Reflection
Pause for a moment and reflect on your response to these thought-provoking questions:
Introduction
The world is rich in diversity, and it is crucial for students to learn about and engage with this diversity. Diversity encompasses much more than the representation of “color” and the well-known non-dominant groups; it reflects the broader pluralistic world. Incorporating diverse texts into the classroom enables teachers to introduce students to various roles, theories, individuals, and cultures, reflecting the complexity of the world around them. Moreover, exposing students to identities beyond their own helps to dismantle barriers such as prejudice, while fostering empathy and a sense of communal living. Students have the right to question, learn about, and potentially experience these diverse identities, and good literature is a powerful gateway to such exploration. With the increased production of diverse texts, there is a great opportunity to expose students to representations of diversity.
In this manuscript, we will provide a brief overview of the importance of engaging learners with books featuring diverse identities. We then recommend some high-quality diverse texts to consider integrating within the classroom. Finally, we share three high-impact strategies for building curiosity and motivating readers to engage with diverse texts like those we recommend.
Why Do Teachers and Students Need to Be Exposed to Diverse Texts?
In light of the current administration’s stance and the global dismantling of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives, the question arises: “Why Not Incorporate Diverse Texts?” It is of high importance that educators intentionally place a focus on integrating high-quality texts that emphasize diverse identities. First, there is an ever-increasing representation of diverse identities in the classroom and the larger world, and there is a need for texts that reflect this. Second, diverse texts present opportunities for students to develop empathy that allows them to see the lived experiences of those with minoritized identity markers. Last, diverse texts might have content that differs from the reader’s lived experience. By exposing students to these texts, teachers can support learners in creating emotional connections and engaging with the identities represented within the texts. However, this should not be limited to the classroom; there is also a need to integrate diverse texts within teacher preparation programs. Teacher educators must be mindful that pre-service teachers require being taught how to integrate diverse texts into their future classrooms.
Building on the foundational work of Rudine Sims Bishop, we contend that books integrated within classrooms should provide content that reflects the life of the reader (mirrors), provide opportunities for students to see the world outside of themselves (windows), including an understanding and appreciation of others’ cultures, and provide an opportunity for students to step into the outside world experienced by the characters and be changed (sliding glass doors). Each aspect of this metaphor illustrates opportunities for diverse identities to be integrated within classroom texts. We also build on the work of Flowers and Smith who emphasize the exploration of diverse identities in educational settings should extend beyond the familiar and conventional. We believe these identities should encompass aspects including but not limited to culture, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religion, disabilities, immigration status, language, socioeconomic status, and various family structures. High-quality books will offer representations of these identities that delve deeper than mere visual or minor appearances, the identities will be essential components of the story being told. While representation of these identities in books is inherently valuable, it is equally critical for students to understand the intersectionality that exists among them. Thus, identities are not confined to simple categories with isolated or binary representations, such as black vs. white or Christian vs. Atheist. There can be complex combinations of identities, such as white and homosexual, housing insecure and Asian American, or Muslim and in a wheelchair. Thus, incorporating these multifaceted identities through texts will help students broaden their perspectives and deepen their understanding of a world that extends beyond their own experiences.
Diverse Book Recommendations
In this section, we present nine book recommendations that highlight diverse identities. We have separated these recommendations into three grade-band sections: K-2, 3-5, and 6-8. Many of these books feature a range of intersecting identities, providing learners with opportunities to explore the characters’ complexities critically. We believe that each title would be a valuable addition to any classroom, fostering student reflection, building empathy, encouraging critical thinking, addressing historical representations of identities, and motivating learners to engage with more literature.
