Socially Just Books Tracking Tool: Helping Children See Themselves & Others Through Diverse Literature
For Parents, Schools, and Publishers Committed to Equity & Justice
screenshot of the spreadsheet
For years I have worked as a consultant to help educators, schools, and districts create environments that serve and support all students. One thing I have advocated for is the importance of picture books as an integral part of making more diverse, equitable, and socially just schools.
I’ve long wanted a way to track the diversity and inclusion of books that educators and parents like myself are choosing, reading, and teaching. There are some tools out there that seek to do this but none are exactly what I’ve wanted: something you can do easily in just a couple of minutes per book, that visually allows you to assess where your strengths and gaps are at a glance, and that covers all of the dimensions of diversity children and young people deserve to read about. I am also a big believer in the words of Toni Morrison:
“If there’s a book (or article, or spreadsheet, or assessment tool, or anything really) that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
So, I made one. And now, I’m sharing it in case you too have been looking for such a thing.
Books, especially children’s picture books, are some of the most powerful tools at our disposal for providing children with what Rudine Sims Bishop famously calls mirrors, reflections of their own experiences — especially important for children from marginalized backgrounds — and windows, opportunities for all children to be exposed to the diversity of the broader world. Books that reflect the diversity of our world can also provide opportunities for students to interrupt stereotypes and reduce bias, and they can increase student engagement in learning. In short, a well chosen book has a lot of power. But figuring out how to actually pick just books — books that reflect the diversity of families, students, and the broader world in a range of ways — can be challenging. I find there are two major challenges when it comes to selecting books:
1. Considering the Many Dimensions of Diversity
When most people talk about wanting more “diverse books” they are using “diverse” as coded language for racial diversity, and maybe gender. While racial and gender diversity in books are essential, the complexity of human identity means attending only to these two identities is insufficient. Children, like all of us, have many identities and experiences that they deserve to have reflected in the books they read. This includes things like diversity of family structure, housing, ability and disability, body type, religion, and more.
2. Considering the Various Types of Books
The second thing I find people struggle with is overreliance on certain types of books. Too often when educators and families seek to diversify their book collections they end up with lots of books about Black people focused disproportionately on experiences of discrimination, while most of their books about life as a kid — the fun, creative, and imaginative stories kids feel good about and WANT to read — still predominantly feature White protagonists, usually boys, almost always straight, middle-class, thin…you get the point. Despite recent efforts to diversify children’s literature, I find that many of the “diverse” children’s books (written by adults) are the broccoli of storytelling, when what my kids want to read are things that are silly, funny, or about dinosaurs.
Even with me as a mother, the favorite books of the 3 young children in my house don’t feature people at all! One revolves around making adults say “boo boo butt,” one features a pig and elephant friend duo, one follows a very clever mouse who uses wit to fool the beast-like creature he conjures from his mind, and one involves a monster being afraid of a monster who is…(wait for it)…himself! Dessert books are what they want, and too often these are lacking in the world of “diverse books.” (Aside: Is anyone writing books about Black Deaf paleontologists who use recycling and roles of tape for scientific inventions while making super silly jokes? I know at least one family who would pay top dollar.).
When I’m thinking about books that are just, I’m not only asking, “Who is represented and reflected?” but also, “What type of book is this?” I think about this in terms of seven different categories explained below. You might notice that these categories are not how a library might classify a book. Instead, they seek to reflect how a child will experience a book.
A. General Stories: The first group is general stories that feature images and characters from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. In this type of book, the backgrounds, cultures, and identities of the characters are not relevant to the story. You could swap the children in the story for really any other child from any other background and it wouldn’t shift the message. What is significant about them is that the illustrators and authors have chosen *not* to simply depict more boys, more white children, more middle-class children, more cis-heterosexual families, etc. These books are where you’re most likely to find the dessert stories children love. They want books about kids just being kids, and we can make sure they see kids who actually reflect the diversity of the world.
B. Celebrations of Difference: The second type is feel-good books that actively celebrate children’s unique identities *without* including experiences of bullying or discrimination. These positive and empowering stories allow children to compare their skin color to yummy foods or note that all body types are amazing.
C. Inclusion: The third book type similarly has positive messages about difference but is less focused on noticing and celebrating specific kinds of differences and more focused on encouraging children to be kind and welcoming to each other across differences. While “Celebrations of Difference” are about helping children find themselves, “Inclusion” stories are about how children treat and befriend others.
