I’ve Got A Diverse Range Of Books, What Can I Do Next?

I’ve got a diverse range of books…what can I do next?

As is the case with many significant and seminal topics, the discussion around the diversification of literature cannot be simplified and streamlined. 

As we interrogate literature as it currently stands, we rarely get to tick off any boxes or pat ourselves on the back; more commonly we dig up further questions and issues. The premise of so much of our society is based around reading and literature; when we consider the fact that arguably the first connection a child may have with experiences other than those of the people who immediately surround them is through a book a family member might read to them.

When reading and writing are given such focus in discussions around a young child’s development when so much of a child’s intelligence throughout their school life is assessed (rightly or wrongly) based on their reading abilities, when we see how the right story can literally get a generation reading (think Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time and The Hate U Give), when we consider how literature creates ripples in society through film, television, music, socialising and our navigation of the world, when we go to people’s homes and see book shelves telling the book’s stories as well as the stories of the person who owns them and when we realise how books can be mirrors, windows and sliding doors, as Dr Rudine Sims Bishop famously said, when we really sit back and see all of this, it becomes incredibly clear how much of a role literature and everything which surrounds, constitutes and involves it plays in, well, everything. 

That is why calls for diversity in literature can feel so laborious and at times impossibly complicated; we are dissecting, unpicking, ironing out and rebuilding a system which has become very comfortable and stubborn. We are, for example, still at a point where only 10% of children’s books published in 2019 featured ethnic minority characters; note the broad term ‘characters’ here (source: CLPE (https://clpe.org.uk/clpes-reflecting-realities-survey-ethnic-representation-within-uk-children%E2%80%99s-literature-published)), and where it is not unusual for a student to leave secondary school having never studied a book by a black author (source: The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/30/many-gcse-pupils-never-study-a-book-by-a-bame-author)). Therefore, there will be no easy solutions or answers here, but a call to embrace the challenge of truly normalising and celebrating stories that are an accurate embodiment of the society we live in.

So, where shall we start? 

Finding and accessing texts written by a diverse range of writers can no doubt appear intimidating but it has actually never been easier. If you are unsure of where to look, check out some book recommendation lists;

(https://www.instagram.com/p/CL_HFvbg05W/),

(https://www.instagram.com/p/CDqmlqTATFH/) and

(https://www.teachfirst.org.uk/missing-pages-library).

If accessibility is an issue then initiatives like

@freebookscampaign (https://www.instagram.com/freebookscampaign/)

Penguin’s Lit in Colour project (https://www.penguin.co.uk/campaigns/lit-in-colour.html)

Are designed to help with access to books by a hugely diverse range of incredible writers.

Let’s look at some ideas for what can be done alongside obtaining diverse texts:

Be careful where you put the books

Now you have a lovely lot of books showing a holistic picture of many different experiences and voices, depending on your role (e.g. a parent or teacher), the physical placement of the books is vital. In the past year, I have stepped into several bookshops that have set up a ‘diverse voices’ corner or an area under a similar name. While seemingly well-meaning, this sends a message of ‘otherness’. France Winddance Twine, the sociologist who first coined the term ‘racial literacy’ describes “aesthetic and consumption practices” as a “critical dimension of racial literacy”; whether you’re a school librarian or a parent, be careful about framing the books as tokenistic in any way.

Consider why you are reading the books

These books should not be a plaster to stick over the lack of diversity in whichever sphere you find yourself in, for example adding the dreaded ‘stories from other cultures’ Scheme of Work to your school English curriculum. They should be embedded. We all know ‘embedding’ has become something of a buzz word (see a great breakdown here (https://www.instagram.com/p/CLrDr_Rh_SR/) about what the word means in an educational sense) but to bring it back to basics for a second, the dictionary definition literally means to “fix (an object) firmly and deeply in a surrounding mass” so tokenism, quick fix and performative approaches have no place here. Read the books to enjoy them (if you don’t end up enjoying them that’s also fine!) and to learn. That’s it. 

The writer’s race should not always be the main focus for your reading

While the writer’s identity is undoubtedly important, we want to avoid reading texts as a form of virtue signalling, white saviourism and victimising. We read books by racialised writers because they’re wonderfully crafted writing, not simply to fit an agenda. Read books by non-white writers about everything, not just about struggle.

Learn (at least a bit) about the book you’re reading

Reading a book for the first time alongside your child/class can be a hugely enriching experience for everyone involved. That said, doing a bit of research beforehand into themes that come up in the book/potentially sensitive topics/scenes can ensure that the reading of this book is also as safe as possible for everyone involved. Blasting through brazenly without gproper care for the story that’s being told can be significantly traumatising and confusing for those reading along. Take the classic example of Of Mice and Men. I have heard from various people that their experience of reading the text when they were in school without any engagement of issues surrounding race, especially the use of the ‘n word’ in the novel, was extremely damaging. In this example, Steinbeck, the writer, doesn’t explicitly point out issues of race for us but he (knowingly or not) creates a clear opportunity to do so through the treatment of Crooks’ character in particular. To ignore that opportunity can have very negative long-term consequences. I’d argue that the ways a story is read and engaged with is of equal importance to the story itself. You don’t have to know all the answers and always say the right thing; be vulnerable and see your role as the reader as just as vital as that of the writer. Get active with your reading. 

What do all of the above have in common? 

They put the reading experience and everything it brings at the centre. I run a small Year 9 reading group at the school I teach at in North London called Inclusive Exploration. We are currently reading Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo which no one in the room has read before, including me (but I have done my homework on it!). The group is nothing ground-breaking; I sit down with them, ask them how they are, tell them to get comfortable and read to them. Some sessions we don’t pause once to discuss, other times we barely read a page because they want to talk about something that has happened in the plot or about another book they are reading. The group is built on mutual respect through rules we decided on as a group in the first session which we always follow (e.g. no hands up and one person speaks at a time until they have finished explaining their idea). I love these sessions and want to mention them here because this shows how easily we can make diverse books a valuable and seamless part of everyday life. If we all continue to do this in our own spheres, hopefully one day the need for the phrase ‘diverse books’ will be obsolete; books will be diverse by their very nature.

At The Black Curriculum, our aim is to widen the scope of Black history education by exposing young people to the diversity that composes the Black experience over time. Check out some of the previous blogs we have published to help the teaching of Black British history.

Get some reading list recommendations by top teacher platforms here

Find a list of Black-owned book stores you can support here

Lastly, have a read of our blog on ‘how to speak to your young person about race’ (11-16 yr olds) here