Diversity statistics collected by UW–Madison’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) were highlighted last month in a report from Madison’s local NBC affiliate, NBC15.
The CCBC’s newest data show that 45 percent of books sent to the CCBC and published last year were written by people of color, while 35 percent were about people of color.
“Really in the past 10 (years), there’s been a big shift by the publishing industry to respond to calls from readers and book creators to have more diversity in what’s being published,” CCBC Director Tessa Schmidt tells NBC15. “When this was started almost 40 years ago, you could count on your fingers the number of books being published by Black book creators.”
The NBC15 report also draws attention to an increase in censorship of children’s books, noting: “The American Library Association announced in March that attempts to censor books in schools and public libraries reached a 20-year high last year, doubling the previous record set the year before.”
Administratively housed in the School of Education and also supported by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the CCBC serves as a resource to Wisconsin schools, teachers, librarians, and others interested in children’s and young adult literature. The center’s team of librarians works to: provide expertise in contemporary children’s and young adult literature; increase diversity in children’s and young adult literature; provide intellectual freedom services to schools and public libraries; and recommend outstanding books for children and teenagers.
Read the full NBC15 report.