June 8th marks Day One of one of We Need Diverse Books’ most popular features: the Summer Reading Series. We are proud to collaborate with the Smithsonian BookDragon on this project. Every weekday throughout the summer, we will provide a comparison between two titles: “If you like X, try Y, because Z.”
The “If you like” titles are popular, well-known titles, written largely by established authors. The “try” titles are equally captivating, but by lesser-known authors–all of whom are diverse according to WNDB’s definition of “diversity”, available: http://weneeddiversebooks.org/mission-statement/
There are two main benefits to following and promoting the Summer Reading Series: First, it helps readers discover new works and prevents young people from running out of books during the long summer days; and second, it helps diverse, “off-the-beaten-track” books and authors get the discoverability and recognition they deserve.
“The Summer Reading Series is a group effort, and it reflects the collective knowledge of the WNDB team, as well as input from the Smithsonian BookDragon,” says Allie Jane Bruce, a WNDB Librarian. “It contains books for all ages, books in all formats, oldies-but-goodies and brand-new titles. And most importantly, it is a list that reflects the reality of our world, and contains books that allow all kids to see themselves in literature.”
The Summer Reading Series will be posted via WNDB’s website, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.
I welcome and salute you for all the work your are doing with diverse books. I realize that most of your books will deal with the American experience, but still I wonder how can we get books from the Caribbean considered for something like this? I have a book, “Island Princess in Brooklyn”, which deals with migration, part of the fabric of our lives here, and yours there also. As is usual, the mother migrates and leaves her child with the grandmother. When it is time for the child to join her mother in the USA, she finds difficulty in adjusting to her new school, her new stepfather, her new life. One of the main challenges is that she does not really know her mother. And yet she must adjust or return to Jamaica, which is what she wants to do anyway. This is not a promotion of my book. It’s just asking if there has been any consideration for including material coming out of the Caribbean, which can tell those who migrated that their story has been recognized and told, and those young adults migrating now, that they are not alone.
Diane Browne