SUMMER READS FOR CHILDREN

Summer is rolling in on the heels of a school year that kept children rotating learning environments - home and in-class; parents and teachers are likely eager for the break. Keeping children engaged in reading over summer vacation can be a challenge. Expanding the diversity of their reading options with literature from African and Caribbean authors is an even greater feat.

Looking beyond the summer break, a partnership between the Sickle Cell Foundation and Edmonton Public Library (EPL) was created to develop a K-12 curriculum of Black Literature. EPL will create a list to be vetted by Dr. Jean Walrond and a team of post secondary students. The initiative primarily aims to deliver an African and Caribbean Canadian Literature Guide for Edmonton’s school boards and educators It will be used as a resource for discussions around African and Caribbean Canadian experiences and culture.

With $61,000 in funding through Edmonton Community Foundation’s, Anti-Racism Fund, this initiative reflects the type of grassroots, transformative efforts that help build greater equity and tolerance within our city.

Inspired by this project, our team took a trip down memory lane and picked the minds of some of our readers. Here are some Afro-Heritage Summer Reads for children:

YOUNGER READERS:

• Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott • Harriet’s Humongous Hair & Harriet’s Tremendous Day by NiLo • A Likkle Miss Lou by Nadia L. Hohn • Hey Black Child by Useni Eugene Perkins TEENS

• A House for Mr. Biswas by

V.S. Naipaul • Children of Blood and Bone & Children of Virtue and

Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi • Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson • The Hate you Give by Angie Thomas • The River Between & A

Grain of Wheat by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o • All our Names by Dinaw Mengestu

“Doors aren’t locked - it’s about preparedness between opportunities” shares, Dr. Walrond, President of Research and Education at the Sickle Cell Foundation of Alberta. She’s long advocated for this curriculum initiative and is eager to execute. As a parent, she found herself at the crosssection of the education system and the medical system that initially missed her daughter’s sickle cell diagnosis. “Our education system fails to fully incorporate students of different cultural identities in support of self actualization”, she asserts, speaking to the need for a more diverse and inclusive K-12 curriculum. -Dr. Jean Walrond

Here are some other initiatives supported by ECF’s Anti-Racism Fund

Family Advancement Association (Africa Centre):

$23,700 to support subsidized summer programs focusing on digital literacy, education and wellness for Black and racialized children ages 4-13.

Centre for Race and Culture:

$58,300 supports the Challenging Discrimination through Community Conversation Project. Engaging in discourse around different forms of discrimination and sharing the lived experiences of different communities.

Indigenous Journalism Fund:

$15,000 in matching funding to support an awards program to amplify Indigenous voices in media.

Learn more about the work of Edmonton Community Foundation and the Anti Racism Fund at https://www.ecfoundation.org info@ecfoundation.org