Recently a group of authors launched a social media campaign to raise awareness around the significant lack of diversity in children’s literature. The campaign began last week with the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks. The creators also encourage the public to visit the project website. They are asking readers to take a photo holding a sign that says “We need diverse books because…” These authors, including Ellen Oh, Aisha Saeed,
Make your voice heard
Check out the submissions so far, and we encourage you to join the Need Diverse Books conversation and use your networks to bring awareness to this movement. Tweet your support using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks. You can also follow @diversebooks for ongoing updates.
Diversity matters
To put it plainly, we couldn’t agree more. There is a true need for diversity in the books we read to our children. As they learn and grow, exposing young minds to the vast and varied cultures across the world will help foster respect and recognition in the value each of our beliefs and customs offers. It is up to all of us as independent authors and storytellers to share our experiences with the world as a way of exposing others to our cultures.
So far, we have fallen short of achieving this goal. A 2012 report conducted by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that only 3.3 percent of children’s books published in the previous year
The We Need Diverse Books campaign is centered on helping break these trends.
Public Appeal for #WeNeedDiverseBooks
Clearly, there is a true call for us to take action and write. As Johannes
It is our duty to celebrate this diversity so that the next generation can see themselves in their books and develop their own
Start writing and share your experiences and culture. Tweet us to let us know you’re helping us make a difference or post a picture of yourself with your book (or your favorite) to show the rich diversity among independent authors.
Let me start by saying nice post. Im not sure if it has been talked about, but when using Chrome I can never get the entire site to load without refreshing many times. Could just be my computer. Thanks.