One in five children’s books features character of colour
– but fiction lags behind
New survey finds steep rise in recent years but presence of minoritised characters is often ‘poorly executed or insignificant’
by Sarah Shaffi
Almost 20% of children’s books now feature characters of colour, according to a new survey, but many still put forward “poorly represented characters” and contain “difficult and damaging portrayals”.
The Reflecting Realities survey, conducted by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), is now in its fifth year and monitors the diversity within children’s books in the UK.
Of the 5,383 children’s picture books, fiction and non-fiction from 2021 assessed for the latest report, 1,059 (or 20%) featured a character of colour, up by 5% from the year before and by 16% from the first survey in 2017.
Continue reading on the Guardian website, November 11, 2022
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