The first time I read a book that I connected with, I was in my 3rd year of college...
The first time I read a book that I connected with, I was in my 3rd year of college. My best friend gave me "Sister of My Heart" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. The story was SO beautiful and the names, the cultural references, the food (!!) - it all made my heart sing. I had never connected to a book like that before.
Even though I was born and raised in America, that book felt like home. My parents emigrated from India and I was the first of my siblings to be born in the U.S. In those days (the 70s), we were all trying to fit in to what we thought was "American" culture.
In 2007, I came to live in Harlem, and this has been my home since. As I raised my kids, I spent much of my time looking for books that would help share more about their parents' backgrounds (Black and South Asian) and also books that would help them learn about other cultures among us.
Then the pandemic hit and all I could think about was all the children who did not have many books at home. Our libraries were closed and I knew that too many kids did not have access to books, let alone a a truly diverse collection. I started Made for Me Books in 2020 and since then, have distributed 6,000+ books to 2,500+ young people and their families.
So while more diversity in publishing is happening, we still have a long way to go to get more fully representative books into our communities and homes - accessibly and affordably. Please support our work so that we can keep engaging more readers and build more communities that value the diversity among us.