Children's Literature and Diversity

For centuries United States is called popularly as a melting pot.Now our country is rich in multicultural and children's literature which reflects all of the glorious differences in our country.Selecting good books that will illustrate the diversity of our country can be difficult but is certainly a worthwhile venture.

Many media specialists in schools and librarians use Booklist and other publications to help them choose the best books for their schools or libraries. At one time, a librarian could not even order a book without a publication review. Although pouring over these publications is still a great selection tool, the Internet can also help. There are many databases that list books about different cultures.

Visiting book stores is another great way to select books with diverse characters. Don't be fooled by a book with a white protagonist and one Black friend who is a minor character. That book does not actually reflect diversity. It's better than an all white book but not exactly what we want.

In fact some of the books librarians might choose to add diversity to the collection might not even feature a white character. Books about American Indians, Afro-Americans, Hispanic people, Asians, and other non white characters are not in huge supply but they are out there. You just have to look.

Another way to add diversity to a library is in the Biography section. If you were to do a study of most libraries' Biography section, you would find that most of the books are about white men. Times are changing. There are so many biographies about famous people of color and libraries must make an effort to buy them. Particularly if a school has many minority students, librarians have a duty to make sure that their collection reflects their population. Catalogs arrive in libraries every day. These catalogs have myriads of collections of multicultural encyclopedias and biographies.

For centuries textbooks and book publishers have ignored the diverse peoples who have helped to shape and save America. Very little was written about the Black man's contributions in our many wars until the end of the last century. Now historians are finally researching and writing books that aren't all about the white man's America. Librarians need to check for holes in their collections and fill them with children's literature that promotes diversity.

As our country changes, libraries and school media centers have the obligation to ass diverse children's books so that students gain an understanding of all of the cultures that make up the new America.

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