Greg Soros, Author, on Character Diversity and Complete Emotional Arcs

Representation in children’s books has been a growing conversation in publishing for years. Greg Soros, author and children’s literature advocate, welcomes that conversation but he is also specific about where he thinks it most often falls short.

Greg Soros argues that children’s books must function simultaneously as mirrors and windows, a perspective highlighted in a recent Walker Magazine profile. Including characters from varied backgrounds is a necessary starting point. It is not, by itself, sufficient. “It’s not enough to simply include characters from different backgrounds,” Soros emphasizes. “Those characters need authentic voices, realistic challenges, and their own complete emotional arcs. They can’t exist just to teach other characters lessons.” That last point is the one he returns to most often: a character who exists only as a vehicle for another character’s growth is not truly represented at all.

Giving Every Character a Full Story

What authentic representation looks like in practice is time-intensive and requires more than good intentions. It means building out a character’s interior life, giving them desires and fears that are particular to who they are, and letting their struggles carry real weight in the narrative. A character who is defined primarily by a single identity marker whether cultural, physical, or situational cannot do the work that genuine representation demands.

Soros draws on research in child development to inform these decisions, collaborating with educators and specialists who help him understand how children from different backgrounds experience the emotional concepts his books address. That groundwork makes the difference between inclusion that feels performative and inclusion that actually serves young readers.

Why This Matters for Young Audiences

Children read with extraordinary attentiveness to authenticity. They may not be able to articulate what feels false, but they feel it. Greg Soros, author, argues that this sensitivity is precisely why the stakes are so high in children’s fiction. A child who sees a version of themselves rendered carelessly will register that dismissal, even if they cannot name it. A child who sees themselves rendered with full humanity will carry that recognition forward.

That is the goal his work pursues: stories where every character, regardless of background, is given the full weight of a real emotional life. Refer to this article to learn more.

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