Waukesha Students Promote Diversity In Books With Fundraiser

WAUKESHA, WI—A lot of kids have trouble learning to love reading when the characters in their stories don’t connect to their lives.

Waukesha STEM Academy eighth graders Sophia Antholine, Megha Mourya and Ananya Srinivas are looking to flood the Women’s Center with books that celebrate diversity.

Areas without a lot of books are sometimes called book deserts. The students want to increase the number of books in Waukesha and thought The Book Flood was a perfect name for their project.

The students want to see more books with a characters that vary in gender, race, religion and more. "We wanted to improve diversity in books and reading," Antholine told Patch. "We thought with more diverse books, we could promote the love of reading."

The students created a list of books they felt reflected diversity and researched the effect of such diversity on literacy.

They learned about mirrors, windows and sliding doors in class, which represent how reading fosters imagination, different views of the world and seeing yourself in a book, according to the trio.

Mourya said books that are more accurate about the diversity of the world show issues such as language barriers and the struggle to talk with family and friends about emotions. She added that diverse books also have a balance of settings.

Srinivas said diverse books show families from different countries coming to America. She added that such books show the struggle of immigrants to connect and find a place in both their old and new homes.

Mourya's favorite book is "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo. The main character is portrayed as South Asian, as she is South Asian descent. Both her parents are Indian.

It took a long time to find a character that she connected with, she added.

"She wasn't stereotyped," Mourya said of the book's main character. "She was this really cool character who had knives and [was] powerful. She was her own 3D character."

How To Help

The students created a fundraiser to collect money at Meadowbrook, STEM: Randall Campus and STEM: Saratoga Campus. All donations will be used to purchase books for the Women's Center in Waukesha.

Students at Randall STEM, Saratoga STEM or Meadowbrook can donate to their teachers or drop donations off at their school’s office. Students and community members can also mail donations directly to Saratoga STEM, 130 Walton Ave., Waukesha, WI 53186.