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Too many of our youth have had their love of reading systematically stolen. This trauma enacted on our youth includes a lack of meaningful representation, high-stakes testing culture, unhealthy fixation on the “Classics”, and the shaming of students for what they love to read. The result can be youth who associate reading with pain, insecurity, embarrassment, and humiliation. Not only is this affecting the academic achievement of our students, it’s taking away our teens' ability to act powerfully upon the world. When we damage someone’s language, we are taking away a piece of their humanity. This work of healing reading trauma is an essential part of liberatory and anti-racist education. In this session, the facilitators will share how they are building liberatory reading spaces at their secondary school libraries where youth are beginning to heal their reading trauma. Specific tools--including teaching methods, collection development strategies, and program/policy changes--will be shared.

Presented by Julie Stivers, Teacher Librarian, Mount Vernon Middle School (Raleigh, NC) and Julia Torres, Teacher Librarian, Denver Pubic Schools, Colorado.