In the quiet architecture of childhood, the books a child encounters become early maps of belonging — and in 2025, those maps grew narrower for many children in the UK. A new study by Inclusive Books for Children reveals that representation of Black, South Asian, and disabled characters in children's publishing fell sharply, leaving shelves that look far less like the children who browse them. At a moment when young readers' enthusiasm for books is already waning, the distance between who children are and who they find in stories has become a question of both culture and consequence.
UK children's books with Black main characters drop 8% despite representation gap
Why can't a child simply be the hero of an ordinary story?
Mark
So we're talking about 47 books out of nearly 2,200. That's genuinely small. How confident are we in that number?
Mimi
The study surveyed all books published for under-tens in 2025 in the UK—that's the universe they were measuring. Forty-seven is what they found with Black main characters.
Luke
Right, but "surveyed" matters here. Did they actually see every single book, or are they working from publisher catalogs? Because if a small press put out a book that didn't make it into their dataset, the actual number could be different.
Mimi
Fair point. The methodology isn't spelled out in what we have, so we can't say for certain they caught everything.
Mark
And the 8.5% figure for Black children in the population—is that current, or older data?
Mimi
The source says "about 8.5%" for England and Wales, but doesn't give a year. It's likely recent census or demographic data, but we'd want to verify the exact source.
Luke
Which means the gap could be even wider or slightly narrower depending on when that population figure was measured.
Mark
What struck me most was the MENA thing—three books, all refugee stories. That's not just underrepresentation, that's a kind of narrative trap.
Mimi
Exactly. Kaadan's point is that it's not just the number, it's what those numbers are allowed to be *about*. Children of MENA heritage get one story, over and over.
Luke
Though I'd want to know: are those three books actually *good* books? Are they being read? Because sometimes a smaller number of excellent, widely-read books matters more than a larger number of books nobody picks up.
Mark
That's a real question. But the study doesn't address quality or readership, just publication numbers.
Mimi
No, it doesn't. It's a snapshot of what publishers decided to make, not what actually reached children's hands.
Luke
And the disabled representation drop—60% down to two books. That's alarming, but also: was there something specific that happened? Did a publisher pull back? Did a series end?
Mimi
The source doesn't say. It just reports the number fell.
Mark
So we know *that* it happened, but not *why*.
Der Puls
- Of 2,189 children's books published in 2025, only 150 featured minority ethnic, disabled, or neurodivergent main characters — a 6.9% share against a far more diverse real-world population.
- Disabled representation collapsed most dramatically, with picture books featuring disabled protagonists plummeting 60% to just two titles, neither created by a disabled author or illustrator.
- South Asian and MENA communities face not only shrinking numbers but a narrowing of story types — all three MENA-led books published were refugee narratives, reinforcing a single, crisis-defined image of an entire region.
- Researchers and authors warn that the deeper failure is the absence of 'incidental representation' — stories where a child's identity is simply part of who they are, not the sole reason the story exists.
- Small gains in neurodivergent picture books and toddler titles suggest the publishing industry is capable of change, but the overall trajectory remains a call to action that has yet to be fully answered.
In the quiet architecture of childhood, the books a child encounters become early maps of belonging — and in 2025, those maps grew narrower for many children in the UK. A new study by Inclusive Books for Children reveals that representation of Black, South Asian, and disabled characters in children's publishing fell sharply, leaving shelves that look far less like the children who browse them. At a moment when young readers' enthusiasm for books is already waning, the distance between who children are and who they find in stories has become a question of both culture and consequence.
A study released this week by Inclusive Books for Children found that representation of Black, South Asian, and disabled characters in UK children's books fell significantly in 2025. Of 2,189 titles published for children under ten, just 47 featured a Black protagonist — 2.1% of the total, well below the 8.5% of Black children in England and Wales. South Asian representation dropped even more steeply, falling 14.3 percentage points to 1.4%, despite children of South Asian heritage making up 12.4% of the under-ten population.
The figures for disabled characters were starker still. Picture books with disabled main characters dropped 60% in a single year, leaving just two titles — neither written nor illustrated by a disabled creator. Across all surveyed categories, only 150 books, or 6.9% of the total, featured characters from minority ethnic, disabled, or neurodivergent backgrounds, and more than a third of those were created by authors who did not share their characters' identities.
