Are there more than 79 Black Authors or Illustrators of Children's Books in the US? What does the CCBC says?

The Cooperative Children’s BookCenter (CCBC) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison tracks children’s books by and about people of color in the US. This annual tracking started in 1994. The study of African American children’s book authors extends back to 1985.

In 2011, the last year available, there was a 22.5% DECLINE in the number of African American children’s book authors or illustrators published, according the CCBC books tracked. Now, the CCBC only counts the books they received. The CCBC received 3,400 books in both 2010 and 2011. The CCBC doesn’t say if self-published authors or authors who have published only e-books are included in the annual tally.

Here’s the quick summary of the number of children’s book authors or illustrators of color in 2011, according to the CCBC:

• 79 African American Children’s Book Authors/Illustrators in 2011, down from 102 in 2010
• 52 Latino Children’s Book Authors/Illustrators in 2011, down from 55 in 2010
• 76 Asian Children’s Book Authors/Illustrators in 2011, up from 60 in 2010
• 12 American Indian Children’s Book Authors/Illustrators in 2011, up from 9 in 2010

 What do you think about these statistics? If you are the author or illustrator of a children's book, make sure you or your publisher sends your book to the CCBC to be counted in 2013!  Enjoy!