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# 4 Visibility and inclusion in children’s books

This section considers who is visible in books written for children, and why this visibility – or invisibility – matters. You’ll first consider a well-known paper in the field of children’s literature which highlights the issue, using the metaphors of windows, mirrors and sliding glass doors.

## Activity 9 Mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors

Allow about 30 minutes

What do you imagine is meant by the image and caption in Figure 5? Consider the different functions of a mirror, a window and a sliding glass door and how these objects could relate to children’s views of themselves.

Figure 5 Mirrors, windows and doors

### Discussion

The literal function of a mirror is to see your own reflection; a window is designed to be looked through; and a sliding glass door can be opened or closed to allow us to walk from one space (inside) to another (outside).

You may have wondered what the purpose of this question could be! In the rest of this activity you’ll consider the metaphorical purposes of these objects and how they relate to children’s literature.

Now read the short yet very powerful essay by Rudine Sims Bishop, Professor Emerita at Ohio State University. While written in 1990, the messages of this essay are highly relevant today and have been drawn on by many other scholars. As you read, think about the real and imaginary worlds a child reader might inhabit.

Figure 6 Professor Rudine Sims Bishop

#### Rudine Sims Bishop:

Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created or recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.

For many years, nonwhite readers have too frequently found the search futile. This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication, in the Saturday Review, of Nancy Larrick’s landmark article, ‘The All-White World of Children’s Books.’ ‘Across the country,’ she stated in that piece, ‘6,340,000 nonwhite children are learning to read and to understand the American way of life in books which either omit them entirely or scarcely mention them.’ A quarter of a century later, census data indicate that about 30% of the school population are members of so-called minority groups – Latinos, Afro-Americans, Asian-Americans, Native Americans – and where will they find their mirrors?

A former colleague at the University of Massachusetts, Sonia Nieto, found that in the decade between 1972 and 1982, an average of only five and half books a year were published about Puerto Ricans. Perusal of my shelves of review books and new and recent publishers’ catalogs indicate that if we were to examine the past eight years, the numbers are likely to be the same – if not lower. Stories about contemporary Mexican-Americans are few and far between. Isabel Schon’s recent bibliography in the Journal of Youth Services (Winter, 1989) lists a total of nineteen books about Hispanics, fifteen nonfiction and four books of folk stories and legends. Contemporary Asians and contemporary Native Americans do not fare much better. The largest number of books about so-called minority groups is about Afro-Americans. In the quarter century since the Larrick article, the numbers of books about Afro-Americans has increased considerably, despite a major decrease of such books in the early and mid-1980s.

When children cannot find themselves reflected in the books they read, or when the images they see are distorted, negative, or laughable, they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society of which they are a part. Our classrooms need to be places where all the children from all the cultures that make up the salad bowl of American society can find their mirrors.

Children from dominant social groups have always found their mirrors in books, but they, too, have suffered from the lack of availability of books about others. They need the books as windows onto reality, not just on imaginary worlds. They need books that will help them understand the multicultural nature of the world they live in, and their place as a member of just one group, as well as their connections to all other humans. In this country, where racism is still one of the major unresolved social problems, books may be one of the few places where children who are socially isolated and insulated from the larger world may meet people unlike themselves. If they see only reflections of themselves, they will grow up with an exaggerated sense of their own importance and value in the world – a dangerous ethnocentrism.

Consider some of the possibilities. From reading, for example, children can become aware of some of the many variations in the way English is spoken in this country, and the richness those variations add to the language. Take Belva Jean Copenhagen, who tells us in Sandra Dutton’s Tales of Belva Jean Copenhagen (Atheneum, 1989): ‘I thought I would put one of these (a preface) onto my books because I seen one in a couple of other books of stories. It’s where the author tells the reader what to look out for and where she got the ideas for she’s written up.’ Belva Jean tells her own stories in her own voice, which echoes the rhythms, the grammar, and the color of many of the people who inhabit the Appalachian Mountain region. In her afterword, Belva Jean states: ‘Now I could have told you these stories in Standard English, but I’m not on TV, and this ain’t a formal occasion. This was just me rambling on about times I’ve had and people I’ve knowed, and things we’ve did together...’

In one of my old favorites, Lucille Clifton’s My Brother Fine With Me (Holt, 1975; now out of print, but available in many libraries), Johnetta’s narration reflects an informal Black vernacular: ‘Me and Baggy the only child. I was the only child till he come being born. Everything was all right, me and Mama and Daddy doing fine till Mama come spreading out like a pancake and Aunt Winnie who don’t even like children come to watch me for a while and Mama go off and come back here with Baggy. I was mad for a long time and I ain’t all that glad now, but I don’t let on.’

Both those voices are authentic, and their authenticity makes the characters believable and identifies them as members of a particular social group. Changing their voices to Standard English would take away a large part of their distinctiveness.

