This week is #RefugeeWeek2020 and I would like to urge everyone, especially teachers and librarians, to pick their suggested reading list very wisely.

I just finished reading a bestselling book about a Syrian refugee & I was really disappointed to see that the character is kept completely in the background waiting for others to help. It reminded me of the proverbial, ‘kind & white saviour’ storyline.

I of course love books that celebrate empathy and encourage kids to help each other, but it is deeply problematic to write a book about a child refugee while also portraying this child as passive and secondary.

Enough of having #BAME characters in the background while celebrating these same books as the ‘best’ of what the British book industry can produce in terms of diversity and inclusion.

We don’t need tokenistic representation - we need authentic and empowered representation. #RepresentationMatters #RefugeeWeek #ownvoices #RefugeesWelcome

@LetterboxLib @clpe1 @Booktrust @EmpathyLabUK @RefugeeWeek @littlerebsprize @PathwaysINTO @SCBWI_BI @lantanapub @a_reflective