We kept to main characters because if there is a white main character with non-white characters in only minor roles, the white person is still the dominant character. Separately, we asked, for each category, how many were LGBTQ characters, visibly disabled characters and invisibly disabled (mental illness, learning disabilities). Overall, white characters still make up the bulk of main characters with 197 of 525, or 37.5 per cent of all main characters, being white. Indigenous characters featured well in picture books at 7.7 per cent, but in middle-grade books accounted for only 2.8 per cent of main characters. Overall, that marks an increase of 2.7 per cent for visibly disabled characters, while invisibly disabled characters fell marginally year over year.

Source: thestar December 17, 2020 20:33 UTC