Author Sheena Patel noted that children at this age are learning where they belong in the world, and that the gap between who they are and who they find in books has become impossible to ignore. Dr. Stella Louis pointed to a deeper structural problem: the absence of what researchers call 'incidental representation' — stories where a character's identity is simply part of who they are, rather than the entire engine of the plot. The MENA category illustrated this most sharply; all three books published with MENA protagonists in 2025 were refugee narratives. Author Nadine Kaadan described the pain of watching those six titles from the previous year shrink to three, all defined by displacement. 'This risks reinforcing a single story,' she said.
There were modest signs of progress. Neurodivergent representation in picture books more than quadrupled, and toddler books saw a nearly 30% rise in marginalized main characters. But children's book consultant Jack Hope cautioned that the numbers cannot remain abstract — at a time when children's enjoyment of reading is already at a significant low, the stories they encounter matter more than ever.
A study released this week found that the number of children's books with Black main characters fell by nearly 8% in 2025, deepening a representation gap that has long troubled UK publishing. Of the 2,189 books published for children under ten last year, just 47 featured a Black protagonist—2.1% of the total. That's a sharp drop from the year before, and it sits well below the actual share of Black children in England and Wales, who make up 8.5% of that age group.
The research, conducted by Inclusive Books for Children, paints a broader picture of stagnation across multiple communities. South Asian representation collapsed even more dramatically, falling 14.3 percentage points to just 1.4% of published titles, despite children of South Asian heritage comprising 12.4% of the under-ten population. The numbers for Middle Eastern and North African characters were starker still: only three books featured MENA main characters in 2025, down from six the year before—a 50% decline that represents 0.1% of all surveyed titles against a population share of 2.2%.
Disabled representation suffered the sharpest blow. Picture books with disabled main characters dropped 60% in a single year, leaving just two titles on shelves. Neither was created by a disabled author or illustrator. Across all categories surveyed—baby and toddler books, picture books, and fiction for children up to nine—only 150 titles, or 6.9% of the total, featured main characters from minority ethnic, disabled, or neurodivergent backgrounds. Of those 150, more than a third were written or illustrated by creators who did not share the identity of their characters.
Author Sheena Patel framed the stakes plainly: children at this age are learning where they belong in the world, and they need access to stories that both mirror their own lives and expand their sense of what's possible. "We must do better," she said. The gap between what children see on shelves and who they actually are has become impossible to ignore.
But the problem runs deeper than numbers alone. Dr. Stella Louis, an early years consultant and author, identified what researchers called a lack of "incidental representation"—stories in which a character's identity is simply part of who they are, not the entire engine of the plot. Instead, publishers have leaned heavily on books where being South Asian, disabled, neurodivergent, or bilingual is the story itself. "Why can't a child simply be south Asian, disabled, neurodivergent or bilingual and also be the hero of an ordinary story about friendship, adventure, loss or joy?" Louis asked. The question cuts to the heart of what's missing: not just more books, but different kinds of books.
The MENA category illustrates this constraint with particular clarity. All three books published in 2025 with MENA main characters were refugee narratives. Nadine Kaadan, an Arab author, described the pain of watching representation shrink from six titles to three in a single year. More troubling still was the uniformity of those three: all focused on displacement and survival. "This risks reinforcing a 'single story' about the region," Kaadan said, "defining it through war and displacement rather than our rich cultures and heritage." Children of MENA heritage, like all children, deserve stories that show them as complex people living full lives, not as symbols of crisis.
There were small signs of movement in the data. Neurodivergent representation in picture books more than quadrupled, from three titles in 2024 to thirteen in 2025. Baby and toddler books saw a 29.4% increase in titles with marginalized main characters. These gains suggest that change is possible, even if the overall trajectory remains troubling. Jack Hope, a children's book consultant, warned that these figures cannot remain abstract. "When children's enjoyment of reading is at a significant low, it's more important than ever that the stories children encounter reflect their lives, identities, experiences and emotions," he said. The numbers are a call to action—one that publishing has yet to fully answer.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
At an age when children are figuring out the world around them and where they fit in, it's vital they have access to funny, inspiring, adventurous books that reflect both the lives they live and the ones they don't.— Sheena Patel, author
This risks reinforcing a 'single story' about the region, defining it through war and displacement rather than our rich cultures and heritage.— Nadine Kaadan, Arab author
Möchten Sie die ganze Geschichte?
Das Original lesen bei The Guardian ↗