Book Equity: How a coalition of nonprofits is working together to help young children see themselves – and learn about others – through diverse books

Posted October 3, 2023

The 2020 U.S. Census reveals that 53% of the U.S. children’s population are children of color and more children than ever before identify as multiracial, yet the books that children see do not reflect that diversity. 

Out of 3,450 children’s books published in the U.S. in 2022 and reviewed by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, 493 have a Black/African American primary or significant secondary character (fiction) or human subject (nonfiction), setting, or topic; 369 feature Asian; 238 feature Latine; and 60 feature Indigenous peoples. These numbers fall far short of representing the more than half of America’s children who are children of color. Learn More