#inclusive-childrens-literature

#inclusive-childrens-literature

In 2025, Dmae Lo Roberts embarked on a statewide storytelling experience focusing on personal stories from both artists and community members. These stories are a form of living oral history.

I see you, and it makes me so happy to see you. There is such a disconnect between what we say America is about and what it is right now. True freedom is the freedom to be who we are, and it hurts my heart so much that in some parts of this country, it is unsafe for trans people to do that right now.

'We absolutely should challenge stereotypes about ageing. Children do build their understanding of the world from these tiny repeated narratives. If old always equals useless or confused then that's going to shape their perception.'

Our mission is to bring queer books by queer authors to all readers, both from within the queer community and our allies. And we'll achieve this without compromising the authenticity or integrity of our queer books and authors.

Running AI infrastructure costs are astronomical. Back in 2023, it was estimated that OpenAI spends around $700,000 per day to run ChatGPT—about 36 cents per query. However, in 2024 with the release of its higher-performing o3 model, some queries cost over $1,000 of computing power. Consequently, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reports the company is even losing money on its $200 ChatGPT Pro subscriptions.

Research has shown there is a reading for pleasure crisis among children in the UK, where enjoyment of books has fallen to its lowest level in two decades. Not so here at Christ Church primary, a tiny Church of England school tucked behind the maze of HS2 construction works in Camden, north London, where children fizz with excitement about books.

In the environmental nonprofit sector, "centering frontline voices" has become a familiar slogan, often detached from how decisions are made or resources allocated. It appears in grant proposals, conference agendas, and organizational values statements. And yet, too often, those voices are still positioned as illustrative rather than authoritative-invited to animate strategies already decided, asked to translate lived experience into language legible to funders, or flattened into narratives that travel more easily than the truths they carry.

My before' was trying to make myself as small as possible in every conceivable way: my body, voice, emotions, opinions, she says. My after' is allowing myself to be my biggest self, however that looks.

As LGBTQ+ youth and their families face escalating hostility and attacks from the current administration, communities and allies will come together to elevate and celebrate queer stories. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 11th annual National Day of Reading arrives amid what the organization describes as escalating hostility toward LGBTQ+ youth, from restrictions on teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation to the rollback of civil rights protections and intensified battles over who can play sports.

There has been progress in the diversity of texts on offer in the GCSE English literature curriculum, but uptake in schools is still low with just 1.9% of GCSE pupils in England studying books by authors of colour, up from 0.7% five years ago, according to a report. Compiled by the campaign group Lit in Colour, the report says progress is too slow and that

There are nights when we lie in your bed, fairy lights glowing above us, the city humming softly outside, and you tell me what has been sitting with you all day. Side by side under your pink quilt, you know I am all yours. It was during one of those nights when you asked me a question I couldn't answer right away.

In places where inclusion is part of the infrastructure of their economy-supply chains, procurement processes, capital access, or business ownership-people thrive. Inclusive economies create more resilience by expanding the base of potential business owners who can build, own, innovate, and hire. They allow more opportunities for homeownership and investing in the longevity of communities. As our economy becomes increasingly stratified and volatile, we need as much resiliency as we can get.

I've spent the last 25 years since I transitioned being spoken by lawmakers, by media, by people who have never met me but feel entitled to decide what my life means. The pressure to explain, justify, or exist as a symbol in somebody else's mythology is constant. It's part of why my film, Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps, exists: to narrate a trans life from the inside, rather than explain it to outsiders.

Research has linked reading for pleasure in childhood to a host of positive educational and socioeconomic outcomes. But now 14 years after the Department for Education, in a more innocent time, commissioned a chunky report on the matter—reading books for pleasure is an activity in crisis. The culprit usually blamed for this falling-off is the smartphone and its many short-term distractions; the mere presence of a smartphone in the room, recent research suggests, has an impact on our ability to concentrate.

For many Canadians, Scholastic brings about an instant wave of nostalgia. Memories come flooding back of flipping through colourful catalogues, circling must-have books, and browsing tables stacked with trinkets from scented erasers to posters and pencils set up in school auditoriums during book fair week. For generations of elementary school students, Scholastic brought excitement and joy and for many kids today, even in an age dominated by screens, that magic hasn't faded, say educators.