Books! The best weapons in the world!
Books have always played a central role in my life.
Growing up, my mom made sure books were abundant and would scold me and my siblings if we, in the slightest, mistreated one.
My dad signed me up for my first library card and took me to and from our local public library nearly every single week.
I have vivid memories of weekends where my older sister would sit me on the couch and force me to listen to her read.
I remember Mrs. Cry, my elementary school librarian who let me check out multiple books at time and always asked my thoughts when I’d return them.
I remember Mrs. Navarro, my high school librarian who never stopped updating the library with new books, who accepted my shy request to be a library aid during third period senior year, and who gave me the biggest confidence boost when she praised one of my early book reviews.
My best friends are readers. We talk about books, share books and gift books.
I began a book blog as a hobby the summer before my senior year of high school. Three years later and my job, as in what I get paid to do, is reading and reviewing books at my college’s student paper.
What I am trying to say is books have always been present in my life. Never have I felt alone with a book in hand.
More than anywhere else, through the presence of books, specifically diverse books written by diverse authors, I have learned empathy. Empathy, something our country desperately needs right now.
Today young-adult fiction writer Gayle Forman tweeted her support for We Need Diverse Books and said she would match up to $5,000 in donations to the organization.
“This election was won by Fear,” Forman wrote. “Books provide windows, empathy. They combat fear.”
We Need Diverse Books is an organization that advocates for “essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people.”
Their vision: “A world in which all children can see themselves in the pages of a book.”
Rudine Sims Bishop in her 1990 article "Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors” noted, “When children cannot find themselves reflected in the books they read… they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society of which they are a part.”
“For white children, they also suffer from not seeing the true nature of the world around them,” We Need Diverse Books says on its website. “It can distort the world around them and their connections to other humans.”
I know there are many out there that feel alone and lost this week, unsure of how to move forward, unsure of how to help and unsure of how to make a change, though you desperately want to.
I will tell you what I am doing, in an effort to show that everyone has the power to do something.
I am turning to books. I am supporting diverse books and diverse authors.
The future is what we now need to focus on and a more accepting and empathetic one is what we should aim for.
The work starts now and, for me, it will start with books.
“You want weapons? We’re in a library. Books! The best weapons in the world! This room’s the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself.”
