About the Project
The goal of this project was to begin studying and addressing the lack of representation in children's literature. So, the first thing I did was conduct research on how a lack of representation in media affects childhood development. Click here to view my literature review.
The next phase of my project involved surveying local public school teachers in Santa Cruz, to see what topics were generally included in their literature curricula. This link will direct you to a summary of the responses.
Finally, I created lists of representational children’s literature, which were sorted and published on this website. Seeing as I am not authoritative nor experienced in this field, I compiled criteria from a few sources to select each book. Then, I inputted each book into a Google Sheet and sorted using the "Sort A-Z" feature. This allowed me to scan for themes that could promote a single story or stereotype of any one group.
The Criteria for Each Book:
At least one of the authors belongs to or has close ties with the specific community represented in the book. They are able to accurately represent characters from personal experience.
The illustrator belongs to or has close ties with the community represented in the book, or the illustrations do not promote single stories, stereotypes, or negative portrayals of any one group.
The book has a 4 star review on Goodreads, or the reviews do not mention anything about bias in the story or illustrations.
The book presents fairly modern, relatable characters. The protagonists of picture books are not animals.
Positive representation of underrepresented groups (characters with commonly represented identities are not depicted as "heroes" saving those with underrepresented identities).
The book discusses relatable and important topics, or uses an engaging medium (like poetry or graphic novels).
Similar Projects to Check Out!
This is a grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated towards changing the industry to better reflect the experiences of young people. It offers various resources and programs for readers, authors, and publishers.
A project by the nonprofit organization Teaching For Change, which seeks to support teachers and parents in educating their kids. It contains a very large database of books and reviews, although not all of the books follow the #OwnVoices ideal.
Cooperative Children's Book Center
The program documents books for children by and about Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Every year they gather statistical analysis on the authors and protagonists of books published by all publishers and US-only publishers.
#OwnVoices Movement
This hashtag on social media and other platforms refers to when an author from a marginalized or underrepresented group writes about their own perspective, rather than someone else writing about a character from an underrepresented group. It was coined by Corinne Duyvis in 2015 to help facilitate representative book recommendations.