Children’s Literature to Read Our World

Text Selection and Strategies for Critical Reflection

Jan Lacina

This book encourages preservice and inservice teachers to thoughtfully select children’s books that guide their students’ understanding of the world around them. Reading children’s books that highlight societal topics helps students think through complex ideas and life situations. While reading and discussing such books, students can be guided by their teachers and the books they read to make text to text, text to self, and text to world connections during reading. With contributions from leading scholars in children’s literature, the book details the selection of children’s books for class inclusion, including the significance of African-American, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, and other diverse children’s literature. It also highlights societal topics through the lens of children’s literature, focusing on topics like economic diversity, refugee and immigrant experiences, teaching about the Holocaust and combatting antisemitism, discussing social and emotional learning, and exploring racial issues. This text includes opportunities to read and study historically underrepresented protagonists and authors within children’s literature, and it aids teachers and their students to think critically about societal topics to lead to better understanding and empathy of others. This is a foundational text for graduate and undergraduate students in children’s literature, early childhood education, early literacy, literacy methods, and literature instruction.