Traverse City Book Store Hosting Virtual Diversity Book Fair

In July, former TCAPS student Ashley Ko to encourage more diversity and inclusion in TCAPS curriculum.

Local author Jillian Manning saw Ko’s petition and wanted to help out.

“I am a TCAPS grad, and so I reached out to her and said, ‘hey how can I help?” Manning said. “We started brainstorming. I’m a former book editor and a current children’s author, and so we thought books are a great way to get stories into the hands and lives of kids.”

Manning reached out to Brilliant Books and TCAPS to create a virtual book fair focusing on diverse authors and BIPOC characters for elementary through high school students.

“We’ve done virtual book fairs before, with TCAPS even,” said Caitlin Marsh, Brilliant Books director of digital marketing and events. “This time we wanted to get a little bit bigger and do something for the entirety of TCAPS and so all their libraries could benefit.”

With every purchase made through the , 25% of the money goes back to TCAPS libraries as a credit for librarians to diversify their collections.

“It was something that the entirety of TCAPS and their library system definitely wanted to get involved with,” Marsh said. “It wasn’t just something that one school or one classroom was getting, but something as a district they really wanted to embrace.”

While the focus is on inclusive children’s books, anything can be purchased through the fair and count toward the library credit.

“The great thing about this book fair is it’s open to anybody,” Manning said. “If you have a kid in your life and you want to shop for them, go for it. If you want to shop for yourself , you can do that too.”

The fair has already raised some money since launching on Sept. 18.

“We’ve already raised over $100 for the elementary school and high schools individually,” Marsh said.

It’s something they hope can spark a change in students’ lives, and the community’s.

“For so long, there’s been this idea that the white experience is the default and that’s not true,” Marsh said. “For kids who maybe haven’t had a lot of experience outside of that supposed default, this is a great way for them to sort of get their feet wet and start exploring the fact that there’s a great big world out there and a whole lot of different experiences and cultures to explore.”