Read Same, Read Different is the brain child of Elm Books Publisher, Leila Monaghan. Leila wanted to see more books with diverse characters in a diverse setting and written by diverse authors. So she reached out to someone who wanted to see the same – me, Jackie Wellington.
The purpose of this campaign is to expose readers to the creativity of underrepresented authors in the Kidlit industry. Authors such as Crystal Allen, Cheryl Willis Hudson, Kelly Starling Lyons, Aliona Gibson, Maya Christina Gonzalez, Walter Dean Myers, Coe Booth, Don Tate, Meg Medina just to name a few.
This is not about Blacks, Whites, Latinas/Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, or any other ethnic groups. This is about books. Children. Reading. And exposing. One goal - to get great books into the hands of children of all races, cultures, and socio-economic groups. This is embracing #DIVERSITY and #MULTICULTURALISM.
There are other campaigns that are also in the early stages. #WeNeedDiverseBooks and #ColorMyShelf are two that we are aware of. We support these two campaigns 100%. However, #ReadSameReadDifferent has a different agenda.
The previous two campaigns are asking for more books written by culturally diverse groups.(Which we so desperately need.)We want to publicize the diverse books that are already published by making the public aware of their existence.
If these books are not circulated, or checked out, libraries pull them from the shelves. We need these books to stay on the shelves. So that is why we are here.
The questions is, "How are we going to do this?" Easy! We will research great books and pair them up so you, the reader, can enjoy the best diverse worlds.
For instance, we will say, "If you like VAMPIRINA BALLERINA, then you should read MY FRIEND MAYA LOVES TO DANCE by Cheryl Willis Hudson."
Promoting diverse books written with diverse characters in a diverse setting by diverse authors. #diversityinKidlit
