Now that the summer reading list is complete, everyone has been busy working on ways to market and distribute it so that we can get it to parents, librarians and teachers. We really hope this list well keep young people reading. Do like the FB page! It will be updated over the summer with local bookstores who carry many of the books on the list, booktrailers, reading guides and hopefully a post or two from authors who have books on the list.

To make the list easier to distribute, we’ve created PDF versions. “Anno” is the complete, annotated list while “unanno” is a listing by titles.

anno

unanno

At Debbie Reese’s Tumblr:

An Inclusive Summer Reading List for Kids/Young Adults!

On Pinterest, we divided the books into three lists:

We’re the People: Picture Books, Chapter Books, Early Readers

We’re the People: Summer Reading List 2015, Middle Grade

We’re the People: Summer Reading List 2015, Young Adult

Who’s behind the list? Well, earlier this year I invited a handful of colleagues who share the passions for children, literacy and diversity to work with me on a Summer Reading list. I invited them to suggest titles that they’ve read and wanted to recommend. As conversations took place, the focus of the list became clear. Books we recommend are ones written or illustrated by Native Americans or writers/illustrators of color. We want readers to become familiar with the names on the list and their creative work. As you’ll see, not all the books are stories about Native Americans or People of Color, and some are ones in which characters are LGBTQ or disabled. We are pleased to share our list.

Sarah Park Dahlen is an assistant professor of Library and Information Science at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN.  She teaches courses on children’s and young adult materials, children’s and young adult library services, storytelling, and social justice, and serves on the UMN Kerlan Friends Board and the WNDB Walter Award Committee. Her research is on representations of transracially adopted Koreans in children’s literature and the information behaviors of adopted Koreans. She co-edited Diversity in Youth Literature: Opening Doors Through Reading (ALA Editions, 2012) with Dr. Jamie Naidoo. Her next project examines race in the Harry Potter series. sarahpark.com

Sujei Lugo is a former elementary school librarian at the University of Puerto Rico Elementary School and currently works as a children’s librarian at the Boston Public Library, Connolly Branch. She is a doctoral candidate in Library and Information Science at Simmons College, focusing her research on Latino librarianship and identity. She is a member of REFORMA (The National Association to Promote Library Services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking), American Library Association, and Association of Library Service to Children. She blogs on and collaborates with Latinos In Kid Lit and is the editor of Litwin Books/Library Juice Press series on Critical Race Studies and Multiculturalism in LIS.

Lyn Miller-Lachmann is the former editor-in-chief of MultiCultural Review, the editor of the short story anthology of Latin@ authors for youth Once Upon a Cuento, and the author of the young adult novels Rogue, Gringolandia, and Surviving Santiago. She translates children’s books and other materials from Portuguese to English, including the acclaimed picture book The World in a Second, and reviews books on social justice for The Pirate Tree. Visit Lyn’s website and blog at Lyn Miller-Lachmann.

Nathalie Mvondo is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), a member of the Association of Children’s Authors and Illustrators of Color (ACAIC), and a graduate of the Institute of Children’s Literature. She promotes cultural diversity through Multiculturalism Rocks, a blog that focuses on children’s literature. She lives in Northern California, where she studies socio-cultural anthropology and nutrition.

A former schoolteacher and professor, Debbie Reese publishes American Indians in Children’s Literature. Tribally enrolled at Nambe Pueblo in northern New Mexico, her book chapters and articles are taught in library science, education, children’s literature, and English courses in the U.S. and Canada. She serves as an advisor for literacy initiatives such as Reading is Fundamental, lectures nationally, and conducts workshops for libraries on-site and virtually.

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas is an assistant professor of education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. A former Detroit Public Schools teacher, her interests include children’s and young adult literature, English education, African American education, and classroom interaction research.