What is anti-bias education? “At the heart of anti-bias work is a vision of a world in which all children are able to blossom and each child’s abilities and gifts are able to flourish” (Derman-Sparks, Edwards, & Goins, 2020 p.5) Anti-bias education (ABE) aims to support the development of children living in a diverse, yet still unequal, society. Expanding beyond a specific curricula, ABE acts as an underlying framework, upon which all relationships and services are built in support of all young children’s growth. ABE recognizes human diversity, and that children grow up within specific family groups and that they are impacted by how society views them and how they view themselves.(Derman-Sparks, Edwards, & Goins, 2020) What are the four goals of anti-bias education? ABE has four main goals that are meant to identify, prevent (as much as possible), and address and remedy the harm that social prejudice and bias can have on…
Tag: Picture Book Diversity
Diverse picture books don’t disappoint, focus on the individual and the universal
One of my favorite things about being a children’s librarian is seeing new picture books. 2023 was an amazing year for picture books, and in today’s post I wanted to focus on three diverse picture books, two of which are overtly diverse. Who knows, maybe one of these will be on a Caldecott or Newbery Awards list! I’ll start with an October title, There was a Party for Langston, by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey. The front endpapers are a veritable who’s who of Black writers from the Harlem Renaissance to modern day, including Ashley Bryan and Toni Morrison. Each person is depicted as a book on two shelves, listed alphabetically. What kind of book will this be? We see people entering a building on the title page, all dressed up in finery. It looks…promising. And then the fun begins. The artists and the authors are…
Empowering Young Voices Through Illustrated Stories at #alamw21
Scholastic’s “Empowering Young Voices Through Illustrated Stories” was like a behind-the-scenes meeting with the creators of three new picture books. These titles included Lala’s Words by Gracey Zhang, The Little Blue Bridge by Brenda Maier, and Wishes by Mượn Thị Văn and Victo Ngai. All eloquent storytellers, visual and written, the creators put emphasis on the importance of empathy and multicultural representation, as well as believing in oneself and the change that we can create ourselves. Mượn Thị Văn says these steps can be big or small and has hope that readers will be empowered to take them after reading Wishes. Brenda Maier pointed out a lesson in The Little Blue Bridge, that you cannot control others, only how you react to a situation yourself. Gracey Zhang expressed how important words are and the way they are used, as well as the importance of the images and what they portray….
#alsc16 Picture Books Open Us Up
Working in an urban public library, diversity is always on my mind. Up until this year, I was disappointed with the published picture books, lacking representation of various cultures and family structures. Our newly acquired picture books are much better at depicting all types of children and families.