There are vetted and high-quality resources available to help choose appropriate read alouds and instructional ideas to accompany the books. Learning for Justice (2023) website (https://www.learningforjustice.org) provides extra strategies teachers can use with read alouds to teach tolerance in classrooms such as the use of anchor charts and using questions to critically examine texts. Another resource to consider is Marley Dias started the #1000blackgirl book campaign at age 16, in which she created an ever-evolving database of over a thousand books with Black girls as the main character. The high quality books found in the database would be an example of how children’s books can be windows and mirrors: books can affirm the student’s culture, language, and race with stories with characters, places, and experiences that reflect their background and also provide an opportunity to awaken students to new ideas, places, people, or experiences in books and stories with guiding questions. Listed below are five high-quality children’ books that can be used teach tolerance, empathy, and an understanding of the importance of diversity along with windows and mirrors questions for each selection. Table 8 lists the books with the suggested grade levels and suggested classroom connections.
Read Alouds to Use With Young Children
I Am Whole by Shola Oz
I Am Whole written by Shola Oz was published in 2020 and is a multi-racial children’s book celebrating diversity, race, culture, and language. This book is appropriate for kindergarten- second grade. It is written in a rhythmic pattern and is a primer read-aloud for young readers who are beginning to ask questions about their race. Sharla Oz discusses different hair textures and languages but emphasizes that being mixed race is a special combination of two different backgrounds which should be celebrated. The illustrator, Shifa Annisa, shares this message in
colorful pictures to capture the children’s interest. Upon reading the book, children can create their own self-portraits using a variety of skin-colored arts and crafts materials to celebrate their unique features which can be displayed in the classroom or hallway. Table 3 provides the window and mirror questions to use with I am Whole.