Cynthia Leitich Smith just tweeted this fabulous collection of superhero art drawn in a traditional Native American style. The artist, Jeffrey Veregge was inspired by traditional coastal Salish art.

I’m just back from the  ACRL annual conference in Indy and continue to be amazed by the things librarians are doing. No doubt, the presentations over the past few days would be very much at home in any tech conference anywhere in the world. I spent my breaks reading through YA books for BFYA, tweeted through sessions on data management and information literacy and networked with librarians discussing library space, growing reference services and data curation. While now is the time to process this information, I’ll spend the afternoon delivering my first program at ISU. We received a Bridging Cultures: Muslim Journey grant from the NEH and ALA and today is the program to present the materials. There will be one panel discussing Muslim contributions to the world, and another consisting of students discussing their journey to Terre Haute. I hated being gone a week before this program because it was down to that final, crucial detail of marketing. Fingers crossed it all goes well!

Latinas4Latino Literature have organized a blog hop!  “Each day, starting on April 10th (next Wednesday), a different Latina blogger will be hosting a different Latino children’s book author and/or illustrator. “

#rockthedrop is coming! 18 April (this Thursday!!) is the day for you to print a label found on the ReaderGirlz blog page, affix it to a YA book and then leave that book for a teen to find, read and enjoy!

Al Roker is looking for teens 13-16 to join his book club.

Blogging has taught me to be selective with my words. Not so much because 10 or 15 people may actually read them but because I want to be accurate in how I express myself and I don’t want to be boring. As an example, I don’t want to just state that a book is ‘good’ or to find creative ways to state that it’s enjoyable. I want to describe why it appealed to me, perhaps similar to Steph Su because I’ve improved my ability to analyze literature as much as my ability to proof my own writing.

Words embody our thoughts and emotions are powerful in the effect they have on us, the actions they provoke. Such it is with ‘diversity’ and ‘social justice’. Says Paul Gorski

What confuses me even more than inclusive excellence, though, is what feels like a sudden caché associated with “social justice.” I can remember when those of us who built our lifework around social justice were booted so far to the margins by people who were all about “diversity” that we found clever ways to mask our intentions in job interviews, campus programs, and conference proposals. Instead, it was intercultural this and intergroup that or the six then seven then nine strands of diversity. And if you were a person of color or queer or had some other identity that frightened the shuddering straight white Christian masses, you hardly could say “racism” without being labeled a radical. That’s still true in many contexts, actually.

Here, I clearly and consistently blog about ethnic diversity although I know that in promoting books by authors of color, I achieve no justice if I don’t acknowledge the need for ALL young people to find themselves represented in the books they read and enjoy.

I used to have a poster in my classroom that said “Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can really hurt me”. Words are painful when they are carelessly directed at us, but also when they ignore us. I love this poem which BlackGirlsRock posted on Twitter. I admire this young girl’s attitude! She has a sense of confidence that comes from others who have worked for justice on her behalf. We need more superheros!