Books for Social Emotional Learning and Equity at Valley Cottage Library: Picture Books, SEL, and Equity

Picture Books support SEL by providing young children examples of social and emotional experiences through story.

• They provide children with models of learning and create opportunities for discussion of how the stories relate to real life.
• Picture books can be used in the classroom to introduce or supplement specifics lessons, or used as an extension for discussion of relevant topics.
• Picture Books are also valuable tools for bibliotherapy- using books and stories as a model for behavior, and to help children discuss and evaluate feelings and actions.
• Picture Books help mold children's views of the world, their community, their families, and how other people and they themselves fit into their environment. 

As children learn about themselves and about their world, Picture Books serve as an illustration for young children about what behaviors and beliefs are considered normal, accepted, and valued in their society. They absorb the vocabulary, implied messages, and character portrayals within the stories. Children internalize these ideas, and they become part of how a child interacts with their world and with others. 

From the American Library Association:

...it is essential that children learn to understand the important role of their culture and the cultures of other people in creating an overall global culture respectful of differences. One way that children learn about the world around them and other cultures is through the social messages found in stories. Stories help children understand how society perceives their culture as well as the cultures of their classmates, teachers, caregivers, and others, thereby influencing their social and identity development. 

In the field of sociocultural psychology, the work of Vygotsky (1986) informs us that language and culture play a significant role in a child’s social and identity development and construction of meaning. Cultural traditions and social practices have the ability to moderate the way children think and learn.

A child’s self-esteem is largely influenced by the way the child and overall society views the cultural group to which the child belongs. Vygotsky explains that children use expressive media such as books to understand the world around them. 

Bishop (1997) also acknowledges the power of children’s stories to influence a child’s perception and suggests that children’s literature can serve as a mirror reflecting a child’s own life and culture, or as a window allowing children to peer into the lives of others. Books and other print and digital media convey to children how the world perceives people who are like them as well as people who are different.

By the time they are toddlers, children have begun to develop a sense of self that is informed by the world around them (HughesHassell and Cox 2010). Children’s materials that accurately portray diversity in multiple languages and cultures can have a positive influence on a child’s self-image and help him or her build bridges of cultural understanding. All children want to see images that reflect themselves and encounter stories in their native language and within the context of their personal cultures. 

http://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.org.alsc/files/content/ALSCwhitepaper_importance%20of%20diversity_with%20graphics_FINAL.pdf

Data on books by and about  Black, Indigenous and People of Color published for children and teens compiled by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/