We Need Diverse Books Tumblr

We need diverse books tumblr. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2014, from http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/

Summary: This tumblr is the cutting edge site for this campaign on the need for diversity in children and young adult literature.  Posts on the movement, interviews with authors of color, and the pulse of diversity in YA lit are here.

Review:  As a teacher librarian, being part of this movement is my job and I need to be informed.

Diversity: Enough said. Interviews with authors of color and lists of books with diverse protagonists are here.

Suggestions for Teachers: Use this website to talk to your students about why books need to represent the whole spectrum of diversity. Teach a unit analyzing book cover art and see whose faces are portrayed and whose aren't.

Reading Level:

1. Quantitative: N/A
2. Qualitative: Attractive. Great for browsing, a little harder to use for searching. This website is for all activists in the profession and for our young students activist who desperately want to change the face of YA lit so that all can find mirrors and windows in books. There is a lot of information here and it isn't organized in the most easy to find fashion so you have to do a little hunting. This would be great for a student's research project.

Content Areas: All

Common Core State Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2
Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3
Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

Relevant links: We Need Diverse Books Tumblr, We Need Diverse Books Website

Subjects/Themes: teaching resources, diversity

Awards: N/A

Series Information: N/A

Teaching Books.net website

Teaching Books. (2001). Retrieved November 26, 2014, from http://teachingbooks.net

Summary: This is a one-stop shop website with supplementary online materials about all the books students read in schools.  Lesson plans, online videos with authors, readers theater scripts, interviews, text complexity analyses are all in one database set up for easy use.  

Review:  This is a great place for teachers and educators to find the vast collection of resources out there on the web about the books their students are reading.  It is a time saver.

Diversity: Every book I've searched for has been available; some have more limited information than others, but they exist. This includes authors of color.

Suggestions for Teachers: Use this website resource to help plan your ELA class and for students to have access to authors.

Reading Level:

1. Quantitative: N/A
2. Qualitative: Easy to use layout and materials are student friendly. This website will help teachers and students alike get schema for the text they are reading and more in-depth knowledge of the author of their text. This could be used either before reading the text or after to get insight on the reader's craft. No prior knowledge is necessary except for how to search a database.

Content Areas: English, Social Studies

Common Core State Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2
Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3
Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

Relevant links: Teaching Books

Subjects/Themes: teaching resources, ELA, Common Core, text complexity, lesson plans

Awards: N/A

Series Information: N/A