II: Access, Equity & Inclusion"
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