Books can also introduce readers to the history and traditions that are important to any one cultural group, and which invite comparisons to their own. One of the 1989 Caldecott Honor Books, Patricia McKissack’s Mirandy and Brother Wind, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney (Knopf, 1988), is the fictionalized story of how her grandparents got together as teenagers, by dancing a cakewalk as if they were ‘dancing with the Wind!’ It also introduces readers to a bit of history of the cakewalk, a dance introduced by slaves and rooted in Afro-American culture.

Folk tales, too, help to keep alive the traditions and values that are important to social groups. Laurence Yep’s The Rainbow People (Harper & Row, 1989) is a collection of stories told by Chinese immigrants, starting with those who arrived in the middle of the nineteenth century who were unable to bring their families to America, and lived their lives as bachelors. In his introduction, Yep states that the stories express the ‘loneliness, anger, fear, and love that were part of the Chinese-American experience.’

Recently, a spate of Afro-American stories have been published, beginning with Virginia Hamilton’s The People Could Fly (Knopf, 1985), and followed by the retellings of the Brer Rabbit stories illustrated by Barry Moser and published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: Jump! (1986), Jump Again! (1987), and Jump on Over! (1989). Julius Lester has also published two collections of his retellings of the Brer Rabbit stories in The Tales of Uncle Remus (Dial, 1987) and More Tales of Uncle Remus (Dial, 1988). Many of the animal stories reflect the hopes and dreams, and some of the reality of the lives of people who were in many ways powerless over the plantation owners who thought of them as so much property. It is easy to understand how Brer Rabbit, the trickster figure who, small though he was, managed to outsmart animals much larger and more powerful than he, became a favorite of people who saw in him something of themselves. The stories have appeal to all children, for what child has not felt small and powerless in an adult world?

Those of us who are children’s literature enthusiasts tend to be somewhat idealistic, believing that some book, some story, some poem can speak to each individual child, and that if we have the time and resources, we can find that book and help to change that child’s life, if only for a brief time, and only for a tiny bit. On the other hand, we are realistic enough to know that literature, no matter how powerful, has its limits. It won’t take the homeless off our streets; it won’t feed the starving of the world; it won’t stop people from attacking each other because of our racial differences; it won’t stamp out the scourge of drugs. It could, however, help us to understand each other better by helping to change our attitudes towards difference. When there are enough books available that can act as both mirrors and windows for all our children, they will see that we can celebrate both our differences and our similarities, because together they are what make us all human.

Bishop, R.S. (1990) ‘Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors’, Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, 6(3) Summer, pp. ix–xi.

### Discussion

Since Bishop was writing, children’s literature has moved on in its considerations around representing all children, as demonstrated through shortlists for prizes such as the Carnegie and Greenaway medals for children’s literature each year.

While much progress has been made, much remains to be done. One example of research in this area is that of researcher Ebony Elizabeth Thomas who studied the portrayal of Black female characters in several recent fantasy texts and the film or television versions, including The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Merlin and The Vampire Diaries (e.g. Thomas, 2019). Her evaluation of the characters points to what she terms ‘an imagination gap’ for Black readers, who can only rarely imagine themselves as a character in the story. Thomas shows how far children’s literature has to go to provide a mirror for all readers.

This section will now focus on the range of ethnicities featured in children’s books, beginning with two short videos featuring Professor Rudine Sims Bishop.

In Activity 9 you read a short essay by Bishop on how children are reflected – or not − in the books they read. While this essay has been widely read and frequently discussed since its publication in 1990, the issue of representation in children’s literature remains a prevalent issue in the twenty-first century.

In the next activity, Bishop discusses the topics raised in her 1990 essay and praises the current drive towards diversity in children’s literature.

## Activity 10 Rudine Sims Bishop on diversity

Allow about 15 minutes

You will now watch two short videos from 2015 featuring Professor Rudine Sims Bishop. In the first video, Bishop outlines the importance of being able to see yourself in the books you read. As you watch, consider the extent to which you see yourself reflected in books that you read in childhood or as an adult. Make some notes in the box below.

Please note: the captions in the embedded YouTube videos below are automatically generated and may contain some transcription errors. If you would prefer to read the text rather than watch the video, please use the transcript available below each video.

Video 1 Mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors – Rudine Sims Bishop on diversity
Transcript
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### Discussion

Someone who watched this commented: ‘An interesting watch. I’ve not really thought about seeing myself in books as a child even though my childhood books were all by white, Western writers and I’m an Asian, born in an Asian country. It’s a good video to get people thinking about their own engagement with books and the topic of representation and diversity.’

Bishop comments that understanding diversity is a two-way process and that it isn’t just the under-represented groups who need more diverse books to hold up a ‘mirror’ to themselves – other groups need the ‘window’ offered by books in order to see other lives and other worlds.

In this second video, Bishop talks about the social media movement #WeNeedDiverseBooks, and she discusses a 1965 article by Nancy Larrick called ‘The all-white world of children’s books’. As you watch, think about what has changed – or not – since Larrick was writing. Make some notes in the box below.

