Books as Partners

How can diverse literature be woven throughout the early childhood curriculum? What kind of learning opportunities do high quality diverse books offer young children? Diverse books in the early childhood classroom can facilitate dialogue and understanding about differences, diversity, and respect. Books as Partners incorporates research from literacy, early childhood education, and multicultural education to support educators in their daily work with K-3 students. This professional resource provides research-based evidence for incorporating diverse literature in the early childhood classroom and features annotated bibliographies with a critical analysis based on knowledge of child development and best practices in literacy education. With the increased instructional demands within the early childhood setting, teachers can incorporate diverse text sets to meet national standards, ensure that selections are authentic and developmentally appropriate, and provide engaging literature responses across the curriculum. Teachers will be able to transform their classroom practices based on suggestions from the supporting research, classroom vignettes, multimodal text sets, and author/illustrator spotlights embedded throughout the book.

Every now and then a teacher comes across a resource that takes up permanent residence on the book shelf and becomes a guidepost and roadmap for instructional design. For any educator who values the use of children's literature as a teaching tool for social issues, this book is that resource. Focusing on themes of identity affirmation, notions of family, developing and maintaining friendships, nurturing a sense of belonging, and understanding the world on a global level, Colabucci and Napoli introduce readers to hundreds of titles along with ideas for implementing them in early childhood instruction. Each chapter includes focus questions to set the stage, as well as an interview with a known children's book author on the theme under examination. Recommended texts are up-to-date, readily available, and have strong literary quality. Also included are extension activities and resources such as websites, podcasts, and software applications. Most importantly, this book offers educators the opportunity to learn about having clear and open conversations with children on the social issues that affect their lives through the lens of engaging and relatable stories. Highly recommended.

Lesley Colabucci is an associate professor of early, middle, and exceptional education at Millersville University of Pennsylvania where she teaches courses in children’s literature at the graduate and undergraduate level. Mary Napoli is an associate professor of reading at Penn State Harrisburg where she teaches literacy education and children’s literature courses at the undergraduate and graduate level.