社区黑料

Join our zero2eight Substack community for more discussion about the latest news in early care and education.

As book bans surge nationwide, Jan Lacina 鈥� professor at Texas Christian University and associate editor of the 鈥� explores the benefits of diverse children鈥檚 literature in her new textbook for educators,  

The research-grounded guide aims to help teachers intentionally select books for their students, centering age-appropriate books that present Black, Latinx and Asian culture as wellsprings of understanding. It also highlights titles that explore complex issues such as homelessness and poverty, and those that can help educators teach about historical topics like the Holocaust or the Civil Rights Movement. One chapter explores how scented books can be used as a vehicle for multisensory literacy development. 

Lacina鈥檚 book arrives at a critical moment, in a critical state. Texas ranked second in the nation for school book bans during the 2024-25 school year, with 1,781 instances of censorship, . 

The book features contributions from a number of early literacy experts on a variety of relevant themes. Jonda C. McNair, professor at the Ohio State University, wrote a chapter on the significance of African American children鈥檚 literature. 鈥淎spects of identity can and do impact early literacy development, and teachers should be encouraged to think critically about them,鈥� McNair wrote in an email. 

Natalia Kucirkova, who leads the , added, 鈥淭his book responds to an urgent need in an age when texts are increasingly manipulated by technologies, generated by AI and shaped by algorithms for specific audiences and preferences. It reminds us that children need authentic literature that connects them to genuine human experiences beyond their own.鈥�

In the conversation below, Lacina discusses the book, the challenges posed by censorship and the power of children鈥檚 literature. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did this book originate?

Years ago, I developed a class when we did not have a children’s literature class at TCU, and my dean at the time wanted it to be a way to attract individuals from throughout the university into the College of Education. So I came up with this idea of a critical literacy and children’s literature class. 鈥� I wanted to develop a class where students could learn more about just being good human beings from reading through children’s literature that’s reflective of society. Sometimes those are very sensitive topics, like 鈥� homelessness and immigration. [We asked] how can we develop empathetic and kind college students and future teachers? We can do that by learning about other people and recognizing them not as the other, but as someone of value within our community 鈥� There’s never been a textbook that really addressed that particular topic. 

What does research show about the importance of inclusive literature and the role stories play in child development?

There’s been a lot of research published over the last 30 years, and I have an article coming out this summer in [a journal published by the International Literacy Association Children鈥檚 Literature and Reading Special Interest Group]. [The research] really came to the forefront more than 30 years ago, with a professor at the Ohio State University, Rudine Sims Bishop, who coined the term as a metaphor. Mirrors reflect your own culture, identity and personal life and we need to read books that reflect our own experiences 鈥� but just as important are the [books] that are like windows that help us understand other people’s experiences in life and that help us build more empathy and understanding.

Reading helps us identify with the protagonist 鈥� with their feelings, with their actions, and it’s important to read about experiences that are similar to our own, whether they鈥檙e positive experiences or challenges we might face in life. Children in our schools are dealing with challenges, too. That could be divorce; that could be dealing with not having enough money. In preparing our young children, we want them to be able to face life’s challenges and problem solve and be resilient and also be joyful. 

How does children鈥檚 literature, especially for the youngest readers, function as a tool for learning and development?

It helps children at all ages as they move into the workforce as adults, because we’re not going to work with people who are necessarily exactly like us, from our own socioeconomic background, our racial background, our religious background. And it helps us better understand other people, so that we can be a productive member of the workforce and get along with others to solve problems in the workplace. 

Why do you think people get worked up about children’s literature? Why is this an issue at all?聽

There are various reasons why, and this is nothing new. 鈥� We can look back through history and see that there’s always been censorship, and I think books have historically been targeted over a long period of time for anti-intellectual censorship efforts. Books are primarily a source for people to learn new ideas and to critically think about a variety of topics within our society. So books are powerful, and that’s what scares people.

What do you recommend for responding to censorship in our schools and libraries?

We need leaders in education to have policies and procedures, which many school districts do. However, what’s interesting is that the , and this is not surprising at all, but who is censoring books? It’s not necessarily parents at all; 92% of all books that are challenged were initiated by pressure groups, government officials and decision makers. And that was up from 72% in 2024. Less than 3% of the challenges originated from individual parents. So I think that tells us maybe we don’t need to publicize [censorship] any longer. We need these pressure groups to listen to parents and families. 

Another thing that makes early reading so powerful is that when books are read over and over again, the ideas and pictures really stay with children right at the time when their brains are forming.聽

That’s a very good strategy for developing phonemic and phonological awareness, that reading over and over with a very young child. That’s really helpful for oral language and understanding how language works. 

In the book, there鈥檚 a surprising chapter about the role of smell in early reading, and the importance of offering children multisensory early reading experiences. How did that come about?聽

Natalia Kucirkova, who I met many years ago at the United Kingdom Literacy Association, is an international powerhouse scholar. 鈥� That chapter is about a novel approach in Europe, and I think we need to listen to our European peers. They focus a little bit more on creativity and multisensory approaches, where we are focusing on different things here in the U.S. What Natalia talks about is that reading is much more than decoding a text. It’s about an affective and embodied experience. 

An educator I really admire, Nichole Parks, said something recently about how readers are built on laps and that reading to a child is a gateway toward them reading for themselves.聽

That’s a beautiful way to phrase that. We lose so much when we focus too much on tablets and technology. There’s so much more to reading than just reading words on a screen. It’s that entire experience 鈥� the human interaction with a child, the interaction with a book 鈥� to be able to hold the book, turn the pages and, in some instances, smell the book. A robot can鈥檛 replace that. A robot can’t replace the interaction between a teacher or a parent or a beloved family member lovingly nurturing a child during their reading process. 

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how 社区黑料鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.