Over the last few years, the Youth Services team at Rochester Public Library (MN) has been asked to help diversify school curriculum support materials, including social studies and STEM.
These projects are a lot of fun and begin with the creation of a spreadsheet to document our finds, audit the materials for diversity & inclusion, identify subject matter, and review and track other factors instructors would like us to consider.
For example, we are currently working with the kindergarten curriculum subject “Our Country, It’s a Great Place” which covers understanding what it means to be an American Citizen, identifying symbols of the USA, immigration, and identifying leaders of today. A few of our recommendations are:
Dreamers by Yuyi Morales
Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice by Nikki Grimes
V is for Voting by Kate Farrell
We are a Garden: How diversity took root in America by Lisa Westberg Peters & Victoria Tentler-Krylov
We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom
What Does it Mean to Be American? By Rana DiOrio & Elad Yoran
What is a Refugee? By Elise Gravel
What’s the Big Deal About Americans? By Ruby Shamir
The following lists, which are prepared yearly in conjunction with the Children’s Book Council are valuable resources for this work and for keeping our collection up to date:
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young Children