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We Read Too

We Read Too
Reviewed on 6/1/20

Would you like to see more people of color in your children's books? Diversity in the things we read benefits EVERYONE. The Cooperative Children’s Book Center at UW-Madison has tracked newly published books for years and they have statistics that show that historically the publishing industry has been predominantly white, and the vast majority of picture books published have featured white, middle class, able-bodied, cisgendered characters living in two-parent suburban homes. The organization We Need Diverse Books strongly advocates for more books not only featuring kids of color, but also written and illustrated by authors of color and authors from other oppressed groups. It is important that kids of color see themselves represented on the pages of the books they read, as well as seeing creators of color. It is also important that white kids and families read books about and by people of color with different life experiences than their own. This app is filled with suggestions to get you started reading diverse books with your kids or to continue filling your shelf! The books are sorted by general reading level (picture books, chapter books, middle grade and young adult) and within those categories you can sort them by title, author or newest.  For each book, you can see the cover image and a short summary or description of the contents.  There's also a link to find the book on Amazon if you want to purchase it (but you can also search for these books in your local library and if they don't have them yet, make a recommendation!).  You can also search by keywords in the descriptions, making it easy to find books about, say, dragons! This app has been around for a few years, but a recent re-design makes it easier to use and they've added a ton of great content since it first came out.