Content area
Full text
Part 1 of this article appeared in The School Librarian 61-3 Autumn 2013.
In my last article, I wrote about the need for children's books which reflect our diverse society.
In this follow-up piece, I would like to explore the subject further, particularly in relation to selecting books. It should go without saying that simply ensuring that our shelves include a few books in which a black face appears or a wheelchair has been added as an afterthought simply doesn't cut the mustard if one is trying to create a genuinely inclusive library. So how should we assess what makes a really good inclusive book? How can we ensure our libraries offer a comprehensive range of inclusive titles, celebrating diversity, avoiding tokenism and reflecting all children's lives, experiences, families and communities?
I can't promise all the answers in two pages but what I can do is take several specific aspects of diversity and suggest a few ways in which you might assess how your own library performs in relation to acknowledging them.
In considering the term 'diversity' the most obvious association is probably that of cultural diversity. However, many other aspects of diversity - including age, gender, disability, family composition, sexual preference, socio-economic status, etc - are just as pertinent to the diversity discussion, and yet can sometimes be overlooked.
The children's book landscape needs to acknowledge all children - and all forms of diversity - and to do so in a genuine and non-tokenistic way. This was one of my reasons for working with Beth Cox to establish Inclusive Minds, a collective concerned with all aspects of diversity in children's literature. It was also one of my reasons for working with Sean Stockdale and Ros Asquith to create Max the Champion, a picture book demonstrating how it is possible to include numerous positive images of disability, in a natural and unobtrusive way.
For the purposes of this article, let's start by considering some of the arguably more neglected aspects of diversity.
One such area is the depiction of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller...