Are there enough main characters that represent you in the books you read?
Do you feel like you can see yourself represented in children's books?
- Published
A new report has been released looking at representation in books, aimed at one to nine year olds, which were published in the UK last year.
Representation looks at who or what stories are about, and who tells them.
Literacy charity Inclusive Books for Children found that the percentage of main characters from "minoritised ethnicities" was much less than the percentage of children from those groups living in the UK.
And out of more than 1,000 picture books published in 2025, the report states that only two had a disabled main character.
The report also found that overall, the number of main characters from what the report calls "marginalised groups" - including from "minoritised ethnicities, or disabled or neurodivergent" - is showing a gradual increase over the last few years.
Do you think there are enough main characters that represent you in the books you read? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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The Excluded Voices report looked at 2,189 books published in 2025 by traditional UK publishers, including baby and toddler books, picture books, and children's fiction.
It defines minoritised ethnicities as Black, South Asian, Middle Eastern and North African (MENA), and East and South East Asian (ESEA).
It calls the level of representation "concerning", saying fewer books with main characters from minoritised ethnicities were published in 2025 than in 2024.
Serena Patel, author of the Anisha, Accidental Detective series, said in the report that "access to funny, inspiring, adventurous books that reflect both the lives they live and the ones they don't" is "vital... we must do better".
What main characters do you see in the books you read?
Elsewhere, the report found what it called "good progress in neurodivergent representation".
Neurodiversity is a word used to describe the different thinking styles that influence how people communicate with the world around them.
It is an umbrella term - a word that sums up lots of different things.
It includes autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and Tourette's.
