The Multiracial Population is Growing, But Kid Lit Isn't Keeping Up

O'Brien, Sarah

Brown, Monica. (2014) The Multiracial Population is Growing, But Kid Lit Isn’t Keeping Up. School Library Journal.

When a girl in Meolida’s class referred to her as “white,” Melodia corrected her only to be told, “Your white to me. During a conversation on race between school kids, Melodia says, “That’s the way people are. They have to label everything and if they don’t know you, they have to make stuff up.” When it comes to race in our society, our culture is definitely quick to label, exclude, bully and judge. And for those who do not necessarily fall under the right label, we’re quick to exclude or question authenticity. With the multiracial population growing and this country being described as the ‘tossed salad’ instead of the melting pot, racial identity is no longer black or white. In the example of the conversation between school kids in the beginning of this article, it is especially hard for children to identify as only one race. Multiracialism is an important identity in our culture now, therefore it’s time that children’s literature should develop more complex and realistic representations of race. Children’s books need to represent the biracial or multiracial experience, and not only black and white.

In all the courses I’ve taken on Children’s Literature, (from college and graduate school) the exclusion of race seems to be one of the biggest problems we face. Unless we’re reading history books, why is race often left out in what we are reading to our children? As someone who has worked in libraries for five years and exclusively in the Children’s Room for three of those years, I have seen little improvement in trying to fix this. We need to include diversity for many reasons, having an accurate portrayal and representation of other ethnicities as well as learning from different cultures. Don’t we want our children to be curious about different cultures, different people? In developing juvenile collections, it is imperative to include all backgrounds of life to be a part of not only the nonfiction collection but the fiction collection as well. How many culturally diverse picture books can you count and chapter books? It’s not many and it’s something that needs to be changed and quickly.