Children's books eight times as likely to feature animal main characters than BAME people

According to UK study, just 5% of children’s books have black, Asian or minority ethnic protagonists – a small improvement from 1% in 2017

Two years after the stark revelation that only 1% of British children’s books featured a main character who was black, Asian or minority ethnic, the proportion has increased to 5%, according to new analysis. But a child from an ethnic minority background is far more likely to encounter an animal protagonist when reading a book than a main character sharing their ethnicity.

Two new reports into representation in children’s books are published on Wednesday, with the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) finding that 5% of children’s books published in the UK last year had an ethnic minority main character, compared to 4% in 2018 and just 1% in 2017.

We need to make sure that the incremental increase doesn’t make us complacent, or doesn’t make us feel like we’re kind of done

Related: ‘Do black people read?’ What my years in publishing have taught me about diversity in books | Natalie Jerome

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