To be Black is to embody diversity in lived experiences, culture, skin tones and hair textures. Blackness is an awareness of differences in treatment based on beauty standards that have historically ignored the range of shades and coils of Black people. The following U.S. titles celebrate and honor Black people and teach young children (ages … Continue reading #BlackIsBeautiful: Books that Boost Blackness to Children
Silent books
Any children's librarian will tell you that as children are read picturebooks they are not usually silent participants. So this category of the picturebook is a little puzzling until you realise that the books are silent because there are no words on the page. The story is carried by the illustrations and the reader who … Continue reading Silent books
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Stars and Poppy Seeds
When I was a kid, I loved to count all sorts of things, as so many children do. Because numbers are fascinating! Even the names are cool: long before there was Google, there were googols and googolplexes. In Stars and Poppy Seeds, a picture book for ages 3-7, Flora is the child of mathematicians. And … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Stars and Poppy Seeds
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Every Color of Light
A joyous, gentle picture book for readers 4-8, Every Color of Light paints a paean to the colors of nature and the natural world. While it’s a quiet book in the traditional sense, its pages are filled with noise and motion, from whipping wind and thundering rain to flickering stars. Nature’s poetry springs alive on … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Every Color of Light
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Ida and the Whale
“Would you like to come with me on a journey beyond the stars?” So asks a friendly flying whale that young Ida meets when she’s half asleep. Who could resist such an enticing invitation? Not I. Nor Ida. And so we enter a dreamy fantasy world as we join Ida and the whale on their … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Ida and the Whale
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Lizard
The month of December is often a month of gift-giving, what with the various holidays that take place during that time. Later this month I will be giving my nieces and nephews books for Christmas, as is my custom. I have been considering prospective books all year long and recently made my purchases from a … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Lizard
Interview with Rachel Yung-Hsin Wang
This post is published simultaneously on Chinese Books for Young Readers Kirkus reviewer Rachel Yung-Hsin Wang has lived and worked in many parts of the world, and is something of a polyglot. Earlier this year she completed an MFA in Writing for Children at Simmons University, having won a Lee & Low and Simmons Friends … Continue reading Interview with Rachel Yung-Hsin Wang
Hope and Hardship: The Picture Book As Exile Narrative
Today I am ceding editing rights to my friend and colleague Betsy Bird, an award winning children's author and librarian... Children’s books are written years in advance of their publication dates. A book being written at this very moment may take anywhere between two to five years to reach library and bookstore shelves. As such, … Continue reading Hope and Hardship: The Picture Book As Exile Narrative
#WorldKidLitWednesday: Little Fox
Little Fox catches air during his pursuit of two purple butterflies, and then the earth rushes up to meet him with a THUMP! As he lies, dazed, he starts to dream as he has never dreamt before. He dreams of good things like his mommy’s milk, the sights and smells of little animals and flowers, … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Little Fox
#ExileLit Welcome to the Literature of Exile
My name is Lesley Williams, and I am guest editing the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative blog for November. What a tremendous honor! As a librarian, I enjoy combining my love of beautiful writing with advancing social justice. So what better theme to choose that the literature of exile? Ovid, Dante, Victor Hugo, Wole Soynika, … Continue reading #ExileLit Welcome to the Literature of Exile
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 