Book banning and censorship is appearing again in states and school districts. The history of book banning goes back as far as recorded time. Columnist Jonathan E. Collins discusses the U.S. court system's history support of the First Amendment and against censorship. He outlines the implications of the most recent book banning incidents and the…

This document is a guide through the process of setting up and running a book study about diversity, equity, inclusion, and belongingness, to better create an inclusive and equitable environment where everyone feels they belong. Books on these topics provide tools and context to navigate race, age, physical ability, religion, and sexual…

The public debate regarding problematic ideas and personal autonomy has cascaded into classrooms over the last two years, as families and politicians demand more control over what youth are learning. One approach to limiting exposure to perceived harmful or controversial content has been to remove it completely. In this paper, the authors present…

While there is still much to be done, there have been tremendous strides made in increasing the diversity of children's literature; however one area that is often overlooked in these conversations is social class. From years of providing picture book story time to young children living in homeless shelters, it became obvious that picture books…

One strategy for developing science literacy and scientific literacy in young children is through published trade books. To better understand how science literacy and scientific literacy may be represented in elementary classrooms, we investigated children's books that explore science concepts. Specifically, we examined high-quality science trade…

As they are usually chosen by adults, children's picture books offer important insights into contemporary attitudes and values. They subsequently drive the social and academic development of young children, thereby playing a key role in their ethical socialisation and education. This article will explore the role of children's literature in this…

For decades, developmental psychologists and educators have emphasized that learning about counterintuitive phenomena may be a critical driving force for cognitive development. Thus far, little is known about the specific content that children seek to enrich their knowledge. Using a novel book-choice paradigm, we directly examine children's…

The present work was conducted to re-examine the findings of Agarwal et al. ("Applied Cognitive Psychology," 22(7), 861-876, 2008), which showed that both closed-book tests (with feedback) and open-book tests increased learning outcomes after 1 week compared to simple re-study of the same materials. However, contrary to often found…

The multiracial population in the U.S. increased by nearly 400% between 2000 and 2020. Author April Vazquez writes that this increase has important implications for a predominantly white workforce of teachers. Educators must respond to our nation's changing demographics by supporting our multiracial students, which begins with recognizing this…

Teaching previously learned contents to (fictitious) peers is regarded as a beneficial activity that aids learning. However, it is still an open question which cognitive mechanism (generating versus retrieving information) account for this learning-by-teaching effect. To examine the role of retrieval during generative processing while…

Taking 22 children with mild and moderate autism as subjects and using the TobiiX 120 eye-tracker to record their eye movements in visual search of images in picture books, the characteristics of the process of autistic children viewing picture books were explored. Two measures, fixation counts and gaze duration, were used alongside attention…

This study analyzed how disabilities were portrayed in picturebooks with the Américas Book Award to address the intersectionality of LatinX racial identity and disabilities. The pool of 41 picturebooks recognized by the Américas Book from 1993 to 2020 was used as the data for our systematic content analysis. Then 22 picturebooks developmentally…

In a time when some nonfiction historical books for children and young adults have drawn concern and critique for sharing difficult histories, teachers may be looking for ways to contextualize those narratives and provide more support for students as they engage in these histories. Going beyond the book with primary sources can help provide that…

This article investigates how picture books published in 2019 represent Autism to children, with special attention as to whether those representations overtly include terminology around autism or covertly present autistic characters. Although both overt and covert representations occur in children's literature, covert representation may or may not…

Teachers of beginning readers have choices in the books they select. A careful look at the features of books provides an informed basis for choosing books that engage young readers. In this article we share insights from a comparative content analysis of leveled readers and Geisel award books that can motivate children to read and prepare them for…