Though people talk about how it’s wonderful that we see more and more multicultural books, I don’t think the statistics bear that out. They may be more visible- that is, some stores may be more likely to have them. I don’t know that more are actually being produced. Out of the 5,000 children’s books published in the United States every year, two percent are by or about Latinos, though we know the size of the Latino population 37 million and we know the size of the Latino student population.
So, many times when I’m out, teachers and librarians are very generous and say, “Well, keep writing those books,” and, “We really need them.”
A whole other topic for conversation is how to get those manuscripts published. It remains really difficult. So, we need to see diversity within the publishing field. We need to see diversity in terms of reviewers, in terms of award committees. You know, publishing is its own complex world. So, I always encourage teachers and librarians to be leaders, to go into bookstores. And if they don’t see the books that reflect their children’s lives, to talk to the manager. Almost every bookstore has more books about dogs and cats than about Latinos. It’s a sad reality.
So, I think teachers and librarians can help change that. Talk to publishers. Say, “We need these books.” Encourage your libraries to have the books. I think we all have to be part of the change. We have to be part of the change of creating an American literature that is all that it can be, because it includes Native American voices and African-American voices and Arab-American voices and Latino voices.
And that’s just going to keep growing, because we are the one world nation, you know. Most of the languages spoken in the world are now spoken in the United States. So, that’s a blessing. We just want to make sure that that is represented in what we call our national literature, whether that’s for children or adults.
