“Years ago, we talked about the growing need for multicultural books for children. Today, we talk about the need for diversity in children’s literature. We’re quite adept at altering our semantics, less adept at altering the substance of our actions.”Above is a Facebook post for multi-award winning, classroom teacher advocate, Nikki Grimes. It serves well as part of the introduction to the new book by Lester Laminack and Katie Kelly.In their introduction to Reading to Make a Difference, Laminack and Kelly invite the reader to consider books as a sort of “bridge.” Extending the metaphor, the authors present opportunities to “span divides” and to “move back and forth from one side to the other at will” (xiii). This invitation provided by the open book, from the authors’ perspective is an opportunity to “see and to realize alternate views, new ideas, and options not yet considered” (xiii).As reflective practitioners, Laminack and Kelly waste little time in bringing the reader to a moment of reflection before the introduction has been completed.The authors ask the reader and fellow practitioner to consider texts as windows, access to books already available that introduce new ways of being, opportunities for readers to move in and out of their own immediate settings, whether available books present family structures and cultural traditions that vary from own personal experiences, and, whether or not characters introduced right now will present with different challenges and obstacles than the reader might realize for themselves? The authors ask their fellow practitioners to look around and about to reflect upon access and introduction to these kinds of subjects and considerations. And more than this, the authors ask readers to consider whether or not their students will meet and encounter with characters who present unique (and novel) ways of addressing problems they have not yet considered. Building from the author's’ presentation of bridges, the authors are suggesting we look at the infrastructure of how readers make the move between where they are now and where reading can take take them.Laminack and Kelly use a large portion of the introduction to nod toward Rudine Sims Bishop’s concept of books as “mirrors, windows, and doors.” This is a most appropriate recognition as the authors present from within the different classrooms with which they have worked to present illustrations of what these three means by which books present themselves can look like for young readers. Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop writes (from the jacket): “The thematic emphases for the chapters are broad enough to apply to texts that represent diverse cultures, but specific enough to work in diverse classrooms.” With a nod from the Professor Emerita of Education at The Ohio University, herself, Laminack and Kelly’s work is poised to make a difference in how practitioners view text selection with a bend toward appreciation and awareness for what makes us unique as individuals and what unites us as human beings.Early on, I got the sense that Laminack and Kelly have really done their homework with this new book. And by homework, I mean that they have really taken the time as white practitioners and authors to present and forward the work of, and by, diverse academics and voices. The citations are here and they are notable. As the authors move into their framework for the book, there is a long path of cited materials to cross-reference for the reader. If the books Laminack and Kelly suggest can be a bridge, so can the work presented by the authors from the very beginning.The five point framework for selection of text is presented in the introduction: Selection, Connection, Reflection, Action, and Next Steps. Each piece of framework is followed by at least five or six questions for reflection. And speaking of reflection, the authors do not let the reader move past the introduction without another moment of reflection before diving deeper into the framework. The moment of reflection toward the end of the end of the introduction is one of the elements that I think would make Reading to Make a Difference an excellent choice for buildings looking to consider the the importance and impact of a thoughtfully-selected and curated collection of reading within their learning communities.As the authors move into their personal introductions, I see something that is not being invited within the larger conversations regarding voices and how they are presented. In introductions both biographical and personal both of the authors quietly present their narrative for how they come to this work. Laminack calls for a consideration of shared humanity and pushes on the idea of diversity being something so easily divisible. Katie Kelly is very clear in the presentation of her privilege and I believe that this is how Laminack and Kelly find a solid place in the conversation with their work and with their ideas. The final reflection (and we are not out of the introduction to the book at this point) is for readers to consider their own complex identity. This is a powerful reflection in a culture wherein our identities are freely offered to us by those who look and begin to take inventory which too often serves as an opportunity to limit access and voice within the conversation. The invitation to reflect upon one’s own identity, one’s complex and unique identity is the same bridge suggested of books which can now contain the practitioner’s narrative as point of entry into the framework.Chapters include: “Discovering Our Own Identities,” “Making Unlikely Friends,” “Coping with Loss,” “Crossing Borders,” “Advocating for Change,” “Sharing When You Have Little to Give,” “Honoring Others,” and “Lending a Helping Hand.” Laminack and Kelly’s work here with elementary readers would make an excellent “ladder” (Teri Lesesne) with professional texts such as Harvey Daniel and Sara K. Ahmed’s Upstanders and Ahmed’s Being the Change. Reading to Make a DIfference finds itself, this reading year, in the company of texts like Donalyn Miller and Colby Sharp’s Game Changer and Cornelius Minor’s We Got This. It’s a great year for reading within this subject and of the eight working chapters of the book, teachers can find that piece of their own practice and curation that needs a little more consideration or suggested resources.Chapter One: Discovering Our Own Identities seest the embedded framework suggested by Laminack and Kelly. But the books and the readers take center stage in the chapter. The reading is engaging with word bubbles that suggest the energy and engagement of interacting with younger readers with the guidance of a teacher. The opportunities for sustained reflection are here, but so is the one thing I think teachers are really seeking when we suggest diverse and inclusive titles: Titles. Laminack and Kelly offer a rich text set of picture books and chapter sets. And teacher resources to continue the growth in working through the framework. What I really like about this chapter as a representation of the work to follow is that Laminack and Kelly offer alternative grade level approaches to the framework. Chapter one offers the experiences of a second grade teacher, but the authors add extensions to Kindergarten and Grades 3-6 (which begins to approach that middle grade group).A chapter from the book that resonated with the work I do in Room 407 was Chapter 3: “Coping with Loss.” As we have shared Tuesdays with Morrie for over fifteen years, I have collected and curated picture book titles that range from Leo Buscaglia to Todd Parr on the issue of loss and grief. How a group of students move from the reading to action in the creation of a “Feel Better Box” is empathy and action in synthesis and is not to be missed in this book (I want to tell you all about it here, but you really need to read into this moment to get all of the feels). Laminack and Kelly provide an invitation to consider loss and trauma in its many manifestations. As a classroom teacher who shares picture books with older readers, I felt affirmed by the text suggestions made by the authors and found new titles to add to our collection.Reading to Make a Difference pushes on the reasons we read in the classroom. If we are to be the practitioners we want to be in introducing, encouraging, and supporting young people to become the citizens we would like for them to be, our communities would like for them to be, and our country needs them to be, we as a profession need to give due attention to the resources that are lacking in text selection, access to text, and reading and talking into, through, and about texts we share with our readers.Reading to Make a Difference comes with my highest recommendation for practitioners grades K-6, but secondary teachers will want to know this book and its approaches as well. Remember the scaffolding that holds up the Chuck E. Cheese is the same kind that holds up Pizzeria Uno. What I mean by this is that scaffolding and framework that introduces, encourages, and supports both practitioner and pupil alike should be able to hold both through the duration of their time together and for their formal education up to (and beyond) graduation. Laminack and Kelly offer a strong foundation in their framework that could be adopted and modified by the secondary teacher in their own selection and curation of texts for the classroom.