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When I read that the is launching a Children鈥檚 Booker Prize to 鈥済et more kids reading and increase representation,鈥� my first thought was: finally!聽One of the literary world鈥檚 most prestigious prizes is acknowledging what, as an educator, I鈥檝e been seeing for years: that so many children of color search for themselves in stories and come up empty.

Out of 3,619 children鈥檚 books the reviewed in 2023, only 16% depicted African/African American characters. And the numbers were even more dismal for other characters of color: 13% of books depicted Asian Pacific Islander/Asian Pacific American characters, 8% of books depicted Latino characters, and only 3% of books depicted Indigenous characters.

In today鈥檚 climate, this absence is even more alarming. Consider that the U.S. Department of Education has its Diversity & Inclusion Council, canceled diversity, equity and inclusion training contracts, and removed DEI-related resources from its website. For the third year in a row, my home state, Florida, ranked number one in restricting and removing books from schools.

Whether you’re a parent or educator, this should make you uncomfortable. These efforts to suppress and erase diverse perspectives only make it harder for children to ask questions about identity and appreciate the full beauty of the world. And communities 鈥� not just in Florida but nationwide 鈥� need to come together to protect inclusive learning spaces by organizing and showing up to local school board meetings. Fear-driven policies should not define what children are allowed to know.

Books can serve as powerful tools to teach children how to interrogate the world. Children are constantly asking questions about identity. These conversations are coming up organically, after all, we do live in a racialized society. But what happens when schools suppress ideas that could help them make sense of all they are seeing and hearing?

Well, that silence loudly communicates that educators don鈥檛 care about their thoughts and feelings, that the subject isn鈥檛 worth talking about, or that the subject must be avoided or feared. When those thoughts and comments go unaddressed, it leaves children to find answers elsewhere, sometimes from unreliable or inaccurate sources.

In addition, offering children more books with diverse characters can be incredibly affirming. For example, in my work at an education nonprofit, one day I stood observing a tutor complete a literacy assessment on a 4-year-old Black boy. As the tutor read from an assessment storybook, the boy noticed a Black in the book. 鈥淭hat boy is as Black as me!鈥� he exclaimed. The tutor looked at me, at a loss for words. I looked at the student, smiled and said, 鈥淗e sure is! And you鈥檙e both very handsome.鈥� I then looked at the tutor and gave him a gentle nod to continue the assessment. In that moment, that student鈥檚 very existence felt affirmed.

Reading books with diverse characters also helps develop empathy. I recall when a friend told me about her cousin who is a first-grade teacher in Florida. She had done a mock presidential election in her class between two book characters: Grace, a brown girl, and a duck. After the students voted, the teacher had the students explain why they voted for a particular candidate and created a chart to reflect their responses.

Some of the students who voted for the duck, responded 鈥淕irls can鈥檛 be president.鈥� Others said they voted against her because 鈥淪he鈥檚 brown.鈥� My first thought was 鈥淲ow, these are 6- and 7-year-olds. How did they even arrive at this conclusion?鈥� But I already knew the answer. We are all part of a racialized society, and our children are already having these conversations 鈥� on the school bus, in the lunchroom, on the playground.

This is why children should be exposed to diverse characters. They need to see the potential and possibilities that all people can have. Because if they don鈥檛 see it, it can be difficult to believe it, especially at an age when you鈥檙e still developing ideas of identity and self concept.

So educators and communities must do all they can to share stories that reflect a variety of experiences to help children build empathy, understanding and pride in themselves and in one another. That鈥檚 why the Children鈥檚 Book Prize announcement filled me with such hope. Representation does matter. Banning books that could impart critical lessons of understanding sends the wrong message.

So show up to your local school board meetings, make your voices heard. Young children need to cultivate a positive identity of themselves and others; they need to know that all people have stories worth telling; and they need to believe in their unlimited potential.

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