Different Portals

Windows. Any book anyone has ever read most likely has a window. For me, I think of things that I have not experienced, such as being a dragon. In literature, children frequently see themselves looking out the windows into worlds of others, whether it is real or imagined; while this is fun, it is not good for a child to not see their own reality portrayed in literature. It has been proven that children need more than to see into other world—this is where mirrors come in.

Mirrors. People who see mirrors in literature as children tend to be more aware of themselves and accept themselves, because they see that others are like them too. For me, a white female, seeing myself in a book is not much of a feat. However, when a child who has a disability sees a disabled child in a book, they will begin to see that there are others like themselves, and proves they are not alone.

Doors. If you ask anyone to describe a door, they will likely describe it as “a way to get somewhere else” or something along those lines. While children can’t physically climb into literature (this is not Inkheart), mentally, they can and will. When they see themselves mirrored in literature, they see that they, too, can slide open that mirror so that it is a door in which they can do things they may not have been shown before.

The concept of windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors is highly important with literature. If a child does not see themselves as represented in the books they read, they may believe that they do not have a place in those books, and therefore they don’t have a place in life. While I doubt this is the goal of authors, it is what happens, and it needs to start being made more aware that children of all cultures, shapes, sizes, colors, religions, ethnicities, families, and everything in between, should be represented in the literature they see.