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The "Bookshelf Diversity" project grew out of the RUT partnership Arts in Action with Exeter High School ninth grade English teachers in their unit on justice, equity, and social change. In her class presentation, student Ingrid Janicki's project "Bookshelf Diversity" emphasized bringing more voices to our students' worlds/ perspectives and not in tokenism through performative diversity, but instead, healthy readings that honor natural inclusiveness versus reading diverse books on Chinese holidays or celebrations of progress for under-represented groups. Ingrid advocated for reading books as if most stories could have people of any identities playing out the plot lines as well. 

The topic "Bookshelf Diversity" endorsed by the Racial Unity Team was introduced for the first time in 2021 at the UNH Summer Literacy Institutes.

Here is Ingrid’s essay Schools Need To Reexamine The Common English Curriculum, or visit the link to hear Ingrid Janicki's talk and her teacher's praise of her work following the end of her talk.

Every year the Racial Unity Team hopes to celebrate Bookshelf Diversity and for 2022 our theme is Stronger Together: This highlights how together with the support of our sponsors, doners, and teachers we can make Granite children and young adults stronger and more connected with each other through project like "Bookshelf Diversity" in their respective classrooms.

Opening Call:  Win $500 to diversify your classroom library!
Racial Unity Team is now accepting submissions  (explained below).

Deadline  Monday, 10/10/2022 by 11:59 p.m.

Prompt Why is bookshelf diversity important to your classroom library and/or philosophy of teaching? 

Criteria   Answer the prompt in 450 words (or fewer)

in a style of your choosing. 

Eligibility  Applicant must be a full-time pre K-12 classroom teacher in a New Hampshire public school.
Submission link  Click to access submission entry form 

Applicant must have a working classroom library. 

Applicant must be willing to be included in Racial Unity Team promotional materials, e.g., social media sites/news articles and be willing to participate in research into the effectiveness of diverse classroom libraries on student outcomes in reading.

We will select one winner from each of the five New Hampshire state Executive Council Districts.  Find your district by city or town name

We see this as a growing partnership beyond this immediate opportunity and, therefore, envision applicants to be interested in working together on future endeavors.

The books are given to you to support your work as a classroom teacher - not to your school/ school district. Please be sure this is clear to your administrators before you apply. If you leave the district to teach elsewhere, the books go with you. If you leave teaching, we encourage you to gift the books to a teacher and classroom that you feel these books would benefit. 

Applicants must be willing to be contacted about books read and favorites among the selections to assist us in creating an ongoing list of recommended books.  

Don't keep it to yourself, let other teachers know. Share this link https://racialunityteam.com/bookshelf.

Do you have questions bring it to our attention besides providing you with the answers, we will display the most frequently asked questions, so everybody benefits.  Questions? Email racialunityteam1@gmail.com