Significance of Latinx Children's Literature

The number of Latinx students enrolled in US public schools continues to grow. In 2024 Latinx students comprise 13.67 million (or 27%) of the 50.6 million total number of students enrolled in public schools. These statistics reflect the nation's demographics, making Latinx the second-largest ethnic group, behind White Americans, and accounting for 19% of the US population. Despite the growing demographics of Latinx students, only 13.1% of children's books published depict Latinx characters, and only 11.2% of them were written or illustrated by Latinx authors and/or illustrators as of May 21, 2025. Even though notable advancements have been made in the past 100 years, Latinx are still largely underrepresented in children's books. Hence, the seminal question posed 60 years ago by a five-year-old Black girl looking at a book – “Why are they always white children?” – or the comment made by Norma Ella Cantú remembering her relationship with books – “Although I read constantly, none of the books I read had characters who looked, spoke, loved, or thought like me…” – are central to the notion of books as mirrors and windows.