The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) sought out the expertise of UW–Madison’s Kathleen Horning for an article about the lack of diversity in children’s books, and how authors and publishers are working for greater representation.
Horning is the director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC), which is housed in the School of Education.
When Horning worked at a public library, the article begins, her story time for toddlers “also proved to be a moment of social research.”
“After reading diverse books to crowds of mostly white or mostly Black children,” the article continues, “Horning would arrange books on the floor at the toddlers’ eye level and wait. The children gravitated to books with familiar characters, but time and again, she saw white parents intervene — exchanging books that featured Black characters on the cover with different books.”
“The only time they didn’t replace the children’s choices was if they picked up a book with an animal character,” said Horning.
For Horning, this experience reinforced what she has long believed, the article says: “representation matters.”
Publishers are beginning to take note, and some are taking steps to increase their book list diversity. However, Horning told the AJC it will take time to see any impact.
“If three of the five big publishers really commit to doing what they say they are going to do and hire people of color and actively pursue people of color and give them good contracts and pay them … it will be another couple of years before we see the change,” she said.
From 2018 to 2019, the total number of children’s books by or about African Americans increased 0.5 percent said Horning, citing CCBC statistics. “We saw the same pattern we have seen in the past five years with a little bit of an increase but not a huge watershed moment,” Horning said.
To learn more, read the full article on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution website, here.