This conference in particular was inspiring to me because after many years of tackling these questions myself in boardrooms and podiums, on panels and during private conversations, I was once again reminded of the most important definition of diversity, reflected in Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: VARIETY. When presented this way, diverse means not just “some of us” who are “different,” but “ALL of us,” the entire diverse makeup of this country we call the United States—of the entire world in fact. Thinking of “diversity” this way eliminates some of the mystique that tends to make some literature seem exotic, and to define it as belonging to “the other.” This is not how diverse literature should be viewed; by ourselves, or by others, because we live in one of the most diverse societies in the world, and our children’s literature has to reflect the world they live in.
