ERIC Number: EJ1296578
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0034-0561
EISSN: N/A
Access to Multicultural Children's Literature during COVID-19
Bennett, Susan V.; Gunn, AnnMarie Alberton; Peterson, Barbara J.
Reading Teacher, v74 n6 p785-796 May-Jun 2021
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, students, families, and educators have faced unprecedented challenges. These challenges have disproportionately impacted racially/ethnically diverse, low-income communities because of long-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' and educators' 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-poverty areas with access to high-quality multicultural children's literature at home. We describe our literacy partnership with a local after-school program serving participant students and families, research underpinning the initiative, and our process for selecting high-quality multicultural literature book sets and offer suggestions about how to facilitate comprehension and motivational support for home-based reading. We also offer a list of recommended literature and discuss outcomes and implications of this project.
Descriptors: Access to Education, Multicultural Education, Childrens Literature, COVID-19, Pandemics, Low Income Students, African American Students, After School Programs, Partnerships in Education, Reading Material Selection, Home Study
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A