We’re thrilled to share a guest post from Dr. Artika Tyner. Dr. Tyner is a passionate educator, award-winning author, a civil rights attorney, a sought-after speaker, and an advocate for justice. She is the founder of the Planting People Growing Justice Leadership Institute and an author of many incredible Lerner titles including books in the series The Fight for Black Rights and the biography Stacey Abrams: Champion of Democracy. Below, Dr. Tyner shares some details from her recent visit to Ghana.
Leaders are Readers. This statement represents the mission and vision of our nonprofit organization, Planting People Growing Justice Leadership Institute. We are committed to inspiring the next generation of leaders through the transformative power of reading. We achieve this goal by supporting schools and libraries, promoting literacy, donating diverse books, and hosting our annual youth leadership summit around the world.
During our recent trip to Ghana, we visited our community partner, Senchi Ferry Library, and donated a new Lerner book collection. We had the honor and privilege of delivering the Issues in Action series from Read Woke ™ Books by pioneering educator Cicely Lewis. Ms. Lewis was named the 2020 National Librarian of the Year by School Library Journal and Scholastic. She created Read Woke to inspire youth to make a difference in their communities. Her books help to raise awareness about key issues ranging from economic inequality to mass incarceration. This provides students with the tools to lead social change.
We were excited to share the Read Woke books with students in Ghana. This provided a unique opportunity to expand the Read Woke community globally. Now, Ghanaian students can increase their knowledge about contemporary social justice challenges and develop the strategies needed to address these issues. These books will serve as a tool for not only seeing a problem but creating a solution. This is the very essence of leadership since leaders are lead problem solvers.
Learn more about Planting People Growing Justice at www.ppgjli.org and follow them on Instagram here.
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Browse all books by Dr. Artika Tyner on lernerbooks.com.
Get the Read Woke™ Teaching Guide
To help prepare for having conversations around race and racism, parents and educators can download our free Read Woke Teaching Guide. It was created by Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul, educator, author, co-founder of the Institute for Racial Equity in Literacy, and Director of Diversity and Equity at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University. The guide gives instructions on how to evaluate books according to Five Pillars of Read Woke. It also has discussion questions and learning opportunities to help students unpack the content of Read Woke Books and empower them to take action.
Coming soon is a second edition of the Read Woke Teaching Guide, updated to include the new series. Click here to sign up to be notified when the guide becomes available.
Visit lernerbooks.com/readwoke to learn more about Read Woke Books or read more about Read Woke™ Books on the Lerner blog.
lisasimons12
Awesome, Dr. Tyner!