Receptive to Race: Normalizing the Discussion of Race with Children in Libraries

View the archive

Research shows that children notice race at a very young age, and often draw erroneous conclusions if no one speaks to them about it. With a focus on story time, programming, collection development and user services, we will discuss and model ways librarians can talk about race and racism in age appropriate ways with children.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Apply practical tools for discussing race with young children and their caregivers.
2. Explore children’s services (e.g., collection development, reference, programming) through a racial equity lens.
3. Understand how to incorporate the discussion of race as a standard early literacy practice.

Resources:

• Session Slides (PDF)
• Session transcript (PDF)
• Racially Diverse Books for Preschoolers (PDF)
• Resource List (PDF)
• Additional resources shared in chat
  • Educators for Social Justice Facebook Page 
  • The Numbers are In
  • Latinxs in Kid Lit
  • American Indians in Children’s Literature
  • Diverse Book Finder
  • Mesa County Library Booklist
  • A New Ice Cream Truck Song