Readings on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

This is not intended to be an exhaustive or static list. Please feel free to recommend readings by emailing: information.cbg@gmail.com.

Paige Billin-Frye

BOOKSHELF

This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do The Work, by Tiffany Jewell (2020)

The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love & Truth, edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson (2020)

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson (2020)

The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person, by Frederick Joseph (2020)

How to Be an Anti-Racist, by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi (2019)

An African American and Latinx History of the United States, by Paul Ortiz (2018)

We Can't Breathe: On Black Lives, White Lies, and the Art of Survival, by Jabari Asim (2018)

I Can't Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street, by Matt Taibbi

Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City, by Wes Moore and Erica L. Green

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, by Ibram X. Kendi (2017)

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi (2020)

Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do, by Jennifer L. Eberhardt (2019)

An Indigenous History of the United States for Young People, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, adapted by Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese (2019)

Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture and Identity, by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi (2019)

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo (2018)
(related article: "What's My Complicity: Talking White Fragility" by Robin DiAngelo in Teaching Tolerance, Summer 2019)

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, by Austin Channing Brown (2019)

Don’t Label Me: An Incredible Conversation for Divided Times, by Irshad Manji (2019)

So You Want to Talk About Race? by Ijeoma Oluo. (2018)

Algorithms of Oppression, by Safiya Umoja Noble (2018)

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race in the Twenty-First Century, by Beverly Daniel Tatum (2017)

ARTICLES ON THE WEB

"Stop White Centering," by Nicole Cardoza, Anti-Racism Daily (Feb 2021)

"Alexandra Duncan Withdraws Forthcoming Book," by Michael Schaub, Kirkus (June 2020)

"Black in Kidlit Thursday," by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, A Year of Thursdays Blog (June 4, 2020)

"A Letter From a Black Woman in Publishing on the Industry's Cruel, Hypocritical Insistence That Words Matter," by Mariah Stovall, Publishers Weekly (June 8, 2020)

"YA Twitter Can Be Toxic, But It Also Points Out Real Problems," by Molly Templeton, Buzzfeed News (June 24, 2019)

"Is it OK for a White Author to Write Black Characters?" by Laura Lippman, Washington Post (2019)

"In Y.A., Where is the Line Between Criticism and Cancel Culture?" by Katy Waldman (Mar 21, 2019)

"Speaking Up Without Tearing Down," by Loretta J. Ross, Teaching Tolerance (Spring 2019)

"With 'Molly of Denali,' PBS Raises its Bar For Inclusion," by Julia Jacobs, New York Times (July 15, 2019)

"The 2017 College Grad Who Got Attacked by a Horde of YA Authors Had No Idea What She Was Getting Into," by Ruth Graham, Slate (Nov 15, 2019)

“The Diversity Jedi: Celebrating the Advocates Who’ve Seized the Children’s-Literature Conversation,” by Vicky Smith, Kirkus (April 4, 2019)

“My Story, Your Story, Their Story, Who Gets to Tell It? First Voice/Own Voice and Indigenous, POC, LGBTQI Children’s Books,” by Maya Gonzalez (April 27, 2018)

“The Struggle Continues: How the Endings of Children’s Literature Create False Narratives of Social Movements,” by Makai Kellogg, Social Justice Books (2019)

"Kwame Alexander on Children’s Books and the Color of Characters," by Kwame Alexander, NYT (Aug 2016)

“My Book on George Washington was Banned. Here’s My Side of the Story,” by Ramin Ganeshram, The Guardian (Feb 18, 2016)

"A Birthday Cake for George Washington: The Problem with Banishing Books,” by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) (January 22, 2016)

“In an Era of Online Outrage, Do Sensitivity Readers Result in Better Books, or Censorship?” by Alexandra Alter, New York Times (Dec 24, 2017)

"This Book is Racist, Damaging, Rewritten: Kierra Drake’s debut was slammed for using racial stereotypes for her characters. Unlike other authors, she rewrote the book,” by Everdeen Mason, Washington Post (Mar 19, 2018)

“Black Kids Don’t Want to Read About Harriet Tubman All the Time,” by Denene Millner, New York Times (Mar 10, 2018)

Elizabeth Acevedo’s Work Is a Welcome Rarity in Young-Adult Fiction The Atlantic (May 21, 2019)

There is No Secret to Writing About People Who Do Not Look Like You, by Brandon Taylor (2016)

"Unmaking the White Default: Writing About Race," by Vicky Smith, Kirkus (May 4, 2016)

"The Apartheid of Children's Literature," by Christopher Myers, New York Times (Mar 15, 2014)

"Who Can Tell My Story?" by Jacqueline Woodson, The Horn Book (Jan 1998)