“I think we aim to raise their consciousness and to give them a heightened awareness,” Carter Andrews said. “But also to give them a safe space where they know that once you read a text, it’s OK to ask critical questions.”

She said she also thinks it’s important for children to know there will be supportive adults who can have a dialogue with them to help with their understanding toward what happens in stories.

“Not just understanding injustice, but then how to be an advocate for justice,” Carter Andrews said. “In a 90-minute session you can’t necessarily transform a young person’s life, but we want to raise awareness, create safe space and represent a model for parents who can then go back and do this at home.”

When Carter Andrews and Montgomery collaborated, they capped program attendance at 30 kids, thinking that was all they should start in modest numbers and learn how it functions. But after they opened up registration last Saturday, by the following Sunday nearly 150 children were signed up.

“It was just beyond what we thought would happen,” Carter Andrews said. “The East Lansing Public Library said they have never had children’s programming with that kind of response. I think it speaks to a need in this community. Parents are saying, ‘You know what? I want my kids to be able to engage these conversations and I want to know how to help them through it.’”

Montgomery and Carter Andrews will meet with the ELPL to reconstruct the original plans for the group reading to function with more participants.

A further reading list will be provided at each event for parents and guardians who want to continue the conversation at home. The large number of registered children has prompted local teachers to offer their help.

Montgomery said they’ve already heard from adults who want a version of the program for themselves, as well as parents desiring to learn how to talk with their children about social justice issues.

“I could envision a parenting reading group on these kind of topics, too,” Montgomery said via email.

Carter Andrews said she thinks the high volume of registration speaks to the need for more than just one social justice reading group in the community.

“Maybe this effort will encourage other people to start these in their neighborhood, or in their church or in their school,” Carter Andrews said.

In addition, this program has partnered with the Greater Lansing Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., whose teenage members will help with a craft activity during the reading group.

“It really has become a university-community partnership and I think that’s the spirit of what MSU really tries to do with these kinds of things — it’s not a research project, but a faculty outreach initiative," Carter Andrews said. “Especially considering our current sociopolitical climate, we have to raise the next generation up to be able to have critical dialogue in a democracy ... to be informed citizens who take action.”

ELPL’s assistant director and head of customer experiences Jason Shoup said the mandate of the library is to supply information needs of the community.

“When they speak out that they have a thirst for this knowledge and this kind of information, we want to make sure we accommodate it as best as we can. ... We can offer more programs, we can offer similar programs or we can offer extensions on existing programs,” Shoup said. “We are looking at ways to purchase these books and expand our collection to make sure we have these kinds of titles available."

Shoup said they also want to make these issues approachable in the regular weekly story times as well.

“We always want to partner with MSU," Shoup said. "Anytime we can partner and engage with them is a big win for all of us.”