Drawing on and expanding their long-running column for Books for Keeps, Darren Chetty and Professor Karen Sands O'Connor trace how Black and racially minoritised characters have been represented in 'the secret garden' of British children's literature from its earliest stages. Examining how children's literature has both been shaped by, and shaped, prevailing attitudes towards people of colour, they take a thematic approach that offers teachers and parents contextual knowledge that will enrich how books are discussed with children.
About the Authors
Foreword
Introduction
A Note on Terminology
You Can't Say That! Stories Have to be About White People
Books children read, and books they write
Section 1 - 'Classic' Children's Literature
& Britain's Children's Book Industry
The Fantasy of Story
Finding a way into the secret garden of children's books
Island Kingdoms and Robinsonades
Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and why it still matters
Classic Literature and Classic Mistakes
How to approach (and not to approach) classic children's books
With You in History
Using traditional forms to tell Black Britain's story
The Other Side of the Story
Historical fiction and nonfiction for children from a different point of
view
Guardian's Galaxy
The Guardian children's fiction prize and Black Britain
And the Winner Isn't
Prizes and Black British children's literature
Carnegies So White
The Carnegie Medal controversy and racially minoritised readers and writers
Black & White & Read All Over
Diversity and the Carnegie Medal
Drawing Conclusions
The Kate Greenaway Medal and racially minoritised readers and writers
On Values, Knowledge and the Imagination
White British writers and representation
Witness Literature
Speaking up for someone else's community
Section 2 - Books and Belongings
World Book Day
Books, dressing up, and racially minoritised children
Whose World?
World Book Day and selecting the books for 2017
England's White and Pleasant Land
Connecting racially minoritised readers to British spaces
From the Street to the Garden: Nature and Black Britain
Britain's natural world and racially minoritised readers
Reading Joyfully
Finding and foregrounding joy in books about racially minoritised children
Animal Fables and Dehumanisation in Children's Books
The problem of substituting animals for human characters
We English
Nonfiction for children and who counts as English
Taking Series Seriously
Readers finding themselves in series books
Lessons from School Books
School stories as a microcosm of society
Section 3 - Making Change
A Change is Gonna Come
Book Creators speak up at Seven Stories' Diverse Voices Symposium
#Reflecting Realities and #OwnVoices
Campaigning to make British children's books more representative
The Value of Reflecting Realities for all Readers
Farrah Serroukh on why she started the Reflecting Realities reports
We're Here Because You Were There ... and There, and There
Literature by and about migrants from Britain's former colonies
Stan Firm Inna Inglan
Growing up Black and British in the Thatcher era
Powerful Politics
The right to speak up in British children's literature
In Times of Peril
South Asian and Muslim representation after the 7/7 bombings
East Asian Characters in British Children's Fiction
Expanding the definition of 'Asian' in British children's books
Jewish Representation in British Children's Books
Exploring the portrayal of Jewish people in British children's books
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Representation in British Children's Literature
Revising representation for all British readers
Mixed, not Mixed Up
Characters with multiple heritage backgrounds
How to Write Children's Books About Africa?
Stereotyping a continent - and how some authors resist stereotypes
Home is Where You're Understood
LGBTQ+ identities and racially minoritised characters
Palestinian People in Children's Books
How British children's books have represented Palestinians
It Starts in Wales
Expanding the definition of Britishness beyond whiteness through Welsh books
Home from Home?
Racially minoritised characters embrace their Britishness
Book List
Dr Darren Chetty taught in primary schools for over twenty years. His essay in the best-selling The Good Immigrant has been used in schools, and universities and shared widely in children's and young adult publishing. Professor Karen Sands O'Connor is Visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield and a former British Academy Global Professor specialising in the history of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic children's literature and publishing, and the author of three books on children's literature. In addition to their Books for Keeps column, Darren and Karen advise on CLPE's Reflecting Realities research and contributed to the CILIP Carnegie Awards Diversity Review.
