The Welcoming Library was hosted by Maine’s LearningWorks for five weeks in the summer of 2018 to serve their summer school programming. When the I’m Your Neighbor team went to pick up the collection on the final day of summer school, an educator recounted this story. She was reading the picture book My Friend Jamal… Read more »
The Welcoming Interactive + Welcoming Economies Convening5/15/19 – 5/17/19Pittsburg, PA The Welcoming Library will join over 400 leaders from across the country who are building inclusive and prosperous communities by making everyone who lives there feel like they belong. The Welcoming Interactive + Welcoming Economies Convening merge cutting edge policies and innovative ideas from the… Read more »
Creating a Welcoming Classroom with Immigration LiteratureFriday, November 22, 2019 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.National Teachers of English (NCTE) ConferenceBaltimore, MD Educator and author Louise El Yaafouri (Refugee Classroom; The Newcomer Student) will moderate a panel of four authors and one book advocate, sharing ideas of how children’s literature (picture books through YA) can be used to… Read more »
When readers were asked in the Welcoming Library’s Reader Survey, “Would you like to read more books like this?” they answered:
In the Welcoming Library’s Reader Survey, more readers appear to be seeing commonalities rather than differences. Asked if, “Did you see any similarities between the family in the book and your own family?” readers answered:
Does connecting with a character on the page actually make us more willing to connect with a person like the character in the world? What evidence is there that a project like the Welcoming Library can make a difference? “Research, led by psychologists Lindsey Cameron in England, Cristina Stefanile in Italy, and Krista Aronson in… Read more »
Many schools that have hosted the Welcoming Library have reworked the way they study immigration. Ellis Island is now joined by modern immigration from the Sudan, Syria, and Central America thanks to exposure to these picture books and companion materials. “4th grade teachers had the opportunity to look at all the books and choose which… Read more »
Greeley Middle School in Cumberland, Maine built the book display on a cart (brilliant!) to allow the principal to roll the Welcoming Library into a new classroom each morning. “14 classrooms each had the library for a day and teachers gave students dedicated time to browse and read.” —A Welcoming Library School Ambassador
“I heard lots of discussion about what immigration is, personal stories, and ‘wow, I never thought of that…’ Teachers liked the discussions questions very much.” —A Welcoming Library School Ambassador
“We put up large interior posters with the covers of the books and if a person read one in the library they put a sticker next to the title. We arranged the bean bag chairs near the display so that more people would plunk down there. We also had a set of 18 posters in… Read more »