We Need Diverse Books

‪I am not formally affiliated with the We Need Diverse Books Campaign in any way, but the reason it resonated with me from the beginning is the “We.” WE need diverse books. Not just Black children. Not just Latinx children. Not just immigrant children and children of immigrants or children who need physical or emotional support. All of us. We all do.

As Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop said, books are mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. We need them to see what other people’s lives are like. We need them to see ourselves. We need them to learn and remember that other people are human. As strange as it seems, that last fact is remarkably easy to forget. We are making progress toward more diverse representations in books, but we still have quite a way to go. Along the journey, please do not worry that the white children you love are being forgotten. They are not. They are being remembered and the more diverse their shelves are, the more their humanity is being nurtured.