On my Reader’s Choice post last summer, Mrs. Yingling suggested that I read more diverse books. At that time, the #WeNeedDiverseBooks was getting a lot of attention and it is no less important now. I wish I had a better link to this, but if you go to their FAQ page and scroll down to the question “What are the benefits of children seeing themselves in books?” they offer many links to articles and papers on the subject. I strongly recommend reading them if you want more information why it is so important that books be available, recognized and read about people and cultures other than the mainstream. If you only have time for one easy to digest article, try Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Glass Doors which was written in 1990 (a solid 25 years ago, right?) and feel vaguely ill at how little has changed.
In this blog, I have tried to review books with characters from a variety of cultures, races and religions, but I will be the first to admit that it’s not always easy and I don’t always do a good job of it. The book selection process where I find books to fit a theme each month, often highlights the lack of available diverse literature. When I’m spending a month on pirates, or dragons or treasure hunts, it can quickly become apparent that it is downright difficult to find books about those topics that feature anything other than mainstream characters. I do try to balance that by having whole months devoted books about African-American characters or characters with autism, but it simply isn’t enough. I can tell you just by a quick scan of my tags list that stories featuring hispanic/latino characters are woefully underrepresented. And that there have been very few, if any, books about Muslim characters written about here. I owe both of those groups a dedicated month of books. And while David Levithan has done a solid job of providing me books with male homosexual protagonists, I am in dire need of more books about girls who fall in love with other girls.
This month I hope to make the statement that this is something I care about deeply. I will continue to seek out books that feature characters of a variety of races, religions, abilities and backgrounds even after this month is over.
In the comments I’d love to hear…
What diverse books do you love and recommend to others?
What underrepresented group or groups of people do you want to read about?
Have you read The Miseducation of Cameron Post? It is about an older teen’s first experiments with kissing other girls and then being sent to a Christian ‘gay rehab’ camp. It’s definitely aimed at the older high school set.