UW–Madison’s Madelyn Tyner spoke with the Indian general news and opinion website The Quint recently about why children’s books are becoming more diverse. CCBC data is also highlighted in the article.
Tyner is a librarian in the School of Education’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC). They have recently been appointed as chair of the American Library Association’s Notable Children’s Books Committee, where they will lead a group of 11 children’s librarians from around the nation to read and select notable books published in the United States for children from birth through age 14.
The article, headlined “Embracing Diversity: Indian American Children’s Literature Booming in the U.S.,” describes how children’s books about India and by Indian authors are gradually becoming more mainstream. Tyner explains why CCBC data shows an increase in diversity in children’s literature.
“Every year the number of books by and about people of color are increasing,” they say, “but in the last two years with the pandemic slowing down people’s lives and clearing more time for them to reflect and the reboot of social movements like Black Lives Matter following the George Floyd incident, there seems to be a genuine interest in diverse voices.”
Tyner says they believe nonprofits such as We Need Diverse Books have played an important role in changing people’s perception of diversity. They note that the organization’s 2016 online hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign “not only made schools and libraries more aware of the need and demand for more diverse representation when it comes to children’s books, but also pushed the publishing industry in the U.S. towards a major transition.”
Data from CCBC is also highlighted in the article. In 2008, this data showed that out of 3,000 children’s books, 98 featured Asian stories — and only two books had Indian American protagonists and were written by Indian American authors. In 2021, out of 3,356 children’s books, 351 featured Asian subjects, and 67 of these were Indian. In addition, 73 books had an Indian author or illustrator in 2021.
To learn more, read the full article.