Category Archives: Diversity

Diversity, Diversity, Race, and Representation, Fairs/Conventions

ALA Midwinter Day of Diversity Recap and Reflections

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Chicago, IL, January 30, 2015
photos courtesy of Dan Bostrom

diversity 102This past weekend, I went to Chicago to attend the first ever Day of Diversity organized by the Association of Library Services for Children (ALSC) and Children’s Book Council (CBC). This event, which took place in conjunction with ALA’s Midwinter Conference, brought together 100 people from all parts of the book world including publishers, editors, librarians, booksellers, and authors. It included a mix of noted diversity advocates and newbies. The ultimate goal was to inform, engage, and ultimately find ways to turn talk into action.

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Awards, Book News, Dear Readers, Diversity, Diversity 102, Diversity, Race, and Representation, Lee & Low Likes, Race, recap post, Uncategorized

ALA Youth Media Awards Wins for Lee & Low Books!

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Yesterday was the ALA Youth Media Awards, or the “Oscars of Children’s Literature” as they’re sometimes called. It was a big day for diversity. Diverse books and authors were honored across the board and we couldn’t be happier. Continue reading →

Common Core State Standards, Diversity, Educator Resources, Special Education

What I Learned from a Nonverbal Autistic Classroom-Part 2

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In part 1 of this post, I spoke about my experience teaching in a nonverbal autistic classroom and its most meaningful takeaways. Part 2 explores respectful, useful resources for people on the autism spectrum, their family members, and educators.

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Book Lists by Topic, Diversity, Diversity 102, Diversity in YA, Diversity, Race, and Representation, Lee & Low Likes, New Voices/New Visions Award, Tu Books

Fifteen Diverse Authors You Should Resolve to Read in 2015

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A new year means a new chance to get to all the things you didn’t get to last year. And by “things,” what we really mean is BOOKS. We also know that reading diversely doesn’t happen by accident; it takes a concerted effort to read a wide range of books.

So, we thought we’d help on both counts by offering up a list of the diverse authors we’re resolving to read in 2015. Some are new, and some have just been on our list for years. This is the year we plan to get to them – perhaps this will be your year, too?

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Diversity, Diversity, Race, and Representation, Educator Resources, Special Education

What I Learned From a Nonverbal Autistic Classroom—Part 1

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Autism_Awareness_RibbonMy final semester as an undergrad was crammed with experiences you might expect of someone full of excitement, optimism, and a lot of what-am-I-going-to-do-with-the-rest-of-my-life thoughts. Aside from the typical pre-graduation nerves, I—as a childhood education major—was about to reach the height of all of the lesson plan and unit plan writing, fieldwork observations, and hours of late-night studying: the student teaching experience.

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Diversity, Diversity, Race, and Representation, Lee & Low Likes, Race

Why You Should See Selma

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In celebration of MLK Day today, we wanted to share two perspectives from Lee & Low staff members on why you should see Selma, the new movie based on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Much has been said about the lack of Academy Award nominations for the movie, but nevertheless moviegoers are uniformly in agreement that Selma is one of the best movies of the year. It offers a meaningful historical context for current events and a springboard for deep discussion, making it a valuable learning experience as well as a straight-up great movie.

Here’s why we think seeing Selma is one of the best ways you could spend MLK Day: Continue reading →

Diversity, Diversity 102, Diversity, Race, and Representation, Race, Tu Books, TV

Dream Casting for Our Favorite YA Novels

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One of the fun things about reading fiction is imagining what the characters would look like, sound like, and act like in real life. And with the recent spike in YA-novels-turned-movies, it’s not a stretch to wonder who might be cast to play some of our favorite characters. There have been some great movies recently based on YA novels, but few of them have featured diverse casts or characters. So we thought we’d give Hollywood a little help and showcase a few of our favorite movie-worthy YA novels, and how we’d cast them: Continue reading →

Diversity, Diversity, Race, and Representation, Lee & Low Likes, Musings & Ponderings

Sweet News in Diversity

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Happy Halloween everyone! We’ve got something even better than treats today: great news in diversity!

Appltim cooke CEO Tim Cook recently came out in an editorial published by Bloomberg Businessweek, saying that he is “proud to be gay,” and making him the first openly gay leader of a major U.S. company. This was the first time Cook addressed his orientation publicly, saying, “I don’t consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others,” Cook wrote. “So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy.” With more states and people accepting gay marriage and supporting LGBTQ rights, Cook’s move is inspirational and will hopefully lead to more acceptance within the workplace.

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