My students and I are currently learning more about water in our world. Beyond, how essential water is to life, we are talking about access to water and more specifically, children’s roles in gathering water in places in the world where water is scarce or doesn’t flow from indoor taps.

Here are two books we have read together in the past week:

Hope Springs written by Eric Walters and illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes (Tundra Books 2014)

Based on a true story of drought and water shortages in Kenya and what it takes to secure fresh water for a community. This book is about worry and fear. Kindness and forgiveness. In the back of the book are actual photos of the community and people that inspired the book.

Anna Carries Water written by Olive Senior and illustrated by Laura James (Tradewind Books 2014)

Set in the Caribbean, this is the story of young Anna who strives to master the task of carrying water on her head. Children related to the desire to learn a physical skill and had discussions about the need to have to fetch water every day instead of just turning on the faucet. This story is beautifully illustrated and is, more than anything, a story of childhood: wanting to be grown up, wanting to be able to do what older siblings can do, wanting to face a fear.

Diverse Children’s Books is a brand new book-sharing meme designed to promote the reading and writing of children’s books that feature diverse characters. This community embraces all kinds of diversity including (and certainly not limited to) diverse, inclusive, multicultural, and global books for children of all backgrounds.

We encourage everyone who shares to support this blogging community by visiting and leaving comments for at least three others. Please also consider following the hosts on at least one of their social media outlets. Spread the word using #diversekidlit and/or adding our button to your site and your diverse posts.

We hope this community will grow into a great resource for parents, teachers, librarians, publishers, and authors! Our next linkup will be Saturday, May 7th and will continue on the first and third Saturdays of each month.

Most Clicked Post from Last Time

The diverse post that received the most clicks from the last #diversekidlit is … Diverse Children’s Book Celebrating Cultural Traditions by Adrienne at Reading Power Gear. She shares seven great picture books focusing on different cultural traditions including Divali, Chinese New Year, and more!

Interested in joining as a host or an occasional co-host? Contact Katie at 1logonaut (gmail).

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If you want to share a favourite or recently read diverse title, please leave a comment with the link (current link up technical difficulties) and then head over to Katie’s blog to share your link on the link up. Happy reading!