Diverse Themes in Kids' Lit
As part of the recent National Education Summit (Diverse Learners Symposium ) held in Brisbane, Queensland's own award-winning children's author, Aleesah Darlison was invited to discuss diversity in Kids' Lit via the 'Portrayal of ADHD, Mental Health, Anxiety, & The Spectrums in Children’s & Young Adult Literature'. The role of a children's author is vast and varied but for me involves sharing and caring. To create stories that elicit emotional connections with young readers while still fascinating and entertaining them is a challenging mix to perfect. Luckily, these are just the sort of tales I love to tackle; ones often embracing difficult subject matter, that speak to different people from multiple levels and in so doing, echo and normalize real life situations. Many of my titles reflect this premise, including Oswald Messweather , a picture book that focuses on the emotional aspects associated with the debilitating condition of obsessive compuls...