Why It Matters

In 2019, the Cooperative Children's Book Center reported that only 11.9% of the books they received that year had at least one main character of African descent. This is compared to the 29.2% of those books received whose main character was an animal or other non-human creature. This means that animals receive more representation from children's literature than actual children. And while these stories often teach lessons about diversity in their own way, these lessons cannot compare to the impact of being represented by a human character that has experienced the same things as a child reading the story. From 2018 to 2019, the increase in books received with under-represented characters (when it did in fact increase) was less than 1%. These statistics show that while there may be some growth in the industry for these under-represented groups of people, there is still a long way to go.

But representation is about more than just statistics. While they are important, the true impact of representation comes on an individual level.

• Children around the world deserve to see themselves in novels about their shared experiences

• Media that is consumed by children is often internalized, and when they do not see people and characters that look like them, they can often feel invalidated by their own existence

• Representation shapes how children perceive race and ethnicity. Harmful stereotypes lead to a solidification of that stereotype in the child's mind

• The physical appearance of a character does not always determine whether a person who looks like them will relate to that character

• Even if kids don't relate to these characters on a personal level, even just reading about characters who share their experiences and cultures helps them feel seen and understood