I frickin love diversity in books
If you've spent enough (any) time with me, you've probably heard me get excited about diverse books. Every time a character pops up who isn't white-cisgender-able-bodied-neurotypical-heterosexual (and male) I give a little cheer.
For me, diversity in books is one of my favorite things to champion. Being able to share stories that represent all types of people not only gives people examples of others like themselves, but it gives them examples of people who are different to them. By having both, they can recognize that ALL people are valid and worthy and normal and equal no matter what their background or heritage or identity or experience might be. And while it's important for all literature (and all forms of media), having diversity in children's literature helps to raise the next generations to be inclusive of all people. And honestly, isn't that the ultimate goal?
Tolerance is great, but inclusivity is the bigger goal. Our world right now is so crazy and so divisive that we need as much work on increasing inclusivity as possible. By neglecting work on diversity, we are neglecting people who don't fall into that category group that I mentioned in my first paragraph. There has been so much prejudice towards people who don't fall under "the norm" because they are "different" that we end up wasting the potential good that those people can do, which only hurts all of us.
Now, sometimes books have characters that fall into certain identities but don't show those identities in a positive light. You may have heard "bury your gays" before because it's quite common for LGBT+ characters to die, have their partner die, or just end up in a miserable unhappy ending to their story. This is only one example of the many negative tropes/story lines that diverse characters are given, and while they many be truthful sometimes, not every real life story ends that way! And so only representing people of diverse backgrounds as having their struggle with their identity being 100% the focus of their life and having it end badly doesn't actually help people of these identities and backgrounds. It's not good enough for them to just occasionally exist, we need to have books actually representing the lives of different people in different ways.
I could spend a million years talking about how much I love diversity in literature and all the different instances of books that I love even more because of it, but I'd rather share some resources.
Firstly, if I could convince you to only ever watch 1 TED Talk (and I would try to convince you to watch a lot more if possible), I would say to watch this one. The discussion of windows and mirrors in literature is completely how I've formatted my own arguments for diverse literature, and it is well-known by MANY librarians across the US. In fact, I learned about it from an author panel on diverse kid lit at a library conference.
If you only have 2 minutes and want a quick version before you're able to watch the TED Talk, you can watch this short video.
Disability:
What are Own Voices? Own Voices are books that are written by authors who have the same identity as their character. They're especially important because they have primary source material to be able to back up their research for their characters (ie themselves) and can write their characters in a truthful way. Of course, other people can write authentic and accurate characters, but they must do more research than those who are writing from their own experience.
Do you have any cool resources or potential books you want to tell the world about? Let me know! And when you go to read a book, take a moment to think about the characters you're reading about, and make a little effort to support the authors who are writing diverse books!
For me, diversity in books is one of my favorite things to champion. Being able to share stories that represent all types of people not only gives people examples of others like themselves, but it gives them examples of people who are different to them. By having both, they can recognize that ALL people are valid and worthy and normal and equal no matter what their background or heritage or identity or experience might be. And while it's important for all literature (and all forms of media), having diversity in children's literature helps to raise the next generations to be inclusive of all people. And honestly, isn't that the ultimate goal?
Tolerance is great, but inclusivity is the bigger goal. Our world right now is so crazy and so divisive that we need as much work on increasing inclusivity as possible. By neglecting work on diversity, we are neglecting people who don't fall into that category group that I mentioned in my first paragraph. There has been so much prejudice towards people who don't fall under "the norm" because they are "different" that we end up wasting the potential good that those people can do, which only hurts all of us.
Now, sometimes books have characters that fall into certain identities but don't show those identities in a positive light. You may have heard "bury your gays" before because it's quite common for LGBT+ characters to die, have their partner die, or just end up in a miserable unhappy ending to their story. This is only one example of the many negative tropes/story lines that diverse characters are given, and while they many be truthful sometimes, not every real life story ends that way! And so only representing people of diverse backgrounds as having their struggle with their identity being 100% the focus of their life and having it end badly doesn't actually help people of these identities and backgrounds. It's not good enough for them to just occasionally exist, we need to have books actually representing the lives of different people in different ways.
I could spend a million years talking about how much I love diversity in literature and all the different instances of books that I love even more because of it, but I'd rather share some resources.
Firstly, if I could convince you to only ever watch 1 TED Talk (and I would try to convince you to watch a lot more if possible), I would say to watch this one. The discussion of windows and mirrors in literature is completely how I've formatted my own arguments for diverse literature, and it is well-known by MANY librarians across the US. In fact, I learned about it from an author panel on diverse kid lit at a library conference.
If you only have 2 minutes and want a quick version before you're able to watch the TED Talk, you can watch this short video.
Now that you're looking out for diverse books, here's some places to do!
This non-profit "advocates essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people."
Also, their motto is "Imagine a world in which all children can see themselves in the pages of a book." Basically, they're the coolest.
They have a list of resources to find diverse books here. And if you want to help them out financially, I'm currently doing a birthday fundraiser on my facebook that you are welcome to donate to!
This is my new favorite database. I was SO excited when I found it. And the cool thing is that it's so much more that what you what you see in their title. They're taken all young adult literature from 2000-2017 and look at all the categorizes they're using! I've listed them for you below:
Gender:
Cis girls
Cis boys
Trans girls
Genderqueer/Non-binary
Trans boys
Gender Fluid
Intersex
Agender
Sexual Orientation:
Gay/Queer
Lesbian/Queer
Bisexual
Heterosexual
Asexual
Pansexual
Demisexual
Gray-asexual
Romantic Orientation:
Homoromantic
Biromantic
Heteroromantic
Aromantic
Panromantic
Demiromantic
Gray Romantic
Race/Ethnicity:
White
Black
East Asian
Latinx
Multiracial
South Asian
Indigenous
Middle Eastern/North African
Pacific Islander
Religion:
Christianity
Judaism
Islam
Hinduism
Mormonism
Buddhism
Atheism/Humanism
Disability:
Mental illness
Physical disability
Sensory disability
HIV/AIDS
Chronic illness
Brain injury/neurological disorder
Cognitive disability
Autism
Learning Disability
& Own Voices!
What are Own Voices? Own Voices are books that are written by authors who have the same identity as their character. They're especially important because they have primary source material to be able to back up their research for their characters (ie themselves) and can write their characters in a truthful way. Of course, other people can write authentic and accurate characters, but they must do more research than those who are writing from their own experience.
Do you have any cool resources or potential books you want to tell the world about? Let me know! And when you go to read a book, take a moment to think about the characters you're reading about, and make a little effort to support the authors who are writing diverse books!
 |
| Thanks WNDB💚 |
Comments
Post a Comment