Saturday, May 3, 2014

InCultureParent | Why Diversity in Children’s Books Matters

thanks to InCultureParent.com for bringing back an article I wrote just in time for #weneeddiversebooks
I recently received an e-mail from a Caucasian reader in Pennsylvania whose gifted seven-year-old daughter would rather be normal than smart. We think we have come such a long way; her father struggles to convince her that there are lots of other smart kids around the world who do well in math, yet this seven-year-old girl already knows.

The ache to be normal does not necessarily follow lines of color or culture or class.

Books are one way to expand the definition of normal beyond that presented in the mainstream. Through books, we can peer into another world, appreciate another point of view, find resonance where we did not expect it.
InCultureParent | Why Diversity in Children’s Books Matters

btw, today is the last day of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks virtual campaign going on may 1-3 on Twitter and other digital spaces that was triggered when
"BEA’s Bookcon recently announced an all-white-male panel of “luminaries of children’s literature,” and when we pointed out the lack of diversity, nothing changed..."
https://www.facebook.com/events/745853242132100/

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