I’ve seen this slowly building over the course of the last week or so, and finally, Tuesday night, I sent out my tweet as part of it.

I honestly believe that. Even if 95% of what I actually read is about white females (because that’s what I relate to), I believe that there needs to be books for all the stories that can be told, not only so those readers can see themselves in the pages (like I see me), but so I can learn their stories. I firmly believe that books can change the world, can help people reach outside of their own experience in order to understand others. And that by doing so — by reading books about people of all stripes, orientations, colors, backgrounds, experiences — we will be able to have the empathy we need to make the world a better place.

Check out #WeNeedDiverseBooks (and the tumblr) for more reasons why all books are important and for good suggestions for books to read and support.

(As an aside, the store I work at, Watermark Books, has been challenged to the #greatgreenechallenge. I’m super excited about this. If you want to support me — us — you can pre-order the book from us here. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ll promise you it’ll be a good book, if only because Varian’s a terrific writer.)