Let’s Teach Children There Is No Such Thing As ‘Normal’

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When my eldest son was born, eight years ago, I hadn’t looked inside a children’s book for 30 years, so I assumed that they would have changed with society, reflecting the people and lives that we saw all around us: same sex families, Black families, mixed heritage families, single women…

But they hadn’t changed. Despite a third of our schoolchildren being of Black, Asian or minority ethnic origins, research by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education has revealed that only 7% of children’s books published in the past three years have a BAME character. Similarly, despite there being 200,000 families with same sex parents in the UK, there are disproportionately few children’s stories that illustrate this.

This lack of diversity in children’s books sends out damaging messages about who is worthy of being in stories. It tells some children they’re not good enough and gives those who are overrepresented an exaggerated idea of their place in society. Not the starting point any of us want for our children.

As a single parent, I saw my son develop a narrow, exclusive view of family based on what he learned in the stories available to him in nursery and then school. He could see he wasn’t in a storybook family, but neither was his friend Rachid whose Mum wears a hijab, or Toby whose parents are divorced, or Annie who has short hair and likes to play football. They were all learning at a young age that they weren’t ‘normal’.

We set up Little Box of Books to challenge this and to make the most of the incredible opportunity we have when children are small to keep them believing there is no such thing as normal.

We provide families and schools with stories that reflect the diversity of our population. We help children see from a young age that heroes come in all shapes and sizes, from all races, cultures, and families, supporting them to develop an acceptance of themselves and those around them.

Inclusive and representative books are absolutely vital in helping children to understand the world and to feel understood. And, according to the OECD, if a child falls in love with reading, they are more likely to succeed academically across the board.

But literacy is in crisis. There are nine million adults in the UK who are functionally illiterate, costing the government £2.5 billion in lost taxes every year. 1 in 8 primary schools don’t have any school library provision at all, and school funding is at its lowest since 2010.

Schools can’t afford books, never mind those that reflect the diversity of our population.

To combat this, Cressida Cowell, the children’s laureate, launched the Life Changing Libraries campaign earlier this year asking for £100m to be ring-fenced for primary school literacy every year.

In an open letter to Boris Johnson she asked: 'How can a child become a reader for pleasure if their parents or carers cannot afford books, and their primary school has no library, or that library is woefully insufficient?'

We are desperate to see the government respond with a cash injection that funds our school libraries, filling them with books that reflect the diversity of our population. And we will wait eagerly to hear their response to this campaign.

But while we wait, Little Box of Books has launched a brand-new initiative to help with this urgent work. We are asking businesses to help supply their local schools with transformative, diverse libraries through our business memberships.

We are working alongside incredible businesses who are passionate about literacy to make sure that no child misses out on the opportunity to become a reader. Together we deliver books, vital resources and urgent literacy support that will change the lives of thousands of children, helping them to fulfil their potential and achieve their dreams.

If you think your business could support this ground-breaking initiative, please visit www.littleboxofbooks.co.uk/business-memberships