According to analysis by Brigham Young University, the diversity of characters portrayed in Newbery medal winning books for children has decreased significantly over the past 27 years. Only one book with a main character who is African American has won the award in the past eight years and only one with a Latino main character has won in 43 years. Additionally, Newbery winners tend to feature children living in two-parent households at a far higher rate than the general population.
Why does this matter, in a world full of great books for kids, medal or no medal? One reason is that Newbery winners are considered representative of the best of the best in children's literature. They remain in print perpetually and are often used as quick-and-dirty reading lists for busy parents, teachers and even librarians (after all, the Newbery medal is awarded by the American Library Association).
It isn't a matter of hippie-dippie tokenism either. One in three U.S. Americans are not white. On in four U.S. children live with only one parent or some other non-two-parent family. Lack of diversity in children's literature is a lack of opportunities for children other than Beaver Cleaver to see themselves reflected in their books. And a lack of characters to identify with may well subtly turn such children off of reading.
In my family, books are of central importance. We are writers, teachers (of literature, no less) and pleasure readers. We spend happy hours in independent bookstores, chatting up the staff and browsing every single section. My kids have no want of books--even books that reflect an aspect here and a trait there of their own highly unusual family. (We are two white moms and two adopted African American daughters.) But that's because we have the time and the inclination to look beyond Newbery for our library selections.
There is no dearth of good material out there that falls outside the narrow scope of white children in two-parent families. it's time the Newbery committee took a broader look at the possibilities.
