DEI celebrates Heritage Month Story Hours

Over the past year, the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), in collaboration with the Family Development Center (FDC) and the Kraemer Family Library, has been offering a Heritage Month Story Hour program.

Every month this year, the preschool class has come to the library and gathered for story time and activities that celebrated the heritage and identity months being recognized on campus. These included:  

  • Latinx Heritage Month in September: Celebrated with the Latinx Student Union, creating papel picado from the campus ofrenda.  
  • Disability Awareness Month in October: The ASL Club taught the students sign language. 
  • Native American Heritage Month in November: Storytelling Professor & Assistant Professor Dr. Ilaheva Tua’one told a story from Tonga. 
  • MLK Day & Black Heritage Month in February: A special celebration with multiple classrooms in the FDC. Students, staff, and faculty volunteered to support story time and crafting activities.  
  • Lunar New Year in February: A fun crafting activity where students made paper dragons. 
  • Women’s History Month in March: Empowering stories about women.  
  • Arab American Heritage Month in April: The students tried baklava and made mosaics.  
  • Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May: A story told through a traditional story theater, games, and sushi.  

“The Division of DEI would like to give a huge thank you to the student groups, staff and faculty that participated in the Story Hours this year,” said Sloan Gonzales, Director of Inclusive Culture Development. “These could not have happened without the amazing contributions from Liz Brown, Outreach and Instruction Librarian. Liz chose and read the books to the class each month, and planned many activities.”

The instructors at the FDC echoed that statement, citing Brown as instrumental in creating special experiences for the students.

“Liz has made such an impact on our school family,” FDC teachers said. “We have a deep appreciation and love for ‘Library Liz’ and everything she has done to build a community of readers, from our first experience at the campus library, to creating a special children’s section to welcome us when we returned, and facilitating meaningful activities to extend the learning during cultural experiences and heritage visits, as well as joining us during our spring fling at the FDC.”

“We can see the reflection of Liz when our children are asked to draw women who inspire them, and they draw Liz, the book lady, and when they hear certain songs that they’ve learned during library visits and exclaim, ‘This is Miss Liz’s song!,'” the teachers continued. “When reading books during large group time, they are always sure to point out the donation sticker of the books that Miss Liz donated to our class. Words can’t express our deep gratitude for the experiences and the natural love of reading that Miss Liz has instilled in our school family. Thank you, Liz!” 

The university also received a Faculty Equity and Inclusion Committee (FEIC) Grant, through which Brown was able to purchase a new selection of children’s books that honor different cultures, heritages, and identities. Eleven books were purchased for the FDC classroom, including:  

  • ‘Carmella Full of Wishes’ by Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson 
  • ‘The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred’ by Samantha R Vamos and Rafael López 
  • ‘Drawn Together’ by Minh Lê and Dan Santat 
  • ‘Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story’ by Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal 
  • ‘A Girl Like Me’ by Angela Johnson and Nina Crews 
  • ‘Hands Up!’ by Breanna J McDaniel and Shane W Evans 
  • ‘I Am Every Good Thing’ by Derrick Barnes and Gordon C James 
  • ‘Red: A Crayon’s Story’ by Michael Hall 
  • ‘These Olive Trees’ by Aya Ghanameh 
  • ‘We Move Together’ by Kelly Fritsch and Anne McGuire 
  • ‘What Happened to You?’ by James Catchpole and Karen George 

“Selecting books for this program has been very intentional,” Brown said. “There is a long history of ‘multicultural’ picture books being published by White authors. The School Library Journal and Cooperative Children’s Book Center has been tracking representation in children’s books both in terms of how characters are presented and who is creating works since 1985.

“In 2023, 70% of all children’s books surveyed have at least one creator who is White, while 49% of all books have significant BIPOC content and 40% of all books have at least one BIPOC primary character. We are making sure to disrupt this cycle by selecting books written by creators who hold the identities we are celebrating each month, in order to use the stories to create ‘mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors’ for the students, as defined by Dr. Rudine Sims.“ 

The Kraemer Family Library also created a display of books for every heritage and identity month. These displays included books from all genres, and even highlights works published by faculty at UCCS.

Students of all ages can engage with the library. Check out the library’s website and contact Brown ([email protected]) if you have an idea for how you would like to engage with the library.  

Heritage Month Story Hours with the Family Development Center will continue in the fall. See other activities and programs by the FDC on their website here, or come join and help plan some fun activities for the preschool class!