DOWNEY - A new online bookstore is working to make sure that children of all ethnicities feel represented in the literature they read.

Stephanie Moran-Reed ran into a problem while she was trying to gather a collection of reading choices for her nearly two-year-old daughter Mireya Jamila.

“She’s Afro-Latina, and I wanted books in her home library that were multicultural with characters that looked like her,” said Moran-Reed. “In trying to find those types of books in the traditional big box stores, it was almost impossible.”

“If there were diverse books that we saw in a store, they were always in a separate section; it was literally the African-American book section.”

Moran-Reed said she was “irked” by the discovery.

“I feel like books with diverse characters should be for all children, not just black and brown kids,” said Moran-Reed. “What was interesting in my research in finding these types of books is that the big publishers do have books with diverse characters, it’s just that the big box retailers aren’t purchasing them.”

“That kind of also irked me, the fact that Barnes and Noble, Target, they can look for these books and find them from the big publishers, but they’re not buying them; they’re buying the books with the white characters and the animals.”

The lack of accessible multi-cultural materials is nothing new to Moran-Reed, who grew up in Downey and frequented the Downey Library and Scholastic book fairs at school when she was a kid.

“I really don’t recall any resource like this,” said Moran-Reed. “There was only one book in particular that my mom had in my home library. It was called “The Woman that Outshone the Sun;” It’s a bilingual book, a Mexican folktale that had a Latina girl on the cover that had long black hair like I did as a kid.”

“When I think back to my childhood that’s the only book that I can remember that I connected with.”

To help fix the issue, Moran-Reed started the online Mija Bookstore alongside her husband Muammar.

Mija Books founders Muammar and Stephanie Reed with their daughter Mireya Jamila. Courtesy photo

Along with creating accounts with large publishers, Moran-Reed says that the bookstore connects with self-published authors and independent publishing houses not traditionally found in major retail.

“We as an independent bookstore wanted to reach out to those who are able to offer wholesaling and put them on our bookstore as well,” said Moran-Reed. “They’re creating really amazing content, but because of all sorts of things related to self-publishing they’re not able to get into the big-box stores.”

Moran-Reed added that the bookstore is starting to test out a pop-up shop, including at an upcoming Vendorama event in April.

At the heart of it all, Moran-Reed says that they are “on a mission to diversify children’s bookshelves.”

“We really just want more parents, more educators to know about our website and see that there are actually more books out there that are inclusive. Ultimately, I have a philosophy that a younger that a child is exposed to these types of books, that we really are trying to help the state of the world right now and the racial strife that we’re going through; I think it all starts with how we educate our youth and the sorts of images they see in books and media.”

“I’m really a fan of books that show black and brown characters that are simply having fun. I’ve noticed in this last year that there’s been a lot of books that have been published that are anti-racist books and books about black and brown trauma – which I understand why those books are there, we certainly need them – but I also think it’s important to have books showing black and brown characters that are enjoying everyday things and having fun; books that even nonblack and brown kids will pick up and enjoy as well. I think the overall goal is just to diversify bookshelves.”

Mija Books can be found at https://mijabooks.com.

Mija Books looks to diversify children's bookshelves