| K-2 Book Recommendations | |
 | Text: The Playdate by Uje Brandelius Diverse Identities: Social Class, Socioeconomic disparities (working mom vs stay-at-home mom), relationships across economic divides. Overview: This Swedish picture book revolves around the economic differences between the two families—the narrator’s family, where the mother works as a housekeeper, and Henry’s family, who owns the large home where the playdate takes place. In this story, told through the voice of the young girl, the author presents one storyline with the texts, but readers are exposed to another storyline via the work of the illustrator. This contrast helps young readers to see socioeconomic class differences and the effects on lived experiences. The story encourages readers to think deeply, make inferences, and question what is real. Instructional Considerations: 1. Central Idea or moral. 2. Characters/Settings. 3. The impact of the illustrations on the text’s message. |
 | Text: Eyes That Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho Diverse Identities: Body Positivity, Culture, Age Overview: “Eyes That Kiss in the Corners” is a dazzling and lyrical ode to self-love. This #ownvoices picture book highlights the journey of a young Asian girl as she embraces and appreciates her eye shape. It serves as a moving tribute to the beauty of diversity, both in terms of physical appearance and heritage. This characteristic connects her to the women in her family across generations. The book invites all readers to recognize their own unique beauty and the power of self-love. Instructional Considerations: 1. Figurative language. 2. Celebrating Diversity and Cultural Identity. 3. Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). 4. Self-Esteem and Self-Acceptance: |
 | Text: When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff Diverse Identities: Identity, Acceptance, Family Structures, Transgender Representation, LGBTQ+ Overview: This heartwarming story follows a transgender boy named Aidan as he prepares to become a big brother. Through its words and illustrations, the narrative celebrates the support and positivity of Aidan’s parents, showcasing their unconditional love and acceptance. The text captures Aidan’s anxiety about the upcoming changes and emphasizes the preparations the family is making for the new baby. Instructional Considerations: 1. Discuss the importance of love. 2. Discuss character changes. 3. problem-solution. 4. Consider what makes a family loving |
| 3-5 Book Recommendations | |
 | Text: Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi Diverse Identities: Immigration, Bullying, Death, Mental Health Overview: This novel in verse, centers on Kareem, who dreams of becoming the first Syrian American NFL player. Struggling to find where he fits amidst various cultures leads to several challenges. He faces the disappointment of not making the middle school football team, copes with the departure of his best friend, forms a friendship with a new student who is a Syrian refugee, and navigates difficult family dynamics as his mother travels back to Syria to bring his sick grandfather to America. Compounding these issues is the Muslim ban enacted in 2017, which directly affects his family. Instructional Considerations: 1. Assessing the timeliness of text content 2.Inference 3. Summarizing. |
 | Text: Hoops by Matt Tavares Diverse Identities: Gender, social status Overview: This graphic novel, inspired by real-life events, captures the triumphs and struggles of the first Wilkins Regional High School varsity girls’ basketball team. Judi, a longtime cheerleader, leaps at the opportunity to join the newly formed team, finally getting the chance to pursue her passion for the game. Through the team’s journey, the novel explores themes of gender equality, resilience, and teamwork, shedding light on both the progress made and the challenges still faced. With its compelling historical fiction narrative and fast-paced storytelling, this book is a captivating read for those who appreciate stories of determination and breaking barriers. Instructional Considerations: 1. Identifying character challenges and development. 2. Compare and contrast the text with real-world events. 3. Fact & Opinion |
 | Text: The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander Diverse Identities: Slavery, Trauma, Civil Rights Overview: “The Undefeated” is a poem that serves as a love letter to Black life in the United States. It highlights the profound trauma of slavery, the determination and spirit of the civil rights movement, and the resilience, passion, and perseverance of some of the world’s greatest heroes. The poem presents Black voices on white backgrounds, accompanied by vibrant depictions of the triumphs and challenges faced by Black Americans as they overcame oppressive systems in the United States. It intertwines the stories of inspirational figures with those of ordinary people who survived without recognition, ensuring that they are remembered. Instructional Considerations: 1. Explore metaphor, alliteration, and imagery. 2. Connect with Black history and civil rights through writing. 3. Creating visual representations of a figure from the book. |
| 6-8 Book Recommendations | |
 | Text: Louder Than Hunger by John Schu Diverse Identities: mental health, eating disorder (anorexia) by a male. Overview: This powerful novel-in-verse explores the personal journey of an eighth grader named Jake, who struggles with anorexia nervosa, depression, and anxiety. By illuminating the experience of eating disorders from a male perspective, the story challenges traditional stereotypes and features a unique, diverse identity that is often underrepresented in literature. Readers are drawn deeply into Jake’s lived experience as he confronts the challenges of self-starvation. Throughout the narrative, we witness Jake’s internal battle alongside the efforts of those who want him to be healthy. As the story unfolds, readers ultimately discover the true nature of the “Voice” in Jake’s head and how the people in his life help him begin to love himself. Instructional Considerations: 1. Analyzing the text for revelations about characters and their actions. 2. Analyze the author’s development of characters and unique perspectives. 3. Theme. |
 | Text: The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh Diverse Identities: Culture, age, family structure, immigration Overview: Alternating between the recent reality of the COVID-19 pandemic and memories of the Ukrainian famine as told by Matthew’s grandmother, the novel vividly contrasts two historical moments. The author skillfully differentiates the personalities of the three girls in the grandmother’s story while capturing the frustration of a teenage boy stuck at home for months with only his elderly relative for company. As she recounts the horrors of a famine that claimed millions of lives, Matthew uncovers how the tragedy shaped her generation—especially herself and her two cousins. The novel sparks discussions on topics such as Communism, survivor’s guilt, the power of propaganda, the immigrant experience, fears brought on by COVID, separation from family, and the reverence (or neglect) of the elderly in our communities. Instructional Considerations: 1. Research of historical events within the text. 2. Character analysis. 3. Theme |
 | Text: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Diverse Identities: Class, Race, Gender, Trauma, Identity, and Activism Overview: This novel tells the story of Starr Carter, a Black teenage girl who witnesses the police shooting of her best friend Khalil. Through Starr’s journey, the story explores powerful themes of race, identity, and activism, offering a deeply relevant lens on racial justice. The text presents multiple perspectives, including those of the police and the community members fighting for justice. It also vividly portrays the tension Starr experiences as she navigates between two different worlds—her home and her predominantly white school—highlighting the challenges of code-switching and belonging. Instructional Considerations: 1. Character Analysis, Theme,and Connection to the Real-World. |
Strategies to Engage Learners with New Texts
In this section, we present three effective strategies that teachers can employ to enhance student engagement with new and diverse texts (such as those identified earlier). We invite readers to explore these strategies and think creatively about how to adapt them to optimize their impact in exposing students to varied texts within the distinct context of their classrooms.
