Two young girls, separated during the pandemic, found a way to connect: playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons together. Their virtual adventures became more than just gameplay. They transformed into shared stories, heartfelt conversations and a celebration of their cultural ties. Discover how their experience sheds light on the power of digital spaces in nurturing relationships and literacies. 📖 Dive into their story: https://buff.ly/NymC0xI (fb)

"I am deeply inspired and motivated by the teachers and students who have welcomed me into their spaces as they read and respond to linguistically diverse picturebooks."—Angie Zapata, an ILA member since 2002, is an associate professor of language and literacies education at the University of Missouri. The April/May/June 2025 issue of Literacy Today, ILA’s member magazine, underscores the importance of representation in children’s picturebooks. Meet our guest editor for this edition, Angie Zapata, a children’s literature researcher and teacher educator, whose extensive work focuses on the promise and possibilities of diverse literature in K–12 language arts classrooms, over at our Literacy Now blog: https://buff.ly/qJGDO3m (fb)