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Why Are All the Kids Who Look Like Me Enslaved?
Teaching for Change is partnering with American Indians in Children’s Literature and Ferguson Response Network to collect letters to Scholastic telling them to publish and distribute children’s books that reflect and affirm the identity, history, and lives of ALL children in our schools. We have received thoughtful letters from all over the country. A teacher from …
#StepUpScholastic for ALL Children Flier
The #StepUpScholastic campaign is off to a great start with hundreds of letters coming in from all over the U.S. We encourage you to read selected letters and then write your own. The campaign was launched in late February to address the crisis in children’s book publishing. More than 50% of the children enrolled in …
#StepUpScholastic Twitter Chat
On February 29, Leslie Mac of Ferguson Response Network hosted a twitter chat on the #StepUpScholastic campaign. There was a rich and lively exchange among educators, parents, authors, and other activists as they weighed in on a series of questions about the campaign. Questions ranged from “why target Scholastic” to “what person(s) or moment(s) from your history …
#StepUpScholastic
Climate Change Missing from Scholastic News Scholastic News’ coverage of Hurricane Harvey says that the storm has acted “strangely,” but doesn’t mention even one word about climate change nor the extensive unregulated development that have contributed to the devastating crisis in Houston. Tell Scholastic our children deserve to know the truth about the weather as part of …
Teaching for Change on NPR’s All Things Considered
Did you hear? Teaching for Change was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered on Friday, January 22, 2016. Teaching for Change associate director Allyson Criner Brown was interviewed by NPR’s Eyder Peralta, along with scholar Ebony Elizabeth Thomas and children’s book author Matt de la Peña in a four-minute segment on the recall of A Birthday Cake for …
Bad Advice from NPR’s Weekend Edition on Racist Children’s Books
UPDATE The January 31, 2016 NPR Weekend Edition aired a segment, “How Do We Read Books Embedded With Racism?“, in response to critiques (read below) by Teaching for Change and many others of the January 24th segment. NPR posted some of the critiques, including one by former TFC staff member Jhonna Amelia Turner. This confirms that it is worth …
Under Pressure, Scholastic Recalls Racist Children’s Book
By Deborah Menkart A firestorm erupted when Scholastic released a children’s book early this month, A Birthday Cake for George Washington, by Ramin Ganeshram and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton, featuring smiling enslaved people baking a cake for George Washington. The back cover portrayed George Washington and his enslaved chef, Hercules, arm-in-arm, like best buddies. The image …
NOT Recommended: A Birthday Cake for George Washington
UPDATE We are pleased to share that the widespread response to the publication of A Birthday Cake for George Washington has led to its recall by Scholastic. This is a wonderful victory in record speed. We must keep up the pressure modeled in this campaign to make sure that children learn the truth and can shape a better …