On the state of diversity in children's books.

Monday's post at the Lee & Low blog has understandably prompted quite a lot of conversation in the kidlitosphere:

Since LEE & LOW BOOKS was founded in 1991 we have monitored the number of multicultural children’s books published each year through the Cooperative Children’s Book Center’s statistics. Our hope has always been that with all of our efforts and dedication to publishing multicultural books for more than twenty years, we must have made a difference. Surprisingly, the needle has not moved. Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, children’s book publishing has not kept pace. We asked academics, authors, librarians, educators, and reviewers if they could put their fingers on the reason why the number of diverse books has not increased.

Some of the highlights:

• Paper Tigers on First Book's new Commitment to Action.
• Read Roger: They have assembled a good variety of responses, and I have two more, one only semi-facetious and one perhaps semi-impolitic.
• Liz Fichera at the Huffington Post: That's not to say that there aren't lots of inspiring stories for children already, but it might mean we're missing a golden opportunity here. With more options and better representation of minority voices in children's literature, perhaps that could translate into more lifelong readers.
• Charlotte's Library: A look at diversity in middle grade fantasy and science fiction so far this year.
• No references to the L&L piece, but related: posts at Bank Street and the Guardian.