With all the conversations going on right now about the importance of diversity, take this as your reminder to add some diversity in ALL of your displays. Add TYRELL by Coe Booth to your John Green display. Put Cindy Pon’s SILVER PHOENIX and Nnedi Okorafor’s AKATA WITCH on your fantasy display. BOY MEETS BOY by David Levithan ought to be on your romance display. Antony John’s brilliant FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB should be on your realistic fiction display.
Take a step back & make sure you have faces of all kinds throughout your teen space, no matter the population you serve.
Because it’s important.
Update 08.2015: So here’s a display I put together to celebrate the Paper Towns movie. When I put this together, I challenged myself to find as many diverse books as possible that I would, in fact, recommend to someone who has read Paper Towns or other John Green books – books with themes about imagining others complexly and getting to know both yourself and those around you.
Here’s what’s on display: GLBT, African-American, Native American, Hispanic, Asian-American*, size acceptance, economic disparity, mixed race, disability (deafness & blindness), along with plenty of books about white kids.There are all GREAT books that ALL teens should have access to.
*I would have loved to put ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’ on this display, but it’s ALWAYS out (yay!). But why is there so little realistic fiction that show an Asian on the cover? It’s sad and frustrating.
Creating a great, diverse display shouldn’t be hard. And it isn’t. Very few of the books on the wall here are books I wouldn’t consider a part of a core teen fiction collection. What would YOU have added?
Zen & the Art of Teen Services 