I think kids in every minority need to see people like themselves in books; that's an acknowledgment of their existence on this planet and in this society.
Interpretation
Representation in literature helps children from minority backgrounds feel acknowledged and validated in society.
This quote emphasizes the importance of representation in children's literature, particularly for kids from minority backgrounds. It underscores that when children see characters who look like them in books, it not only validates their identity but also helps them understand their place in the world. This acknowledgment is crucial for fostering a sense of belonging and self-worth among young readers.
In practice
In a discussion about diversity in literature at a book fair.
When I was growing up as a young lesbian in the '50s, I looked in vain for books about my people. I did find some paperbacks with lurid covers in the local bus station, but they ended with the gay character's committing suicide, dying in a car crash, being sent to a mental hospital, or 'turning' heterosexual.
Sacrifice. Work. Self-discipline. I teach these things, and my boys don't forget them when they leave.
Pleasant is a rainy winter's day, within doors! The best study for such a day, or the best amusement,βcall it which you will,βis a book of travels, describing scenes the most unlike that sombre one
My chief identity, to my mind, was not 'writer' but 'college dropout.'
How many times... have you encountered the saying, 'When the student is ready, the Master speaks?' Do you know why that is true? The door opens inward. The Master is everywhere, but the student has to open his mind to hear the Masters Voice.
Through books and photographs, I saw a world that was not my own - and I realized that there was another world. That's why I'm concerned about education, because it helps our children see other worlds.
I believe our only hope for the future is to adopt a new conception of human ecology, one in which we start to reconstitute our concept of the richness in human capacity.
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