D. Unique Life Experiences: The third group of books are specific to the unique life experiences of a cultural or social group. In these stories you could *not* simply swap the main characters for people of a different background and have the story work. Instead, these books are specific to a very particular experience. They are also generally *not* about experiences of discrimination, oppression, or bullying.
E. Discrimination & Bullying (Historic & Contemporary): The fourth book type is what (too many) “diverse books” tend to be about: how people from marginalized groups have historically been and continue to be treated unfairly. This group includes things like books about the civil rights movement and books about children being made fun of because of their skin color. Their takeaway is usually: “People in this world treat others badly. In fact, you probably already feel bad about who you are. But even if you are being treated badly, you should feel good about yourself!” Sometimes these books add, “If you’re treating others badly, stop.” These messages can be important but they should not be the only, or even the primary, messages we are sending to children when reading books that feature characters who aren’t just white boys. Books in this category risk suggesting to children that they should feel bad about parts of themselves that they actually may not feel bad about. But even in instances in which a child is feeling insecure about who they are or is experiencing bullying, it’s just not very much fun (or very healthy) to have every book about people like you be about the oppression they experience. Nor is it great for kids from other backgrounds to only be exposed to children different from them in ways that continue to focus on harm. There is a place for these books, but if you ask me, they should be in far fewer places.
F. Biographies: The fifth book type is biographies, also very common in the world of “diverse books.” These books are about the life of a hero, activist, or notable figure.
G. Activism & Justice: And finally, there are books that encourage children to take action for justice. Unlike “Inclusion” books, they move beyond telling children to “be nice to others.” These books help children advocate, speak up, speak out, stand up, write letters, and explicitly work to make the world a better place.
3. Red Flags & Other Considerations
In addition to considering dimensions of diversity (or social identities) and the types of books you are picking, there are other considerations that are also important: Who are the authors and illustrators? Do they reflect the experiences of the characters in the books they write (this is what #OwnVoices has been advocating for)? What is your own skill and knowledge? Do you know what you need to know to be able to engage children in a conversation about this book (if not, this is a great opportunity to learn more!)? And finally, are there elements of the book that need to be flagged as potentially harmful? This includes books that are not trauma informed, that shame children, that reinforce stereotypes (especially about marginalized groups), or that have immoral or unjust messages or takeaways. Books can more accurately reflect the diversity of the world (in terms of the characters and images and even book types)and still be unjust, problematic, and harmful.
For example, there’s a book being used by some schools in the wake of yet another horrific school shooting that has a diversity of families and people represented in illustrations but sets up a harmful and arguably immoral binary in which people are either “good” or “bad” — which simply isn’t how humans work. The author then equates the normal and natural human emotions of feeling “sad” or “mad” — emotions we should be encouraging children to name, identify, and navigate — with being “mean” and “bad.” When read in the context of a school shooting, saying people are “bad” because they are sad, takes on an even more insidious meaning. On top of that, the illustrations suggest that people assume folks with tattoos are “bad,” it encourages children to just “smile more” (and I guess suppress their emotions other than happiness), and reflects no awareness of class inequality that might cause food insecurity (child taking an apple from an open market = bad person!), or the various ways people speak and use language (saying “bad” words = bad person!).
The problems with the messages of this book are quite honestly mind boggling. It’s unclear how a regular child who makes regular human mistakes and feels regular human feelings — you know, all children — could feel anything other than shame after reading it. Checking it for “diverse representation” alone wouldn’t flag these problems.
There are milder versions of problematic messages in huge numbers of children’s books — books about low-income children in which the takeaway is “poor kids should work harder” instead of “society is structured in unfair ways that demonizes the poor”; books that reinforce problematic stereotypes about people of color physically abusing their children (yes, I just had to disappear a book with this message in my own house); and more.
The Tracking Tool & How to Use It!
So I’ve made a publicly available spreadsheet that’s meant to allow people to relatively quickly track these sorts of things about a book and then use it to inform their purchases, reading choices, and teaching.
Along the side of the spreadsheet there is space to insert the book title, author, illustrator, and ISBN if you choose. At the top of the spreadsheet there are the following categories of information:
1. dimensions of diversity relevant to the characters in the book;
2. dimensions of diversity relevant to the setting of the book;
3. the book types described above;
4. author & illustrator identity information;
5. red flags for books of concern; and
6. additional considerations for readers & notes.
