TECH AS AN EQUALIZER:WE READ TOOKaya Thomas

BOOKS BY AND FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR

Annually the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison collects data on thousands of books published in the US and Canada.

In 2015, less than 11% of the children’s books were written by people of color and less than 15% were written about people of color.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR KIDS OF COLOR?

“My students are 4 and 5 years old, and finding excellent books for them featuring people of color, kids with two dads, kids with no dad,

or girls who slay dragons is a persistent challenge. Like many educators, I find myself returning to a handful of treasured titles, including ‘Peeny Butter Fudge’ and Lee’s ‘Please, Baby, Please.’”

-Amy Rothschild, educator

MY STORY

Avid reader from the age of 2.

By the time I was in high school I went to the library nearly every day after school.

WE READ TOO

iPhone application launched in 2014.

I manually collected information on over 300 children’s and teen books written by authors of color.

Now, the app’s directory contains over 600 books.

RESPONSE FROM AUTHORS

RESPONSE FROM EDUCATORS AND PARENTS

CALL TO ACTION

Books by people of color should be easier to find.

People of color need more opportunities to be apart of the network of publishers so they can be published more.

Books by people of color should be marketed more heavily so all people can discover them and the authors have opportunity to grow their audience.

THANK YOU

BookNet Canada

Special thanks to:

Lauren Stewart

Krista Mitchell

Tom Richardson