More Than Words: A challenge for everyone who’s been asking for more diversity in kids’ books

There’s been a lot of talk lately on social media about diversity in the children’s literature community, and it is wonderful to see so many people asking for more of it. Authors, illustrators, readers, teachers, and librarians have had a lot to say about events like ReedPOP’s homogenous all-star panel of children’s literature “luminaries” proposed for BookCon. The message was clear – our world is more diverse than this, and many of us want the public face of children’s literature to show that. Census estimates show that about half of America’s five-year-olds are members of racial and ethnic minority groups now, and there has been a strong call for books that represent that reality.

Speaking up is one great way to ask for change. But buying books may be an even better way.

At the end of the day, publishing is a business that needs to make money to survive. Given that reality, the best way for readers to ask for more diversity in children’s literature is not with words and tweets and blog posts alone but also with dollars.

If you read my recent blog post on Varian Johnson’s new middle school heist novel, THE GREAT GREENE HEIST, you know how much I loved this book, because it’s incredibly well written, a page turner of a read, and full of diverse, complicated characters.  It is exactly the kind of book many of us have been asking to see more often. So let’s try asking with more than words.

THE GREAT GREENE HEIST comes out on May 27th. I am pre-ordering two copies from one of my local indies, Flying Pig Books in Shelburne, VT. I’m going to keep one for my family and give the other one away in a drawing here on my blog after it arrives.

Who wants to join me?

I’m not going to lie – I’d love to see this title on the NY Times Bestseller list. I’d like every kid to meet Jackson Greene and Gaby de la Cruz.  We may not accomplish that, but if everyone who has been asking for more diversity in children’s literature pre-orders a copy (or two) from a local independent bookstore in the next three weeks, it sure will send one heck of a message to the people in charge of our industry and our book tours and panels.  Let’s show them that we really do want to see more books like this – books with diverse characters, written by men and women of all different cultural backgrounds – and that we’ll support those books with more than just words.

P.S. Does it matter where you buy your copy? It does. local bricks-and-mortar bookstores are essential in getting all kinds of books in front of readers. Pre-ordering from an indie helps a book by a) making it more likely that title will land on the bestseller list and b) letting indie booksellers know that this is a book they’ll want to hand sell. Varian Johnson will also be signing copies of THE GREAT GREENE HEIST pre-ordered from one of his local independent bookstores, and I’ll add details about that soon.