We collect all depictions of Black and Indigenous Peoples and People of Color (BIPOC) in mainstream children’s and young adult books published or distributed in the U.S following the inclusion criteria below. Our collection is uniquely comprehensive — to serve research and education — and uniquely accessible through most libraries — to serve general use.
What do we collect?
Audience and Format
- Titles for ages K-12, classified as picture books, early or emergent reader, elementary or chapter books, middle grade, or young adult books that center Black and Indigenous Peoples and People of Color (BIPOC) characters or topics.
- Fiction, graphic novels, and narrative nonfiction (informational but with literary elements such as characterization and a story arc meant to inform and entertain).
Characters and Topics
- “Shared Spotlight” titles in which the BIPOC human character(s) shares the narrative with a main or secondary human character(s). If the characters represent racial or cultural differences (characters may have a positive, negative or resolving relationship), the BIPOC story must play a primary or equal role to the other main or secondary character(s).
- “Cast of Characters” titles where there are no main protagonists but include many, various human characters with diverse representation and the topic of the story is inclusive, representational, or has cultural relevance.
- Adapted or invented folktales or classics with human BIPOC depiction or a strong tie to a particular culture or community.
- Fictional characters can be non-human (e.g. animals, fairies, mermaids, zombies, witches, wizards, aliens, robots, cyborgs, etc.) when the characters clearly represent BIPOC people or people from a specific cultural context.
- Narrative nonfiction books that center a biographical, historical, current event or other nonfiction topic that specifically affects/relates to BIPOC communities.
Publication
- Published or distributed in the United States.
- Picture books published since 2002.
- Books for older audiences published since 2022.
- Individual titles within a series published 2022 and after.
- Written in English or are English bi/multilingual.
- Non-English editions if a book is released from the same publisher at the same time as the English edition.
- Published by both large commercial and small indie publishers.
- Typically acquired by libraries and often appear in popular review journals and websites.
What don’t we collect?
Format
- Activity books and coloring books
- Board books
- Comics and Manga
- Expository nonfiction books (fact based with no narrative or element of “story”)
Characters and Topics
- Books featuring animals as primary characters — unless the animals are clearly meant to represent people from a specific cultural context
- Example: Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote)
- or BIPOC human characters are also central to the story Example: Pup 681)
- Books featuring non-human characters — unless they are featured in fantasy/imaginary settings and are identified as BIPOC (e.g. fairies, mermaids, zombies, witches, wizards, etc.)
- “Background Character” books in which the main character is white and the BIPOC human characters are simply present to diversity the white character’s school or other environment. These are books where the BIPOC characters are not given a narrative arc that deepens his/her/their understanding of himself/herself/themselves or others.
- “Cast of Characters” titles where there are no main BIPOC protagonists but include many, various human characters with diverse representation but the topic is not inclusive, representational, nor does it have cultural relevance.
Publication
- Self-published, crowd-funded books or zines.
- Titles only available online as eBooks or audiobooks.
- Individual titles within a series published before 2022.
- New or revised editions unless the new version significantly changes content to the point of changing the coding.
- Direct adaptations of movies or TV episodes.
Why don’t we have ____ title?
Our goal is to collect every book that fits our inclusion criteria. However, these books can be hard to find — which is a big part of why we do what we do! Let us know if you see something we’ve missed! If it fits our inclusion criteria and is not already in our acquisition/processing queue, we will consider the title.
How do we find books for the collection?
As anyone who has tried to build an intentional or comprehensive multicultural book collection knows — it’s not easy! Our process is systematic and as exhaustive as possible. To this end, we:
- Comb through 70 major publisher’s children’s catalogs and their imprints on a quarterly basis using the Edelweiss+ digital platform.
- Review 64 small/indie children’s press catalogs on a quarterly basis by visiting individual websites & reading through physical and online catalogs.
- Search titles one by one to determine if it fits the Diverse BookFinder’s inclusion criteria based on information provided by the publisher such as title, book cover/illustrations, and keywords.
- Review recommended multicultural children’s and young adult book lists and nationally recognized awards when/if they come to our attention, as the timing and topics vary based on sponsoring organizations.
See a list of the publishers we include here (switch tabs for major & small/indie publishers).
Why do we collect all books and not only the “good” ones?
We are a research collection, not a list of recommended titles.
We aim to gather a comprehensive collection of children’s and young adult books with characters from diverse backgrounds. Our goal is to use data-driven insights to contribute to the important conversation about diversity in children’s and young adult literature. By doing so, we can identify both positive and negative trends which will empower us to advocate for positive change in bookshelves everywhere.
Does the collection include #ownvoices books?
Yes. Our collection includes many books by creators (authors and illustrators) who identify with the racial/cultural group they depict within their book. When we can find information about an author/illustrator’s racial/cultural background we note this information using our Creator Lived Experience tags. Learn more about these tags on the Our Tags page.
Does the collection include forms of diversity beyond race and culture?
Yes. While our focus is on books featuring BIPOC, of course BIPOC have ethnicities, genders, religions, abilities, and sexualities — all of which we track in our data. In fact, a comprehensive collection that focuses on depictions of BIPOC — like ours — can reveal a lot about whether and how the inherently intersectional nature of social identity gets depicted in the publishing industry at large. In other words, if our collection has very few representations of LGBTQIAP2S+ People of Color — we can all ask (and certainly should ask), “Why not?!”
Do we offer book reviews?
Our collection is not a curated list, so we encourage you to actively and thoughtfully consider which books you want to use with children. To support this, our book record pages in the Search Our Collection feature:
- information about who is represented and how they are represented in the book.
- links to professional book reviews through the Bates library catalog and/or Google Books.
- links to cultural or #ownvoices reviews when a book has been flagged as problematic.
We also encourage users to visit:
- Our Recommended Reads page for recommended book lists and links to tools that have been designed to help evaluate books for quality and authenticity.
- Our Blog for highlighted books and trends in the children’s and young adult literature world along with exclusive author/illustrator interviews!
Who can access our collection?
Many of the picture books in the Diverse BookFinder are housed at the Bates College Ladd Library. Simply visit your local library and ask them about interlibrary loan. Additionally, since the Diverse BookFinder only collects books published and distributed in the US, most of the books are available at your local public library or book seller. Use WorldCat to discover locations near you.
Is our full database of titles available for download?
No. If you are a scholar or researcher interested in publishing or presenting about any of our data, please reach out to us directly to discuss.
