Access to Multicultural Children’s Literature During COVID-19

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

<p> Amid the COVID&hyphen;19 pandemic, students, families, and educators have faced unprecedented challenges. These challenges have disproportionately impacted racially/ethnically diverse, low&hyphen;income communities because of long&hyphen;standing health system, socioeconomic, and educational inequities. With closures of schools, libraries, and childcare centers, many students were disconnected from their community and did not have access to books. Parents&rsquo; and educators&rsquo; concerns centered around students falling behind academically and socially. In this article, we explain the motivation and rationale for a social justice initiative to provide students of color from low&hyphen;poverty areas with access to high&hyphen;quality multicultural children&rsquo;s literature at home. We describe our literacy partnership with a local after&hyphen;school program serving participant students and families, research underpinning the initiative, and our process for selecting high&hyphen;quality multicultural literature book sets and offer suggestions about how to facilitate comprehension and motivational support for home&hyphen;based reading. We also offer a list of recommended literature and discuss outcomes and implications of this project.</p>
Original languageAmerican English
JournalDefault journal
StatePublished - Jan 1 2021

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