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While we have some diverse selections in our classroom libraries, we don't have enough to encourage and entertain authentic and critical thinking book clubs. As readers develop the ability to truly analyze themes, commentary, and rhetoric in literature, they are pushed to broaden their perspectives to include the experiences of the characters and authors of novels. With your help, my students will be able to travel to places both remote and exotic. With your help, my students will be able to have deep, meaningful conversations with Maya Angelou and Nelson Mandela. With your help, my students can challenge their biases and perceptions of the world by reading the diverse experiences of characters that are more real and more raw than the requisite classics contain. Literature is magical; it holds the wisdom, knowledge, and experiences of a vast array of humanity and through the word-covered pages, a reader's mind can open. Literature can give us all a glimpse into the traumas and triumphs of people we could never meet, to travel to places we may never feasibly venture, and to live and die a thousand lifetimes. However, the students of Manitou Springs High School, a tiny district nestled at the base of Colorado's Pike's Peak, do not all have access to diverse literature. Without access to quality and diverse literature, they may not ever experience a novel with a character like themselves, reinforcing the myth that education is for an elite population; education is not for them.
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