Diversity

Readers can find magic in these pages, from an alternate Shakespearean London to a modern high school. Share these stories featuring LGBTQIA+ characters with teens during Pride Month and throughout the year.

Self-identifying mixed-race people make up the largest demographic among Americans under 18. These picture books and middle grade novels feature multiracial kids as heroes of their own stories.

It’s some visual. The literal erasure of the word “racism” and by extension the lived experience of more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry and their descendants. Among them: Maggie Tokuda-Hall, author of Love in the Library—who received those amendments to her picture book by a Scholastic editor—and myself.

The report “Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools,” released Thursday, shows a 28 percent increase in book bans over the last six months, reflecting the impact of state legislation on censorship efforts across the country.

The CAA Foundation and the Campaign for Our Shared Future are harnessing star power to fight censorship. Launching today, #LetAmericaRead invites supporters to join the campaign to oppose book banning, which is occurring in public schools and libraries nationwide.