Thinking About "Diverse Books"
There has been a lot of buzz around "diverse books" for the past few years. When I first came across Chad Everett's latest blog, There is no diverse book, the title made me pause. What could he mean, no diverse books? The importance of diverse books was what everyone was talking about for the last year. His blog was an important read for me and it grew my thinking immensely. It caused many thoughts to spin in my head, so this blog is an attempt to gather them in some sort of organized fashion.
"It is in the transaction (Rosenblatt, 1986) between the reader and the text that a text's diversity is realized," (Chad Everett). Reading that sentence was a big AHA and DUH moment for me, all at the same time. Aha, because what is "diverse" for one reader is not diverse for another reader. And duh, because it's about the reader! Of course, it is ALWAYS about the reader. I know that, I say that all the time, and I believe that. So how did I miss that in my quest to gather as many diverse books for our schools as possible? It isn't about the book, it's about the reader.
Chad proposes that we think about texts along a continuum, a continuum that is unique to every reader. One end being the texts that affirm the reader's life and experiences, moving towards texts that affirm the lives and experiences of those who are different from the reader. Our goal for kids should be that kids read widely across their own continuum. Finding affirmation in their own lives and experiences and seeing, learning from, and affirming the lives of people that are different from them.
That being said, it IS about the book in terms of the disproportionate number of books featuring minoritized groups. We need to do better at finding and publishing and promoting and sharing books that feature characters that represent all of the real, beautiful people that make up our country and our world. Especially books that are written by authors who belong to these minoritized groups, as there is power in their author telling a story fro their own experiences and expertise. It is about the book in terms of making sure our libraries and our classrooms are filled with the stories of the ALL students it serves and all of the people they need the opportunity be introduced to.
I recently read an advanced digital copy of the short story anthology, Fresh Ink. In the foreword, the editor Lamar Giles, recounts his own frustrations with reading while growing up, "Finding ourselves in the stories we loved was hard, frustrating work. But when we discovered that rare story that reflected us, that hidden gem, we latched on and fell in LOVE love with reading all over again." Every reader deserves to feel seen and understood in the pages of a book.
I see it as our job as teachers to read across our own continuum so that we model wide reading for students and so that we have book recommendations for all readers, whether they need to see themselves in a book or are looking to see others. Most importantly, it is our job to know our readers well so that they also feel seen and understood in our classrooms.
"It is in the transaction (Rosenblatt, 1986) between the reader and the text that a text's diversity is realized," (Chad Everett). Reading that sentence was a big AHA and DUH moment for me, all at the same time. Aha, because what is "diverse" for one reader is not diverse for another reader. And duh, because it's about the reader! Of course, it is ALWAYS about the reader. I know that, I say that all the time, and I believe that. So how did I miss that in my quest to gather as many diverse books for our schools as possible? It isn't about the book, it's about the reader.
Chad proposes that we think about texts along a continuum, a continuum that is unique to every reader. One end being the texts that affirm the reader's life and experiences, moving towards texts that affirm the lives and experiences of those who are different from the reader. Our goal for kids should be that kids read widely across their own continuum. Finding affirmation in their own lives and experiences and seeing, learning from, and affirming the lives of people that are different from them.
That being said, it IS about the book in terms of the disproportionate number of books featuring minoritized groups. We need to do better at finding and publishing and promoting and sharing books that feature characters that represent all of the real, beautiful people that make up our country and our world. Especially books that are written by authors who belong to these minoritized groups, as there is power in their author telling a story fro their own experiences and expertise. It is about the book in terms of making sure our libraries and our classrooms are filled with the stories of the ALL students it serves and all of the people they need the opportunity be introduced to.
I recently read an advanced digital copy of the short story anthology, Fresh Ink. In the foreword, the editor Lamar Giles, recounts his own frustrations with reading while growing up, "Finding ourselves in the stories we loved was hard, frustrating work. But when we discovered that rare story that reflected us, that hidden gem, we latched on and fell in LOVE love with reading all over again." Every reader deserves to feel seen and understood in the pages of a book.
I see it as our job as teachers to read across our own continuum so that we model wide reading for students and so that we have book recommendations for all readers, whether they need to see themselves in a book or are looking to see others. Most importantly, it is our job to know our readers well so that they also feel seen and understood in our classrooms.
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