[kids-lib] National Child Centered Divorce Awareness Month is a good time to evaluate our collection and programming

[Katie Anderson]

Below is an excellent email from ALA’s Association for Library Services to Children’s blog about a couple things to think about and perhaps do during National Child Centered Divorce Awareness Month to make sure we have current resources for children and their caregivers and that our programming is inclusive of all children regardless of who their primary caregiver(s) is (are).

If you can’t read the email, read it online at http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2014/01/national-child-centered-divorce-awareness-month/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlscBlog+%28ALSC+Blog%29

Katie Anderson, Library Development Services
* Youth Services Consultant * Oregon Center for the Book Coordinator *
Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, OR 97301
katie.anderson at state.or.us<mailto:katie.anderson at state.or.us>, 503-378-2528

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National Child Centered Divorce Awareness Month<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AlscBlog/~3/d0kcsfqzTS8/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>

Posted: 03 Jan 2014 09:01 PM PST

In January, we observe National Child Centered Divorce Awareness Month.  This is a good chance to make sure our collections include books on divorce and all types of families, including single-parent families.  National Child Centered Divorce Awareness Month is also the perfect opportunity to examine the language we use in programs and promotional materials to ensure inclusivity.

Many libraries host events such as “Donuts with Dad” or “Muffins with Mom,” particularly around the time of Father’s Day and Mother’s Day.  Despite the catchy alliteration these titles offer, they’re lacking in the inclusion department.  Try one of these event titles in order to welcome as many patrons as possible:

Tea for Two

Breakfast with a V.I.G.U. (Very Important Grown-Up)

Special Persons’ Day

Together Time: Build a Paper Airplane

Sweethearts’ Valentine Party

Not only do these titles leave the gender of adult participants unspecified, they also leave relationships undefined.  This means that a child could attend one of these events with a babysitter, a neighbor, a grandparent, a family friend, or any other special grown-up.

If you’re looking to increase the number of books about divorce or featuring single-parent families in your collection, consider purchasing the following:

Dinosaurs Divorce by Laurene Krasny Brown and Marc Brown

A Smart Girls’ Guide to Her Parents’ Divorce by Nancy Holyoke

Two Homes by Claire Masurel

The Family Book by Todd Parr

It’s Not Your Fault, Koko Bear by Vicki Lansky

Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams

Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss

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Amanda Moss Struckmeyer is the Head of Youth Services at the Middleton Public Library in Middleton, Wisconsin.  Amanda serves on the Library Services to Special Populations and Their Caregivers committee.






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