CLPE's new Reflecting Realities report released

November 4th 2021

The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) have today released their latest Reflecting Realities report, the annual survey which identifies and evaluates representation within picture books, fiction and non-fiction for children ages 3–11.

This year looks at children's literature published in the UK during 2020.

Key findings include: 

• a positive increase in children’s books featuring a minority ethnic character from 10% in 2019 to 15% in 2020 and up significantly from the 4% reported in the inaugural report in 2017;

• Increase in representation in picture books and non-fiction, however representation in fiction books remains the same;

• The Reflecting Realities reports have inspired a number of initiatives from a variety of organisations, implying positive change in the industry

To build on these findings, CLPE are also launching a new ground-breaking research project to show the importance of Reflecting Realities in primary school classrooms. The project will test what happens when children have the opportunity to engage with quality representative literature, tracking the impact on their reading and writing. The findings from this work will be published by Sage in a new book from CLPE in 2023.

Find out more and read the full report on the CLPE website.