This week, we relased our 50th podcast episode. And it's a very special one: We wanted to have a conversation about representation in children's books and why it is so crucial that children see themselves in the books they read.
We asked ten authors to share their memory of the first time they saw themselves in a book, and what that moment meant to them, and the responses we received were so powerful.
One of the lines that broke my heart was from Sarah Moon, author of the young adult novel Sparrow. She said:
“I stopped reading books that had humans in them after Harriet [the Spy] because I knew there wouldn’t be any humans like me.”
And one of the lines that gave me goosebumps of joy was from Bill Konigsberg, author of Honestly Ben when he said:
“I hope that kids. . .read my books and see that they aren’t alone. That someone gets them, truly. Because they truth is they aren’t alone. We who understand them, we who will love them for who they are, we are everywhere."
Trust me, you won't want to miss this one. Pop in your headphones and give it a listen here, or here if you're on an iPhone or here if you're on an Android device.
The ten featured authors include: Daniel José Older, Wendy Shang, Billy Merrell, Kody Keplinger, Lamar Giles, Sarah Moon, Goldy Moldovsky, Varian Johnson, Angela Cervantes, and Bill Konigsberg.
