Tracing stars by erin e moulton

We started with a diversity audit of our current book list we researched author and main characters for race/gender/ethnicity/setting. CLiF Program Director Meredith Scott says, “CLiF wants to support our program partners in providing high-quality books by diverse authors featuring diverse characters. Over the past year, CLiF underwent a diversity audit of our book list, available to our partnering schools, libraries, childcare centers, and other programs, to reflect the populations of children we serve across New Hampshire and Vermont.

In 2017, Black, Latinx, and Native American authors represented only 7% of new children’s books, despite the fact that 37% of Americans were people of color. While those numbers have gone up slightly since 2015, there’s still a lot of work to do. 27% featured main characters that were animals, significantly more than characters of color. According to a 2018 study, 50% of characters in children’s books were white, only 10% were Black, 5% were Latinx, and only 1% were Native American. Many of the books available to children and teens don’t reflect the diverse backgrounds and experiences of today’s world.