ABSTRACT
Books about social and political issues open up new critical curricular spaces. As a result, the selection of multicultural and international children’s and adolescent literature is important. This chapter addresses issues of cultural authenticity in terms of who writes the books and problems that result when authenticity is not achieved. It discusses the importance of introducing literature selections that provide opportunities for students to see people like themselves in the texts they read. In terms of books that focus on social issues, this chapter contains a text set of picture and chapter books about autism and a section on using LGBTQ+-inclusive literature. To support conversations about international issues, it contains text sets about Korean culture and Afghanistan.
