Who’s on the Page? Picture Books as Windows and Mirrors
The book covers shown in this image are all highlighted in the newsletter. Photo illustration: Humanizing History Visuals.
Welcome to Humanizing History™! Every month, we feature a central theme. Each week, we dive into different areas of focus.
This month’s theme: Who’s Holding the Camera? Seeing the World Through Expanded Lenses
This week’s focus: “Banned Together,” our newsletters that feature recommendations for books and other resources
Today’s edition of Humanizing History™ is around 1700 words, an estimated 7-minute read.
The Why for This Week’s Topic
This month our theme is: Who’s Holding the Camera? Seeing the World Through Expanded Lenses.
As mentioned in our recent newsletter, The Danger of a Single Story and How We Benefit From Many Lenses, in some ways, we’re living in a time of growing censorship, such as a surge of books bans in recent years.
It’s also important to recognize that some organizations, communities, and individuals are committed to something different — to providing more diverse representation, or a multitude of stories. For instance, select publishing houses across the United Kingdom and the United States have made concerted efforts to diversify their catalogs, with varying results. And campaigns, like We Need Diverse Books, which emerged in 2014, have been steadily expanding bookshelves and representation for over a decade.
Our goal at Humanizing History™ is not to delete books, resources, or lenses, but to expand them — to make more, intentional space on the bookshelf, so our students and children have ample “windows and mirrors” to view their world and themselves.
This week, we’re focusing on just that! How can we expand our bookshelves so children are exposed to a more diverse, representative, global world?
While understanding injustice and forms of discrimination is important and picture books can be a great resource for that, for this week’s newsletter, we’ve intentionally curated books that represent a diverse cast of characters and communities having everyday experiences — from learning to embrace emotions, to engaging in hobbies, to spending time with family, and venturing across their neighborhoods.
We chose this approach in a conscious effort to not overly associate race, ethnicity, culture, and other forms of identity with negative or harmful lived experiences. These stories — which are also common to early elementary curricular topics like Who am I? Who’s a part of my family? My community? — allows us to create space for human connection while also cultivating moments of joy.
When Holding a Book In Our Hands
There are obviously many ways to select a book, and to share it with a child.
To craft this specific list, we considered younger students, or at least children who are still interested in picture books (which can be well into upper elementary and beyond).
When holding a book in our hands, we ask a few questions to assess if it feels like a good fit for either a specific child, or in this case, a list that has to be expansive enough to work in most settings. There are numerous questions we may ask, such as but not limited to: Does the content reinforce or introduce negative stereotypes, or does it embrace a more expansive lens? Is the content (text, images) didactic or reductive, or reify a “single story” for a particular identity group? Are characters — especially characters who reflect underrepresented or marginalized identity groups — overshadowed, silenced, or placed in subjugated roles. Who is a “problem starter” vs. who is a “problem solver”? (We’ve created a detailed rubric to assess book choices; reach out if you’d like a PDF copy.)
When a book has been selected, there are many ways to engage a child during a shared read aloud.
One of our favorite frameworks we use when reading picture books are “Windows and Mirrors,” — or how a story can be a “mirror,” reflecting our lived experience, and it may be a “window,” something we can look through to learn more about others. And quite often, stories are both.
One of our favorite post-reading activities was inspired by two librarians who worked in a school in California. Starting in Grade 2, every time students returned fiction books to the library, they anonymously completed a quarter-page exit slip that asked: In what way was this story a window for you? And in what way was this story a mirror for you? It wasn’t either/or, but “both/and.” They kept the student feedback and would often transform them into decorated bulletin boards so other students could see what resonated with their peers — establishing a reading community beyond the classroom.
The following books and categories have been suggested with student-centered and community lenses in mind.
Who Am I? How Am I Enough? How Can I Keep Growing?
Picture books often present compelling stories for students to discuss complex emotions, and their sense of self, such as what to do when facing obstacles. Many of these books feature characters who are people, and sometimes they feature characters that are animals, or something more abstract, like spots of color, numbers, etc. Such books may be helpful to launch discussions of character traits and how to deal with challenging circumstances, but once curriculum moves into formal discussions of people, we like to recommend that books continue to focus on humans so students can develop the belief that as a human being they too are enough, and they too can keep growing.
The following list may be helpful:
Don’t Worry Little Crab, by Chris Haughton, may be a great first story to illustrate how gentle encouragement and our own courage can lead us into fun, expansive new experiences.
Lost and Found, by Oliver Jeffers, may spark a conversation around topics like friendship, such as feeling lost or being lonely, and how friendship is something many of us may be looking for.
