If you are in a hurry I would skip to Book Sources and Video: Film and Television for ideas. If you have plenty of time and want to research I’d start with Databases or Reference Sources. This is where you’ll find psychological impact, studies, and data on the current state of diversity and representation in children’s books.
If you are trying to find books and media about children of color just living their lives and just being kids this is the perfect place to look! I hope you find this accumulation of sources helpful!
This source reads somewhat like a news source, but since it
is from a commentary blog I included it in Free Online Resources. This is the
cite that convinced me that it was important to distinguish the difference
between cultural representation on its own and cultural representation from
representative authors.
Goodreads is a
fantastic resource for all things books. For anyone who does not use the site
they don’t need to have an account to search the list feature on any subject
you can think of and picture books are one of this aggregated book site’s
specialties.
This LibGuide has a comprehensive list of different
categories by race and culture. It recommends books, both that teach tolerance
and promote representation in every day life. It would function as a great
resource to narrow down further to one topic or the other.
I included this research guide because
it did a wonderful job at mainly including books about children’s experiences
rather than teaching diversity as if it were a lesson, rather than a reality
for everyone to relate to. The only
downside is the inability to return to the navigation bar without scrolling the
entire page.
I
included this one because scholastic does a wonderful job at recommending books
by authors that represent the culture they are writing about which was a
difficult thing to do without relying on one source like this one.
I
included this reference list because it did something I did not see in any
other reference materials; which was the inclusion of which teachers
recommended and wrote the lists as a source of authority. If I were working
with others to create this guide I would have adopted this method.
Reflection Press.
Based on the work & philosophy of Maya Gonzalez. Children’s
This webpage was a necessary
reference to the current state of the statistics on race and the ability to
compare and contrast those with the percentage of authors of color and
characters of color in books and media.
Fikes, Robert. (2001). Setting aside race: Selected books by
black authors wherein
blackness is
not a theme. Behavioral & Social
Sciences Librarian.,20(1), 15-44.
This
article was necessary to point out the fact that African American writers have
written more about race and “Blackness” than other topics. This was chosen
since this research guide is meant to showcase authors that do just this.
ISHIZUKA, K. (2018). Can Diverse
Books Save Us? School Library Journal, 64(11),
This
article points out that some children still see diversity as a problem to
overcome
rather than a strength and this argues that the more diverse books
the more tolerant
children and teens will be. It does not state whether the subjects of the books
librarians include are on inclusion or just representative, but its subject
matter still fit the criteria.
Pugh, Q. (2018). Every Month Is
Black History Month: Richland Library uses
programming
and dialogue to engage the African-American community year-
Instead
of making black history and black culture a once a year event this library has
made it a monthly program where people can express themselves and their culture
without having to teach others tolerance. I included this article because it
presents the attitude that the media and opportunities should represent the
population and be a part of the everyday, not simply an event.
Warinske,
Angela Scott (2016) “Missing Multiculturalism: Finding Diverse Picture
This
article was about the importance of multicultural and diverse books for
children. It talked about the trend of favoring white authors and white
protagonists in kids books and how moving against this would be positive. I
chose this article because it makes solid arguments for the Research guide.
Database:
King Library:Library and Information Science Source
Google: News: (Following Searches)
Google: Diverse Representation in Children’s books
Like
Target this site didn’t have a great way of searching diverse materials and the
search parameters didn’t allow for much. I was surprised since this is a store
that sells books and by topic, but there was not a category for diversity and
there was no way to do an advanced search on a custom topic.
Curtis, C. P. (2018). Bud, not Buddy.
Waterville, ME: Thorndike Press, a part of Gale,
a
Cengage Company.
This
book is about a young boy trying to find his father after the death of his
mother. Although it takes place in 1936 Flint Michigan, the books subject
matter is Bud trying to find himself and where he belongs rather than the
historical context of the depression or his race. I included it because it is a
coming of age story that features a boy who happens to be African American.
Lê, Minh. (2018). Drawn
Together. New York, NY: Disney-Hyperion
The
picture book is kept short and simple illustrating the relationship
between
a grandfather and a grandson who don’t speak the same language,
but
communicate with one another nonetheless. I included it because it
narrates
the differences between generations and the connections that can
be
made in spite of these differences. The boy just so happens to be
Vietnamese
.
Nino Wrestles the World. (2015).
Turtleback Books.
This
book shows a little boy playing and imagining himself as a luchador
fighting
many different monsters until his sister’s naptime is over only to be
defeated
by them and then join them. The children in the story are Hispanic
and
bilingual, but at no point does the author try to teach culture or
tolerance,
just the universal idea of fun and sibling rivalry; something any
child
could relate to.
Thompson, R., Lee, S., Ford, T.,
& Fish, V. (2016). Silk. New York, NY: Marvel
Worldwide.
This
story is about a young woman who gets bitten by a radioactive spider
and
gets superpowers. Silk is just like Spiderman, except she’s pretending to
be
a villain. She is a superhero in disguise, a spy, and just so happens to be
Korean.
Wilson, G. W., Bondoc, E.,
Miyazawa, T., Herring, I., Kniivila, I., Caramagna, J., . . .
