If you are looking for a way to make your home or school library more diverse, Bookversal is a tool created for just that purpose. Aleksandra Melnikova and Laura Hobson are the women who designed the site, and they are based in the UK. This means that many of the links will take you to BIPOC-owned UK bookstores, but you can, of course purchase them wherever is most convenient for you. (Here is a list of BIPOC-owned US bookstores for readers in the States.) There isn’t a gigantic selection so far, which is kind of nicely not-overwhelming. There is a link for making suggestions for additions, and I really like that you can jump to the different sections you see below.
Of course, if you want a really comprehensive shopping list, you can always select your books from the 850 that Texas State Rep. Matt Krause wants our school districts to review for “objectionable content” including human “sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), sexually explicit images, graphic presentations of sexual behavior that is in violation of the law, or contain material that might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex or convey that a student, by virtue of their race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.” (You can read this article for more info.)
Don’t forget that you can find more anti-racist resources, like this “Teaching Living Poets” website and the real information about what Critical Race Theory is/is not in my Anti-Racism Wakelet, updated weekly.
