Alia Jones and Intersectional Literacy Spaces

It’s a pleasure to be in this space with you all, dear readers. Thank you, Edi for bringing me along this journey with you and Sujei. I look forward to what this new blog will grow into. I started blogging at www.readitrealgood.com almost ten years ago, and in the last ten years my interests have shifted and changed but the throughline has always been diverse children’s literature and critical analysis of children’s literature. I care about kids and how they feel about books. I also care about their lives, dreams, and families.

I remember looking for positive representations of Blackness as a child. I also remember my parents putting in work to find these books for me. Some of my favorites were the Messy Bessey series, Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, Honey I Love, I Need a Lunchbox, Jambo Means Hello, The Stories Julian Tells, the Afro Bets books, American Girl’s Addy series and the Dear America series. I loved all kinds of story books, but there was something really special about seeing myself reflected in a positive and epic way in books. These stories helped me, a quiet and awkward little Black girl with very few friends, feel like I could have adventures too. That I could be brave too.

As an adult, I am still surrounded by books. I never had any aspirations to work in libraries as a child. I just knew that I loved to read. The windy road of life has led me to graduate school, where I am currently pursuing a Master of Library Studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison. In addition to my library love, I am also a museum lover and I hope to use this blog to chat about the intersections of libraries and books and museums, especially museums for children. I find informal learning spaces to be fascinating; human beings learn in all types of environments and places, not just in schools. I want to investigate interesting book-related-things happening in museums across the country. 

Happy to meet you all here.

Filed under: About This Blog