Dive Into Diversity

A few months ago I heard about a campaign to promote diversity in books, We Need Diverse Books.  Author Ellen Oh, along with 21 other authors, created the campaign in order to address the lack of diversity in children and young adult literature.  We need to celebrate the fact that we don't all look and act the same.  It's so important for every one of us to be able to find characters in our stories who are just like us AND characters who challenge us to learn about others. It is AMAZING to read a great book, but it is EVEN MORE amazing when we find a great book that can teach us about another culture, lifestyle, race or religion! 

What is the Mission?

WNDB mission states, "We Need Diverse Books is committed to the ideal that embracing diversity will lead to acceptance, empathy, and ultimately equality. We recognize all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBT, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities. Our mission is to promote or amplify diversification efforts and increase visibility for diverse books and authors, with a goal of empowering a wide range of readers in the process."

What Do the Authors Say?

What is the Dive Into Diversity Reading Challenge?

Bloggers Estelle at Rather Be Reading and Rebecca at Reading Wishes teamed up to create the challenge in support of diversity in literature.  The Dive Into Diversity Reading Challenge runs from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.  We are signed up as "Mrs. Kelly's Class" at #15.  As we read diverse books, we will post reviews.  Let's see how many books our class can read and share to help spread awareness!

What Do YOU Need to Do??

• Read AT LEAST one diverse book by January 29th.
• Challenge yourself to try to read at least one diverse book per month OR per marking period.
• Post a review on Goodreads, Amazon, or our classroom blog (extra points) as a guest blogger. (Be sure to address how reading the novel can contribute to understanding diversity)
• Share your book AND review via Twitter or Instagram.  Include @MrsJennKelly22 #DiveDiversity #WeNeedDiverseBooks

Need Help Getting Started?

Check out my Diversity Shelf on Goodreads for our classroom titles or see Ms. Mckenzie in the library.

            

Keep watching for more titles to be added to our classroom library!