This blog post was written by 起点传媒member Aliza Werner. It鈥檚 part of听,庐听an 起点传媒initiative focused exclusively on helping teachers build their book knowledge and their classroom libraries.听Build Your Stack庐听provides a forum for contributors to share books from their classroom experience; inclusion in a blog post does not imply endorsement or promotion of specific books by 起点传媒.
Look up 鈥渦napologetic鈥� in the dictionary and you will find two definitions: one that underscores absence and another that highlights presence.
Unapologetic
adj.
/ 藢蓹n-蓹-藢p盲-l蓹-藞je-tik /
- Refusal to express remorse or regret
- Sense of strength and pride in being your true self
The absence of guilt and the presence of pride in the many pieces of identity is what it means to be 鈥渦napologetically me.鈥� Characters in early chapter and middle grade books, fiction and nonfiction, have the potential to show readers how they navigate, discover, and experience all that is intertwined with their identity. To be 鈥渦napologetically me鈥� means authenticity. Honesty. Freedom from others鈥� labels and the power to claim and name your own truths. Laying down the burdens of arbitrary, rigid rules.
To be 鈥渦napologetically me鈥� means not settling for tolerance, nor satisfied with acceptance, but expecting celebration, fully and unconditionally.
To live out loud and love the pieces of yourself is not without struggle. It鈥檚 the human way. From our first breath on our first day, we are born into boxes, stickered with labels, and tethered to constructs that confine and constrain. Let鈥檚 dream. What if we waited for each new human to tell us who they were before we decided for them? What if we nudged them out of the boxes as a mother bird does with her hatchlings in their nest? Let them learn. Let them explore. Let them try and fail and grow. Let them fly. What if we let them love themselves for who they are, not despite it?
I want readers to see it all. Their books should show the struggle, the heartbreak, the reckoning, the metamorphosis, the celebration. The joy it is to be yourself.
I look to characters on this journey, who will now or someday say,听鈥淚 will NOT apologize for . . .
Shattering gender norms and breaking boundaries
(Suggested books:听, , , , )
The shape of my body
(Suggested books:听, , )
My neurodivergent brain
(Suggested books: , , )
Getting my period
(Suggested books:听, , )
The bright and brave rainbow I radiate
(Suggested books:听,听 , , , )
Carrying my ancestors in my bones and spirit
(Suggested books:听, ,听, , , , , , , )
Living at intersections of identity
(Suggested books:听, , , , )
Being different from you听
(Suggested books:听, , )
What if we handed readers armloads of books with characters who show that it鈥檚 not only okay to be you, but it鈥檚 phenomenal to be you? One of those stories might be the nudge they need to spread their wings, brave the leap, and explore beyond the nest. Let鈥檚 show our readers that when they are unapologetically themselves, no dictionary could ever define them.
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Aliza Werner (she/her, @alizateach) is an elementary educator and consultant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Aliza holds a B.S. in Deaf Education from Boston University and M.S. in Curriculum & Instruction with a focus in Language and Literacy from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She serves on the Wisconsin State Reading Association鈥檚 Children鈥檚 Literature Committee. At Milwaukee Film, she is a Curriculum Writer, Fellowship Facilitator, on the Education and 鈥淩ated K For Kids鈥� Film Screening Committees, and is developing media literacy programs for educators and families. Aliza is passionate about literacy education: multimedia/multimodal literacies, anti-bias/antiracist pedagogy and practice, and inclusive, diverse, & representative children鈥檚 literature. She and her husband have two kids with paws, Liffey and Poet. World traveler. Reader. Writer. Jewish. Acquired disability. Knitter. Photographer. Auntie.
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