LibGuides: Early Childhood Studies: Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and Inclusion

“Children need windows and mirrors. They need mirrors in which they see themselves and windows through which they see the world.”

--Rudine Sims Bishop, Professor Emerita of Ohio State University,
honored as the "'mother of' multicultural children's literature."

Below are a list of useful online collections focusing on diversity and inclusion within children's literature and awards focusing on the promotion of diversity in children's literature.

Online Collections

American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL)
American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) is blog established in 2006 by Dr. Debbie Reese of Nambé Pueblo, American Indians and provides critical analysis of Indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books.
Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) - Current Publishing Statistics
The Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) is a unique and vital gathering place for books, ideas, and expertise in the field of children’s and young adult literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This link brings you to the CCBC's diversity statistics page, which includes annually collected data on books by and about Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).
Disability in Kidlit
Disability in Kidlit is dedicated to discussing the portrayal of disability in middle grade and young adult literature. They publish articles, reviews, interviews, and discussions examining this topic from various angles — and always from the disabled perspective. While their focus is on middle grade literature they discuss topics helpful to early childhood studies.
Diverse Book Finder
The Diverse BookFinder is a comprehensive collection of children's picture books featuring Black and Indigenous people and People of Color (BIPOC). They've cataloged and analyzed trade picture books fitting this criteria, published since 2002, to surface and create:
I'm Your Neighbor
I’m Your Neighbor Books promotes the use of children's literature featuring "new arrival" cultures and groups. This organization strives to build a stronger America, one where immigrants are welcomed and where first-through-third-generation Americans truly belong. promotes the use of children's literature featuring "new arrival" cultures and groups.
Latinxs in Kid Lit
Latinx in Kid Lit's mission is to engage with works about, for, and/or by Latinxs as well as sharing perspectives and resources that can be of use to writers, authors, illustrators, librarians, parents, teachers, scholars, and other stakeholders in literacy and publishing.
LGBTQ Reads
LGBTQ Reads is a site dedicated to promoting curated LGBTQIAP+ literature for all ages, run by author and blogger Dahlia Adler.
Mighty Girl Books
A Mighty Girl is the world’s largest collection of books, toys, movies, and music for parents, teachers, and others dedicated to raising smart, confident, and courageous girls and, of course, for girls themselves! Their book section features over 4,000 girl-empowering books, organized within 200 book categories to explore.
National Council of Teachers of English Booklists
The National Council of Teachers of English is devoted to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. This mission statement was adopted in 1990: This link goes to their archive of booklists on a variety of topics, including many on BIPOC and dual language.
Rainbow Book List
The Rainbow Book List presents an annual bibliography of quality books with significant and authentic LGBQTIA+ content, which are recommended for people from birth through eighteen years of age. The list is created by the Rainbow Book List Committee of the Rainbow Round Table of the American Library Association.
Rise: A Feminist Book Project
Rise: A Feminist Book Project is dedicated to promoting quality feminist literature for young readers and is curated by the Feminist Task Force and the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association. This link brings you to their annual annotated book list for items with significant feminist contents.
Social Justice Books: A Teaching for Change Project
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. This organization provides excellent resources, such as curated booklists, reviews of children's literature, and anti-bias book talk.

Awards

Looking for more awards? Check out the Web Resources tab on the left, there you will find these awards and more.

American Indian Youth Literature Award
The American Indian Youth Literature Award identifies and honors the very best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of North America. It is presented by the American Indian Library Association.
Arab American Book Award
The Arab American Book Award honors outstanding books written by or about Arab Americans by the Arab American National Museum to honor.
Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature
The Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature honors and recognizes individual work about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage by the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association.
Coretta Scott King Book Awards
The Coretta Scott King Book Awards honors outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values presented by the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table of the American Library Association.
Pura Belpré Award
The Pura Belpré Award honors a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth, presented by REFORMA and the Association for Library Service to Children of the American Library Association.
Stonewall Book Awards List
The Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award is one of the Stonewall Book Awards honoring LGBTQIA+ books and is presented by the American Library Association's Rainbow Round Table.
Sydney Taylor Book Award
The Sydney Taylor Book Award honors outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience by the Association of Jewish Libraries.