Studies find that Latino stories aren’t being told enough. So why are our books being banned in schools? According to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, only 5% of books published for young readers are by or about Latinos. This lack of representation goes beyond fiction books.
Latino students represent more than a quarter of the 50.8 million K-12 public school students in the country. Yet, U.S. history textbooks have been found to either not cover, or hardly mention 87% of key topics in Latino history, according to a recent report by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy.
Book bans in states like Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina are threatening to take away the little bit of representation Latinos currently have in literature. Books that reflect the unique experiences of Latinos such as My name is MarĂa Isabel by Alma Flor Ada, Carmela Full of Wishes by Matt de la Peña, and Escuchando con mi CorazĂłn by Gabi Garcia, are just some of the books being taken off of shelves this school year.
Latino history and Latino storytelling are being stripped from schools.
How do you feel about the recent book bans? Let us know in the comments.
