Dr. Stephanie Weaver, Associate Director of Academics, collaborated on a book published this summer called Teaching Equity through Children’s Literature in Undergraduate Classrooms. Dr. Weaver worked with two of her former colleagues from Savannah College of Art and Design, Gayatri Devi and Philip Smith, on the book. 

Weaver shares the motivation behind the project, saying, “We recognized that there weren't a lot of pedagogical books on equity and children's literature. My background is in children's lit, young adult lit, and pop culture. Before I got into the world of boarding schools, that was my main research field. I was always looking at, how do we teach these books because these books are the books that students of every age connect to. Students, regardless of whether they've had a good experience in school or not, tend to connect to children's lit.”

The book, which spans nearly 160 pages, was developed to be a teaching resource. It features other voices, including contributions from young teachers and professors, on teaching children’s literature and addressing equity. 

“One of the articles looks at how do we create effective reading strategies for teaching children's lit at a higher level at a high school or a college, and how do we make sure that we're meeting all students where they're at in every definition of the word equity? From race, gender, intellect, we have chapters that range every possible meaning of equity,” Weaver says. 

Weaver, who is currently teaching a course called The Hero's Journey in Literature, takes pride in her work. 

“The topic is very poignant right now,” she says. “If what I'm doing is meaningful and what I'm sharing on a scholarly level is meaningful and will help other teachers teach, that's really my goal. I'm proud of what our contributors did because this book is really about what they did, too, and how we gathered those stories together.”

The book was published by Routledge and can be found online.