First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise focused on furthering educational equity for children ages 0-18 who are growing up in low-income communities, recently announced the launch of the Diverse Books forAll Coalition, a consortium of 27 nonprofits, including ZERO TO THREE. I spoke to Kyle Zimmer, the President and CEO of First Book; and Ernestine Benedict, the Chief Communications Officer at ZERO TO THREE, the nation’s leading nonprofit dedicated to ensuring all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life.
Why is diversity especially important in picture books?
Ernestine Benedict: Access to diverse books from the earliest ages is important for so many reasons. First, all children, especially babies and toddlers, need books where they can see themselves and their experiences. Seeing characters that look like them and stories that represent their own experiences tells children that their lives are worthy of being thought about, discussed and celebrated, and we want to be doing that at the earliest ages of life.
These picture books play an important role to help nurture positive self-identity and self-esteem for every child. Books that reflect children’s lives also invite children in: they send a message that books and reading are for them. This is an important entry ramp to literacy and education in general.
The American Psychological Association reports that children form their perspectives on race much earlier than most parents realize. Babies as young as 3 months start to prefer faces from certain racial groups, and by age four, children can exhibit race-based discrimination. Ensuring that all children—regardless of their own race and ethnicity—grow up with picture books with characters and stories that feature diverse races and cultures contributes to racial equity and empowers children to form better relationships and connections in an increasingly diverse world. Stories that feature a wide variety of characters and experiences are a powerful way for all families to challenge stereotypes and expand our worldview from the start.
How did the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and First Book initially come together around the cause of diverse books? What problems are you tryingto solve?
Kyle Zimmer: The Diverse Books for All Coalition is working to address three issues: the lack of access to affordable, quality children’s books by and about diverse cultures and races; the need for a clear narrative about the value and benefits of diverse books; and support for parents, caregivers and educators to effectively define, advocate for and integrate diverse books in their programs, classrooms and communities.
What we realized is that, while there have been some promising individual efforts to address these issues, the efforts have been too fragmented and aren’t moving the needle fast enough at a time when our schools and our kids need our support more than ever.