Some Deep Reading on Diversity in Literature: Or Lack Thereof

"What an awesome read. To bolster what Monica Olivera in her NBC Latino piece [linked below] that [librarian] Jeanette Larson linked to a couple days ago on the lack of Latino titles in the NYT's children's books of the year list: what's missing in Monica's response (which is a great one, by the way) is the affect the omission of said titles has on would-be writers of color: our kids in the [Rio Grande Valley of South Texas], in particular (b/c the community make up is what it is [90+% Latino]), and in a place like West Texas where the Latino community does make up around 30% of the population (where we are so isolated (literally and figuratively) from everything). It's dire, brother. Dire. We need to do our part to change this, right."
                                                      --my Facebook response to educator and publisher David Bowles).

Monica Olivera's piece on the blatant omission of Latino/a Children's titles on Year-End Best-of Lists

A UK Urban Take on Child Writers of Colour (who leave out colour in their writing, unless...)

And who's doing something about it? Small presses, mostly: Follow them online to build your lit collections that kids, especially, kids of color will benefit big time from:

VAO Publishing
Arte Público Press/Piñata Books (under reconstruction)
Lee & Low Books
Cinco Puntos Press