Giving Tuesday! SCBWI Impact & Legacy Fund, Awards & Grants, etc.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate. 

To close out our month of activism, community action, and celebration, I want to invite you to check out some of SCBWI's charitable programs, awards, and grants as well as our book ban champions. In the spirit of gratitude, and with Giving Tuesday around the corner, please consider donating to help the KidLit community survive and thrive.

Impact and Legacy Fund

The SCBWI Impact and Legacy Fund, launched in 2022, is a division of SCBWI created to support the charitable activities and community purposes of SCBWI. Its programs and initiatives are not limited to SCBWI members but are available to the entire children’s book community.

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Impact and Legacy Fund is committed to creating, implementing, and supporting programs that center children’s books and their creators as a driving force behind equity, literacy, and freedom of expression for readers and storytellers alike.

Amber Brown Grant

The Amber Brown Grant commemorates author and beloved school speaker Paula Danziger. One school is awarded each year with an author or illustrator visit and new books to continue Paula’s love of connecting children with creative influences.

Disability Fund Application

The SCBWI Disability Fund gives grants to disabled members for anything that would help them create children’s literature. For nonmembers with disabilities, the funds may support memberships and/or registration to events.

Emergency Fund

The SCBWI Emergency Fund provides a grant of up to $1,500 to a member for anything that would help them create children’s literature. For nonmembers with disabilities, the funds may support memberships and/or registration to events.

Banned Book Resources

Here are some resources to continue the fight beyond Banned Book Week!

• Banned and Challenged Books Bookshop 
• A expansive list of banned books that you can purchase to help support creators

• SCBWI Banned Book Video Playlists
• Check out SCBWI's Banned Book Playlist, full of panel discussions with industry professional, censorship activists and more!

• Consider joining organizations that are on the front line of the fight!
• Unite Against Book Bans
• Pen America
• Authors Against Book Bans
• National Coalition Against Censorship

Rally for Inclusive Education at the US Supreme Court April 22, 2025

Shared by our friends at Authors Against Book Bans, here's the scoop on the Rally for Inclusive Education, happening Tuesday April 22, 2025 from 8am-2pm Eastern:

On April 22, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor, a case brought by a group of parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, who sued the school district for the right to opt their children out of using certain books in school they argue are against their religious beliefs. The books all have LGBTQ+ characters and themes.

To support inclusive education, the Coalition for Inclusive Schools and Communities and the Montgomery County Pride Family are planning a rally on the steps of the US Supreme Court on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 from 8am-2pm ET. “The opposition seeks to erase LGBTQIA+ identities from the classroom!” say the organizers. “Now is the time to stand together and defend diverse, affirming learning environments that uplift and empower all students.” Anyone who is able to attend is encouraged “to join the rally, share stories, and send a clear message: We will not be silenced. We will not be erased.”

Lee's editorial thoughts on this:

This issue goes far beyond these nine lovely, inclusive, and very age-appropriate picture books. (Truly, if you're not sure, read them. Full list below.) If parents can opt their children out of stories of LGBTQ+ lives and characters, with the humiliation and othering that would entail, and the messaging to ALL kids that there's something wrong with Queer lives and identities, it will not stop there. 

It is not hard to imagine the next series of communities that would be scapegoated in this way. Parents wanting to opt their children out of books that share the stories of Black and African American People.  The stories of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander people. The stories of Disabled People,. The stories of Latino/a/e people. The stories of women. The stories of Muslim people. The stories of Jewish people... The list would be endless, and damage immense.

As the organizers of the rally say, "now is the time to stand together."

Illustrate, Translate, and Write on!
Lee

Here are the nine books in this case:

Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope by Jodie Patterson, illustrated by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow 

IntersectionAllies: We Make Room For All by Chelsea Johnson, LaToya Council , and Carolyn Choi, illustrated by Ashley Seil Smith 

Jacob’s Room to Choose by Sarah Hoffman and Ian Hoffman, illustrated by Chris Case 

Love, Violet by Charlotte Sullivan Wild, illustrated by Charlene Chua 

My Rainbow by DeShanna Nealand  Trinity Neal, illustrated by Art Twink 

Pride Puppy by Robin Stevenson, illustrated by Julie McLaughlin 

Prince & Knight by Daniel Haack, illustrated by Stevie Lewis 

Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S. Brannen, illustrated by Lucia Soto 

What Are Your Words? by Katherine Locke, illustrated by Anne Passchier  

Want to read more on this? Start with: Unite Against Book Bans's Mahmoud vs. Taylor: Take Action; and the statement by the authors as posted on PEN America

Check out Authors Against Book Bans (Important for Illustrators and Translators as well!)

Authors Against Book Bans was featured last month in an article by Emma Kantor in Publishers Weekly. Their mission:

We are Authors Against Book Bans. 

We stand united against the deeply unconstitutional movement to limit the freedom to read. We unequivocally support the availability of diverse voices on our library shelves, in our schools, and in our culture. We pledge to band together against the oppression of literature, to speak when our voices are silenced, to go where our bodies are needed, and to fight as one to ensure this freedom. Together, we shall be fearless.

Our concern is not only for the books themselves, but for the children, families, educators, librarians, and communities that suffer when the freedom to read is challenged and taken away. We abhor the bias of the current organized attempt to censor books in schools and libraries across our nation, particularly because of these efforts’ insidious targeting of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ stories, erasure of history, and silencing of voices that speak truthfully about essential human experiences. The great power of literature is its ability to create empathy, foster self-empowerment, imbue knowledge, and enhance diversity of thought. We will defend this power from those who seek to subvert it.

As authors and as members of our local and national communities, we pledge to protect the rights of all young people to access the books they need and deserve.

If this is something you care about, consider signing up at the Authors Against Book Bans website. As they explain:

We need ALL authors on board, whether your books have been banned or not, because the fight for the freedom to read is every author’s fight.

Illustrate, Translate, and Write On,
Lee