What Do You Do With An Idea?, b/y Kobi Yamada, illustrated by Mae Besom, may open dialogue around having the courage to share our ideas, as ideas can change the world.
Tough Guys (Have Feelings Too), by Keith Negley, may provide a helpful window and mirror for students to recognize that emotions are something we all experience.
Empty and Me: A Tale of Friendship and Loss, written by Azam Mahdavi, illustrated by Maryam Tahmasebi, and translated by Parisa Saranj, may serve as a helpful way to open a discussion about grief and loss, and how moments of hope may eventually reemerge.
Jenni Mei Is Sad, by Tracy Subisak, may be a great story to open a discussion with children about the complexity of emotions, and how sometimes we are happy and sometimes we are sad, and a good friend may try to be there for us, even in the sad moments.
Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match, written by Monica Brown, illustrated by Sara Palacios, may be a helpful story to discuss what it’s like to not fit in, and how to make your own path.
You Matter, by Christian Robinson is a scientific and social-emotional exploration of matter, from the matter in our universe to how each and every one us matters.
What Do I Enjoy Doing or Making?
Many students enjoy reading stories of characters that have hobbies, or enjoy making things! Sometimes these hobbies are everyday actions, like riding horses, tending to a garden, or listening to birds. Sometimes, hobbies turn into careers, as we’ve highlighted below.
My Horse, written by Karen Hjemboe, illustrated by Anthony Chee Emerson, is a simple text story about a child who lives on a reservation and takes care of his horse.
How to Say Hello to a Worm, by Kari Percival, features a diverse community of children who work together to tend to a garden with curiosity and wonder.
A Sky That Sings, written by Anita Sanchez and George Steele, illustrated by Emily Mendoza, is the story of a young blind person, Mia, and how she uses her senses “to identify different birds by their unique calls and song.”
A Boy Named Isamu, by James Yang, shares the world through the eyes of a young boy — “stones look like birds, and birds look like stones,” — who grew up to become a professional artist, Isamu Noguchi.
Mae Among the Stars, written by Roda Ahmed, illustrated by Stasia Burrintong, highlights the life of a young girl who dreamed of seeing Earth from space, and grew up to become a professional astronaut, Mae Jemison.
What Makes a Family? What Makes a Community?
Books about family are central to a classroom of young learners. Because there are many ways to be a family, having diverse representation is important.
Consider the following titles as a starting place to build a diverse classroom library about families.
One Family, written by George Shannon, illustrated by Blanca Gomez, features different families — across race, religion, etc. — on each page, showing that families can be one person, two people, three, four, and well beyond.
Families Can and Families Belong, written by Dan Saks, illustrated by Brooke Smart celebrate the diversity of families through simple, engaging text and colorful illustrations.
Just Like Grandma, written by Kim Rogers, illustrated by Julie Flett, shares the connection between a grandchild and grandparent, “Whether they are beading moccasins, dancing like the most beautiful butterflies, or practicing basketball together, Becca knows that, more than anything, she wants to be just like Grandma.”
Kiyoshi’s Walk, written by Mark Karlins, illustrated by Nicole Wong, highlights the connection and influence a grandparent can have on a child’s life, “As Kiyoshi discovers that poems come from the way the world outside of us meets the world within each of us, he also finds the courage to write a haiku of his own.”
First Laugh , Welcome Baby!, features a family who is waiting to celebrate the first laugh of their new baby who was recently born, “In Navajo families, a baby’s first laugh is more than a developmental milestone—it’s an honor to be the first person who makes the baby laugh, and the event is commemorated with a joyous gathering called the First Laugh Ceremony.”
Consider the following titles as a starting place to build a collection of stories that celebrates neighborhoods and community, or where and how we live.
Fresh Juice, by Robert Liu-Trujillo, features a boy and father who go on a neighborhood adventure to make a fruit and vegetable juice after the son realizes it will make his dad feel better from a cold.
Everybody in the Red Brick Building, written by Anne Wynter, illustrated by Oge Mora, highlights how a string of noises wake up everyone in the same brick building, and how another series of noises, centered on love, eventually lulls everyone back to sleep.
Last Stop on Market Street, written by Matt de La Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson, shares the story of a grandchild and grandparent, who ride the bus downtown, and with encouragement from his grandmother, the main character begins to see the beauty in his everyday neighborhood.
Picture books can be a great way to foster connection. With intention, we can add books to our shelves that create a sense of inclusion and belonging. One story at a time.
Reach Out, Say Hello
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