These students are bringing diversity to children's literature, one book at a time

When Nadith Ranasinghe watched television, movies or read books as a child, he felt there was always one thing lacking — characters who looked like him with similar experiences of growing up in an immigrant household.

It's what drove the Western University student to launch Kids Health Shelf, a collective of science students who write and illustrate children's books with a multicultural lens highlighting themes of diversity, inclusion, decolonization and accessibility.

"The mission was to try and create stories that kids could read and see themselves in," said Ranasinghe, 20, who has published two books so far after launching the initiative in 2022.

"By being able to see themselves in these books, they will feel empowered and hopefully carry that sense of pride that they are represented and seen in our children's media," he said.

Their first book, titled The Girl Under the Rambutan Tree is inspired by Ranasinghe's mom, Deepika. It's her journey of growing up in rural Sri Lanka and overcoming challenges as she worked to pursue her dreams of becoming a doctor.

"Growing up for me, that was a very empowering story and it inspired my journey toward the sciences," he said. "I think when other students get a chance to read this book, hopefully they'll see the same amount of drive and passion my mom had."

Illustrator Amy Shi's story inspired a second book, called Nobody Looks Like Me, drawing on her experiences of "feeling invisible" because she looked different from her peers in school.

She believes seeing representation at a young age in media, such as children's shows and books, makes a big difference in how youngsters perceive themselves, she said.

"I never saw characters that looked like me or if I did, they were in the background and weren't important to the story, which always sucked. Ultimately, you can't be what you can't see, so just having that character can do a lot," said Shi, 20.

"It's important to remember that when [kids] are younger, those are super formative years where they are developing ideas of the world around them and what's normal and accepted in society," she said. "So having these books that increase diversity is important to shape future generations to be more inclusive and destigmatize some ideas or communities."

Both Shi and Ranasinghe have found when racialized communities are represented in media, they're either side characters or they depict inaccurate and outdated stereotypes, such as Asian characters being cast as comedic or "nerd-like figures," said Ranasinghe.

The group recently donated copies of the book to the Children's Health Foundation in London, with plans of getting their books into local libraries and schools.

Scott Fortnum, the foundation's president and CEO, said they are grateful for the collection of books which will bring comfort to young children being cared for at Children's Hospital, he said in a statement to CBC News.

"Hope lives in the echoes of children's laughter, the moments of shared comfort between families and staff and these books will help families pass the time during some of their most difficult days," he said.

The students said they're working on more stories with the hopes of representing people from all cultural backgrounds as strong, capable and motivated individuals.