Defending the Utilization of Diverse Texts

Abstract

To make thoughtful book selections within the current social and political climate, where book challenges and censorship are constant and growing at an unprecedented pace, teachers and librarians need opportunities to thoughtfully and critically reflect on the literature they use in their classrooms and ground those choices in research. Students need experiences with diverse texts that help them see and engage with what it means to walk in another's shoes, and to see their own experiences reflected in the books they read. In this chapter, the authors describe a tool for teachers and librarians to use as they select literature for their classrooms that will help them practically ground those choices in research and authentically use them with students. Using a rubric as a mental model when selecting books and having conversations with others about the books invites teachers and librarians to consider the full range of diversity available to them, and to select books that invite all children into critical conversations around books that inspire and motivate them to reflect and act.