The Hard Truths initiative highlights social issues by facilitating opportunities for TCNJ’s teacher candidates to use children’s books to raise awareness of inequities. Created and curated by Anne Peel, TCNJ Associate Professor of Literacy, Hard Truths is a collection of picture books that tell the truth about some difficult aspects of children’s lives here in America: the history of enslavement and trauma so many have inherited, the pain of leaving behind everything they knew as recent immigrants who might be met with hostility rather than welcome; the rejection of their family and community practices when they come to schools where they might feel like an outsider to a dominant culture, and so many other difficult courses children must navigate.
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Anne taught high school English for 14 years in public schools in Philadelphia and New Jersey and continues collaborating with multiple districts across New Jersey, providing professional development support in literacy instruction. Her scholarship has been published in the English Journal, Journal of Language and Literacy Education, and Literacy, among others, and she has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences. She was awarded the Edward Fry Graduate Fellowship in Literacy from Rutgers University.
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