While school library collections endeavour to maintain a place for cherished classics and beloved old favourites, careful collection development ensures that the school library is also a rich source of new, diverse and inclusive literature for everyone in the community.
Books are powerful teachers as through them we learn about ourselves and our peers. This is why it so important that the literature in a school, classroom or home library serves as both “window and mirror” for young readers. While window books allow children to expand their understanding of others and gain new cultural perspectives, mirror books provide children with the opportunity to see representations of themselves and their experiences. Everyone working with children and books has a part to play in ensuring that all children can find authentic representations of themselves in books, as well as seeing those who are different from them. According the CCBC (USA), "73 percent of the characters in children’s books published in 2015 were white." While we are certainly seeing publishers demonstrate a greater awareness of this issue today, there is still a long way to go. A 2020 UK study found that just 5% of children’s books have black, Asian or minority ethnic protagonists – a very small improvement from 1% in 2017.
June is LGBTQ Pride Month, offering another opportunity to highlight the commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion we as a school advocate. No matter what your family looks like, celebrating Pride, diverse families and gender identities in books once again proffers that positive message about embracing difference that we want children to receive loud and clear.
There are so many underrepresented groups in children’s books but a few authors who are lighting the DEI way are experiencing great success have some words of encouragement for us:
"I am loo
king forward to the day that I read a newspaper, and someone says: ‘I grew up reading Jason Reynolds and that’s why I knew I could do this.' Then I’ll know, I’ve done my job.” Reynolds is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His books include Stamped, When I Was the Greatest, The Boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys, As Brave as You, For Every One, Ghost, Patina, Sunny and Lu, Look Both Ways, and Long Way Down.
"I th
ought about my son's struggle with ADHD and dyslexia. I imagined the faces of all the students I’d taught who had these same conditions. I felt the need to honour them, to let them know that being different wasn’t a bad thing. Intelligence wasn’t always measurable with a piece of paper and a number two pencil. Talent didn’t come in only one flavour".
School teacher Rick Riordan began his phenomenal success as a children's book author with the Percy Jackson series that he wrote for his son, who like Percy, has learning differences.
Embracing diversity equity and inclusion is a collective responsibility and the ISL Library Team is committed to its role as your ally in the endeavour. Come to us for recommendations, reading lists, or to recommend books that could add positively to our collection. In the meantime we hope you will visit our DEI display in the Lower School Library space and you can see below some of our favourite titles that support DEI, along with some further recommended reading and resources.
Librarian Recommended Titles
Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by
reen loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she'll have to answer the question over and over again. Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. 
A Good Kind of Trouble by
Twelve-year-old Shayla is allergic to trouble. All she wants to do is to follow the rules. (Oh, and she'd also like to make it through seventh grade with her best friendships intact, learn to run track, and have a cute boy see past her giant forehead.) But in junior high, it's like all the rules have changed. Now she's suddenly questioning who her best friends are and some people at school are saying she's not black enough. Wait, what? Shay's sister, Hana, is involved in Black Lives Matter, but Shay doesn't think that's for her. After experiencing a powerful protest, though, Shay decides some rules are worth breaking.
The Proudest Blue by
Recommended Online Resources and Articles 
Mirror and Window books
https://diversebooks.org/resources/
https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/experts/rudine-sims-bishop
https://scenicregional.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf
http://readingwhilewhite.blogspot.com/
https://www.thediversebookawards.co.uk/
Pride booklists
https://www.sevenstories.org.uk/learning/books-and-resources/reading-with-pride
Rocket, from Rocket Says Look Up! by Nathan Bryon ; illustrated by Dapo Adeola.
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