Advocacy and Access

• For two decades, Books for Babies, an initiative of ALA’s United for Libraries, has provided parents of newborns with resources to engage in early literacy activities with their infants. The kits, available in English and Spanish, include a board book, an application for the child’s first library card, and informational brochures.
• The importance of early literacy to success in life is well documented; statements and studies to that effect can be found in Power Guide for Successful Advocacy. (See page 27 in Appendix A.) More information on this subject is available on United for Libraries’ Early Literacy page.
• The Babies Need Words Every Day: Talk, Read, Sing, Play public awareness campaign, launched by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), promotes the importance of parent and caregiver communication with babies. Free, customizable resources include posters with simple ideas for boosting children’s language and a book list brochure to support concept and language acquisition.
• On the ALSC blog:
  •  What’s Early Lit for Kids Who Can’t See? includes a resource on Five Early Literacy Practices for Children with Low or No Vision.
  • Stork Storytime Helps Libraries Help Families Deliver Literacy details an initiative that encourages expecting families to develop a reading routine before their baby arrives

We Need Diverse Books, a non-profit that “advocates essential changes in the publishing industry” and is helping to “produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people.” Their Booktalking Kit is a tool for educators, library workers, and booksellers to booktalk “lesser-known books that are about diverse characters and/or written by diverse authors.”

Book Lists

• 2018 ALSC Book & Media Award Winners
• 2018 ALSC Summer Reading Lists
• ALSC’s Unity and Justice Booklists
• 2018 Día Book Lists
• ALSC Children’s Notable Lists: Each year ALSC identifies the best children’s books, recordings, and videos.
  • For more book lists see: Recommended books from ALSC
• The Coretta Scott King Book Awards, part of ALA’s Ethnic and Multicultural Exchange Round Table (EMIERT), are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.
• The Rainbow Book List was created by the Rainbow Book List Committee of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table of the American Library Association. Originally a joint project between the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Roundtable and the Social Responsibilities Round Table, the Rainbow Book List presents an annual bibliography of quality books with significant and authentic GLBTQ content, which are recommended for people from birth through eighteen years of age.
• The Amelia Bloomer List is a compilation from The Amelia Bloomer Project, a committee of the Feminist Task Force of ALA’s Social Responsibilities Round Table. The list is an annual annotated book list (or bibliography) of well-written and well-illustrated books with significant feminist content, intended for young readers (ages birth through 18)
• The Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature is a “leading educational research centers in the field of multicultural literature,” with the “mission to preserve the richness of the many cultures in the field of children’s and young adult literature.”
• The American Indian Youth Literature Award is awarded every two years to “to identify and honor the very best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians.”
• REFORMA and ALSC’s 2018 Pura Belpré Award Committee have compiled a list of stories of immigration from Pura Belpré Medal and Honor Books.