Discussion: Why Diverse Books Matter To Me

Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts At Midnight host the 2016 Discussion Challenge.

Why Diverse Books Matter To Me

If you met me, the word “diverse” probably would not come to mind. I’m a straight, able-bodied, white, twenty-something woman who was raised in a middleclass, nonreligious household. Like many Americans, I’m the product of European immigrants who came to the US in the 1800-1900s. I speak fluent English with a General American accent. My first name is an English name and is one of the most common first names for US-born girls in my generation. I graduated from high school on time and have college degrees. When I enter a public place in my hometown, I can guarantee that the majority of the people there will look, sound, think, and act a lot like me.

As a young child, I never had a problem “finding myself” in a book. Most of the fictional characters I read about were white, middleclass kids like me. It was the same with movies and TV shows. I saw myself everywhere, and I never questioned why everybody in the media was so much like me. The lack of diversity never crossed my child-mind.

I first became aware of readers' desire for more diversity in books when I was studying publishing at a university in 2013. I started researching statistics about the lack of non-white main characters in children’s literature. It actually shocked me how little diversity could be found in children’s books. I thought I should help do something about it. I bought books about non-straight, non-white, non-middleclass characters and shared them with other children’s lit aficionados. I supported the diverse books movement, but I mostly felt like I was cheerleading from the sidelines because I’m not a part of any underrepresented group. As far as I know, the lack of diversity in children's books never impacted me personally. I didn’t even notice it when I was a kid because I was part of the majority group.

Diversity in books became slightly more personal for me in 2015. I posted a review of Becky Albertalli’s LGBT book Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda on my blog. Soon after, I got a message on a social media site. The message was from a man who’d left comments on my reviews before. He said that he’d been reading my blog for months, but he was unfollowing it because I had “given a positive review to a book that made homosexuality seem normal.” He told me to delete the review so that my blog didn’t lose any more followers. (For the record, my blog only lost one follower after I posted that review.)

I was a little shocked by the message. Like all blogs, mine had lost followers before, but no one had taken the time to tell me why. I promptly deleted his message and laughed it off, but then it started to bother me. The message felt like censorship. This random Internet stranger was pressuring me to alter my blog because he didn’t agree with it. That didn’t sit well with me. I have no problem with LGBT books, and I wasn't going to take down my review.

I wondered: If someone was trying to get a review removed from my ridiculous rinky-dink blog, then how much backlash do LGBT books face? If one person is trying to remove a review, then how many people are trying to get LGBT books removed from schools and libraries? Book banning is something that I’ve never understood. It’s fine if you don’t want to read a book, but is it really necessary to take the book away from everybody?

That message helped me realize that some groups of people—such as LGBT people—are still struggling to make their voices heard. That’s kind of devastating. I think everyone should be able to express themselves, even if you don’t agree with what they’re saying. I'm not part of any minority group, but I don't want to live in a world where only the majority group gets a voice.

It took a message from an angry Internet stranger to teach me that diversity in literature is about much more than just “finding yourself” in a book. It’s about giving a means of self-expression to people who have historically been silenced by society. It’s also about encouraging readers to see the world from someone else’s perspective. Diversity is never going away. No matter how much you rant and rave and try to censor book reviews, there will always be people who are different from you. Books are a way to help us make peace with our differences. The world would be a much nicer place if we all read diversely and tried a little harder to understand each other.

That’s why diversity in literature is important to me.

Random Spongebob meme because this discussion is getting too serious for this blog.

Let’s discuss: What does “diverse literature” mean to you? Do you ever read books written from perspectives that you don’t understand or don’t agree with? Why do diverse books matter to you?