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We are in dire need of multi-ethnic and multi-cutural literature. Young adult literature plays a huge role in adolescent lives as these novels are a transitory stage between children’s books and adult literature. Teens start seeing real life themes in these books such as grief, romance, sex, betrayal, friendship, etc., but many teens can’t find a character to relate to. Finding a Person of Color in young adult literature is, sadly, more unrealistic than a dragon or fairy in any fantasy/sci-fi book out there. Despite the vastly diverse readership that young adult novels garner, there is little to no representation of that diversity within these novels themselves. After sampling a group of the most popular young adult novels, it was found that the majority of books represented only one general cultural group– White American. Only 15% would be considered multi-ethnic literature.
By continuing to leave People of Color out of young adult literature, a seed of “otherness” is effectively planted in teens and in a space that has incredible potential to bridge gaps instead of widening them.
Marginalizing multi-ethnic literature in the young adult genre in turn marginalizes the minorities that are not being represented.
Since young adult literature is often an adolescent’s first experience with proper novels, we must understand that the effect of this literature goes much farther than the moment they put the books down. Reading is imperative to fundamental development; so when a young person reads novels that do not have any relatable characters, it ends up being detrimental not only to their future as a reader but also to their life in general. White children have an unfair advantage with the majority of young adult literature being largely by and about White people, especially in the classroom where White children will have more opportunities to practice essential reading skills.
If children of Color never read about someone who potentially looks like them or shares a similar experience to them, they will be much less likely to develop an interest in reading. More often than not, a lack of interest in reading leads to the perpetuation of systematic oppression and unequal opportunities later in these children’s lives. Jane Gangi said it best: “This will, of course, ensure the status quo: because they have access to literary development. Middle- and upper-class (mostly White) children will continue to become the professionals and managers, while mostly poor and working class children, who have less access to literary development and are often children of color, will continue to fill service jobs at minimal wages.”
The long-term effects of marginalized literature and, in turn, systematic oppression can be seen time and time again not only with People of Color in extreme poverty at minimum-wage jobs, but also with the school-to-prison pipeline. Like overwhelmingly White literature, America has built an entire industry, the prison business, counting on children of Color to be disinterested in reading and scholarship to keep business afloat. We must do better by children of Color and continue to diversify their literature, and all literature.
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