Beyond Dr. Seuss: Preparing Early Childhood Educators to Curate a Modern, Diverse Classroom Picture Book Library

I have had the opportunity to take Children’s Literature twice in my career: first in 2002 at Bay State College, taught by Linda Small, and then again in 2009 at the Harvard Graduate School of Education with Lolly Robinson. Both of these classes were among the most essential courses I took to prepare me for a career as an early educator.

Building a child’s language, literacy skills, and a genuine love of reading requires two key things: being able to identify quality children’s literature and understanding why that literature is high quality.

Many people’ knowledge of Children’s Literature is based solely on their own memories—recalling a favorite Dr. Seuss or Eric Carle book. However, exceptional new children’s books are published every year, and even classic works must be examined with a critical eye. Despite this ongoing evolution, many college Early Childhood Education (ECE) programs do not require, or even offer, a dedicated children’s literature class. Anecdotally, I have observed numerous new early educators entering the field with little to no awareness of the remarkable children’s literature released since the year 2000, or lacking the skills to find new, high-quality titles.

This lack of preparation has significant consequences: young children are less likely to be exposed to great new literature, and teachers lack the knowledge to effectively guide parents toward quality titles. This is particularly crucial because contemporary children’s books are far more likely to be culturally diverse and feature a variety of family structures, accurately reflecting the diverse young children being raised in today’s world compared to books released last century.

The most effective solution to this issue is to make a children’s literature course a required component of all early educator preparation programs. If requiring the course isn't immediately feasible, states can offer free Children’s Literature professional development (PD) courses. An even better approach would be to partner with local libraries, where Children’s Room librarians can assist teachers—both new and experienced—in discovering and learning about the vast array of quality literature available from authors such as Matt De La Peña, Grace Lin, Jon Klassen, and many others.