I’m Your Neighbor Books and the Welcoming Library were honored to be featured on Ann Braden and Saadia Faruqi’s podcast Lifelines: Books That Bridge the Divide. EXPLORE AND LISTEN.
Lifelines Podcast: Welcoming New Americans
Readers Theater for Welcoming & Belonging
I’m New Here and Someone New are companion picture books by Anne Sibley O’Brien (Charlesbridge) about three immigrant children and their new classmates. The books tell two sides of the same story. I’m New Here focuses on the first day in an American school for Maria, Jin, and Fatimah and their proceeding few months of… Read more »
Muslim Student Reads Aloud and Fellow Students Cheer
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 »
Appearance: Welcoming Interactive + Welcoming Economies Convening: May 2019
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 »
Appearance: NCTE: November 2019
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 »
Welcoming Library Readers Want to Read More New Arrival / New American Books
When readers were asked in the Welcoming Library’s Reader Survey, “Would you like to read more books like this?” they answered:
Welcoming Library Readers Seeing Commonalities Between Families
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:
Research Shows Comfort in Connecting Across Culture After Reading Across Culture
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 »
Welcoming Library Changing How We Teach Immigration
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 »
School Builds on Rolling Cart for Classroom Visits
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