The Great Greene Heist

In her 1965 The Saturday Review article entitled “The All-White World of Children’s Book,” reading expert Nancy Larrick identifies the lack of diversity in children’s books, especially as schools were beginning to integrate after the Civil Rights Movement. Larrick highlights the need for schools to provide integrative, inclusive books. This change would not only benefit the Black students as they saw themselves represented in the literature, but also aid the white students in expanding their cultural knowledge and give them an accurate picture of the world. More than fifty years after Larrick’s article, a study in 2018 revealed fifty percent of children’s books portray a white, English-speaking perspective, evidence revealing that there is still work to be done in expanding diversity in books. Writers, publishers, librarians, teachers, and independent booksellers identified the need to make a conscious effort to produce, promote, and circulate books featuring a more diverse perspective. (“Why Diverse Books Matter: Mirrors and Windows,” by Dr. Tracey Flores, Dr. Sandra Osorio, Colorín Colorado).

Led by the guiding principle that young people need access to high-quality literature that accurately reflects their own experiences and allows them to learn about others, the movement grew and spread as authors injected new life into the world of middle-grade and young adult fiction. Due to the work of dedicated individuals and groups, young readers now have access to a wide variety of genres from fantasy to historical fiction full of characters and situations representing a variety of experiences from underrepresented ethnicities, gender identities, religious affiliations, Native peoples, and people with disabilities. Writers like Elizabeth Acevedo, Jaqueline Woodson, Jason Reynolds, and Varian Johnson bring multicultural experiences to children through their unique, dynamic world-building and storytelling.

The importance of representation plays out in Varian Johnson’s own history. As a child, Varian longed to see characters in stories that looked like him. When he discovered the writing of Walter Dean Meyers and Virginia Hamilton, he saw for the first time the lives of Black children portrayed in an array of nuanced ways. Meyers and Hamilton were the first Black authors whose books focused on kids from diverse ethnicities and backgrounds, and for Johnson, it was the first time not only the characters looked like him, but the creators did, too. When Johnson began to explore writing, he committed to creating the same experience for his readers that Meyers and Johnson gifted to him. In a podcast interview for Pass the Book to FeFe, Johnson says he hopes his books can be, as Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop says, “…windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors” allowing kids not only to see themselves represented in a novel, but also for kids to be invited into a story that represents a diverse variety of experiences. In addition to his Jackson Greene novels that feature a racially and culturally diverse cast of characters, Johnson also published The Parker Inheritance, a novel addressing racism in the Jim Crow era, and Twins a graphic novel featuring two Black twin sisters on the verge of starting middle school. Beyond the content in his novels, Johnson is attentive to the cover art for his works commissioning Black artists to render pictures that will meaningfully connect with his readers.

When The Great Greene Heist was published, booksellers started “The Great Greene Challenge” in May 2014 ahead of the novel’s release to spark interest in the book and promote novels with a diverse cast. Librarians and independent booksellers, affectionately called “Gang Greene” by Johnson’s publisher Scholastic, used the hashtags #thegreatgreenechallenge and #weneeddiversebooks to rally book lovers around the country to preorder the novel for their shelves and spread the word knowing the book will appeal to a wide range of readers looking to see themselves represented in the pages of a book. Booksellers used their social media presence to advertise the novel and create events and giveaways to bring customers into the store. Johnson also worked to create relationships with school librarians by visiting schools, hosting contests for bookstores that sell the most copies, and teaming up with other authors like John Green to promote the book’s release (oomscholasticblog.com).

Johnson’s contribution to children’s literature goes well beyond writing books. In 2007, he founded The Brown Bookshelf an organization that highlights Black authors who focus on diversity in their writing. The Brown Bookshelf published “A Declaration in Support of Children” in 2016, signed by hundreds of American authors pledging their support for using literature to help children transcend cultural and racial differences and bring people together (Rosen). Gifting the world with his creativity and community activism, Varian Johnson endeavors to make the world of children’s literature a better place for many young readers and promote literacy for all children no matter their race or background.