Evaluating Books for the Lending Library that Include Children with Disabilities

A lending library should contain books that meet all of the needs of the families in your classroom. Books that address disability as part of diversity (see Section One), and books that support disability awareness (see Section Two) should be included in the lending library. In addition, books that are slightly longer and more detailed can also be included in the library. Many books that are longer and more detailed are appropriate for a lending library, but not a classroom. For any typical preschooler it is hard to sit in a group for more than ten minutes. It is also particularly hard for one teacher to hold the interest of twenty preschoolers for the amount of time needed to read through a long book. However, when a child is given individual attention by an adult, such as a parent, he/she is able to sit and listen to the adult read through a much longer book. In a one-to-one situation, a parent has more freedom to be expressive and dramatic while not being concerned about possible behavior issues or the attention spans of nineteen other children. In addition many of these types of books deal with very sensitive issues that may only concern one individual family (i.e. baby brother born with Down syndrome) and would not be appropriate for an entire class to read.

When deciding to use any type of disability related book the appropriate evaluation tool should be used. When evaluating books that address disability as part of diversity, use the Nine Ways to Evaluate Children’s Books that Address Disability as Part of Diversity discussed in Section One. When evaluating books that support disability awareness use the Images and Encounters Profile described in Section Two. When deciding to use books that are slightly longer and more detailed use the Images and Encounters Profile. Although it is alright for books in your lending library to be longer and more detailed than books typically in a early childhood classroom library, it is important to make sure that the books are not too long and complicated. Make sure that the books are still age and developmentally appropriate for your students.

 

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