ABOUT READING IS RESISTANCE CURRICULUM

Hi, I’m Zapoura Newton-Calvert, and I’m the co-founder of

Reading Is Resistance. One of the things our organization
does is curriculum creation. And as part of my work as a
professor at Portland State University, I support my students in
learning how to create this kind of anti-oppression curriculum
and help them to share their work out into the world! This
section of the reading guide is written by me, and it details the
philosophy behind our curriculum creation AND behind the
teaching I do with students at the university and in community.
I hope you enjoy and reach out with any questions about how to get involved!

The Social Justice Standards from Learning for Justice, founded by the Southern Poverty Law
Center, serve as guides for our work. We also draw from abolitionist, decolonizing,
heart/body-centered, and white anti-racist practices. Here is a short list of reads from a few of
the many folx and communities who we have and continue to learn from and with:
Abolitionist Practice: Abolitionist Teaching Network, Woke Kindergarten
Decolonization: Robin Wall Kimmerer, Eve Tuck, Monique Gray Smith
Heart/Body Practices: Resmaa Menakem, the Bhodi Project, Dr. Angel Kyodo Williams
White Anti-Racist Practice: JORE Project, Chris Crass

ABOUT STORYSEED CURRICULUM

Our curriculum and ongoing practices are rooted in emergent strategy: “the way complex
systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions.”1 The
interactions we have with books, among reading partners, inside classrooms, and within
reading communities are relatively simple. What is cultivated from those interactions is

1
As defined by Nick Obolensky in adrienne maree brown’s book Emergent Strategy (2018).

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something much more complex – lifelong, daily abolitionist, decolonizing,
heart/body-centered, and anti-racist practices. These include learning how to make the ground
more fertile for ongoing identity, healing, discussion, action, and imagination practices in
ourselves and with each other.

STORYSEED READING GUIDE COMPONENTS

The Social Justice Standards from Learning for Justice, founded by the Southern Poverty Law
Center form one foundation for our discussion questions. Here is a short list of reads from a few
of the many folx and communities who continue to learn from and with as part of our curricular
development and design:
⚘ Abolitionist Practice: Abolitionist Teaching Network, Woke Kindergarten
⚘ Decolonization: Robin Wall Kimmerer, Eve Tuck, Monique Gray Smith
⚘ Heart/Body Practices: Resmaa Menakem, the Bhodi Project, Dr. Angel Kyodo Williams
⚘ White Anti-Racist Practice: JORE Project, Chris Crass

This curriculum is designed to support ongoing anti-racist and anti-bias capacity building for all
ages of readers. We urge you not to shy away from vocabulary and topics that may be
challenging or uncomfortable to talk about because they are related to race, racism,
oppression, difference, etc. We are all capable, deserving of, and responsible for these
conversations. Our liberation and flourishing depends upon them.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Each reading guide offers a diversity of discussion questions and directions in which your
conversations can grow. If you are facilitating the reading experience, here are a few tips:

BEFORE READING WITH A READING BUDDY OR COMMUNITY

● Read or listen to the core story at least twice (for picture books) or once through (for
longer texts).
● Go through the entire reading guide. Mindfully, answer each question in the reading

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 guide for yourself – through reflective writing or another kind of reflective process that is
meaningful to you.
● Check out some of the resources. Look through the “Read Next” section. Spend some
time. Be aware of which pieces you feel most and least comfortable with, where you
have room to grow, where you have deep roots.
● Think about which questions you might want to highlight with your reading buddy or
community. Have some in mind that you’d like to offer. And also, be ready to pivot
and to move organically into different questions than you possibly had in mind.

AS PART OF THE READING & LEARNING PROCESS

● Move in the direction of the natural flow of the conversation. Guide lightly and also
create space for the natural curiosity, emotions, and wonderings of the reader/readers.
● If you are working with younger readers, you will likely want to scale the questions
based on attention span and other factors. It is not necessary to ask and answer every
question for this process to be meaningful. This piece is up to your knowledge of your
readers. However, we once again implore you not to shy away from challenging
questions due to the age of your readers. Young children deserve, need, and have full
capacity for diving into difficult topics, and we have designed these questions to be
appropriate for young readers and focused on building our abilities for anti-racist living.
● If you are working with older readers (middle school and up), you may want to offer out
all of the questions over time. You may also use these questions as written reflection
prompts or reading buddy discussion prompts to be followed as-is from start to finish.

POST-READING THE CORE TEXT

● Grow into the spaces that your reading experience opens up. This might mean taking a
deep dive into some of the suggested resources OR it might take the form of
continuing to read on a particular topic using the “READ NEXT” suggestions.
● Return to the core story. Reading a story multiple times gives us more angles and
opportunities for learning.
● Consider how to move into alignment with what you’re learning. What daily practices in
your lives can you shift, release, add, or imagine?

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 ● Share the stories. Share the story and reading guide with other people in your
community. Then, talk about it and consider collective actions you can take to align
with what you’re learning.
● Take action. Consider how to share your learning more publicly or to take other kinds
of action to act in solidarity and in community around justice and liberation.

Remember that it’s always the right time and you are always the right age to start or deepen
your liberation practices. We hope you enjoy this curriculum written by student volunteers
through our collaboration process.

With love and in solidarity,

Zapoura Newton-Calvert
Co-founder, Reading Is
Resistance

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INTRODUCTION
This reading guide is designed to accompany
Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman’s book All Are
Welcome. Reading Is Resistance sees reading as an
opportunity to seed deeper conversations and
possibilities for action around racial justice in our
communities.

