Stepping Stones for Increasing Diversity and Inclusion in Dutch Children’s Literature

Responses to Disney’s Encanto (2021), recognising it as a milestone in representation (Verstaete 2022), resonate with pleas within Dutch children’s literature, which is predominantly white, to diversify its supply regarding racial and ethnic representation. As efforts to make children’s literature more inclusive hitherto have fallen short, the proposed intends to fast track racial and ethnic diversification by 1) training intermediaries to increase their awareness of its importance, and 2) investigating the possibility to develop an instrument for selection that highlights diversity in the existing supply, with an eye to aiding intermediaries in making more diversified and inclusive choices.