Why Representation Matters
“Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us” (Bishop, 1990, para. 1)
Books as Mirrors: Identity & Belonging
Children need books that “nurture the souls… reflecting back to them, both visually and verbally, the beauty and competences that we as adults see in them” (Bishop, 2012, p. 12)
Books become mirrors when they reflect children’s families, languages, skin tones, abilities, and cultural practices. When those mirrors are present and authentic, they send powerful messages: Your life exists here. Your story matters (Bishop, 1990; Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2019).
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When children see characters who look, speak, or live like them, reading can become a site of affirmation and joy. Research shows that when children encounter books that reflect their own communities and experiences, they are more likely to feel welcome, develop a positive view of their culture, and see themselves as capable readers and thinkers (Cahill et al., 2021; Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2019). These encounters support self-esteem and a sense of being valued in the social spaces in which they live and play (Cahill et al., 2021). Similarly, studies of diverse picturebooks highlight that realistic, culturally authentic portrayals of children’s everyday lives help them feel recognised rather than reduced to stereotypes (Wiseman et al., 2019).​​
At the same time, the quality of the mirror matters. Enriquez (2021) describes how “close approximations” (p. 104) that only partially reflect a child’s life can feel like foggy mirrors - images that are blurry, stereotyped, or superficial. These foggy mirrors can still leave children
“Children have a right to books that reflect their own images and books that open less familiar worlds to them”
(Bishop, 2012, p. 9).
feeling unseen, misread, or pressured to fit into boxes they would otherwise not choose.
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When mirrors are missing altogether, the impact can be even more profound. When children rarely, if ever, see themselves in texts, they may lose interest in reading, internalise prejudices about themselves and others, and begin to feel that their bodies, languages, homes, and families do not belong in their early learning environments (Cahill et al., 2021; Enriquez, 2021). In book collections dominated by white, English-speaking, able-bodied, nuclear-family protagonists, children from the traditionally underrepresented are made largely invisible, and they may align themselves with dominant cultural ideologies rather than question them (Jones, 2012; Yoon, 2015). This absence reinforces dominance - quietly defining who is “normal,” who is “different,” and whose experiences are secondary (Adam, 2021; Bishop, 1990; Cahill et al., 2021).
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A lack of mirrors also has consequences for White children. If they encounter only stories that centre people who share their racial background, language, family structure, or social class, they can develop an inflated sense of the importance of their own experiences, reinforcing existing social hierarchies (Jones, 2012) and “othering” children from marginalized groups by viewing them as exotic, special, or different (Adams, 2021; Cahill et al., 2021). Bishop (2012) reminds us that children have a right both to books that reflect their own images and to books that open less familiar worlds to them. Without that balance, some children learn that their lives are the default, while others learn that theirs are an afterthought.
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Intentional selection of diverse books ensures that all children encounter clear, affirming mirrors - stories that recognise their worth, honour their communities, and help them know that they matter.
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