You know you’re not racist. But do your readers know it?
Check your writing for signs of these 3 mistakes. They’re probably there unintentionally, but rest assured that readers will find them – and take it personally, even if you didn’t mean any harm.
Be prepared to root out these problems wherever you find them. Let’s try to create books that accurately reflect children’s reality, regardless of their skin colour or socioeconomic status.
Only one, or Tokenism
I’m sure you’ve seen this one before: all the characters in a story are white… except one. You can see the one black, or Asian, or East Indian, character hanging out in all the illustrations. Maybe it’s one character in a wheelchair, or a girl in a hijab. Or one character with some other type of difference, whatever it may be.
Yes, diversity is important. But that doesn’t mean throwing in a single character of a particular “type,” simply to serve the goal of diversity.
QUICK FIX:
