This autumn, the ILF is thrilled to announce that we are launching two exciting new programs covering the critical topics of mental health and diversity in children’s literature.
The first program Writing About Mental Health for Children and Teens: A Seminar Series with the ILF, generously supported by author and mental health advocate Anna Shinoda, will educate children’s book creators on how to responsibly write about specific mental health challenges including depression, addiction, eating disorders, family issues, and more. As the children’s mental health crisis grows more pressing, we are committed to providing resources so that authors, translators, and publishers can reach and relate to kids who are struggling with mental health challenges in the most ethical, thoughtful way possible.
Of Writing About Mental Health, ILF Managing Director Lin Oliver says, “The program we’re developing with Anna is vital and important. Kids deserve to see themselves—and the challenges they’re facing—well-represented on the pages of a book. A good book can be a light in the darkest of times, and every reader deserves to have that light.”
Writing About Mental Health is to release its virtual seminar series and supporting materials in Spring of 2025.
We are also launching a new curriculum program for elementary schools, Let’s Eat: Food, Books, and Culture. Let’s Eat curates ten wonderful children’s picture books about food and will offer a classroom curriculum that celebrates the way food creates bridges between diverse communities around the world, and helps us connect to our own identities. Food sheds light on the similarities that bring us together while emphasizing what makes each community unique. Our curatorial committee is dedicated to selecting a wide range of children’s books from around the world, including some award-winning books, and lesser known, but extremely high quality titles from authors who may not be in the limelight yet. In divisive times, food brings us together—and helps us understand the rich histories of the communities around us. This program honors those histories and brings them into elementary school classrooms.
Let’s Eat will pilot in public schools in Winter 2024, and be available more widely in mid-2025.
In addition to Writing About Mental Health and Let’s Eat, we are continuing our core programs:
The ILF is also gearing up for Giving Tuesday, with our program funding school libraries. Stay tuned for how to support school libraries this November!