Starting Small: Teaching Tolerance in Pre-school and the Early Grades. Prepared by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Teaching Tolerance, 1997. vii, 250 pp., LC Control Number 97060329.

The Teaching Tolerance Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center brought together six authors and anti-bias activists to write Starting Small. This fast-reading book offers 250 pages of rich and rewarding material touching on subjects of complexity and profound emotions: prejudice, gender and racial inequity, family diversity, peace, friendship and community. The authors researched 300 elementary and pre-school classroom settings in cities across the nation, and focused on seven of the most progressive and accomplished for their study.
Each of the seven classrooms is described in fantastic detail through teacher interviews and anecdotes; the childrens’ voices and views; and input from school staff, parents, and the community. While these particular classrooms are examples of diversity and tolerance, the authors also interweave other themes, such as disabilities, poverty, and coping with loss and cultural stereotyping. The text flows from one idea to the next; but taken together, it offers a comprehensive view of the difficulties, successes, complexities and rewards of teaching tolerance.

The authors provide practical applications and research-based essays, as well as classroom case studies, to emphasize particular aspects of creating an equity-based environment for children. Suggestions are offered from which educators as well as parents can benefit from. A well-annotated, 48-page reference guide assists the reader looking for more detailed information and practical applications. This guide includes the ten absolute "must have" books for educators, administrators, and parents who are attempting to create equity-based classrooms and communities.

Starting Small is a wonderful introduction to diversity issues. It presents a range of concepts and practices rather than focusing on overly simplistic do’s and don’ts, an approach too often seen in the literature of tolerance. The seven classrooms described provide insight into the daily challenges educators face, the behavioral development of children, and a peek at some of the exciting and progressive practices already in place around the country. You will finish this book with more questions than you began it with; but you will also acquire a sense of empowerment because you will have glimpsed the potential for a society guided by an ethos of tolerance, dignity, and equal rights for all human beings.

Stacy Kendall