Why We Celebrate Multicultural Children’s Book Day
In 2011, Marvel Comics debuted a new superhero: Miles Morales, the Ultimate Spider-Man. In this storyline, Peter Parker — the Spider-Man of thousands of comic books, tv shows, and movies going back to 1962 — had died, and young Miles Morales took over the role of web-slinging hero. This made a big splash in the mainstream media. Miles, the son of an African American father and a Puerto Rican mother, isn’t the typical Spider-Man. He has dark skin, and sometimes speaks Spanish with this mother.
Library user Matt Page was happy with the change: “As the father of three African American children, pop culture representation has always been an important issue for me. I’ve made it a point to seek out books and comics for my children that feature racially diverse characters and cultures.”
Seven years after his debut, Miles has become a staple of the Marvel Universe, and recently starred in his own movie. It’s a success story in introducing diverse characters into children’s literature, but there’s still a long way to go. In the U.S., 37% of the population identifies as people of color, but only 10% of children’s books published include characters of color. For some of us, we can’t imagine facing difficulty finding stories with characters who look like us; for some of us, that challenge is still all too real.
“I’ve noticed that it’s definitely more common now than it was ten or fifteen years ago, when my kids were young, to find children’s books and comic books with persons of color as protagonists,” said Page. “But there’s also definitely still room for further progress and more inclusion.”
Multicultural Children’s Book Day seeks to advance that progress. It is a national movement to raise awareness of books with diverse characters. The goal is to share books featuring characters that children of various backgrounds can relate to, and to get more of these of books into classrooms and libraries. This helps children have a chance to find stories with characters that better reflect themselves, and exposes all readers to diversity.
On Thursday, January 24, the Day-Riverside Branch hosted a Multicultural Children’s Book Day storytime. We were joined by several kids and families who were visiting the Library for the first time! After a Librarian read a story, the kids sampled snacks from around the world, played musical instruments from a variety of cultures, and got to grab a book to take home and keep.
Educators and parents looking to incorporate diverse reading in childrens’ lives can find many valuable resources at the Multicultural Children’s Book Day website (click here).
“I realize that it is important for children to see faces they can relate to in their entertainment and for them to have heroes and protagonists that look like them,” said Page. “And I believe that they pick up on that — sometimes consciously and sometimes subconsciously — and that it can go a long way towards not only increasing their enjoyment of their media, but also strengthening their self esteem.”
