Homework Help - A roundup of experts on Dyslexia dispel myths and misunderstandings

Writing and illustrating on a topic where we don't have expertise can be tricky... that's where doing our homework comes in.

Jen Robinson's Nov 13, 2019 Growing Bookworms Newsletter shared a link to this Expert Roundtable: Dispelling the Myths and Misunderstandings About Dyslexia from Reading By Example.

It's a crash-course on how to make sure we're not reinforcing misleading stereotypes and false information on Dyslexia.

And what's particularly useful is that asking six different experts -- with different perspectives -- the same question,

"What are the one or two things that you believe are most commonly misunderstood about dyslexia today, and what message would you want to share with educators, parents and/or students to increase their awareness of the reality?" 

We get a much more fully-realized picture than if we just spoke with a single expert.

It's a good model for doing our homework as creators of content for children and teens.

Thanks to Jen for sharing the link, and to the six experts who shared their knowledge in the roundtable.

Read the full article here.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

KidLitCon 2014 Focuses On Diversity

This year, the 8th Annual Conference of, by and for people who blog about children’s and young adult books (including librarians, authors, teachers, parents, booksellers, publishers, and readers) will be gathering October 10th and 11th at the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria in Sacramento, CA.

Organized by Sarah Stevenson and Tanita Davis from Finding Wonderland and Jen Robinson from Jen Robinson’s Book Page, the conference theme is "Blogging Diversity in Young Adult and Children’s Lit: What’s Next?" The program, coordinated by Charlotte Taylor of Charlotte's Library, is of high interest (and enormous synergy) for those of us who write and illustrate works for children.

As they say on the KidLitCon splash page at the Kidlitosphere,

"What we would like to do with this year’s KidLitCon (along with our usual goals) is discuss what book bloggers can do to make a meaningful difference in increasing diversity in children’s and young adult literature. This year’s keynote speaker will be Mitali Perkins, an author whose focus has long been on “books between cultures for young readers”. Among other things, Mitali will talk about how bloggers can be agents of change in the conversation about diversity in children’s and young adult literature. Shannon Hale, who has written eloquently on the need for writing non-neutral characters, and who helped launch the Great Green Heist Challenge, is also expected to participate in the conference via Skype.
  We will talk about other issues of interest to children’s and YA book bloggers, too. But it is also our hope to make a bit of noise on behalf of diversity in children’s literature. It is past time for that."

You can find the schedule of keynotes and panels here, along with registration info at this page.

Illustrate and Write On,

Lee