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Hi Reader,

I'm excited to share not only a new blog post this week, but also a free download that will help you take a look at your children's book collection and how you can strengthen it.

But first, a bit of a personal update. Last week, my city of Memphis experienced record rainfalls - 14 inches of rain in 4 days. On Thursday, our sump pump failed and our basement flooded. We spent more than I thought was possible getting it replaced, only for even heavier rains to arrive on Saturday.

Our backyard faces a business street that people often dump stuff onto, and apparently someone recently left 8 mattresses on that street. When rivers of rain fell, all the mattresses washed down the street and got lodged in the storm drain just behind our house.

Our basement flooded again, cutting off the sump pump when water reached the electrical outlets. At one point there was about 4 feet of water in the basement, turning our appliances into floating islands.

Now our hot water heater has to be replaced (again costing more than I thought possible), along with our clothes dryer that we replaced 2 years ago when squirrels chewed through our electrical lines and caused power surges. (I love our home and our neighborhood, but I'm starting to wonder if our home might be a little cursed?)

Why am I sharing all this?

1. To get it off my chest. Thank you for listening. ❤️
2. To explain why there are probably typos in this email and the new blog post. My brain is fried. 😩
3. To let you know that if you've been thinking about purchasing my book, course, the anti-bias books database, or any of my products, now would be a great time for our family to receive a bit of an income boost. (If you'd like, another option is to leave a tip supporting my work here.)

Now, on to the new blog post and free download!

I write a lot about anti-bias, diverse, and inclusive children's books, but I realized recently that I didn't have a blog post that explained my framework for how to ensure you have a well-balanced, robust book collection that shares your anti-bias values.

​Head here to read more about the 6 essential building blocks of any anti-bias children's book collection.

You don't want all of your anti-bias children's books to be about history, with nothing set in the present day. That gives the idea that issues of prejudice and injustice only existed in the past.

It's important to include books about current justice issues, but you'll also want to include books that show children of many backgrounds living their everyday lives. After all, no one's identity is solely defined by experiencing oppression. There's so much to think about!

In this post, you'll get a clear framework for 6 types of anti-bias children's books that belong in every home or school collection. I consider them to be the essential "building blocks" of an anti-bias book collection.

I've included a few of my favorite books for each of the building blocks, and created a free checklist and evaluation tool so that you can figure out if there are gaps in your book collection that need addresssing.

Happy learning,

Rebekah

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