Diversity in Children's Literature, a panel discussion

Panel Discussion: Diversity in Children’s Literature

Presented in partnership with

We Need Diverse Books/ I-READ

            Panelists/authors: Salina Yoon, Dan Santat, Jesse Klausmeier, and Jim Averback

Takeaways:

Jim, “Diverse (race, gender, physical ability, identity) books are not only for diverse kids!” As librarians we need to be mindful of our reader’s advisory and ensure that we are not only offering these books to children/families that we consider to be of diverse backgrounds.

Keep these books off the “issues“ shelf, such as the parenting books section.  For example, don’t place a book about a child with diabetes in a section separate from all the other picture books. Keep them accessible to children!

Basically, publishers will only print what will sell $$$!!!  It’s up to us as librarians, parents, community to purchase, demand, publicize books with diverse characters until one day these are no longer seen as a distinct type of picture book- they need to become part of the norm.  

and Dan Santat is Hilarious!!! by the way...

                  Dan, Jim, Salina, and Jesse

Q&A with the panelists:

1^st book that mirrored you (a book in which you saw yourself/characters you could relate to)

Dan: American-Born Chinese 

Jim: Where the Wild Things Are, King and King

Salina: Oh, What a Busy Day

Jesse: Play with Me

1^st book that gave you a view into the world outside of your own/ “Window Book”:

Dan: any books about Santa Claus (his parents were raised Buddhist, and so they were unfamiliar with the man who came down the chimney to deliver gifts)

Jim: Snowy Day

What led you to write books depicting diverse characters?

Jim: The Maker Bowl, his Peace Corp experience in Cameroon, and the goal of disseminating info from his host country here in the US.

Salina: This has always come natural to her.  In her new picture book, Be a Friend, the main character is a mime and reflects her silence as a young girl in the US before she learned to speak English. 

Dan: Took the characteristics of his wife and children and added those to the characters in his books, or illustrations

Your most challenging journey to publication?  Have you ever been asked to change a characters race, or gender?

Jim: 1^st book, In a Blue Room- his art (of an Indian girl) was rejected without any explanation.  Another book, depicting black and Caucasian children was rejected. He was told this was not because there was a character of a black boy, but because he as the author was not black-implying that it was not ok for him to write books about diverse characters as a Caucasian male.

Last thought? Experiences?

Jesse: spoke of her time as an editor- Double diversity (ie. a character that’s black and deaf, or Korean and blind) was frowned upon by publishers. They thought it was too much for readers to handle.

Dan: He was once given a twelve-page document outlining things he could not illustrate. For example, he could not depict the bottom of children’s feet or left-handed characters because publishers didn’t want to offend anyone and not be able to sell the books.