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Celebrating Read Your World Day: A Global Community United by Diverse KidLit

Last week, we celebrated Read Your World Day virtually, bringing together an incredible community of book lovers, authors, educators, and advocates. I’m still walking on a cloud, feeling an overwhelming sense of hope and gratitude for being part of something so much bigger than myself. This community of like-minded individuals in the kidlit world is truly inspiring.

On January 30th, we gathered from coast to coast—from California to New York, much like in Woody Guthrie’s song This Land Is Your Land—and even beyond the U.S., welcoming participants from Canada, Egypt, and other countries. Our reach was truly global, with nearly 900 reviewers joining us from Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This celebration was a testament to the power of diverse voices and the strength of our international community.

While every Read Your World event is special, this year’s celebration felt particularly meaningful. In a time of increasing division, our gathering underscored the importance of diversity in literature and the need to continue advocating for inclusive stories.

Actionable Items to Fight Book Bans and Support Diverse Literature

During the event, our participants shared concrete steps we can all take to combat book bans and promote diverse kidlit:

  • Amanda H.B.: “Support diverse children’s book authors by writing reviews for them. It’s wonderful to see you all and be part of this amazing community!”
  • Participant: “I would love to see a ‘banned book club’ where educators and parents come together to read and discuss books that have been challenged. As a survivor of sexual abuse, I believe it’s important to have open conversations about difficult topics.”
  • Brooke N.: “Our intern worked on a project about book bans last year, which led to presentations at multiple school district board meetings. Now, we have a handy pamphlet available in our office! Bring local authors to come in, story times, poets, community events, etc.”
  • Narayan K.: “Host community events where authors share the messages behind their books and explain why diverse and inclusive kidlit matters.”
  • Nancy H.: “A great source for diverse and inclusive books is the Freeman Book Awards (https://www.nctasia.org/awards/), which provide free cultural notes, curriculum connections, and teaching suggestions.”
  • Carol B.: “Speak up at PTO meetings, ball games, and school board meetings. Ask parents, students, and teachers for book recommendations and ensure your school has an established procedure for handling book challenges. The American Library Association has great resources to support this.”
  • Julie D.: “Take the fight against book bans to the court of public opinion—speak up in the media!”
  • Aziza E.: “Give concrete examples of how book bans affect everyone, not just students.”
  • Sonia A.: “Parents and teachers can hold open dialogue sessions with students about their reading experiences with controversial topics. It’s also crucial to attend school board meetings and engage with local and state governments to address the harm book bans and censorship are causing in education.”
  • Karen H.:Have kids & parents reading together. Speak up at city council and school board meetings. Participate in book talks with authors. Bookfairs with displays celebrating diversity. Some of this needs to be done without naming the diversity. A lot of times, diverse characters are well integrated into the story and not obvious in being diverse or problematic for those looking for problems.”
  • Aditi S.: “Exactly demystifying concerns, understanding different perspectives, and addressing them with practical examples can be powerful. Engaging a group of children and parents who have read and interpreted the books differently can foster meaningful discussions.”
  • Ina W.:Go to the public library with the kids, be inspired and surprise your kids with books you brought home and see how they react to them or start reading to them out of these books. Make a ritual out of it.”
  • Gabby S.: “Stopping book bans starts with one thing: continue to read, buy, and share the books that people are challenging. Provide students with access to these books and help them form their own opinions.”
  • Destiny L.: “My students are doing activism projects on a topic of their choice. A few students chose to stop book bans and diversifying classroom libraries. Students advocating and bringing awareness helps spread the word.”
  • Shawnta B.: “Teachers can include information in weekly newsletter about where students can access books outside of school whether that is from a free online source, a bookstore, or public library.”
  • HerBrina S.: “Educators and parents can collaborate by attending school board meetings, organizing community read-ins, donating inclusive books to public spaces, and supporting organizations that advocate for diverse literature.”
  • Beth T.: “Speak up at school board meetings! Board members hear so much from book-banning groups—they need to hear from those who care about free access to books.”
  • Eugenia C: “Attend library and school board meetings, contact local media to share concerns, join advocacy groups, and check out the Action Toolkit by Unite Against Book Bans.”
  • Christa B.: “I have created a collection development and challenge policy for our district. When a book challenge is given, a committee of the librarian, teachers, administrators and parents work together to evaluate the book in a fair manner. This gives everyone a voice and gives books a fair evaluation for all to be represented. I also manage two Little Free Libraries. “
  • Laura R.: “We had monthly family literacy night.”
  • Donna P.: “We feature a ‘Book of the Month,’ highlighting a diverse SEL book each month. Along with the book, we provide resources for parents and include a ‘Reflections’ activity with discussion questions for family dinner conversations. There’s no written component required, and we have found this approach to be incredibly meaningful for families.”
  • Melissa K.: “I am a school librarian, and I’ve had several family book club nights where we focus on a holiday or holidays and share books about them.”
  • Gabby S.: “All books in my classroom are tools to promote dialogue. In fiction books especially, asking open ended questions can encourage all students to contribute to conversations, including our emerging multilingual students who often will only participate in lower level thinking questions. When books are read to students, they are better able to access the text and ask questions to think deeper about the story that is being read. Grownups can do this with students too, they just have to continue to read to children and ask great questions! Also, I’ve done a great deal of research on Webb’s Depths of Knowledge which may help educators and other groups of people come up with questions (which I like to use more than the commonly used Bloom’s Taxonomy!).”
  • Jany F.: “Expose students to shared common humanity and expose to people who come from multiple backgrounds.”
  • Melinda M: “I have a LFL (Little Free Library) in my yard! LOVE IT!!
  • Maria W.A.: “Ebooks – you can get books online. Brooklyn Public Library offers anyone a library card for their ebooks specifically to address book banning in other areas so kids can still have access to those books.”
  • Koloud T.: “If children are not given voices through books, they might not use their voices in other places, including classrooms.”

These are just a few of the many powerful and practical steps our community is taking to protect access to diverse literature. The passion and commitment displayed during Read Your World Day proves that together we can make a difference.

As Karin Fisher-Golton beautifully put it: “My heart is still extra light from the party and camaraderie last night. It was a great one!”  I wholeheartedly agree with you Karin!  My heart is extra light too!

Thank you all for being part of this movement—let’s keep kids reading, advocating, and celebrating diverse stories that reflect the world around us!

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Frances Evans

Frances Díaz Evans is a Latina Author, Educator, Multicultural and Language Advocate. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Universidad del Este in Puerto Rico and a master’s degree in Spanish education from the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. She joined Multicultural Children’s Book Day in the early days advocating for multicultural books as a book reviewer, then as a co-host, and now she’s excited to take on the role of project manager. Frances can be reached at admin (at) multiculturalchildrensbookday.com

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