Give The Gift of Inclusion This Holiday Season: Multicultural Children's Books

In a note I wrote three years ago, I mentioned how difficult it was (and still is) to find a black doll for my niece while shopping for the holidays.

I find the same to be true for children’s books. It still remains difficult to find books with characters and stories that allow her to see herself in them.

A friend wanted to find children’s books that normalized the every day experiences of families in the LGBT community, but was having trouble finding resources.

If you’ve ever been in a similar situation, and/or just want to expose your child, or the children in your life to experiences and worldviews different from their own, Dr. Shayla Griffin has compiled a list of multicultural children’s books regarding race & ethnicity, as well as stories centered in the lives of LGBT families that I’m sharing here for your reference and use. They range from kindergarten and up.

A List of Multicultural Children’s Books: Race & Ethnicity, LGBT

The list if from 2012, however if there are others you would like to add, feel free to share them with me in the comments or by email.

I also found lists of books that feature stories about people with disabilities and accessibility themes:

A Select Bibliography

From GoodReads:
Books that share the experience of people with disabilities or engage the concept of accommodation due to differences

From TeacherVision:
Children’s Books About Disabilities

Let me know if you have additional resources related to ability as well.

Why is it still so hard to find books that are representative?

Lee and Low Books, “an independent children’s book publisher specializing in diversity” reached out to academics, authors, librarians, educators, and others to gain some insight to this question a couple of years ago on their blog.

There were many answers that came up, but one that continues to surface is the idea that books with multicultural content just won’t sell.

This interview from National Public Radio’s Code Switch Blog in August of this year, that theme remains the same. It also highlights some of the barriers to getting more books past the gatekeepers who don’t always value stories different from their own.

“Your ability to be able to imagine there being a market has to do with your ability to imagine that those people exist. And if you can’t imagine that people of color actually exist and can buy books, then you can’t imagine selling books to them. That’s not about a company diversity policy, it’s about actually knowing what’s going on in communities of color.”

Here’s a video from the WE NEED DIVERSE BOOKS Campaign that was mentioned in Code Switch’s podcast that highlights the importance of diverse representation in books.

Books can open up a world of possibilities. Books can also affirm the experiences of marginalized people in a society that often erases them.

The barriers to getting these books published, added to the small number of them that are available, combined with the difficulty that can be experienced when attempting to find them proves that this erasure starts at an early age.

Access is important.

Check out those lists and give the gift of inclusion and affirmation this holiday season and all year round.

Because Representation Matters.

Ubuntu,

From Aspiring Humanitarian, Relando Thompkins-Jones, MSW, LLMSW

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