Over the last 10 years, nonprofit organization We Need Diverse Books has changed the landscape of reading across the country. To celebrate, WNDB is launching an inaugural We Need Diverse Books Day today, April 3rd, to highlight and celebrate the books that help make our world a better, more educated, and more inclusive place. As such, We Needs Diverse Books is donating 10,000 titles in 2025 to schools and libraries across the country.
Diversifying reading at any level has the power to improve literacy, broadens perspectives, and exposes readers to different cultures and viewpoints. The result leads to a stronger and well-rounded understanding of the world as a whole. That said, diverse books are also disproportionately affected by book bans. We Need Diverse Books works tirelessly to highlight and protect these titles.
Below, We Need Diverse Books spokeswoman Caroline Richmond speaks about what We Need Diverse Books Day means to her, and provides readers recommendations of what to read in order to celebrate the inaugural We Need Diverse Books Day on April 3rd.
I was one of those lucky kids whose parents let me read whatever I wanted. On Saturdays, my dad would take me to the library and let me roam the aisles while he settled on a comfy chair in the periodical section with a Chinese newspaper in hand. That's how I read a whole slew of The Babysitter's Club series, but my favorite books always involved the speculative—anything with aliens or dragon riders or magic spells would make my eyes light up. Those stories would swim in my head long after I'd finished them, and I eventually grabbed a pencil to try writing my own. The characters I created back then closely mimicked the ones in my library books: brave, clever, with a good heart—and almost always white.
When I was growing up in the eighties and nineties, it was rare to find characters that looked like me in the books on my shelves. It wasn’t until I was in high school when I finally saw myself reflected on the page, which is one of the reasons why I work at the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books today. At WNDB, we’re striving to create a world where every reader can find themselves in the pages of a story.
On April 3, we hope you will join us in celebrating the first We Need Diverse Books Day where we’ll highlight the importance of reading books that reflect our beautifully diverse world. It’s easy to participate—simply share a diverse book on social media and tell us why you picked it, using the #WeNeedDiverseBooksDay hashtag. If you aren’t sure of what to read, we’re sharing book recommendations on social media and you can also check out our picks below:
1. The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
Shadow and Bone author Bardugo is known for her epic world-building, and readers will find themselves immersed in the spellbinding world of The Familiar, set during the Spanish Golden Age and woven through with magic. Luzia Cotado is a servant who uses her scraps of magic to get through the toil of each work day. But when her secret is discovered, she draws the notice of the king’s disgraced secretary and soon finds herself pulled into a world of alchemists and hucksters, magic and fraud.
2. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
In the far corners of the galaxy, the tiny ship Wayfarer makes its way to a distant planet to take on a lucrative job. Along the way, readers tag along the long journey with the ship’s crew—a mix of humans, aliens, and AI—and we learn about their pasts, their dreams, and their little quirks. What makes this book so memorable are these characters, each of whom are fully fleshed out and three-dimensional. By the time we finally reach the small, angry planet, the Wayfarer crew feel like old friends.
3. A Universe of Wishes, edited by Dhonielle Clayton
Along with mentoring writers and donating books to students, WNDB also publishes short story anthologies that showcase exciting diverse voices. Featuring fifteen celebrated authors, A Universe of Wishes is our fourth anthology but the first that focuses on fantasy stories. Authors include V.E. Schwab, Tochi Onyebuchi, Samira Ahmed, Mark Oshiro, and more.
4. Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Set in a near-future dystopia, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a dark, bloody, and brilliant novel that tackles the American prison complex, along with the greed and systemic racism that fuels it. The book is also a love story. Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are teammates, lovers, and fan favorites in the Chain-Gang All-Stars Battleground, a hugely popular reality show that follows prisoners as they compete in gladiator-like death matches—in the hopes of winning their freedom. Thurwar is on the cusp of gaining that freedom, but the show’s corporate masters have other plans in mind.
5. The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova
With lush prose threaded with magical realism, this family saga is meant to be savored page by page. The story is told across two timelines—the first follows the matriarch Orquídea who immigrates to the United States and settles in the town of Four Rivers, while the second follows three of Orquídea’s grandchildren as they make their way to Ecuador to piece together their grandmother’s mysterious past. Added into the mix is a malevolent man who’s hellbent on destroying Orquídea’s descendants.
6. The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard
In The Red Scholar’s Wake, de Bodard uses her evocative and rich prose to weave together a universe with sentient spaceships and sapphic pirates in space. Xich Si is a tech scavenger who expects to be killed after she’s captured by the Red Banner fleet. Instead, she’s left stunned when the pirates’ leader, a mindship called Rice Fish, offers her a ludicrous proposal—marriage. Rice Fish needs Xich Si’s technical expertise to look into the death of her first wife and offers the fleet’s protection in return. As an interstellar war rages on, the two begin to realize that their business arrangement might be evolving into something more personal.
A huge thank you to Caroline Richmond for stopping by the site to share these book recommendations. What will you be reading today to celebrate We Need Diverse Books Day?
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