Anne Sibley O’Brien and Kirsten Cappy were delighted to have been the guests of the Association of Library Services for Children at the American Library Association’s annual conference in San Francisco. We had an intriguing conversation with librarians from all over the country about children’s literature, immigration and I’m Your Neighbor.
One result of the conversation is that we need more populations listed on the website—Chinese American, Indian American, and more! We welcome your input on populations and titles.
Author Anne Sibley O’Brien speaks at ALA about I’m Your Neighbor
Following are some of the the materials that participants requested. If we missed anything, please remind us in the comment field!
State Immigrant Populations
Explore the populations of your state at MigrationPolicy.org.
Creating a Picture Book with a New Population
Follow the creation of a picture book with the Bhutanese Nepali community in New Hampshire here.
Multilingual Board Books
Star Bright Books offers baby board books in 20 different languages here.
Sudanese Book & Rapper Collaboration
Terry Farish, the author of the Sudanese American novel The Good Braider and Kirsten Cappy of Curious City, partnered with Sudanese American rapper OD Bonny and filmmaker Fred Ben to create this song and music video about the experience of a refugee girl in the Sudan and in the U.S. The musician, filmmaker, crew and actors (save one Irish American actor) are all Sudanese Americans. Watch it here.
Book List
You can view and print our conference book list here.
How can you participate in I’m Your Neighbor?
Internships
We are always seeking library services students to participate in the curation of titles for the website and the site’s upkeep and outreach. Feel free to reach out to kirsten@curiouscity.net for details.
Institutional Home for I’m Your Neighbor
The founders of this project are seeking a future institutional home for the website. What college or university might want to add the curation of immigrant children’s literature titles to their mission? Feel free to reach out to kirsten@curiouscity.net for details.
