In 2019, graduate instructors and C&I doctoral students Denise Hanh Huynh and Nick Kleese founded KidLitLab!, a group for educators to explore picture books as curriculum through the creative process.  “We believe that in order to truly understand something, you need to make it,” explains co-founder Denise Huynh. “If our future educators want to understand picture books as curriculum, we hope to provide them with the experience of making picture books themselves.”

KidLitLab! seeks to encourage creativity and exploration among educators and support writers eager to produce diverse and transformative literature for young people. To that end, they seek to bring decolonizing children’s literature and diverse artists and writers to the forefront through a series of events and workshops for pre-service teachers. Past invitees include Carole Lindstrom, author of We Are Water Protectors (Caldecott Winner 2021); Saymoukda Vongsay, author of When Everything Was Everything (2018); and Emma Reynolds, author-illustrator of Amara and the Bats (2021) and founder of KidLit4Climate with support from the Norine Odland BIG-small Fellowship in Children’s Literature.

In December 2021, KidLitLab! released Here on Earth: A Children’s Literature Anthology. The anthology shares stories at the intersection of environmental justice and fantasy while critically examining living in balance to preserve our world. The work features an interview with Caldecott winner Bao Phi, a poet and author of A Different Pond.

“We hope that by presenting educators with examples of works-in-progress, and works by both established and emerging authors from diverse backgrounds, the creative process itself becomes more accessible, generative, and joyful,” says co-founder Nick Kleese.

Interested in joining the group or looking for ways to be involved? Email Denise at huyn0110@umn.edu and follow @kidlitlab on Instagram for updates about events and projects.