Manchester mum calls for more diversity in children's books

Amy says much more can be done to represent the families of Manchester in children's books

A mother has called for more diversity in children's books after a study revealed just 10% of publications had characters from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

Amy, a teacher from Manchester, said children needed to see role models that look like them in their reading books.

She said her daughter who is mixed race had been "excited" to find a character in a book looked like her.

The 36-year-old has since set up an Instagram page on diverse books.

'Under-represented'

The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education found characters from a BAME background remain "significantly under-represented" in children's literature.

Its Reflecting Realities report revealed children's books published in the UK contained only 10% of BAME characters in 2019, while 33.5% of children in UK primary schools were from a minority ethnic background.

Amy said: "Mabel came home one day with one of her reading books and she was really excited that the character looked like her.

"It highlighted that the characters haven't looked like her [before] and it's obviously had an impact on her."

The mother-of-two, who also has a nine-year-old son, Max, said it was something she and her husband, Phil, wanted to address so she set up Max and Mabel Reads, sharing diverse books her children loved.

Phil said: "It's brilliant because when the children find someone who looks like them they feel like they are welcome in this society; like they add something positive."

"When I was growing up there weren't any," he said.

Amy said since becoming a teacher 12 years ago things had improved but "much more can still be done" so that reading books "represent the families of Manchester".

"We tried to get a book for Phil's birthday [recently] and we couldn't find any books that had a family that looked like ours.

"There was nothing," she said.

Amy said teachers did an "amazing job" trying to find books that represented their pupils but "even now some don't represent all the children in the classroom".

"I believe you can make a difference," she added.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [e-mail]