2018 VATE Conference: We Are The Change

We live in an era of rich diversity in books for young readers, when we can choose more fine books for any level, K-12, than ever before. The phenomenonal success of Linda Sue Park’s A Long Walk to Water attests to the impact that books can have, prompting young readers across the United States to raise money for wells in Africa. In addition to furnishing a gripping story, two salient factors in the book’s success are its ability to spark empathy for those in other countries and the real-world story at its heart. Moving beyond the boundaries established by canonical fictional texts can pose some challenging questions about choice: how many diverse texts to choose, what role nonfiction plays, whether to balance canonical texts with more contemporary texts, whether to choose texts that movies have been based on, how often to push students out of their comfort zone with texts they might not choose for themselves. 
In this session, presenters will discuss their experiences teaching diverse children’s and YA literature, including nonfiction and graphic novels as well as traditional fiction, in a college setting. They will share text suggestions and assignments based on these texts as well as invite discussion and books/assignment recommendations from those who attend.