AP Report: “Racial Diversity in Children’s Books Grows, But Slowly”

From the Associated Press:

Kids are seeing more of these possibilities in the books they read as authors make a bigger push to reflect the diversity around them. Racial diversity in children’s books has been picking up since 2014, reversing a 25-year plateau, according to Kathleen T. Horning, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center.

But despite the gains, progress has been slow. Children’s books written by authors of color in 2020 increased by 3% to 26.8% compared with 2019. Children’s books written about racially diverse characters or subjects, however, grew by only 1% to 30%, according to preliminary data provided to The Associated Press by the CCBC, which has been tracking statistics on children’s book representation since 1985.

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Ellen Oh, CEO of the grassroots advocacy nonprofit We Need Diverse Books, said one barrier to achieving diversity in children’s books is the myth within the publishing industry that books about people of color don’t sell.

“Because of this myth, publishing never gives these books a chance,” Oh said.

Learn More, Read the Complete Article

See Also: Cooperative Children’s Book Center
and Cooperative Children’s Book Center Diversity Statistics

See Also: Children’s Book Council

See Also: NEW VIDEO RECORDING
“2021 Diversity in Children’s Literature Symposium” Now Available Online

Filed under: Data Files, News, Publishing, Video Recordings