“You never really understand another person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
(Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird)
Just about two weeks ago, Ellen Oh, the President of We Need Diverse Books, wrote a letter about how much better the world and its leaders could be if they read books that opened their minds to people who didn’t look like them, didn’t act like them, and didn’t live they same life that they did. And she is absolutely right. Which is why we need to expose our children to as many stories as we possibly can, so that they can learn from an early age to appreciate the world in all its incredible diversity and uniqueness and surprising beauty.
But the same thing goes for grown-ups, too. There is no age limit to learning, no cut-off date to having new experiences, and nothing stopping you from taking a walk in another person’s shoes, no matter what your age.
The problem, in fact, isn’t with our ability to learn–science has shown that adults’ capacity to learn is different from children, but not less. And, when it comes to interpersonal skills, adults bring more life experience and prior knowledge to bear on a situation, making grown-ups inherently better to learn inter-personal skills and emotional-development skills better than children.
The problem is largely that we live in a world that, for all its interconnectedness, is inherently isolating. We stare at screens more than faces, we are constantly asked for comments and thoughts on topics without being given the aid of considered facts, we have been taught that shouting is the only form of communication that gets heard. But all of those habits and practices are learned. Not inherent. Science has shown that empathy is actually an inherent trait in the human mind–our brains have all these mirror neurons that observe and reflect the world around us. As Psychology Today explains, “These mirror neurons reflect back actions that we observe in others causing us to mimic that action in our own brains. When we observe someone in pain or when we are with someone happy, we experience that to a certain extent. These mirror neurons are the primary physiological basis of empathy.”
It is critically important to give children as many different kinds of stories that we can to teach them to be more adaptable and accepting–and to show them that their story, in whatever form it takes, is valid and worthy of attention. But that is no less true for adults. We all need to know what it is like to walk around in the skin of another person, and we all need to know that our story, our identity and our place in the world, is important. And reading can be an excellent tool to accomplish those goals, no matter what your age.
The Card Catalog display in the Main Library has a wide selection of diverse books for you to check out (see some suggestions below!). You can also check out our newest Pinterest board that features a wealth of diverse books for children and adults alike. And if you would like even more resources, including teaching support and reading lists, check out weneeddiversebooks.org for more information. And don’t stop there. Reach out to others. Listen more. Make someone laugh. I promise you, it will make things better.
Americanah: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction for Half a Yellow Sun, about life in Biafra during the 1960s, and while this book begins in Africa, specifically, in Nigeria, it follows its two protagonists, Ifemelu and Obinze, as they flee their war-torn country for new lives in the West. Ifemelu lands in America, where, despite her intelligence and academic success, she is forced to realize what it really means to be Black in a new country, while Obinze finds himself trapped in the life of an undocumented immigrant in London. Fifteen years after splitting up, Ifemelu and Obinze return to Nigeria, and to each other, to find how much they have changed, and what, if anything, remains the same about them, and their homeland. This book was widely considered one of the best releases of 2014, and a modern classic, with the New York Times Review of Books calling it “Witheringly trenchant and hugely empathetic . . . a novel that holds the discomfiting realities of our times fearlessly before us. . . . A steady-handed dissection of the universal human experience. ”
The Magician’s Assistant: Ann Patchett is a master at blending the beauty of everyday with a touch of magic, ensuring that each story she tells is captivating and unique. After working as his assistant for more than 20 years, Sabine marries her beloved boss, Parcifal, knowing that he’s gay and has just lost his lover. What she doesn’t find out until after his death from AIDS is that Parcifal was actually Guy Fettera from Alliance, Neb., and the family that he told Sabine had died year before are actually alive and well. When his family contacts her, she introduces them to the Los Angeles Parsifal that she knew, and then visits Nebraska to discover the truth about the man she loved and thought she knew, gaining insight into herself as well, in a book that Kirkus called “Masterful in evoking everything from the good life in L.A. to the bleaker one on the Great Plains, and even to dreams of the dead: a saga of redemption tenderly and terrifically told”
When the Moon Hung Low: Nadia Hashimi’s novel takes us into a world to which we constantly refer, but barely know–Afghanistan during the rise of the Taliban. Mahmoud’s passion for his wife Fereiba, a schoolteacher, is greater than any love she’s ever known. But their happy, middle-class world—a life of education, work, and comfort—implodes when their country is engulfed in war. When Mahmoud finds himself surrounded by fundamentalist groups, Fereiba decides to risk everything and escape, arriving in Iran under the cover of night. But when her teenaged son disappears, even Fereiba’s formidable strength begins to waver, forcing her into decisions she never dreamt she would have to make. Nadia Hashimi’s family is originally from Afghanistan, and depictions of an immigrant’s struggles are as heartrending as they are beautiful, leading O, the Oprah Magazine to call this book “A must-read saga about borders, barriers, and the resolve of one courageous mother fighting to cross over.”
Come on into the Library to check out these, and many more diverse books–and let’s start changing the world, one page at a time!