Lise Kuhn

Trying to find books that tell the stories that reflect the experiences of the diverse readers in our classroom can be a real challenge, one that members of the “We Need Diverse Books” campaign know only too well. Spearheaded by author Ellen Oh, in 2014, this organization began as the social media campaign #WeNeedDiverseBooks. What began as a response to both the lack of diversity in the programming and the presenters featured at major publishing conventions in the United States has grown into a larger movement to bring diverse books into the mainstream. Here, Lise Kuhn shares information about diversity in children’s and young adult books and discusses the advantages of including diverse texts in the classroom.