Why Reading Diversely is Important

BY TALIA BERMAN-CUTLER AND REGAN GOULD

​Reading books can be very magical. You can go through the sliding door into different worlds, living different lives. But sometimes you can’t find yourself in a book.

How many books have you read that are a mirror to your life? What about a window, where the only thing you can do is look into other lives? There are loads of different kinds of people in our world, and books should accurately reflect that. 
 
What makes a diverse book a diverse book? Having characters of different races, religions, sexual orientations and nationalities makes books diverse. Also characters that represent different worldviews such as living with a physical disability, or characters of different genders, including non-gender specific, offer more inclusive perspectives. It is great to have diverse books to show that it's okay to be “different” than societal norms. People need diverse books to also have a mirror. As fun as it is to go through sliding doors, sometimes people really need to read a reflection of themselves. Sometimes when you see yourself, your classmates don’t see themselves. 
 
White Americans make up around 90% of representation in books, and 61 percent of the U.S. population. Asian Pacific Americans are only seen in 4.9% of books, suggesting the need for a 38.8% increase. Native Americans can be seen in 0.3% of books, which means they need a 80.9% increase. African Americans are featured in only 3.3% of books, so they need an 83% increase, and Latinx Americans need a 93% increase, because they appear in only 1.8% of books. Multi-ethnic Americans need almost 100% more books, because they currently do not have enough tracked books. 
 
Now you may be looking for a good diverse selection of books to read? Here is a few that we recommend: 

• Drama by Raina Telgemeier is about a girl working backstage for a play, and one of the characters is gay. 
• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon is about a girl with SCID, who has to stay inside her house every day. 
• Turtle Boy by M. Evan Wolkenstein is about a Jewish boy who is getting ready for his Bar Mitzvah.
• George by Alex Gino is about a transgender girl who wants to be Charolette in her schools production of Charolette’s Web. 
• Blended by Sharon Draper is about a biracial girl trying to figure out who she is. 

SOURCES: http://www.mayagonzalez.com/blog/2016/10/equality-childrens-book-industry-possible/

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