Children’s books lack ‘black characters’

CHILDREN’S books must have more black characters, a study funded by the Arts Council has concluded.

Only four per cent of the 9,115 books published last year aimed at primary schoolchildren featured a black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) character, according to research by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE).

When analysing how many children’s books had a main BAME character, researchers found the proportion dropped to one per cent.

Meanwhile, almost a third (32.1 per cent) of pupils in primary schools in England are from minority ethnic backgrounds, latest official figures show. “The demographic make-up of the UK did not align with the presence of BAME characters in books published in 2017,” the report said. “Each ethnic minority category was significantly under-represented.”

The study was funded by the Arts Council, which is a public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

The CLPE urged publishers to use more characters from ethnic minorities in children’s literature, not as a “tick-box exercise” but as a “meaningful and accurate representation of the interconnected, diverse society”.

Last year, Anthony Horowitz, the bestselling children’s author, told Event magazine he was warned it would be “inappropriate” to draw from experiences other than his own.