This book explores how teachers can re-examine their emotional investments in enacting dominant settler values through changing their text selection and teaching practices. Based on a longitudinal qualitative research study conducted by a national team of literacy scholars in collaboration with practicing literacy teachers at eight sites across Canada, the book investigates how groups of teachers, working collaboratively in inquiry groups, develop and implement curriculum to promote their own and their students understandings of social justice in postcolonial and settler spaces. In particular, the book highlights the rich and dynamic landscape of postcolonial authors, illustrators and texts, the development of culturally- sensitive curricula, and critical pedagogies possible in addressing contemporary and historical issues, both local and global.

This book is primarily of interest to literacy scholars, literacy instructors (teacher educators) in teacher education programs,educational leaders, practicing teachers from the K-12 spectrum, and school district staff and policy makers with responsibilities for or interests in the potential of literacy and literature engagement for social justice education. The book is also be of interest to postsecondary educators and teacher educators wishing to use literature in social justice, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive courses.

Geraldine Balzeris an Associate Professor of Curriculum Studies in the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research focuses on decolonization and social justice. She is a co-editor ofTeaching Global Citizenship: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century andTruth Perceived: Perspectives through Canadian Nonfiction. Her articles have been published inThe Canadian Journal of Education, Metropolitan Journal of Service Learning, Engaged Scholar, The Conrad Grebel Review, and the Canadian Journal of Native Education. 

Teresa Strong-Wilson is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at McGill University and editor-in-chief of theMcGill Journal of Education. Interested in curriculum, early childhood, literacy/ies, memory, stories, teachers, trauma and social justice education, she has published several books and articles, alone and with others. Her books includeBringing Memory Forward: Storied Remembrance in Social Justice Education with Teachers (Peter Lang, 2008);Envisioning New Technologies in Teacher Practice (Peter Lang, 2012);Productive Remembering and Social Agency(Sense, 2013);The Emperors New Clothes?: Issues and Alternatives in Uses of the Portfolio in Teacher Education Programs(Peter Lang, 2014);Provoking Curriculum Encounters(Routledge, 2020)and most recently,Teachers Ethical Self-Encounters with Counter-stories in the Classroom: From Implicated to Concerned Subjects(Routledge, 2021).

 Anne Burkeis Professor in Literacy Education at Memorial University where she teaches courses in childrens literature, literacy education,social justice  and digital media. Annes research is focused in issues of social justice and advocacy using digital and social media platforms. In her research she has partnered with the Pratt and McCain Foundation, the Boys and Girls Club,and various Canadian school boards. Book titles includeChallenging Stories: Teachers working for Social Justice in Canadian Classrooms (Canadian Scholars Press, 2017),  Invitations to Play ( Pembroke, 2019)Childrens Play Worlds: Culture, Learning and Participation with Jackie Marsh (Peter Lang New York,2013), Play to Learn (Pembroke Canada,2011), Digital Principal with Janette Hughes (Stenhouse US,2014),Assessing New Literacies: Perspectives from the Classroom with Roberta Hammett (Peter Lang,2009).

Introduction.- Keeping our ideals: Teaching literature with decolonization at heart.- Challenging the taken for granted.- Stepping into the discomfort zone: Exploring tensions and possibilities for social justice teaching with postcolonial childrens literature.- Towards Indigenous reconciliation: Transformative dialogues and pedagogies.- Analyzing pedagogical practices for social justice in a multi-age class.- Complicating empathy: An educational journey toward ethical responsibilities, subjectification and reconciliation.- Rupture of the Ordinary: Engaging Students in Complicated Conversations through Postcolonial Literature.- Student voice in the context of socially just education.- I Dont Know What They Think Until They Talk: Exploring the Place of Talk in  Elementary and Secondary Classrooms.- Afterword.