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The Next Great Read

It’s with the greatest appreciation that I wish to recognize a terrific new reading resource for Guilford families, produced through a collaboration between the Guilford Free Library Children’s Department and Guilford Public Schools (GPS) library media specialists.

Visitors to the library’s online catalog will now find Inclusive Books for Kids, a curated catalog showcasing characters from a wide range of backgrounds, ethnicities, abilities, and family structures. Books are recommended by grade level so kids and caregivers can easily browse, request, or download their next great read. The list can be found at gu.catalog.lionlibraries.org or Breakwater Books.

Giving kids access to books with diverse characters is important. Representation, or seeing people similar to oneself, in literature is a means of self-affirmation, while reading books about people different from ourselves has been shown to build empathy. However, despite this research diversity in children’s literature is still lacking—a 2018 analysis by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison found that while half of the books depicted white characters, there were more books featuring animals and other non-human characters (27 percent) than all types of minorities combined (23 percent).

Most important, what our kids like best about these books is that they are great reads, hand selected by their favorite librarians across Guilford.

On behalf of the Guilford Anti-Bias Anti-Racist Alliance, I extend my deepest thanks to the Guilford Free Library Children’s Department—Angelina Carnevale, Melissa Tullo, Suzanne Owen, and Jennifer Beckwit—and GPS library media specialists at Calvin Leete, Guilford Lakes, A.W. Cox, Melissa Jones, and Baldwin for their work and partnership in putting this resource together.

Kristine Ford

Guilford