We Need Diverse Books: Connecting Readers to a Diverse World
by Lise Kuhn, English Montreal School Board
The We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) campaign focuses on the need for children and youth to have greater access to books which feature characters with diverse life experiences. Experiences encompassing the lives Indigenous people, people of colour, gender diverse people, people with disabilities, people of diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds and LGBTQIA+ people.
The importance of children having access to diverse books cannot be understated.
Indigenous author, Ambelin Kwaymullina, argues, “We need diverse books because a lack of diversity is a failure of our humanity. Literature without diversity presents a false image of what it is to be human. It masks – and therefore contributes to – the continuation of existing inequities, and it widens the gulfs of understanding
that are already swallowing our compassion for each other.”
Author Walter Dean Myers tells us that as a young black reader growing up in the United States, “what I wanted, needed really, was to become an integral and valued part of the mosaic that I saw around me.”
A 2015 infographic created by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin highlights the extent of the lack of diverse books: In 2015, Indigenous characters accounted for only 1% of characters in children’s and young adult books in the United States, while Latino/Latinas accounted for 2.4% and African Americans accounted for a mere 7.6%.
Children need to see themselves in literature in order to make sense of their lives and to see that their lives matter.
“Books transmit values. They explore our common humanity. What is the message when some children are not represented in those books?” asks Dean Myers.
Professor of education at Ohio State University, Dr. Rudine S. Bishop eloquently expressed the importance of diverse books that act as mirrors and those that act as windows.
Books can act as mirrors for children’s lives and experiences, so they can see themselves and their culture reflected in what they read, letting them know that they are an important part of the world around them and that they are understood.
Books can also act as windows giving access and insight into other people’s experiences thereby humanizing them. These books help children and youth embrace diversity, leading to empathy and ultimately understanding.
Weneeddiversebooks.org offers a multitude of resources for readers, teachers and librarians. This user-friendly website offers booktalking kits, end of year booklists and summer booklists to help readers get inspired and to discover new books titles, authors and illustrators.
In order to encourage the development of diverse book content, WNDB offers internship grants and a mentorship program for writers and illustrators from marginalized backgrounds. They offer The Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Fiction, which is awarded on a yearly basis. They also hold a short story competition and have recently published an anthology of short stories edited by Sandra Oh entitled, Flying Lessons and Other Stories (Penguin Random House, 2017).
The OurStory App
A trip across the United States devoted to gathering information from teachers, librarians and kids confirmed what WNDB had noticed themselves: diverse books are hard to find. WNDB responded with the creation of its new app OurStory.
This discovery tool introduces people to diverse books, authors and illustrators. It quickly connects readers with diverse content and with books by content creators from marginalized communities.
Members have access to a database of English language books that have been vetted by a team of volunteer readers. This subscription based app asks users to choose a level of membership: kids 12 and under, teens 13 and up and pro for educators and librarians. Users gain access to the database through a quiz that zeroes in on the user’s interests and the types of diversity they are seeking.
The WNDB movement continues to gain momentum on social media. Authors, such as Jacqueline Woodson, John Greene, Dan La Pena and Ellen Hopkins, to name only a few, have publicly supported the campaign.
WNDB encourages us all to spread the word about diverse books that strike a chord in us by recommending them in public forums and online, by giving diverse books as gifts and by buying them for our libraries.
They challenge us to create a diverse reading program in our schools and classrooms and invite local diverse authors in to speak with our students.
WNDB has also not backed down on asking major literary event organizers to commit themselves to diversifying panels of speakers to ensure that they are truly representative of the beautiful and diverse world we live in.
References:
1.Bishop, R.S. (1990). “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Doors.” Retrieved September 20, 2017, from http://www.rif.org/us/literacyresources/multicultural/mirror-window-and-sliding-glass-doors.htm
2. Kwaymullina, A. (2015, May 4). ‘We Need Diverse Books Because’: An Indigenous perspective on diversity in young adult and children’s literature in Australia. The Wheeler Center [online], retrieved September 20, 2017, from https://www.wheelercentre.com/notes/we-need-diverse-books-because-an-indigenous-perspective-on-diversity-in-young-adult-and-children-s-literature-in-australia
3. Myers, W.D. (2014, March 15). Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books? New York Times [online], retrieved September 20, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/opinion/sunday/where-are-the-people-of-color-in-childrens-books.html?mcubz=3
4. Wlison, K. (2016, September 14). How Diverse is Children’s Literature? This Infographic Reveals the Disturbing Truth. Bustle [online], retrieved September 20, 2017, from https://www.bustle.com/articles/183948-how-diverse-is-childrens-literature-this-infographic-tells-the-disturbing-truth
5. Image Source: Huyck, David, Sarah Park Dahlen, Molly Beth Griffin. (2016 September 14). Diversity in Children’s Books 2015 infographic. sarahpark.com blog. Retrieved from https://readingspark.wordpress.com/2016/09/14/picture-this-reflecting-diversity-in-childrens-book-publishing/
The importance of children having access to diverse books cannot be understated.
