Presentation for 8th Annual Adolescent Summer Literacy Institute, William Paterson University, July 7, 2014 entitled "Deconstructing the Debate about the Lack of Diversity in Young Adult Literature."

1. Deconstructing the Debate about the Lack
of Diversity in Young Adult Literature
Sharon Rawlins, Youth Services Specialist,
NJ State Library srawlins@njstatelib.org
2014 Adolescent Summer Literacy Institute,
William Paterson University

2. •What does diverse
content in literature
mean to you?

3. Publishing decision makers define it as:
Stories that go beyond the white heterosexual
middle class (literary agent Barry Goldblatt)
Centers on community, including ethnic,
religious, LGBTQ (Angus Killick, Macmillan
Children’s Publishing Group)
From SLJ’s The Diversity Issue, May 2014, “The Publishing
Perspective” by Karen Springen, pg. 21-24

4. While people of color make up about 37% of
the population in the United States, less than
10% of books feature diverse characters.
Statistics Gathered by the Cooperative Children's Book Center
School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison

5. Year Total
Number
of Books
Published
(Est.)
Number
of Books
Received
at CCBC
African /
African Americans
American Indians
Asian Pacifics/
Asian Pacific
Americans Latinos
By About By About By About By About
2013 5,000 3,200 68 93 18 34 90 69 48 57
Children's Books By and About People of Color
Published in the U.S.
Statistics Gathered by the Cooperative Children's
Book Center
School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison

6. NJ Census White 73.8% 77.9%
Black or African American 14.7% 13.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6% 1.2%
Asian 9.0% 5.1%
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander 0.1% 0.2%
Two or more races 1.9% 2.4%
Hispanic or Latino 18.5% 16.9%
(separate from the concept of Hispanic origin)
White alone 58.2% 63.0%
(respondents who said "No, not Spanish/Hispanic/Latino)

7. Age distribution of people with daily activity
limitations in New Jersey, 2009

8. Here are eight steps to all-inclusive reading proposed by Lee & Low Books:
• Does your book list or collection include books with characters of color? LGBTQ?
Differently-abled?
• Does it include books with a main character of color? LGBTQ? Differently-abled?
• Does it include books written or illustrated by a person of color? Of different
nationalities, religions or sexual preference?
• Are there any books with a person of color on the cover? Do the characters on
the book covers accurately reflect the characters in the book?
• Think about your student population. Does your list provide a mix of “mirror”
books and “window” books for your students—books in which they can see
themselves reflected and books in which they can learn about others?
• Think about the subject matter of your diverse books. Do all your books featuring
black characters focus on slavery? Do all your books about Latino characters
focus on immigration? Are all your LGBTQ books coming out stories?
• Do you have any books featuring diverse characters that are not primarily about
race or prejudice?
• Consider your classic books, both fiction and nonfiction. Do any contain hurtful
racial or ethnic stereotypes , or images (e.g. Little House on the Prairie or The
Indian in the Cupboard)? If so, how will you address those stereotypes with
students? Have you included another book that provides a more accurate
depiction of the same culture?

9. #Weneeddiversebooks campaign
((http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/)
Take these Reading Challenges:
“Diversity on the Shelf”
(http://bit.ly/1h34M54)
“Latin@s in KidLit” (http://bit.ly/1dy5tm4)
“Africa Reading Challenge”
(http://tinyurl.com/ka2scaw)

11. For Middle School
Readers

29. Nonfiction for Grades 6 - 12

40. For Young Adult Readers

79. Books featuring
differently-abled
characters

120. Books featuring LGBTQ or non-
heterosexual, or non-
cisgendered characters

131. Books set in or about Haiti
(as an example of books on
a common theme to tie into
CCSS)

140. The End
Thank You!