Janelle Mathis, University of North Texas, Denton, TX

Week three of reflecting on trends I observed while serving on the Notable Children’s Book Committee of ALA finds me thinking about the many books that speak to the social-emotional aspects of a child’s life. Specifically, I was impressed by the number of picturebooks that had the potential to support the development of identity and agency while acknowledging that such development is a process that is impacted by how one approaches life situations and how the self is positioned and perceived within these situations. The previous year, 2019 publications seemed to reveal many books focused on worry, sadness, and dealing with such through mindfulness and awareness of emotions. This year, I was drawn to various books that take these feelings into positive spaces across different situations. As a reminder, I am not making generalizations about the publishing field as a whole during 2020 but only sharing titles that impressed me out of the many diverse books explored while on this committee. Continue reading →