Indigenous author, Ambelin Kwaymullina, argues, “We need diverse books because a lack of diversity is a failure of our humanity. Literature without diversity presents a false image of what it is to be human. It masks – and therefore contributes to – the continuation of existing inequities, and it widens the gulfs of understanding
that are already swallowing our compassion for each other.”
Author Walter Dean Myers tells us that as a young black reader growing up in the United States, “what I wanted, needed really, was to become an integral and valued part of the mosaic that I saw around me.”
A 2015 infographic created by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin highlights the extent of the lack of diverse books: In 2015, Indigenous characters accounted for only 1% of characters in children’s and young adult books in the United States, while Latino/Latinas accounted for 2.4% and African Americans accounted for a mere 7.6%.
Children need to see themselves in literature in order to make sense of their lives and to see that their lives matter.
“Books transmit values. They explore our common humanity. What is the message when some children are not represented in those books?” asks Dean Myers.
Professor of education at Ohio State University, Dr. Rudine S. Bishop eloquently expressed the importance of diverse books that act as mirrors and those that act as windows.
Books can act as mirrors for children’s lives and experiences, so they can see themselves and their culture reflected in what they read, letting them know that they are an important part of the world around them and that they are understood.
Books can also act as windows giving access and insight into other people’s experiences thereby humanizing them. These books help children and youth embrace diversity, leading to empathy and ultimately understanding.
Weneeddiversebooks.org offers a multitude of resources for readers, teachers and librarians. This user-friendly website offers booktalking kits, end of year booklists and summer booklists to help readers get inspired and to discover new books titles, authors and illustrators.
In order to encourage the development of diverse book content, WNDB offers internship grants and a mentorship program for writers and illustrators from marginalized backgrounds. They offer The Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Fiction, which is awarded on a yearly basis. They also hold a short story competition and have recently published an anthology of short stories edited by Sandra Oh entitled, Flying Lessons and Other Stories (Penguin Random House, 2017).
The OurStory App
A trip across the United States devoted to gathering information from teachers, librarians and kids confirmed what WNDB had noticed themselves: diverse books are hard to find. WNDB responded with the creation of its new app OurStory.
This discovery tool introduces people to diverse books, authors and illustrators. It quickly connects readers with diverse content and with books by content creators from marginalized communities.
Members have access to a database of English language books that have been vetted by a team of volunteer readers. This subscription based app asks users to choose a level of membership: kids 12 and under, teens 13 and up and pro for educators and librarians. Users gain access to the database through a quiz that zeroes in on the user’s interests and the types of diversity they are seeking.
The WNDB movement continues to gain momentum on social media. Authors, such as Jacqueline Woodson, John Greene, Dan La Pena and Ellen Hopkins, to name only a few, have publicly supported the campaign.
WNDB encourages us all to spread the word about diverse books that strike a chord in us by recommending them in public forums and online, by giving diverse books as gifts and by buying them for our libraries.
They challenge us to create a diverse reading program in our schools and classrooms and invite local diverse authors in to speak with our students.
WNDB has also not backed down on asking major literary event organizers to commit themselves to diversifying panels of speakers to ensure that they are truly representative of the beautiful and diverse world we live in.
References:
1.Bishop, R.S. (1990). “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Doors.” Retrieved September 20, 2017, from http://www.rif.org/us/literacyresources/multicultural/mirror-window-and-sliding-glass-doors.htm
2. Kwaymullina, A. (2015, May 4). ‘We Need Diverse Books Because’: An Indigenous perspective on diversity in young adult and children’s literature in Australia. The Wheeler Center [online], retrieved September 20, 2017, from https://www.wheelercentre.com/notes/we-need-diverse-books-because-an-indigenous-perspective-on-diversity-in-young-adult-and-children-s-literature-in-australia
3. Myers, W.D. (2014, March 15). Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books? New York Times [online], retrieved September 20, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/opinion/sunday/where-are-the-people-of-color-in-childrens-books.html?mcubz=3
4. Wlison, K. (2016, September 14). How Diverse is Children’s Literature? This Infographic Reveals the Disturbing Truth. Bustle [online], retrieved September 20, 2017, from https://www.bustle.com/articles/183948-how-diverse-is-childrens-literature-this-infographic-tells-the-disturbing-truth
5. Image Source: Huyck, David, Sarah Park Dahlen, Molly Beth Griffin. (2016 September 14). Diversity in Children’s Books 2015 infographic. sarahpark.com blog. Retrieved from https://readingspark.wordpress.com/2016/09/14/picture-this-reflecting-diversity-in-childrens-book-publishing/