This edited collection brings together ongoing professional conversations about diverse children’s books and the role and function of nonfiction and informational text in K–8 classrooms. At a time in which truth, science, and reality are under attack, this volume challenges the fields of children’s literature and education to evolve, expand, and divest from the selective tradition and limited literary canons. Nationally and internationally recognized experts ground their chapters in children’s literature research and criticism, arguing the importance of including high-quality diverse books that accurately and authentically represent the world in which we live. Contributors explore the ways in which engaging with diverse nonfiction children’s literature provides opportunities to counter constricted curricula and reposition the possibilities of pedagogical policies and mandates by centering the histories, lives, and cultures of historically marginalized and underrepresented people. Each chapter features an overview of relevant texts, criteria for selecting and evaluating nonfiction literature, practical pedagogical strategies, connections to primary sources, and a description of our contemporary context alongside arguments for why it is essential that educators include this literature in their classrooms, curricula, and libraries. Contributors: Vivian Yenika-Agbaw; Jamie Campbell Naidoo and Ruth E. Quiroa; Debbie Reese and Betsy McEntarffer; Noreen Naseem Rodríguez and Esther June Kim; Ebony Elizabeth Thomas; Amina Chaudhri; Denise Dávila and Sarah Elovich; Rachel Kamin and Michele Widdes; Karla J. Möller, Leila Tarakji, and Deborah J. Margolis; Sharon Black, Terrell A. Young, Mary Anne Prater, and Tina M. Taylor; Jon M. Wargo and Joseph Madres; Stephanie Renee Toliver |
