Back in 2015, I started reading diverse.
In 2016, I got educated about #ownvoices (and started this blog).
What will 2017 bring?
I have some specific goals in mind. Although the main focus here will continue to be children’s books featuring African Americans, I want to branch out into some other areas.
While my actual reviewing of said books is uneven, I read children’s books from most other groups even if they never make it onto my blog. But even though I’ve been following Debbie Reese on and off for the past decade, I don’t do a good job reading indigenous books. How can I expect my students to read the American Indian Youth Literature Award winners when I have not?
Part of this is availability. None of the libraries I work at have what I would consider a good Native collection, and the local public library is sparse as well, although they have been open to suggestions. Mostly my power here has been negative, that is, removing outdated books with stereotypes or those that relegate Native culture to the past.
This is ridiculous given that I live in Wisconsin, where Act31 requires the teaching of treaty rights, three periods of Native American studies, and the inclusion of diverse reading materials.
This year, I want to be more positive. We made a start as a family by watching a few videos about modern natives and attending a powwow.
Now I am going to make a promise here: to read 100 books by indigenous authors.
I also have a goal of buying 50 of those 100 books. We probably won’t keep all of them, so my thought is to donate some to libraries that don’t have them. I would love to review all 100, but might just read some without reviewing them.
This is a massive undertaking, so I am not going to set a time limit. Also, many thanks to my amazingly supportive partner, who’s willing to devote a large portion of our family resources towards this and other reading projects, and who selflessly gives up his weekend whenever I decide we need to educate the kids about something.
While I’m guessing most of the books I select will be Native American (and I’m hoping for a lot of Great Lakes area #ownvoices), I’m also going to include indigenous authors from elsewhere in this challenge, mostly Canadian, and likely some indigenous Australians as well. I’ve already purchased a number of books.
For this challenge, I will be relying heavily on these lists, but I’m open to other sources. Most of the books will probably be children’s or YA, but I’ll fit in some adult reads as well.
Anyone else want to give this a try? (You don’t have to do 100 books!)
Update: You can find my booklist here, with notes on the books I’ve purchased, read, and reviewed.
