The Children’s Cooperative Book Council recently released figures on the number of multicultural books released in 2014. In releasing the numbers, K. T. Horning stating an optimism about things to come.

“Even though the data we collect indicates children’s literature in this country continues to represent a mostly white world, we see signs that things are changing,” she says. “In 2014, for example, we saw a marked increase in the number of novels for children and teens by African-American authors.”
One of them, “Brown Girl Dreaming,” by Jacqueline Woodson won the National Book Award last fall and another, “The Crossover” by Kwame Alexander, won the Newbery Medal earlier this month. Horning also noted that an Asian-American author, Dan Santat, won this year’s Caldecott Medal.
“That’s huge because these awards have an impact on sales,” says Horning.
At the end of the day, Horning says the key to having more diverse books for children is in the hands of consumers.

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Comparative Data 2002-2014

A huge thanks to K. T. Horning for her dedication to supplying this information.