In fall 2023, EdTrust published a report examining racial and ethnic representation in grade school books. This research revealed that the justifications behind book bans — that there is somehow too much diversity and too many perspectives in K-12 education — are patently false. In fact, in the relatively few cases where a person of color was featured in our review, they were often portrayed superficially and negatively. Research shows that students receive many academic, emotional, and social benefits from representationally diverse curricula, and as such, the push for diversity must consider the multiple, intersecting identities that students bring to the classroom.

Unfortunately, the limitations we found for racial and ethnic diversity are only worsened when we expand our scope to consider other aspects of identity, like household structure, immigration status, gender identity, or sexual orientation. For example, out of the 300 books we analyzed, we found only two LGBTQ+ characters. LGBTQ+ representation often follows one of a few reductive plotlines, where the story is about the character coming out, resisting bullying, or serving as the backdrop to a larger story. In Patient Zero, Michael (no last name given) moved to Los Angeles in 1980 to find a community of other gay men and pursue modeling, but his unusual medical symptoms introduce the story of how doctors grappled with the AIDS epidemic. The other LGBTQ+ character is Alvin Ailey. While the book describes his revolutionary techniques that blended ballet, modern dance, blues, and gospel music and the creation of his dance troupe that were influenced by African American culture, there is no reference that Ailey was gay, illustrating how intersections of identity, even biographical ones, can be completely erased.

Over the next few months, we offer a writing series that emphasizes this need to recognize how multiple and intersecting identities are represented in grade school books. This series extends the lessons from our report by highlighting a group of incredible authors, each of whom speaks about their experiences navigating identity and representation to help readers understand what is needed now to advocate on behalf of their respective communities. Here are some examples of the pieces to come:

Afro-Latino Representation: Letisha Marrero, EdTrust editorial director and author of the middle-grade novel, Salsa Magic

Muslim Representation: Mahasin Abuwi Aleem, librarian and library services manager and Ariana Sani Hussain, school librarian. Both authors are Hijabi Librarians co-founders

LGBTQ+ and Transgender Representation: Sam Long, a transgender high school science teacher and Gender-Inclusive Biology co-founder

Black Disability Representation: AJ Link, Autistic Self Advocacy Network policy analyst

African American Social Justice Representation: Sabrina Wesley-Nero, Ph.D., Georgetown University teaching professor and 1619 Freedom School curriculum lead

Carceral System Representation: William Freeman, EdTrust’s higher education justice initiative manager and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Fellow

Asian American Representation: OiYan Poon, College Admissions Futures Co-Laborative co-director, NAACP LDF Thurgood Marshall Institute senior research fellow for education equity, and Asian American is Not a Color author

Jewish Representation: Jordan Daniels, Jews of Color Initiative Program Officer and BFF: Black, Fat, Femme Podcast

Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Memory: Terese Mailhot, New York Times bestselling author of Heart Berries: A Memoir.

Children bring all of themselves to their learning, and that learning should be as nuanced and complex as the human experience. That variety is valuable and benefits us all, not just in how we learn, but also in how we commune with one another, how we work and think together, and how we collectively nurture and shape a democratic, pluralistic society. What is a school if not a place to explore questions students have about their lives and the world around them? As one author, Sam Long, explains how he wrestled with one of those questions as a transgender person, “I knew I wasn’t like most girls, and I knew that I wanted to be a boy, but I wasn’t sure if there was a word for that. I searched the cover art and the synopses for hints of what I could feel hidden in me.” While Sabrina Wesley-Nero ruminates on the messages being conveyed about education and the society we want for our children through a lens of social justice.

There are too few options for children seeking answers to their questions about who they are, as individuals, and across the many communities in which they exist in the world around them. This is especially harmful when those few options are pulled from library shelves, inaccessible even though a select few agitators are driving this movement, while most parents oppose the bigoted culling of books from classrooms and libraries.

Book bans across the country are rooted in a historical strategy of discrimination that is about denying access to public spaces and equal opportunities by shutting out the stories that help students feel seen and understood, classifying those stories as unworthy of instruction.

As AJ Link writes about finding opportunities for accessing Black and Autistic representation, he discusses how access is not just about physical space, but also about the precursors to accessing spaces, be it emotional access, relational access, and financial access.

Our report on curriculum representation and its associated tool reveals a need to expand our collective discussion about what we should expect from diverse and inclusive representation in grade school books. It is not enough to include more people of color, especially if depictions of people of color are stereotypical or negatively portrayed. Educators and publishers must instead consider how complex those depictions are and then use that information as a basis for pushing student thinking.

I am excited for how this series will move the conversation forward about what it means for education and books to be representative, inclusive, and beneficial to student learning. I hope you find these pieces, along with a plethora of resources and book recommendations, valuable as we collectively work toward finding or publishing materials that better reflect the real lives and experiences of all students.