Enjoy this hour-long conversation between EmbraceRace and the founders of Kitaab World, Gauri Manglik and Sadaf Siddique, recorded on August 22nd, 2017. Anyone advising, raising, mentoring kids to be resilient, inclusive, informed and active social justice advocates will appreciate the resources they're developed - we do!
Gauri and Sadaf started KitaabWorld to provide a platform for parents, teachers and librarians to get access to multicultural children's books in the US, and to make diverse books more mainstream. They have focused mainly but not exclusively on books featuring characters of South Asian descent and/or South Asian cultures and religious traditions.
Their "Counter Islamophobia Through Stories" campaign provides a framework and resources for teachers, educators and parents to tackle issues of positive representation and a bridge between cultures in the classroom and our communities. The campaign seeks to change the stories about Muslims and fight hate with knowledge.
In this video conversation with EmbraceRace, Gauri and Sadaf explain their book criteria for inclusion, introduce their themed, curated lists of children's books, and speak more in depth about a couple favorite books from each list. They also answer community questions. Find the booklists they mentioned as well as other booklists, author interviews, lesson plans, reader stories and other resources at their site, KitaabWorld.com. They've also sent the slides from their presentation for those who want another look.
Don't forget to forward these resources to your librarians, too, and to request these books from them. KitaabWorld is currently offering a 20% discount on their Countering Islamophobia through Stories collection to the EmbraceRace community if you use promo code ER20. Clearly, their main goal is to get these books into the hands of children - so pass it on!
This conversation was part of a free, online EmbraceRace monthly series on race and kids which happens every 4th Tuesday of the month.