Lesson content was written by Vanessa Eppley and was

designed to start and deepen anti-bias/anti-racist
conversations in families and other learning communities. Editors were Gideon Yamada and
Kaleigh Rainwater.

BOOK THEMES
DIVERSITY, IDENTITY, KINDNESS, INCLUSION, EQUITY, BELONGING, CONNECTION,
COMMUNITY

THE READ ALOUD

All Are Welcome – Read aloud kids book in fullscreen and with music!

BOOK SUMMARY
All Are Welcome shows us life in a school that accepts and celebrates children from diverse
religious, racial, and family backgrounds. Taking us through the first day of school, children
come together to learn and play. We see kids in the classroom, cafeteria, playground, and in
their homes through fun and colorful illustrations. We learn about the holidays, their unique

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interests, and their talents. Diversity is recognized, and curiosity is encouraged so children can
learn about different traditions and ways of living, putting aside their differences. Kindness and
inclusion help all children feel they belong and are strong by standing together.

A community gathering concludes the story with a science fair, parents and families interacting,
and children having fun and being themselves.

SOCIAL JUSTICE STANDARDS FEATURED IN THIS

GUIDE
The Learning for Justice Social Justice Standards referenced in this lesson are for Grades K-22.
This book, however, can be used with a wide range of ages. Standards and Domains featured
in this lesson are as follows:

SOCIAL JUSTICE LEARNING GOAL EXAMPLE FROM THE BOOK

STANDARD

IDENTITY.K-2.1 I know and like who I am and
can talk about my family and
myself and name some of my
group identities.
The theme of identity and belonging is
woven throughout the story. Every child
is unique and should feel special and
valued by others who are the same and
different from them.

IDENTITY.K-2.5 I see that the way my family
and I do things is both the
same as and different from
how other people do things,
and I am interested in both.
This story shows a school with children
and families from different cultural
backgrounds. Readers can think about
how to describe their social identities and
can learn from people who are different
from them.

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Learning for Justice Standards

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DIVERSITY.K-2.6 I like being around people
who are like me and different
from me, and I can be
friendly to everyone.
DIVERSITY.K-2.7 I can describe some ways
that I am similar to and
different from people who
share my identities and those
who have other identities.
DIVERSITY.K-2.9 I know everyone has
feelings, and I want to get
along with people who are
similar to and different from
me.
Children eat different kinds of food
depending on their culture. Many of us
like to eat bread, but it can look and taste
very different! We can be curious about
our differences and learn about each
other.
The playground is where children love to
play. Everyone should be included and
feel they belong.
We all have different abilities and talents.
We may also come from different parts of
the world and practice different faiths.
We can notice all the ways we are like
and unlike each other.
Children in school are in the same
community and can learn to be kind and
accept other people who are not like
them. How you act around other people
impacts their life.
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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Note: Because this book does not have page numbers, we have started our pagination with
the cover as P. 1.

[BEFORE READING] Make a list of your own group identities. IDENTITY.K-2.1

Grown ups, use any of these resources to support an exploration of group identities:
1. Identity video: Identity and Values Video
2. Social Identity Lists: Social Identities, The Big 8 Identities
3. Identity Activities: Social Identity Wheel, Identity Self Portrait
4. Make sure you touch on race and ethnicity3 as part of this exercise. These
concepts are integral to understanding this story.
[P. 3-4] What do you notice in this picture? What are the children doing? Do you see
anyone that reminds you of yourself or someone you know? Can you tell just from the
picture what some of their different identities are? Why or why not? DIVERSITY.K-2.7
[P. 9-10] The children are doing all kinds of activities. Do you like to do any of the same
things? What do you like to do that is different from these activities? DIVERSITY.K-2.7
[P. 13-14] During lunch break, many of the children eat different types of bread. What
kinds do you see in the pictures? Which ones have you tried? Next time you go to the
store, see how many kinds of bread you can find. DIVERSITY.K-2.6 & REFLECTION

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Read this article on what “race” means and what “ethnicity” means. Remember that race is socially constructed
rather than biological and yet it still impacts our lived experiences in very real ways.

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 [P. 15-16] When you go for recess, do you always play with the same friends? If you look
around, you will probably see some children you haven’t met before. Next time, think
about talking to someone new. You may even make a new friend. DIVERSITY.K-2.6 &
REFLECTION
[P. 19-20] We all have special abilities. When you get to know other children, you find
out what interests them and discover their hidden talents. Everyone is special and
unique! What are your special talents? (Encourage them if needed.) DIVERSITY.K-2.7
[P. 27-28] Do you only spend time with people who are similar to you? Spending time
with different people is special and fun. Can you think of someone at your school who
you can get to know? DIVERSITY K-2.9

RESOURCES & ACTIVITIES

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Teaching Children about Diversity | Bright Horizons

We Teach Kindness
Breads from Around the World
Games that School Children Play Around the World
Holidays Around the World

READ NEXT
The Big Umbrella by Amy June Bates and Juniper Bates
The Only One Club by Jane Naliboff
I'm New Here by Anne Sibley O'Brien

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[1]
Learning for Justice Standards

[2]
Read this article on what “race” means and what “ethnicity” means. Remember that race is socially constructed
rather than biological and yet it still impacts our lived experiences in very real ways.

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