Curriculum
Anti-Racist Education:
Building Your Inclusive Collection & Curriculum
Join us for this FREE Booklist webinar on Wednesday, September 8 at 2pm ET / 1pm CT! Librarians and educators will learn how to use both nonfiction and fiction books in their anti-racist collections and classroom curriculums. Julia Torres, a teacher librarian in Denver Public Schools and a co-founder of #DisruptTexts, will lead a conversation with authors Dr. Crystal M. Fleming (Rise Up: How You Can Join the Fight Against White Supremacy), Bethany C. Morrow (So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix), and Aminah Mae Safi (Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix).
This conversation will address how educators can create more inclusive, representative and equitable curriculums by incorporating newly published works into school and library collections. Attendees will hear authors discuss ways to empower young people through literature with actionable steps to foster anti-racism in their communities.
JULIA E. TORRES (moderator) is a nationally recognized veteran language arts teacher-librarian in Denver, Colorado. Julia facilitates teacher development workshops rooted in the areas of anti-racist education, equity and access in literacy and librarianship, and education as a practice of liberation. Julia’s work has been featured on NPR, AlJazeera’s The Stream, PBS Education, KQED’s MindShift, Rethinking Schools, Learning for Justice Magazine, and many more. She is a current Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award committee member, a member of both the Book Love Foundation and ALAN boards of directors, an Educolor Steering committee member, a The Educator Collaborative Book Ambassador, and a co-founder of #DisruptTexts.
Rise Up: How You Can Join the Fight Against White Supremacy by Crystal Marie Fleming
On Sale October 5, 2021
Request a digital ARC on NetGalley here!
This urgent book explores the roots of racism and its legacy in modern day, all while empowering young people with actionable ways they can help foster a better world and become antiracists.
Why are white supremacists still openly marching in the United States? Why are undocumented children of color separated from their families and housed in cages? Where did racism come from? Why hasn’t it already disappeared? And what can young people do about it?
Rise Up! breaks down the origins of racial injustice and its continued impact today, connecting dots between the past and present. By including contemporary examples ripped from headlines and actionable ways young people can help create a more inclusive world, sociologist Crystal Fleming shares the knowledge and values that unite all antiracists: compassion, solidarity, respect, and courage in the face of adversity. Perfect for fans of Stamped: Remix, This Book is Antiracist, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Boy, and The Black Friend.
★ “A clear and damning appraisal of the United States’ long-standing relationship with White supremacy—with actionable advice for readers to do better.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
DR. CRYSTAL MARIE FLEMING is an award-winning sociologist and writer. She is Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at Stony Brook University. Crystal completed her Ph.D. at Harvard University and publishes scholarly research on racial oppression and anti-racism. She is the author of an academic book on race and white supremacy in France, as well as the critically acclaimed How to Be Less Stupid about Race: On Racism, White Supremacy and the Racial Divide. Her work appears in Newsweek, The Root, Huffington Post, and more.
So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix by Bethany C. Morrow
On Sale September 7, 2021
Request a digital ARC on NetGalley here!
Four young Black sisters come of age during the American Civil War in So Many Beginnings, a warm and powerful YA remix of the classic novel Little Women, by national bestselling author Bethany C. Morrow.
North Carolina, 1863. As the American Civil War rages on, the Freedpeople’s Colony of Roanoke Island is blossoming, a haven for the recently emancipated. Black people have begun building a community of their own, a refuge from the shadow of the “old life.” It is where the March family has finally been able to safely put down roots with four young daughters:
Meg, a teacher who longs to find love and start a family of her own. Jo, a writer whose words are too powerful to be contained. Beth, a talented seamstress searching for a higher purpose. Amy, a dancer eager to explore life outside her family’s home.
As the four March sisters come into their own as independent young women, they will face first love, health struggles, heartbreak, and new horizons. But they will face it all together.
★ “Morrow’s ability to take the lingering stain of slavery on American history and use it as a catalyst for unbreakable love and resilience is flawless. That she has remixed a canonical text to do so only further illuminates the need to critically question who holds the pen in telling our nation’s story.” —Booklist, starred review
BETHANY C. MORROW is an Indie Bestselling author who writes for adult and young adult audiences, in genres ranging from speculative literary to contemporary fantasy to historical. She is author of the novels Mem; A Song Below Water and its companion A Chorus Rises; So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix; and the social horror Cherish Farrah; and editor/contributor to the young adult anthology Take the Mic, which was the 2020 ILA Social Justice in Literature award winner. Her work has been chosen as Indies Introduce and Indie Next picks, and featured in The LA Times, Forbes, Bustle, Buzzfeed, and more. She is included on USA TODAY’s list of 100 Black novelists and fiction writers you should read.
Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix by Aminah Mae Safi
On Sale March 2022
Request a digital ARC on NetGalley here
A ragtag band of misfits gets swept up in Holy Land politics in Travelers Along the Way by Aminah Mae Safi, a thrilling YA remix of the classic legend of Robin Hood.
Jerusalem, 1192. The Third Crusade rages on. Rahma al-Hud loyally followed her elder sister Zeena into the war over the Holy Land, but now that the Faranji invaders have gotten reinforcements from Richard the Lionheart, all she wants to do is get herself and her sister home alive.
But Zeena, a soldier of honor at heart, refuses to give up the fight while Jerusalem remains in danger of falling back into the hands of the false Queen Isabella. And so, Rahma has no choice but to take on one final mission with her sister.
On their journey to Jerusalem, Rahma and Zeena come across a motley collection of fellow travelers—including a kind-hearted Mongolian warrior, an eccentric Andalusian scientist, a frustratingly handsome spy with a connection to Rahma’s childhood, and an unfortunate English chaplain abandoned behind enemy lines. The teens all find solace, purpose and camaraderie—as well as a healthy bit of mischief—in each other’s company.
But their travels soon bring them into the orbit of Queen Isabella herself, whose plans to re-seize power in Jerusalem would only guarantee further war and strife in the Holy Land for years to come. And so it falls to the merry band of misfits to use every scrap of cunning and wit (and not a small amount of thievery) to foil the usurper queen and perhaps finally restore peace to the land.
AMINAH MAE SAFI is a Muslim-American writer. Safi was the winner of the We Need Diverse Books short story contest, and that story appeared in the anthology Fresh Ink. She lives in Los Angeles, California, with her partner and cat. Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix is her fourth YA novel, after Not the Girls You’re Looking For, Tell Me How You Really Feel, and This Is All Your Fault.
