A couple of weeks ago I attended an afternoon discussion forum run by Beth Cox and Alex Strick of Inclusive Minds (www.inclusiveminds.com). Publishers, book sellers, librarians and teachers gathered at 29b Montague Street (home of The Publishers Association) to discuss the thorny issue of diversity and inclusion in children’s books.

Look around you. Our society is hugely diverse and, in my opinion, books for children should reflect the world in which we all live. I’m not just talking about ethnicity – the term ‘diversity’ encompasses race and heritage, disability, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic status, religion, and culture.

The hero in our first title Geronimo, The Dog Who Thinks He’s a Cat was originally called Angus. He was white, middle class and probably lived an idyllic life, in a huge house, in the middle of the country somewhere. I doubt he’d ever seen a black person and…