ALA Announces this year's We the People Bookshelf
by Sancho Panza
The American Library Association has just announced this year’s theme for their annual We the People Bookshelf. The Bookshelf is a collection of titles for children in grades K-12 that deal with a specific theme in American History. This year’s books explore the meaning of the phrase “Created Equal.” Among the list are books like the Ugly Duckling and Flowers for Algernon that relate the often fraught experiences of those who don’t quite fit in, and others like Virginia Hamilton’s classic Many Thousand Gone, which chronicles the hardships and triumphs experienced by black Americans from slavery to the ratification of the 13th amendment in the 1860s. The Library owns almost every title on the list.
My favorite part about the We the People Bookshelf is the artwork. Artist and illustrator Julie Paschkis has created a lively, colorful series of posters that celebrate American History without beating the viewer over the head with patriotism, more Johnny Appleseed than “these colors don’t run.” Last year’s image, which featured Uncle Sam gleefully whizzing by on a bicycle, was especially playful and fun. Happy thinking!
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