Reading to Make a Difference: Using Literature to Help Students Speak Freely, Think Deeply, and Take Action

"This book is a gift to teachers who want to know how best to incorporate diverse literature into their classrooms. It translates rhetoric about diverse books into practical actions. Teachers will find it a valuable resource, full of examples of actual classroom practices and questions for reflecting, as well as suggestions of good books to share with students. It takes the study of diverse texts well beyond the “food, festivals and folklore” focus of the early days of attention to multicultural literature to a consideration of literature as a catalyst for social action. The thematic emphases for the chapters are broad enough to apply to texts that represent diverse cultures, but specific enough to work in diverse classrooms, from elementary school to the college level."

— Rudine Sims Bishop, Professor Emerita of Education at The Ohio State University

"In far too many schools, our effort to be more inclusive begins and ends with book selection. In Reading to Make a Difference, Lester and Katie teach us that this is not enough. This book is an urgent reminder that even the most powerfully diverse bookshelf cannot mask the damage done to children by practices and curriculum that fails to see them. Reading to Make a Difference shows us how to combine powerful books with purposeful, equitable practice."

— Cornelius Minor

Books as bridges enable readers to speak freely, think deeply, and take action. In Reading to Make a Difference, Lester and Katie build on the work of Rudine Sims Bishop, extending the notion of books as windows, mirrors, and doors. They offer a pathway that can lead students to take action for social justice causes. They show you how to move beyond exposing your students to diverse children’s literature by offering an instructional framework that is applicable to any topic and can be adapted to your own classroom or community. Lester and Katie will show you how to:

• select and share text sets in a variety of reading experiences including read-aloud, small group, book clubs, and independent reading
• creating a scaffold for students to share their connections with a character, situation, issue, or topic
• invite students to pause and reflect
• provide opportunities for students to take action individually or collectively in a way that can make a difference.

Each chapter highlights different classrooms in action and concludes with a wealth of suggested resources, both picture books and chapter books, along with helpful guidelines on how to choose text sets that reflect the needs, interests, and backgrounds of your students.

The right book at the right time can open doors of possibility for a better world. Armed with an understanding of who your students are, where they come from, and what matters to them, you can cultivate children as thoughtful, caring citizens, and empower them to become lifelong agents of change.

Lester L. Laminack is Professor Emeritus at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina where he received two awards for excellence in teaching. Lester is now a full-time writer and consultant working with schools throughout the United States and abroad. He is an active member of the National Council of Teachers of English and has served three years as coeditor of the NCTE journal Primary Voices and as editor of the Children's Book Review Department of the NCTE journal Language Arts (2003 - 2006). He also served as a teaching editor for the magazine Teaching K - 8 and wrote the Parent Connection column (2000 - 2002). He is a former member of the Whole Language Umbrella Governing Board, the Governing Board and Secretary of the North Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children, and the Board of Directors for the Center for the Expansion of Language and Thinking. He served as the Basic Reading Consultant to Literacy Volunteers of America from 1987 through 2001 and is a former member of the Board of Directors of Our Children's Place. Lester has served as editor (2017) of the Writing Department for the ILA Journal Reading Teacher. Lester's academic publications consist of several books including Learning with Zachary (Scholastic), Spelling in Use (NCTE), Volunteers Working with Young Readers (NCTE), andhis contributions to The Writing Workshop: Working Through the Hard Parts (NCTE), Learning Under the Influence of Language and Literature (Heinemann), Reading Aloud Across the Curriculum (Heinemann), Climb Inside a Poem (Heinemann), Cracking Open the Author's Craft (Scholastic), Unwrapping the Read Aloud (Scholastic), Bullying Hurts: Teaching Kindness Through Read Alouds and Guided Conversations (Heinemann), The Writing Teacher's Troubleshooting Guide (Heinemann), and Writers ARE Readers: Flipping Reading Strategies into Writing Instruction (Heinemann). In addition, he has several articles published in journals such as The Reading Teacher, Science and Children, Language Arts, Primary Voices, and Young Children. Lester is also the author of several children's books including The Sunsets of Miss Olivia Wiggins, Trevor's Wiggly-Wobbly Tooth, Saturdays and Tea Cakes, Jake's 100th Day of School, Snow Day!, Three Hens and a Peacock (2012 Children's Choice K - 2 Book of the Year Award), and The King of Bees in addition to a forthcoming nonfiction poetry collection, Voices for Civil Rights all published by Peachtree Publishers. His newest books for teachers, The Ultimate Read-Aloud Resource: Making Every Moment Intentional and Instructional with Best Friend Books (Scholastic) and The Best Friend Fiction Collection (Scholastic) are available now. Lester currently lives in Whittier, North Carolina with his husband Steve and their two dogs, Bailey and Sora. They are the proud grandparents of an adorable little girl named Everette. You can connect with Lester on his website, LesterLaminack.com, or on Twitter at @Lester_Laminack.

Katie Kelly is an Associate Professor of Education and Coordinator of the Literacy Graduate Program at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina where she teaches literacy methods for elementary learners, literacy assessment and instruction, and practicum with an emphasis on literacy coaching. As a former elementary teacher and literacy coach, Katie's teaching and research interests include teacher preparation and development in the area of engaging literacy instructional practices with emphasis on children's literature, diversity, inclusion, and social justice. She examines ways to engage diverse learners through culturally relevant practices that value all individuals while fostering compassionate global citizens who advocate for social justice and equality. Additionally, Katie is interested in exploring ways to integrate technology to mediate literacy practices to prepare today's global learners. Katie consults with schools across the United States and is an active member of the National Council of Teachers of English. She serves as a coeditor for NCTE's Early Childhood Education Assembly Journal Perspectives and Provocations. Katie is an active member of the International Literacy Association, contributes regularly to the ILA Literacy Daily Blog, and serves as a reviewer for a number of journals including English Journal (NCTE), Voices From the Middle (NCTE), Reading Horizons, Journal of Teacher Action Research, Georgia Journal of Reading, and Texas Journal of Literacy Education. Katie is widely published in several peer-reviewed journals including The Reading Teacher, Voices from the Middle, Reading Horizons, Literacy Research and Instruction, and Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education. She coauthored two books: Smuggling Writing: Strategies that Get Students to Write Every Day, in Every Content Area (3 - 12) (Corwin) and From Pencils to Podcasts: Digital Tools to Transform K - 12 Literacy Practices (Solution Tree). Katie currently lives in Greenville, South Carolina with her dog, Harriet. You can connect with her on Twitter at @ktkelly14.