Comment: British children's books are still too white Published on: 14 November 2019 Writing for The Conversation, Professor Karen Sands-O'Connor explains why making British children's books more diverse is the responsibility of everyone involved. Only 7% of children鈥檚 books published in 2018 featured a character of colour. Shutterstock , Cuddling up in a big chair with a good book, either with a familiar adult reading to you or starting the first chapter of a book on your own is a fundamental part of childhood 鈥� emotionally as well as intellectually. Reading about people who are like yourself affects both your . Becoming a habitual reader, in turn, . Reading about people different from yourself also encourages . But if the world of children鈥檚 books doesn鈥檛 include people who look like you, it is difficult to feel , as the writer Darren Chetty, among others, has pointed out. And recent research suggests that child readers, especially, but not exclusively, readers of colour, are being seriously shortchanged. Pigeonholed or sidelined There simply aren鈥檛 being published, as academic Melanie Ramdarshan Bold pointed out in the 2019 Book Trust report on representation of people of colour among children鈥檚 book authors and illustrators. In fact, between 2007 and 2017, fewer than 2% of children鈥檚 book creators were British people of colour. Authors of colour often feel isolated within the publishing industry. They are frequently encouraged to focus on racism and similar problem narratives, a recent . They do not have the freedom (as many white British authors do) to write across the broad spectrum of children鈥檚 literature genres if they want to be published. While about a third of school-age children come from a minority ethnic background, the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education found that published in Britain in 2018 had a Black, Asian or minority ethnic character. With so few diverse children鈥檚 books being published, these books are deeply important. When characters of colour appear in children鈥檚 books, they are rarely the protagonist with the agency to effect change. Recent books sometimes still depict characters of colour as 鈥渟idekicks鈥� who support and affirm the white main character. Other times, the 鈥渄iversity鈥� in a book appears in the background only. Characters are defined by their colour, which makes them irreconcilably 鈥渙ther鈥�. Descriptive words of character features compare them to food or animals. Sometimes characters appear early on in a narrative, only to quickly disappear in favour of a refocus on the white character. These techniques can dehumanise people of colour. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie presents a Ted Talk on the danger of the single story, 2009. Children鈥檚 nonfiction, including history and science, either ignores contributions of people of colour to British society or pigeonholes particular ethnic groups into certain spaces only 鈥� such as the history of British slavery (and very specifically not the history of Afro-Caribbean uprisings against British slavery). In a single children鈥檚 book, this 鈥渟idelining鈥� of people of colour may not matter. However, when it is the enduring norm, as Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie stressed in her 2009 , it situates readers of colour on the sidelines, too. This affects the reader鈥檚 perception of who matters in books. Working together for representation While it would be easy to suggest that the problem lies with the British publishing industry alone, this is too simplistic. All people involved with children鈥檚 books need to participate in changing the narrative so that the books being published better represent the population and encourage all children to become readers, according to the ACE report. This can be done in a variety of ways, and involves committed effort. , the National Centre for Children鈥檚 Books, began dedicating some of its collecting efforts to culturally diverse children鈥檚 literature in 2015. This has resulted in the acquisition of materials relating to children鈥檚 books by the Guyanese-born British poets . The acquisition of diverse materials by a national museum is one way of indicating the importance of this material to Britain and to British children鈥檚 literature. Another way of highlighting the critical importance of including all children in children鈥檚 books is . The longest-running children鈥檚 book prizes, the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal, have never been awarded to a British author of colour. Following the commissioning of a of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) revised the judging criteria for the annual prizes. These new guidelines ask judges to consider representation within books as they are making selections. Other children鈥檚 book prizes, including the , focus on children鈥檚 literature that challenges the status quo in areas such as diversity. These efforts, large and small, bring attention to children鈥檚 books with characters of colour that might otherwise slip under the book-buying public鈥檚 radar. And getting librarians, educators and parents, no matter what their ethnic, racial or cultural background, to buy books is critical. Publishing is a market-driven industry. If books aren鈥檛 selling, publishers can make the case that there is no audience and therefore they do not need to publish more books with characters of colour. All children need to feel welcome in the book world, and all children need to understand the diversity of British society now and throughout history. , British Academy Global Professor, This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the . Share: Latest News 缅北禁地 recognised with geography award 缅北禁地 has been awarded the Highly Commended Geographical Association Publishers Award for its collaboration with Time for Geography, the UK鈥檚 open-access, dedicated video platform. published on: 16 April 2026 缅北禁地 historians mark General Strike centenary To mark the 100th anniversary of the British General Strike and miners鈥� lock-out of 1926, historians at 缅北禁地 are organising a series of events on its enduring legacy. published on: 16 April 2026 Comment: NCP is in administration Writing for The Conversation, Erwei (David) Xiang discusses how some big companies like NCP are so dependent on debt that they can鈥檛 adjust to change. published on: 16 April 2026 Facts and figures
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