Thinking with Race-Conscious Perspectives: Critically Selecting Children’s Picture Books Depicting Slavery

The challenges of selecting and reading children’s literature about slavery have implications for the kinds of slavery narratives students internalize. Guiding principles for teachers’ critical selection of literature depicting slavery remain increasingly necessary as needed critical discussions of children’s literature with depictions of slavery grow and as broader scholarship of integrating diverse literature expands. In this article, we contribute guiding principles for teachers’ thoughtful selection of children’s slavery literature to support theirs and students’ critical readings of these texts.