The Main Library Children’s Department had a number of patrons who, identifying as parents of children of color, questioned some of the classic books on our shelves. At the same time, Was The Cat in the Hat Black? was published, and stories about racism in the Little House on the Prairie books were in the news.

Conversely, NPL has a diverse collection, and we wanted to highlight books that portray racial, cultural, gender, sexual and ability diversity in appropriate and positive ways.

The task force is comprised of staff who are dedicated to anti-racism efforts, both as individuals and representatives of NPL. Each task force member analyzed a classic children’s book from an anti-racism perspective and documented how they approached the book’s topics with their children. NPL gathered these testimonials and created a blog series to be released on our website in the coming months.

These blog posts have not yet been released for public viewing. NPL anticipates these posts will help our readers and community examine classic books from an anti-racism perspective, as well as learn more about books in NPL’s catalog that feature and celebrate diversity. The blog posts also provide information for how patrons can examine these classic books alongside their children and help them understand critical thinking about diversity.