Virtual Literacy Mystery Box
This is similar to a marketing strategy for movies. It encourages teachers to “hype” students up by building excitement and anticipation about the content that will be revealed within the text. The goal is to pique the reader’s interest by highlighting important characters, interactions, and the plot through images. This can be completed with images in a slide show or blending together the images into a book trailer clip. After selecting 5-7 connected images representing text elements, the teacher should display each image individually. As each image is shown, the teacher should ask students questions to encourage them to think critically and make predictions about the text, as well as the relationships among the images. This strategy can also be modified to allow students to create their own presentations to recommend texts for others to read. Below, we model the strategy with a series of pictures, following each with a potential prompt for students.
Photo by Laker from Pexels
What do you think this book might be about based on the image? How does the image relate to the text?
Photo by Family First from stocksnap.io
Using the two images, what do you think this text might be about?
Photo by RDNE Stock project from Pexels
What might be the relationship between the three images?
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels
How might this picture connect to your ideas and predictions about the story?
Photo by Ivan Samkov from Pexels
How does this image change your ideas about the text? How do the five images relate to each other?
After displaying the images, the teacher would then show the cover of the book for students then encourage them to explore it on their own. Here is the cover of the text, The Bright Side (previewed through these images). The text is about a young boy whose family loses their house and lives on a bus traveling around before he attends a traditional school where he saves the pizza party.
Book Speed Dating
This strategy allows students to have brief introductory interactions with multiple books within a short time frame to assess their overall interest. The ultimate goal is that they are exposed to books that they might want to spend more time with later, thus encouraging later reading of the text! We suggest the following steps to engage students with speed dating:
- Select books for students and spread them out for students to explore. We suggest identifying enough texts that every student has at least one text to view at a time, but more books are even better. With your book selection, we strongly encourage you to select new texts, those that feature diverse characters.
- Explain the rules/time expectations, such as:
- Students will be given 3-5 minutes if each gets a stack of books, but 2 minutes if there is only one book. This way, the students can rotate and see several books within a 5-minute period.
- Students should write their thoughts and ideas about the text on a recording sheet (which can easily be converted to an online form) for later reference.
- Students cannot read the text yet; they can only view the front and back covers and read the inside cover.
- Have students walk around and do a VERY quick review of the book covers (this step can be skipped).
- Set a timer for students to explore their book (2 minutes) then facilitate their transition to explore two additional books.
- Allow students to check out the text for a formal date (reading) on which they will need to report back!
Next, we first share a blank speed dating record sheet (you can make a copy for your classroom use). The record sheet was modified from that of Dr. Sara Sterner to include more space for note-taking within the three focus areas of the book exploration. Second, we share a completed speed dating record sheet. We encourage readers to reflect on ways this might be integrated into their classrooms.
First Chapter Friday
Lastly, we would like to emphasize one of the strategies outlined in a previous manuscript published in this journal. In their article, Katie Laugen and Kelsey Didrickson propose six effective strategies for introducing books to their students. While each strategy is dynamic, we would like to highlight the First Chapter Fridays strategy. This strategy can be readily adapted for any grade level and serves as an innovative method to showcase new books to students each week consistently. Here we share a first chapter Friday read-aloud of Mascot by Charles Waters & Traci Sorrell. This librarian does a phenomenal job of providing context, reading the chapter, and giving prompts that encourage students to want to read this text.
Concluding Thoughts
This article originated from a Spring 2024 presentation at MCTE, aiming to share strategies for previewing diverse texts with students while recommending high-quality literature for classroom integration. Aligned with the conference theme, the article encourages educators to “Change the Landscape” of English instruction in their classrooms with the integration of new diverse books. Educators are urged to reflect on meaningful ways to modify and incorporate these strategies to inspire students to read more books. While the emphasis is on books that feature diverse identities, it’s recognized that adding these resources to the classroom may not be easy. Therefore, readers are encouraged to explore new ways to acquire books for their classrooms. This can include volunteering to write book reviews, joining book award committees, such as those organized by NCTE, and connecting with publishers to gain access to review copies. Once new books are obtained, teachers can implement some of our recommended strategies to spark excitement and engagement among students with diverse literature!
Learn more about the authors on our 2025 Contributors page.
MEJ 