I Exist: Why Representation in Children's Books Matters

"I stopped reading books that had humans in them after Harriet [the Spy] because I knew there wouldn't be any humans like me," — Sarah Moon, author of Sparrow. 

At Scholastic, we're proud to publish authors of different backgrounds, cultures, races, abilities, and orientations. But we also know that many of our authors have felt the same way Sarah did as a child. Like her, many felt that they didn't exist in children's books when they were growing up. And like her, many are now writing to change that for future generations. We invited them to share their stories and to talk about why representation in children's books is so crucial. These stories will break your heart, but they will also give you hope: hope that today's children will never doubt that they can be the heroes of their own stories. 

Contributing authors:

Daniel José Older, author of the Shadowshaper series
Wendy Wan-Long Shang, author of books like This is Just a Test and The Way Home Looks Now
Billy Merrell, author of Vanilla
Kody Keplinger, author of Run
Lamar Giles, author of Overturned
Sarah Moon, author of Sparrow
Goldy Moldovsky, author of No Good Deed
Varian Johnson, author of To Catch a Cheat
Angela Cervantes, author of Allie, First at Last
Bill Konigsberg, author of Honestly Ben

Special thanks:

Music composed by Lucas Elliot Eberl
Sound mix and editing by Daniel Jordan and Christopher Johnson
Produced by Emily Morrow