Tuesday, December 12, 2017
As discussions about personalized learning and equity become more prevalent in education, librarians are reminded to consider the inclusivity of their collections. As you consider adding diverse selections, BadgerLink is a fabulous tool for selecting new titles.
NoveList and NoveList K-8
NoveList and NoveList K-8 are fiction recommendation resources. You can search by keyword, terms of appeal, reading level, author’s cultural identity, as well as books with diverse characters.
Using the Advanced Search feature in NoveList or NoveList K-8 you can search by subject, genre, or appeal factor. Here are some search examples of things you can find.
Is one of your library users looking for a book about friendship that have characters with a variety of abilities?
What if your patron comes in asking for a book featuring someone with Down syndrome?
Maybe your book club is looking for a great book to discuss at your next meeting. A search for culturally diverse and character driven will give your book club plenty to talk about!
Looking for books with African American characters for your story time? Try this search.
Try mixing and matching these search terms:
SU Subject
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Multiracial
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African American
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Asian American
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Autism
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Learning Disabilities
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Jewish Americans
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Interfaith families
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Interethnic relations
GN Genre
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LGBTQIA fiction
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Multicultural romances
AP Appeal Factors
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Ability diverse
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Culturally diverse
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LGBTQIA diverse
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Religiously diverse
For future reference, BadgerLink has added some training guides to help you find fiction books with diverse characters! Find these materials and more on the BadgerLink Training page: https://badgerlink.dpi.wi.gov/training.
Finding Book Reviews
Once you find book titles, you may want to read a book review to determine if the book is appropriate for your collection.
BadgerLink has put together a video tutorial to walk you through how to search for book reviews!
You can find the video on the BadgerLink YouTube playlist or on the Training page. Here is a direct link to the Finding Book Review video.
Other Resources
Here are a couple other recommended online resources to explore.
Cooperative Children’s Book Center
The Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) is a unique examination, study and research library of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is committed to identifying excellent literature for children and adolescents. The CCBC is well known for their Annual Statistics on Multicultural Literature in Publishing, which provides statistics on authors and illustrators of children’s books that are by or about people of color and first/native nations published in the United States.
We Need Diverse Books
We Need Diverse Books™ is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and a grassroots organization of children’s book lovers that advocates essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people.
Social Justice Books
SocialJusticeBooks.org is a project of Teaching for Change, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide teachers and parents with the tools to create schools where students learn to read, write and change the world. Social Justice Books offers more than 50 book lists, book reviews, and recommend articles on multicultural children’s literature.