Video 2 Rudine Sims Bishop on #WeNeedDiverseBooks
Transcript
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### Discussion

Bishop comments on how social media and technology have enabled the work on diversity to spread more widely. You may be surprised, however, that movements such as #WeNeedDiverseBooks are still required, given Bishop’s point that these issues were discussed as long ago as 1965 when Larrick was writing.

To get a sense of current discussions on diversity, you could search Twitter (now known as ‘X’) for the hashtags #WeNeedDiverseBooks or #MirrorsWindowsSlidingGlassDoors if you have an account, or are prepared to make one. Figure 7 is one tweet found by searching for #WeNeedDiverseBooks.

Figure 7 A tweet on the subject of #WeNeedDiverseBooks

An important issue within diversity that you may have come across is that of whose voice is able to be heard. The ‘own voices’ argument states that stories about minority groups should be written by members of those groups and is a particularly widespread debate in the field of young adult (YA) fiction (aimed at 11–18 year olds). If you’re interested you can read more about this debate in a blog post titled ‘What is #OwnVoices doing to our books?’ by columnist and podcaster Kat Rosenfield (linked in the References section).

## Activity 11 Measuring ethnic diversity

Allow about 30 minutes

In this activity, you’ll use a set of questions to help you to measure the level of ethnic diversity in a book which you feel displays a range of ethnic diversity.

Select one book aimed at children which you feel, from the cover or the blurb, portrays some level of ethnic diversity. You might find a book you own, choose one from a school or local library, or select one from the free online resource International Children’s Digital Library.

Then consider the questions below, adapted from the 2020 CLPE ‘Reflecting Realities’ report. While some of the questions could be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’, try to give a more nuanced response in note form.

## Table 1 Measuring the book’s ethnic diversity

| Brief comment on your book
--- | ---
Book chosen | (A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
Characterisation
1. Are the characters in the book thoughtfully developed, multi-dimensional individuals? | (A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
2. Does the author provide sufficient cues to make the ethnicity of the character clear? | (A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
3. Does the book challenge misconceptions and prejudices about an under-represented group or does it reinforce them? | (A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
4. Are ethnic minority characters well-drawn, well-developed and well-rounded individuals who are not solely defined by their ethnicity? | (A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
Illustration
5. Has careful consideration of skin tones, facial features and hair texture been made to ensure that a character’s ethnicity is recognisable without being overstated? | (A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
6. How do the props, background and other visual cues add layers to our understanding and appreciation of the character and their world? | (A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
Plot
7. Is the character’s ethnicity incidental to the narrative? | (A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
8. Is the plot driven by the character’s ethnicity? If yes, to what extent is this necessary and appropriate in furthering the narrative and is the portrayal sensitively depicted? | (A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)

(Adapted from CLPE ‘Reflecting Realities’ report 2020, pp. 24–25)
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Take a moment to reflect on the experience of answering these questions. Did any of your findings surprise you?

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### Discussion

Here are two example responses:

## Table 2 Example responses

| A | B
--- | --- | ---
Book chosen | Queen Yaa Saves the Golden Stool by Louisa Olafuyi and Oladele Olafuyi with artwork by Isabelle Irabor and Tiolu Yoloye. | Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love.
1 | Yes. It is based on real events in Ghana in the 1800s and the characters appear real. | Yes. The characters are African American, presumably living in NY since they end up at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade.
2 | Yes, clearly depicted throughout the book. | Yes, through the use of Spanish, in the ways the characters refer to each other, the choice of dress for the characters, and the physical features of characters. [Note: not all versions of the book use Spanish.]
3 | As it is based on true events, it somehow highlights and shows the strength that a Black queen warrior had all those years ago and how important it is to see that shown in this present day. | Yes, it challenges misconceptions that older people and Black people are less accepting of queerness/transness than younger, white people. It challenges the misconception that queer/gender nonconforming people are mostly white.
4 | Yes. | Yes, ethnicity is not the overriding theme of the book and characters are not defined by their ethnicity.
5 | Yes, evident throughout the book. | Yes, all the characters are Black but there is a wide variety in skin tone. There is a wide range of hair textures and styles.
6 | Careful consideration of visual cues to ensure relatability. One example is the hairstyles of the characters. | There are many background characters who show that Julian lives in a predominantly Black neighbourhood. They are all depicted in positive ways, showing that Julian lives in a supportive community.
7 | No, as it is based on true events in Ghana in the 1800s. | Yes.
8 | Based on a historical event where a Black queen warrior fought to protect the golden stool which was a symbol of culture and wealth for the people of Ghana. | No.

You may have been surprised, encouraged or dismayed by your findings. Perhaps the presence of characters of colour in the illustrations did not always match their visibility in the text itself.

You may wish to share your findings with other teachers, librarians, teaching assistants, parents or friends with children. Perhaps you could use the questions or your results to influence future book purchases.

◄Contents►Next: 5 Bringing it all together

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