Tedesco, J. T. (2015). Ms. Marvel. New
York, NY: Marvel Worldwide,, a
subsidiary of
Marvel Entertainment, LLC.
Ms. Marvel is
similar to Silk except the audience is a little younger. Kamala
Khan is an
ordinary girl who is in the wrong place at the wrong time and
ends up being able
to stretch and shrink her body any way she wants, is
particularly
strong, and can heal quite fast. She happens to be one of the
first Middle
Eastern Muslim superheroes.
Zolotow, C., Miguéns, M. A., &
Dragonwagon, C. (2018). A tiger called Tomás.
Naperville,
IL: Sourceworks Jabberwocky.
This
book is included because it depicts a young man who has just moved
and
doesn’t have many friends, and is going trick or treating. It is bilingual
and
the boy happens to be Hispanic.
Journal
Databases & Articles
Caswell,
M. caswell@gseis. ucla. ed., Migoni, A. A., Geraci, N., & Cifor, M. (2017).
‘To
This webpage was a necessary
reference to the current state of the statistics on race and the ability to
compare and contrast those with the percentage of authors of color and
characters of color in books and media.
Fikes, Robert. (2001). Setting aside race: Selected books by
black authors wherein
blackness is
not a theme. Behavioral & Social
Sciences Librarian.,20(1), 15-44.
This
article was necessary to point out the fact that African American writers have
written more about race and “Blackness” than other topics. This was chosen
since this research guide is meant to showcase authors that do just this.
ISHIZUKA, K. (2018). Can Diverse
Books Save Us? School Library Journal, 64(11),
This
article points out that some children still see diversity as a problem to
overcome
rather than a strength and this argues that the more diverse books
the more tolerant
children and teens will be. It does not state whether the subjects of the books
librarians include are on inclusion or just representative, but its subject
matter still fit the criteria.
Pugh, Q. (2018). Every Month Is
Black History Month: Richland Library uses
programming
and dialogue to engage the African-American community year-
Instead
of making black history and black culture a once a year event this library has
made it a monthly program where people can express themselves and their culture
without having to teach others tolerance. I included this article because it
presents the attitude that the media and opportunities should represent the
population and be a part of the everyday, not simply an event.
Warinske,
Angela Scott (2016) “Missing Multiculturalism: Finding Diverse Picture
This
article was about the importance of multicultural and diverse books for
children. It talked about the trend of favoring white authors and white
protagonists in kids books and how moving against this would be positive. I
chose this article because it makes solid arguments for the Research guide.
Reference
Sources
Library Metropolitan College of New
York. LibGuides. Cultural Diverstiy in
This LibGuide has a comprehensive list of different
categories by race and culture. It recommends books, both that teach tolerance
and promote representation in every day life. It would function as a great
resource to narrow down further to one topic or the other.
I included this research guide because
it did a wonderful job at mainly including books about children’s experiences
rather than teaching diversity as if it were a lesson, rather than a reality
for everyone to relate to. The only
downside is the inability to return to the navigation bar without scrolling the
entire page.
I
included this one because scholastic does a wonderful job at recommending books
by authors that represent the culture they are writing about which was a
difficult thing to do without relying on one source like this one.
I
included this reference list because it did something I did not see in any
other reference materials; which was the inclusion of which teachers
recommended and wrote the lists as a source of authority. If I were working
with others to create this guide I would have adopted this method.
Reflection Press.
Based on the work & philosophy of Maya Gonzalez. Children’s
This source reads somewhat like a news source, but since it
is from a commentary blog I included it in Free Online Resources. This is the
cite that convinced me that it was important to distinguish the difference
between cultural representation on its own and cultural representation from
representative authors.
This is devoted to the subject of
diverse books and literature for kids. I list it
because it has many more in-house
links that direct searches forward when
interested in a book rather than
simply listing them or including images of
them.
Goodreads. Lists. Multicultural
Children’s books. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/20477.Multicultural_Children_s_Lit
Goodreads is a fantastic resource for all things
books. For anyone who does not use the site they don’t need to have an account
to search the list feature on any subject you can think of and picture books
are one of this aggregated book site’s specialties.
The goal of this research guide is to find books that
feature children and characters of color as the primary protagonist. Once these
media materials were located the subject matter was considered. If the books
was about race, or teaching tolerance it was not included.
The
questions considered were as follows:
Is it a form of media with a POC character at its center?
Is that book about that child’s experience without being overtly about race?
Does the media represent the characters as they actually appear or as an implied characters of color?
Did an author that represents the same background as the main character write the book?
In terms of research and free resources evaluations were
made based on its subject matter, source, and authority. If it did not meet
these standards it was not included. If
all of the answers to the above question are Yes they are included.
If the answer to one of the criteria questions is No those
materials were not included in the guide, but were listed in materials that
were sorted out in order to present a sense of transparency for the process in
which materials were chosen.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58909527/Storm_Reid_A_Wrinkle_in_Time.0.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/44393108/ANNIE_DOM_QUEBEC_1SHEET-header.0.0.jpg)
Research Library Guide 