We Need Diverse Books | We Need Diverse Books Campaign Video @diversebooks | Uploaded October 2014 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Though more than half of schoolchildren are minorities--people of color, LGBTQIA, and/or people with disabilities--the fact remains that too few of these children see reflections of themselves in the books they read. Books are more than mirrors-- they’re windows as well. The more kids read, the more they understand not just themselves, but the Story of Us All.
Matt de la Pena, Jacqueline Woodson, Grace Lin, Cindy Pon, Lamar Giles, Arthur Levine and John Green discuss why we need diverse books. Donate to our campaign at igg.me/at/diversebooks
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Unknown adult woman off camera: What’s your name?
Boy #1: Parker Ly.
Girl #1: I’m Charlotte Spencer.
Girl #2: I’m Abbie.
Boy #2: Pham.
Girl #3: Savannah.
Charlotte Spencer: I want to be a graphic designer when I grow up.
Pham: A children’s physician.
Abbie: I want to be a ballerina fashion designer.
Savannah: An artist.
Parker Ly: Happy.
Matt de la Peña: Hi, I’m Matt de la Peña and we need diverse books. I feel like I’m a living embodiment of why we need diverse books. Growing up I wasn’t a great student. I was what people call a reluctant reader. I felt like literature was a club that I didn’t belong to. Like anybody else who wasn’t good at one thing, I found other things to get involved with - for me it was sports.
I was pretty good at basketball in particular and because of basketball I became the first de la Peña to go to college. Once I was at my university, I was introduced to one specific book that changed everything for me - it’s called THE COLOR PURPLE, and it was the first time I had ever had an emotional reaction to a book; it almost moved me to tears. And from that point on I went in search of that feeling elsewhere, and I realized that books became my secret place to feel. From African American female authors I found Hispanic authors, and from that point on I felt like all I wanted to do was be a part of the world of literature.
It doesn’t matter if you’re African American, Asian, disabled, part of the LGBTQ community - we all need to see ourselves in books. Because if we don’t see ourselves in books, we may not feel as connected to the human experience - the story of all of us. At the same time, books are more than mirrors, they’re also windows. I’ve always believed that reading is the ultimate form of empathy. Yes, we’d love to find ourselves in books, and read about ourselves and our own experiences, but it’s also important to read about people who aren’t like us. It’s only then that we’ll have a full understanding of the world around us.
John Green: Hi my name’s John Green and we need diverse books. I think we need diverse books because we need to reflect the reality of our communities and that reality is a very diverse one. One of the magical things about reading to me is that it helps me to imagine the life outside of myself.
Grace Lin: These books give all readers a glimpse into a culture that they may not be familiar with.
Marie Lu: I was a huge reader when I was a kid, but I didn’t see a lot of myself in the books that I was reading.
Lamar Giles: I remember in my later teens running across a book called BLOOD BROTHERS by Steven Barnes. That was pretty much the time when I saw something that really made me feel like I was seeing a piece of myself in the work.
Tim Federle: I’m trying to think when I was a kid, what the most sort of diverse book was that I read and I’m having a hard time thinking of it, which is, I think in a way, what underscores the entire campaign.
Jacqueline Woodson: I didn’t know women, black women, could write books, and I didn’t know why I didn’t know this.
Cindy Pon: I don’t want my children to grow up like me - not having read anybody that, you know, looks like them.
Arthur Levine: When you read, you’re reading to discover the essential truths in life.
Marie Lu: Everybody should be able to go to a bookstore, or a library, and look at the shelves and be able to see themselves looking back.
Matt de la Peña: So now you know why our diverse books campaign is so important. If we can reach our campaign goal, this will just be the beginning of us putting diverse books into the hands of young readers. Giving children diverse books and getting them into reading in general will open up so many doors for them. And I know, because that’s what diverse books did for me.
Join us. Donate and share this message, so the story of all of us, becomes everyone’s story.
Though more than half of schoolchildren are minorities--people of color, LGBTQIA, and/or people with disabilities--the fact remains that too few of these children see reflections of themselves in the books they read. Books are more than mirrors-- they’re windows as well. The more kids read, the more they understand not just themselves, but the Story of Us All.
Matt de la Pena, Jacqueline Woodson, Grace Lin, Cindy Pon, Lamar Giles, Arthur Levine and John Green discuss why we need diverse books. Donate to our campaign at igg.me/at/diversebooks
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Unknown adult woman off camera: What’s your name?
Boy #1: Parker Ly.
Girl #1: I’m Charlotte Spencer.
Girl #2: I’m Abbie.
Boy #2: Pham.
Girl #3: Savannah.
Charlotte Spencer: I want to be a graphic designer when I grow up.
Pham: A children’s physician.
Abbie: I want to be a ballerina fashion designer.
Savannah: An artist.
Parker Ly: Happy.
Matt de la Peña: Hi, I’m Matt de la Peña and we need diverse books. I feel like I’m a living embodiment of why we need diverse books. Growing up I wasn’t a great student. I was what people call a reluctant reader. I felt like literature was a club that I didn’t belong to. Like anybody else who wasn’t good at one thing, I found other things to get involved with - for me it was sports.
I was pretty good at basketball in particular and because of basketball I became the first de la Peña to go to college. Once I was at my university, I was introduced to one specific book that changed everything for me - it’s called THE COLOR PURPLE, and it was the first time I had ever had an emotional reaction to a book; it almost moved me to tears. And from that point on I went in search of that feeling elsewhere, and I realized that books became my secret place to feel. From African American female authors I found Hispanic authors, and from that point on I felt like all I wanted to do was be a part of the world of literature.
It doesn’t matter if you’re African American, Asian, disabled, part of the LGBTQ community - we all need to see ourselves in books. Because if we don’t see ourselves in books, we may not feel as connected to the human experience - the story of all of us. At the same time, books are more than mirrors, they’re also windows. I’ve always believed that reading is the ultimate form of empathy. Yes, we’d love to find ourselves in books, and read about ourselves and our own experiences, but it’s also important to read about people who aren’t like us. It’s only then that we’ll have a full understanding of the world around us.
John Green: Hi my name’s John Green and we need diverse books. I think we need diverse books because we need to reflect the reality of our communities and that reality is a very diverse one. One of the magical things about reading to me is that it helps me to imagine the life outside of myself.
Grace Lin: These books give all readers a glimpse into a culture that they may not be familiar with.
Marie Lu: I was a huge reader when I was a kid, but I didn’t see a lot of myself in the books that I was reading.
Lamar Giles: I remember in my later teens running across a book called BLOOD BROTHERS by Steven Barnes. That was pretty much the time when I saw something that really made me feel like I was seeing a piece of myself in the work.
Tim Federle: I’m trying to think when I was a kid, what the most sort of diverse book was that I read and I’m having a hard time thinking of it, which is, I think in a way, what underscores the entire campaign.
Jacqueline Woodson: I didn’t know women, black women, could write books, and I didn’t know why I didn’t know this.
Cindy Pon: I don’t want my children to grow up like me - not having read anybody that, you know, looks like them.
Arthur Levine: When you read, you’re reading to discover the essential truths in life.
Marie Lu: Everybody should be able to go to a bookstore, or a library, and look at the shelves and be able to see themselves looking back.
Matt de la Peña: So now you know why our diverse books campaign is so important. If we can reach our campaign goal, this will just be the beginning of us putting diverse books into the hands of young readers. Giving children diverse books and getting them into reading in general will open up so many doors for them. And I know, because that’s what diverse books did for me.
Join us. Donate and share this message, so the story of all of us, becomes everyone’s story.
