Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Diversity essential for young readers
Children learn from books but most are ‘too white’, writes
IF YOU think back to your childhood, what sticks with you? For many, it’s those cosy times when they were cuddled up with a parent or grandparent, being read a story.
But bedtime stories aren’t just lovely endings to the day or a way to induce sleep, they are a safe way to experience and discuss all sorts of feelings and situations. So, even when children think they’re being told about an adorable bunny’s adventures, they are learning about the world around them.
We know that children’s books can act like mirrors and windows on the world. Mirrors in that they can reflect on children’s own lives, and windows in that they can give children a chance to learn about someone else’s life.
We also know that this type of self-reflection and opportunity to read or hear about diverse lives is essential for young people.
Research on prejudice shows that coming in contact with people who are different – so-called “others” – helps to reduce stereotypes.But while it may be ideal for children to meet people from different backgrounds, if that isn’t possible, books can serve as a first introduction to an outside world.
Despite knowing how important it is for diversity, many books are still littered with white, male, ablebodied, heterosexual, cisgender, nominally Christian characters.
Research suggests more than 80% of characters in children’s books are white.
This is why the We Need Diverse Books movement was set in motion in 2014, stemming from a discussion between authors Ellen Oh and Malinda Lo. The movement aims for more diverse books to be created and available to young people.
If we had more diverse children’s books, featuring a range of characters in various jobs and situations, and more diverse role models in the media, young people would feel empowered and believe when they grew up, they could be anyone and do anything.
When we see people like ourselves in the media and in fiction, we get a glimpse of who we might become, and we feel validated.
Perhaps partly in response to people’s growing awareness of the need for role models, one young black girl, Marley Dias, started a campaign to find 1 000 “black girl books”. She recommends works such as Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson and I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley.
I wonder how many of those “black girl books” feature black girls in prominent roles such as professors, doctors, teachers or presidents of nations. I have a suspicion the percentage is low.
Just featuring a minority character isn’t enough to create quality diverse literature, but it is a first step.While there are some useful websites that recommend diverse children’s books and literary awards dedicated to promoting such works, much still needs to be done.
Along with the increased worries today about immigrants, refugees and “otherness”, some societies seem to be headed towards a sense of false nostalgia about a time when the world was controlled by whites.
Given this is not how the world is or should be, we owe it to young readers to show them reality in the books they’re reading.
Perhaps then the next generation will be less frightened of the “other” if they get to meet them and learn about them from an early age. – The Conversation
Epstein is senior lecturer in literature and public engagement, University of East Anglia.