Characters: If a category listed applies to one of the *main characters* or the protagonist of the book, choose “Primary” from the dropdown menu. If it applies to a *secondary character* choose “Secondary” from the dropdown menu. If it applies to someone who is featured in the background images but is not a primary or secondary character, choose “Background.” In books that do not feature main characters but instead feature many people, choose “Secondary” or “Background” for all of the categories to indicate there is not a dominant protagonist.
Setting, Book Type, Author, Illustrator, Red Flag: If the category is present choose “Yes.” Most (not all) books only qualify for one “Book Type” so if you find yourself classifying a book as many different “types,” I’d read it again just to check. For example, if a book has a significant section on a child being bullied because of their skin color or body type, I’d count this as D. Discrimination & Bullying, even if there is a section in which they talk about feeling proud of who they are because choosing to read it means exposing children to bullying and discrimination and necessitates a different kind of conversation and care than a book that is only celebratory.
There is also a final column for Notes if there’s something you MUST say about the book. The goal is not to have a lot of text in this document so I would suggest you use the notes column sparingly to add more specifics like: this is a book about the “Lakota” in particular, not just Indigenous Americans generally, or “this is why this book should never be read to children.”
If the category isn’t present in the book, or it’s unclear, leave the box blank.
It should go without saying, but you can only do this for books you have actually read.
Once you get the idea, it only takes a couple of minutes to fill in for each book. As you add the books from your library collection you will be able to pretty easily scan to see the kinds of books you have and what you’re missing. When I did this for my own personal library I realized with just a quick glance that I was missing books that feature people who are lower-income, working class, or impoverished (are there great children’s books about kids who are lower income and poor? If you have suggestions, share them in our crowdsourcing form!). And because it’s a spreadsheet, you can use “sort” and “filter” features to find specific kinds of books — for example you could sort for books that feature “disabilities” and are “celebrations of difference.”
Finally, this is *not* a test or a scoring system, it’s a tool for thinking more critically and deciding more intentionally. You don’t get an A at the end, or an F. In fact, there is no end, you can keep adding to your list indefinitely (I know I will!). There is not a set number of x’s that will give you a “good person” card. Instead, your goals should reflect the students you serve, the people in your family, and the community you live in. For example, all children should be exposed to a broad range of stories, but a school with 95% Black students should have way more books with Black protagonists than one with 95% Asian students–that’s how the “mirrors’’ piece works. Similarly, if you’re teaching a class about inequality, you will likely have many more discrimination books than if you’re just doing a weekly read aloud with 3rd graders. Context matters for the library you cultivate.
There are two spreadsheets and a form you can access:
1. A blank version of the tracking tool that you can copy and use for cataloguing your own library, book collection, or reading plan. We recommend you list all the books you have, read, or that your school is using, even those you think (or know) are not “diverse,” because it allows you to see what your library is missing or what you have an abundance of more clearly. Moreover, books might have kinds of diversity you hadn’t considered if you were only thinking about race.
2. Justice Leaders Collaborative’s selections— books we like. As with all books, none of these reflect all the possible dimensions of diversity or types of books. They aren’t all #OwnVoices books. They aren’t all perfect. They are simply the books we enjoy and that the children in our lives enjoy that succeed at some element of diversifying and making more socially just the mirrors and windows they are exposed to. The great thing about the spreadsheet is it allows you to see what these books offer and where they fall short.
3. A crowdsourcing form! If you have books you think we should add to our list, fill out this form and let us know! Traditionally, independently, and self-published suggestions welcomed!
Good luck and happy reading!
Shayla Reese Griffin is the co-founder of Justice Leaders Collaborative and the author of the forthcoming children’s book An Introduction to Race for Kids Who Want to Change the World (and Grownups Too!) illustrated by Christina O. — admittedly a “broccoli book”; two adult books, Those Kids, Our Schools: Race and Reform in an American High School and Race Dialogues: A Facilitator’s Guide to Tackling the Elephant in the Classroom; three Justice Assessment & Transformation Tools for k-12 schools (the EJATT, now available for purchase), organizations (the OJATT), and institutions of higher education (the HEJATT); and lots of medium essays. She is a mother of 3 and coincidentally tends to get her best ideas, including this one, around 3am.