How to Partner With Your Local Library

By Jonna Kuskey

Our high school, like many across the nation, has eliminated its library. To fill this void, our English department has worked intensely over the past several years to obtain books for our classroom libraries by applying for grants, writing numerous Donors Choose projects, asking teachers and friends to donate books, and scouring the bookshelves of secondhand stores. Still, we have a fraction of the books that our old school library housed, so we put our heads together to brainstorm solutions to this problem. We realized we were ignoring the most obvious solution, one that was free, easy, and right under our noses: our local public library.

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23 Books that Teach K-12 Students about Mental Health

By Kasey Short

With the unprecedented stressors faced by students over the past year—from the COVID-19 pandemic to the police violence perpetrated against members of the Black community—it’s no wonder that many teachers are looking to raise greater awareness of mental hygiene among their students. The more students read books that address mental health, the more we can reduce the stigma that surrounds suffering from and seeking help for mental illnesses. The below books provide examples of characters that experience complex feelings, counter stereotypes surrounding mental illness, show the humanity behind a diagnosis, and provide concrete examples of children who are navigating their own mental health or the mental health of someone they love. 

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