Yes, or schools, libraries and our children deserve diverse books. So what is stopping our libraries and classrooms from reflecting the diverse faces of our children?
A big part of the problem is how our economy works. "Popular" books make more money for publishers. Books that don't sell enough, or whose publishers don't predict they will sell enough, are only available for a short time. When the books from the first printing are sold, that often means they are no longer available. Out of Print.
I have recently been working to bring more diversity to our "chapter books" the books and particulary series that are written for children who are able to read longer books (chapters) but are not yet ready for the dense text and small print of a novel. This reading level is dominated series such as "Junie B. Jones," by Barbara Park and "Magic Tree House" by Mary Pope Osborne. Series help young readers by providing familiar characters and sometimes predictable situations. So what does this have to do with diversity?
You have to be able to purchase multiple books in a series to provide young readers with this scafold. If you are a school librarian, like me, in NYC you can only purchase "hard cover, library processed books" from a limited number of vendors or "book jobbers." Of course "Junie B. Jone," "Ivy and Bean," "Ramona," and "Judy Moody" are available. Maybe not every single book each time I go shopping, but in a broad variety. Sharon Draper's "Sassy" books, however are now only available as eBooks. "Ruby and the Booker Boys," a well recieved series by Derrick Barnes is only available in paperback. I've been trying to get the series "Willimena Rules" for years.
What can we do to help? Buy these books! Demand that diverse super heroes like "Space Taxi," "Zapato Power," "Gum Girl," "Sticker Girl" stay in print.
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