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Diversity and Inclusion at Ransom
Ransom Publishing sells books all around the world and we seek to represent the full diversity of people, cultures, and ways of life within our books and through our stories.
The following list highlights some of our favourite titles and series that offer this.
We hope it gives you confidence that when you buy from us, you’re buying from a publisher that cares about representation.
We also hope it points teachers and parents who are seeking more diverse children’s books in the right direction.
Like you, we simply want every child to have the opportunity to “find themselves” in the pages of their books.
Ransom’s best books for diversity
Sterling
This is a fictionalised biography of professional footballer Raheem Sterling, who was born in Jamaica and moved to London when he was five. The book follows Sterling’s successful football career while dealing with complex issues of racism and prejudice. We are really proud of the way in which this book – and the other Tales from the Pitch titles – takes on these difficult issues, alongside other SEMH topics, in a way that is both honest and relatable for young readers. (This collection of fast-paced fictionalised biographies of also covers other BAME footballers, such as Rashford and Son.) to adult
PIG
The central character in the PIG series is Peter Ian Green, whose best friend is Raj. Rajesh comes from a British-Indian family, and all through the series the two boys are constantly going on adventures together – and often landing themselves in trouble! We think it is perfect for showing that kids are kids whatever their culture or background.
Siti's Sisters
The Siti’s Sisters series is about a group of girls who are best friends. With a diverse cast of characters, this is another great series for celebrating the real diversity of life in the UK – and we are proud that all of the books in the series have relatable content for readers from every background.
My Sister’s Perfect Husband
Another sweet romantic love story incorporating relevant social issues from our Promises collection, this books tells the story of Laila. Laila's older sister Mina is eighteen and her Pashtun family feel it's time they found her a husband – but no one appeals to her! So Laila sets about finding her sister the perfect husband...
Yasmin's Journey
The beautiful story of fifteen-year-old Yasmin, who flees Syria with her younger brother and makes the journey through the refugee camps of Turkey, into Greece and ultimately to Western Europe. This title is part of Promises – a series of quick, stand-alone reads that is dedicated to featuring everyday life, friendship and love from a range of perspectives.
The Travellers
The four books in The Travellers series – Lizzie, Tess, Mike, and Ben – interact with one another to tell the story of a brother and sister from the Travelling community. (This series was carefully researched by the author through meeting and speaking with members of the Traveller community.) We’re proud of the way these stories reflect the realities of life for Traveller children, both in meeting different cultural attitudes from Traveller and non-Traveller communities and the racism they sadly often face in mainstream education. We think that these books are a great way for these students to see their lives reflected in writing or to be introduced to new topics they might not have had an opportunity to think about before.
Diversity and Reading Stars
We know that diverse stories and non-fiction topics at the early stages of reading ensure that every child feels included in the classroom. That’s why diversity is at the heart of our dedicated phonics and Book Bands reading programme. Some of our favourite Reading Stars titles are:
Festivals
A beautiful wordless book that highlights religious and cultural festivals from all around the world in gorgeous full-colour photographs.
The Best Wedding Gift
A very low-level phonics reader about a girl buying a wedding gift for her mums.
Spider Girl
The story of Jade – who’s in wheelchair – winning a fancy dress competition with the help of her spider friends.
Muscat: Our City, Our Home
This book is narrated by Faheem, who lives in Muscat and gives readers a look into his life and some of his experiences
as a young Muslim.
This is just a glimpse into the diversity that what we’re proud to offer across our Reading Stars range. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.
Continuing diversity at Ransom
As a children’s publisher, we feel a special responsibility to make sure every child sees themselves, their family, and their community represented in the books that they’re reading. Representation is an ongoing project so we want to let you know what we’re working on next and what you can expect to see from Ransom in the coming months.
Our next development is to review and improve the representation of people with physical disabilities in our books.
If you have insight into some ways that you think our books could better represent and celebrate people who have disabilities, please don’t hesitate to get in contact.
Final Thoughts
As a publishing house we want to make sure we’re getting it right and we would love to hear from experienced authors who can bring a bigger range of diversity to our list. Unfortunately, we do not publish for the general market so cannot accept submissions for new works. If you are an experienced writer who would like to work with our small team to write educational books for our reading programmes, working to a detailed specification, then please do get in contact
.
