What a beautiful blue Sunday! Colts blue, that is! If you need another reason to cheer the Colts on this evening, check out their commitment to literacy.

Always committed to literacy is PaperTigers. They’re all about multicultural books for young people with a focus on voices in the Pacific Rim. This past week, PaperTigers kicked off their Spirit of PaperTigers Project which promotes literacy by putting multicultural books into the hands of children all over the globe. Of particular interest this year, is the need for books in Haiti.  PT links to IBBY’s Children in Crisis Fund as one reliable way to donate. As immediate needs from this devastation are addressed, long term development issues will come to the forefront and this will certainly include the need for educational materials. These will be critical as Haiti gets a footing on the path to becoming self sustaining. The ALA has developed a fund with the MCCA to get libraries going again.

I would suggest donating to one of these funds rather than collecting bunches of used books to ship overseas.

• Books are heavy to ship!
• Haiti’s infrastructure (which includes postal services) is quite strained right now.
• People want/need to read books that relate to them. Haitians speak Creole, a blend of French and local languages. It would be best to have books in their own language.
• Local librarians can best select books that will meet local wants and needs.

Another take on developing literacy is Internet access. It’s difficult to believe that someone would find it difficult to see Internet access as a civil right! With no access, students cannot fully develop skills necessary to thrive in today’s world. Access to job applications, consumer information and government services is severely limited when one has no access. Thanks to Teaching Paperless for highlighting this issue!

Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich invited me Faves on Friday where I did a post to help teachers and librarians form meaningful collaborations to celebrate Black History Month. Of course, the ideas are generic enough to adapt to celebrate any culture.

In another attempt to promote literacy this week, I’ve compiled two African American author’s lists, one for middle grades and the other for young adults. If you’re favorite book isn’t there, remember these lists are meant to contain contemporary African American authors. YA’s: I didn’t do the Kimani Trus. Yes, they are GREAT books, there are just too, too many and no way to link to the imprint instead of each individual book. And, there will be author’s I’ve completely missed. I do hope you’ll post or email those I need to add to the list!

Middle Grades

Young Adult