a philosophy of racially conscious reading:

My goal in these book critiques is to try and introduce a different way of thinking about children’s and young adult literature. I often include links to art, literature and culture, including poems, music, and video — just open whatever intrigues you. The intent is to be engaged in socially conscious dialogue with these texts, and to bring some of that into conversations with your kids and family.

Without being too theoretical, my philosophy of racially conscious reading is rooted primarily in reader-response theory, and intersects often with feminist and queer theory. While the text itself is obviously important — language choice, form (e.g., prose, poem, verse novel, etc.) — what most interests me is where these books take you next. A significant part of our initiative is to introduce children to literature by BIPOC authors and illustrators. We also want to insure that children of color see themselves reflected in literature, just as white children have consistently been able to do. These “reflections” are developmentally significant because they offer an opportunity for children to connect, to feel a part of a community of readers, even if they don’t personally know one another. I believe one of the most profound and core benefits of reading is that it allows humans to not feel so alone in their experiences. It is why Judy Blume, for instance, was as significant as she was to so many adolescent girls. If a writer is truly successful, she can transcend race, but all too often that doesn’t happen, and BIPOC children have found themselves excluded — even from books — searching for themselves on the page. Authors like Jason Reynolds, Jacqueline Woodson, Walter Dean Myers, Angie Thomas, etc., have devoted their writing careers to insuring this need not be so. Toni Morrison’s legacy to all of us is a body of work that privileges and honors Black life in all its complexity. She is, in some ways, the spiritual mentor of our project.

But there is also something inherently universalist in a philosophy of reading racially and socially conscious literature. The promotion of such literature of course includes the integral component that BIPOC experiences be reflected on the page — and how essential that is for BIPOC children — but recognizes also how essential this is for white children — especially those growing up in predominantly white bubbles. Big picture, this includes changing the literary canon, advocating that schools purchase more diverse literature, and giving teachers more tools to utilize this literature in their classrooms, no matter the demographics. Books like these showcase a multitude of diverse lives — ranging from Black to queer to Latinx to immigrant experiences to non-Christian religious and cultural experiences. We are trying to target five broad categories: Racism/ Understanding Race; Immigration/ Xenophobia (anti-immigration); Religious Intolerance (anti-Semitic; anti-Islam)/ Religious Tolerance ; Gender Inequality/ History of Feminism; and LGBTQ Discrimination/ Pride Movement. We also recognize that these social justice themes often intersect with economic injustice and the criminal justice system, etc.

Children’s literature is astoundingly rich, and often not just for children. I believe that this writing bears witness to the world around us, and and I hope that our project is a call to make reading an act of resistance, to recognize language as rebellion, and to teach the power of using “words as a weapon,” as Richard Wright so beautifully put it.