Inclusive Book Drive - November 9th through December 18th
Nov 09, 2020
AMS Inclusive Book Drive Amazon Wishlist link
Hello AMS families,
It is my pleasure to announce that we are running an Inclusive Book Drive! The book drive will start today, Monday, November 8th, and officially end on Friday, December 18th - the day before Winter Break (although early, late, or year-round books are always welcome too!). What makes this different from a regular book drive? Let me explain!
The focus of this book drive is inclusivity. Our school is looking for books that uplift the narratives of people with marginalized identities. Additionally, we can all attest to how much our students absolutely love reading. One of the goals of this book drive is to create a pool of contemporary, updated children’s books centering characters of marginalized identities for each level to share that will last a long time.
In furthering our understanding of what it means to be actively anti-racist and anti-biased as educators, each classroom took time on last Friday’s In-service Day to audit their libraries and determine what identities are represented in their book selection, and what gaps in representation need to be addressed. As a school of majority white educators, we used this moment to look at our libraries with a critical lens.
Teachers looked at the racial identities, gender expressions, abilities, family structures, and more identities represented by book characters. We also looked at the authors of books, as well, to see which voices and storytellers are represented in our collections.
We are using the information we gathered from the audit to research books that may fill in any gaps in representation of each level’s book selection. The goal of having this drive is so that every student at Amherst Montessori School is able to see their culture, their family, and their identity represented in the books available in their classrooms.
In terms of Dr. Montessori’s focus on peace education, which has been an amazing foundation for the antiracist, anti-bias work our school has been engaging in, it’s important for our students to also learn about identities beyond those of our community members. Having a wide array of books lining each classroom’s shelves is a simple and effective way to show children the beauty and complexity of identity. With love and understanding to ground them, our students can grow into their power as advocates for change, combatting the injustices and oppression that people of marginalized identities endure in our society.
Here is where we need the generous support of the AMS community: if you are in a place where you feel able to contribute, we are asking our community to help us attain the goal of 100 new, inclusive books for our school!
We have created an Amazon Wishlist of book titles. If you do not wish to use Amazon and would rather buy a book through an independent bookseller, directly from the publisher, or on another website, I am so happy to accommodate that - just message me on ParentSquare or write me an email with the book title(s) you are purchasing, and I will take them off the wishlist.
Additionally, the Amazon wish list is not an exhaustive list of books we wish to receive. If you know of a wonderful book that tells the story or has beautiful illustrations of characters who are not part of the dominant narrative of children’s books today (white, heterosexual, cis-gendered, able-bodied protagonists and authors), please, by all means, send it our way - especially if it is a book your family enjoys.
I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read this, and I am so excited to help keep these conversations around identity and representation going strong. As a community, the work we can do and things we can achieve together are limitless!
Please let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to share this book drive with friends, family members, and your community. Anyone is welcome to help our cause. Have a wonderful day!
Best,
Jessica Hesse
Advancement Assistant