This interview not only highlights the joys of a first-year teacher it also extols the need for developing a curriculum focusing on student growth and engagement.

Highlighting the power of sharing stories with children in Spanish forging partnerships with teachers and celebrating the richness and diversity in children’s literature.

This research article highlights the intersecting critical multimodal and racial literacy practices of Asian American adolescents in a community ethnic studies setting.

Through interviews with students and classroom observations the study highlighted how classroom environments fostered collaborative writing opportunities by supporting choice and autonomy.

Seven teacher educators critically examined writing instruction to disrupt whiteness center student agency and foster equitable justice-oriented and culturally sustaining pedagogy.

This column showcases winners of the 2024 Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children.

Charles R. Smith Jr. winner of the 2025 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children is celebrated for vivid lyrical poetry that blends athleticism history and powerful imagery to honor African American experiences and inspire appreciation of humanity and diversity.

Using the lens of new literacy studies this literature review examines how immigrant families’ literacy practices and parents’ perspectives are demonstrated in empirical studies.

This column highlights the winners of the 2025 Notable Children’s Poetry Books and Verse Novels and explores strategies for cultivating students’ joy in reading writing and sharing poetry.

In this article the authors argue for including African literacy practices such as oral storytelling and Adinkra symbols as abolitionist practices in teaching literacy to Black and African students in schools. The article concludes with recommendations on incorporating oral storytelling and Adinkra symbols in classrooms.

This article describes four art-infused writing engagements to inspire freedom dreamers of all ages to seek educational justice.

The purpose of this column is to discuss describe and provide recommendations for teaching African American children’s literature exploring several interdisciplinary scholars who historically focus on the importance of Black culture pedagogy and children’s literature.

This study examines how translanguaging and multimodal pedagogies enable emergent bilingual students to use their full linguistic repertoire while developing biliteracy. It also explores how various modes of text representation facilitate the collection and dissemination of new knowledge while promoting inquiry-based learning.

In this essay we reflect on whether there can ever realistically be a one-size-fits-all solution to the complexity of teaching reading. Working together in a school-university partnership we speak about the importance of giving space to the teacher’s unique expertise in the crafting of reading instruction.

We provide recommendations for how teachers may employ translanguaging writing pedagogy to cultivate positive multilingual learners’ identities.

Explore suggestions for uplifting immigrant experiences through schoolwide policies teacher learning and instructional choices.

This article debunks the common rationale for enforcing the use of only “standard” English among Black Language speakers—it will help students “get a job” in the future. On the contrary I argue that Black Language is an important vehicle for learning the content that is required for future job placement. Ignoring this truth forces Black students to only learn in white mainstream English. Finally I explain how phonics instruction has never honored Black Language phonology and offer suggestions for practitioners.

As foundational reading curricula are being rapidly scaled up it is essential to consider how teachers navigate these shifts alongside their existing and multifaceted expertise in bilingualism early childhood pedagogy and reading development. This article examines the challenges bilingual teachers face when implementing foundational reading instruction in bilingual early childhood classrooms focusing on the instructional practices and experiences of two early childhood bilingual teachers. It highlights the need for professional learning and teacher agency grounded in a broad and interconnected literacy ecosystem.

This article explores how a queer-led online book club supported straight teachers in finding ways to enact LGBTQIA+-inclusive literacy pedagogy.

The column demonstrates how grooming rhetorics threaten educators who center LGBTQIA+ youth in their text selection and how to resist through advocacy with diverse youth literature.

Note: I enter into this space as a cis-gendered heterosexual educator. While I am not an expert in creating queer-inclusive communities I have a wealth of experience in supporting literacy leaders in their work to become more intentional about cultivating spaces where all members of their community feel seen heard and that they belong.

As literacy educators consider how to approach ecojustice literacies education centering the places that matter to children is an important and accessible entry point.

With a recognition that both the climate crisis and ELA teaching and learning can be experiences of profound helplessness and empowered action-taking this column describes how every teacher can “teach for the climate” and by doing so teach for the future of the planet and the well-being of future generations.

This piece proposes a framework for integrating environmental education by leveraging young adult climate fiction to recognize question and evaluate environmental issues and social justice.

Fifth-grade students became concerned about the effects of pollution on the environment and they made their voices heard.

Guided by a critical literacies orientation this multi-sited case study emphasizes the devastating and poignant climate questions children grapple with through closely examining children’s illustrations.

This paper considers a collage activity in an arts education course as an inherently future-oriented activity that can stimulate young children’s imagination and creativity.

As evidenced in an exploratory case study drawing on the arts is one beneficial avenue for students with disabilities to engage in and develop content area understanding.

In this column I briefly explore the practice of drama in educational settings through children’s literature books. Through role-playing activities learners delve into the intricacies of cultural representation and the potential for inadvertent cultural appropriation. The narrative provides insights into nurturing cultural appreciation and critical thinking skills among learners while navigating the complexities of character interpretation. Central to this approach is the selection of culturally resonant books and the involvement of parents and community members creating a rich supportive learning environment that boosts literacy and language learning outcomes and builds confidence and community engagement.

Braiding together theoretical perspectives from critical literacy studies data literacy and visual cultures this article describes how two young children’s textual compositions functioned as sites of rhetorical invention through the playful production and circulation of critical data literacies.

By the NCTE Excellence in Children’s Poetry Award Committee

Conceptualizing literacy as multidimensional this study explores the intersection between literacy integration and children’s literacy engagement using an inquiry-based researcher’s workshop.

This column showcases winners of the 2024 Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children.

This article will outline how literacy leaders can engage their community through empowering conversations and composition that center the body as knowledge and text.

Using literacies of the body and critical literacy lenses this article examines an author visit and possibilities for centering the body in text-based discussions with children.

In this Research and Policy column the authors define what it means for teachers and students to take a critical stance when reading children’s literature. They offer a framework teachers can use to enact a critical stance when reading picture books with their students and provide suggestions for how teachers might teach students about the world using children’s literature as a tool.