On Saturday, April 20, Literacy in Community (LINC) and Fidelis Care concluded our 4th annual Diversity Through Literacy campaign with resounding success at the Bronx Library Center!
LINC’s Diversity Through Literacy campaign recognizes the power of children’s literature to celebrate diversity in all forms and sharing different cultures is only one of the ways we do it. Each book is carefully chosen to collectively amplify underheard voices in children's publishing, embrace unique perspectives, and teach children empathy, acceptance, and self love.
Guest author Cynthia Weill shared her story Vámonos at Alianza Dominicana on April 19th, and joined us again for our final DTL event at the Bronx Library Center the following morning. Cynthia’s work is unique, drawing on folk arts from around the world to illustrate basic concepts for children like the alphabet, opposites, colors, numbers, jobs, animal sounds and modes of transport in Spanish and English. Her presentations even showcased original handicrafts from her friends in Oaxaca, Mexico to accompany her story.
Diversity Through Literacy is one of our favorite times of year because it allows us to bring authors from all across the city to share their stories and teach unique lessons to our families. At the Stapleton Library in Staten Island on April 22, author Ying-Hwa Hu read her story Ten Blocks to the Big Wok and took listeners on an imaginary tour of Chinatown in different cities around the world, in addition to teaching families how to count to 10 in Chinese.
At the Baisley Park Library in Queens on April 6th, Broadway actor Marchánt Davis read A Boy and His Mirror, a majestic tale in which a young boy discovers a new way of seeing himself and reminds readers to celebrate their uniqueness and do it with kindness.
At the Kingsbridge Library in the The Bronx on April 5th, families unfolded the pages of Little Chickies / Los Pollitos, by Susie Jaramillo, a bilingual board book that details the depth of a mother’s love, and gives children lots of room to play.
At the DREAM school in East Harlem on April 13th, Emeline Lee took our readers to the moon and back with Bonnie’s Rocket - a heartwarming father-daughter tale inspired by Emeline Lee’s grandfather, who worked on the design of life-support systems and space suits for the Apollo 11 lunar module.
At Brooklyn Community Services in East New York on April 12th, author and educator Laleña Garcia presented How Can We Live, Principals of Black Lives Matter - a book that uses child-friendly language to introduce readers to racial justice concepts and powerful historical moments.
All of the authors patiently signed copies of their books for our families and it was thrilling to see their faces.
In total, close to 200 families attended our seven programs throughout New York City and a number of elected officials sent representatives from their offices to attend. Our City’s First Readers (CFR) champion Eric Dinowitz was a guest reader in Kingsbridge.
In addition to the joy of reading, families participated in art projects, enjoyed puppet shows, and sing-a-longs, and received goody bags and books to take home.
We are grateful to our book publishers for their generous donations - Nancy Paulsen Books, Lee & Low, and Encantos, and our guest authors for their time and dedication to the campaign - Susie Jaramillo, Marchánt Davis, Laleña Garcia, Emeline Lee, Ying-Hwa Hu, and Cynthia Weill.
We would also like to thank our partners, Fidelis Care and all of our host sites: Kingsbridge Library, Baisley Park Library, Bronx Library Center, Stapleton Library, Brooklyn Community Services, DREAM Charter School, and Alianza Dominicana.
Last but not least, we salute our LINC staff and Very Involved Parents (VIPs) for the collaborative efforts and pure heart that they brought to each of these events.
Each Diversity Through Literacy campaign has been truly magical and we can’t wait to see what is in store for next year.
To register for LINC’s latest programs and workshops, visit: www.lincnyc.org/programs.