Diverse Books Pledge

DIVERSE BOOKS PLEDGE

To help increase the number of quality children’s books that celebrate diversity, and to support the diverse books already available,

I Pledge To:

1. Each year, introduce 10 different children’s books that reflect our nation’s diversity to educators, librarians, bookstore managers, and parents—anyone who has the influence and/or power to help increase the number of these books within our body of children’s literature.

2. Gift at least 5 of these books to children other than my own—whether they’re neighbors’, friends’ or co-workers’ children; children at my place of worship or local youth organizations; or as donations to other organizations in my community.

3. Try to give at least 2 or 3 of these books to children who might not normally have diverse books in their homes.

4. Make a special effort to buy some of these books from independent publishers, independent bookstores and vendors, including those operated by People of Color.

5. Lift up the importance of having books that reflect our nation’s diversity at every opportunity—not just within my circle of friends, but among others with whom I don’t normally interact.

6. When visiting a bookstore or library, encourage the manager to include a more diverse offering of children’s books. Take the initiative to purchase at least one multicultural title to show my commitment to supporting these books.

7. Encourage educators and administrators to include multicultural books among their classroom resources.

8. Encourage book reviewers and bloggers to include more multicultural books among the books they review.

9. Publicly celebrate positive multicultural children’s literature, including sharing it on social media, book review sites and through personal recommendations.

10. Encourage others to take this pledge

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Wade Hudson is president and CEO of Just Us Books, Inc., independent publisher of children’s books that celebrate the diversity of Black people, history and culture. You can follow him on Twitter at @hudsonwade and find his books at http://justusbooks.com (FB, IG and Twitter: @JustUsBooks )