Librarian Allie Jane Bruce took a group of sixth graders to Barnes & Noble to examine whitewashing on book covers, and this is what they had to say:

“It was sickening to look at all the stereotypes, the assumptions.”

“I think I was on the girls’ side of the bookshelf, but even so, that just shows that Barnes & Noble separates their books by gender.”

“I know that kids’ minds aren’t developed enough to understand these issues, but as they grow up, I hope they realize how serious this issue really is. People have the right to like any color they want and be anything they want to be.”

“Society is almost afraid of putting a dark-skinned or Asian character on the cover of a book. I feel like these are minor forms of segregation.”

“I didn’t see a book with a biracial main character … it is not fair in any way.”

“In the chapter book section, I saw that most of the books that had non-Caucasian characters didn’t have that character on the cover.

“On the covers, I saw thin, pretty girls. I didn’t see any overweight girls or anyone with acne. I think that these covers shape an idea of perfect in a girl’s mind, and make them want to be like that, even though everyone was born perfect.”