Gone are the days of traditional literature with stereotypical characters. Students need to see themselves in what they read. We Need Diverse Books™ is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and a grassroots organization of children’s book lovers that advocates essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people. Here is the link to WNDB website: https://diversebooks.org/.
I have been following #weneeddiversebooks on Twitter every since VAASL in November. Kwame Alexander, Ruta Sepetys., Meg Medina, and Lamar Giles, just to name a few authors, are supporters of WNDB. The organization awards authors for diversity in their writing, provide grants, and has a mentor program. Our libraries need to promote diversity.
A great way to get started promoting diverse books is to use the Book Talking kit provided by WNDB and SLJ. Thank you to Grace Lin for creating the “Cheat Sheet for Selling Diversity” which is the inspiration for the kit. The kit is designed to shed light on the lesser-known diverse books. It is not a comprehensive list or a best seller list. The kit is broken into elementary, middle, and young adult book lists. I especially liked the bookmarks that are if you liked...then read...
We Need Diverse Books should be an initiative in all school libraries because of the diversity in all schools. It is essential that students that students see characters, lifestyles, and communities like their own in what they read. What better way to get all students reading!
Krista C.
Take a look at this article from the Huffington Post for startling statistics about the lack of diverse books: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/02/we-need-diverse-books_n_5253934.html
Book Talking Kit: https://diversebooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/We-Need-Diverse-Books-Spring-2015-Booktalking-Kit-1.pdf
We Need Diverse Books. (2018). We Need Diverse Books. Retrieved February 04, 2018, from https://diversebooks.org/
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