Diversity Rocks the Book (DRB) is an outreach program of the City of Holland’s Human Relations Commission (HRC) that addresses the lack of diversity in children’s literature. Its goal is to empower all Holland children to see themselves and value others through books. We do this by putting diverse books in front of and into the hands of our students, to begin to create for them a world in which all children can see themselves in the pages of a book and to educate parents and teachers on the importance of bringing diverse books into the home and classroom environment.
From 2018-2019, Diversity Rocks the Book distributed more than 600 picture books and middle grade novels to Holland schools, sent 45 guest readers from the community to make 60 classroom visits, reached more than 1,500 students, and provided training and resources for teachers and parents.
For 2020, our DRB Project Team vetted hundreds of children’s books and selected the 6 picture books and 6 chapter books shown above. Learn more about these books here.
We invite parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles to purchase these books for the children in their lives and to donate copies to local preschools, elementary and middle schools, the Ottawa Area ISD, and their local libraries. Please, Shop Local! These titles are available at at a discount at Reader’s World in Holland.
If you’re interested in doing a Diversity Rocks the Book outreach in your community (post-pandemic), download the Diversity Rocks the Book Community Blueprint.