Best Practice

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller representation in your primary school library

Diversity & Equality Whole-school issues
Positive Gypsy, Roma and Traveller characters in children’s books can inspire and engage young readers. Gemma Lees advises and offers some recommendations for your primary school library
Image: Adobe Stock

The first books I ever remember reading as a child were the “1,2,3 and Away!” series with Roger Red Hat, Billy Blue Hat, and Jennifer and Johnny Yellow Hat.

The volumes available at my primary school featured these ruddy-cheeked, able-bodied, white children who lived in nuclear families. The only character who looked any different was Percy Green, a portly boy who hit a cat with a stick and pelted a goat with snowballs.

I also read a lot of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books. Gypsy characters in these books were usually described as dirty, illiterate, up to no good and with bizarre names more suited to pet dogs, such as Nobby and Sniffer.

In one story, Sniffer assists George and Anne in escaping from the rest of his nefarious family (who are also smugglers of course) and in exchange is promised a red bicycle and the chance to live in a house with a “proper” family.

One of Blyton’s Noddy books, aimed at a much younger audience, also featured a Gypsy family called the Tootles, who in defiance of the local police officer, camped at the bottom of Noddy’s garden before stealing his car.

But I was a child in the 80s and Enid Blyton’s books were set in the 50s and 60s, so surely times have changed? Well, not exactly.

The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) carries out annual research into representation in children’s books. While more than a third of children in the UK come from an ethnic minority background (including Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller), only 14% of both fiction and non-fiction books featured a minority ethnic main character in 2022. This is an improvement of 1% from 2017, but there is still some way to go (CLPE, 2023).

My son, Tommy, has had access to amazing books featuring positive Gypsy and Traveller children. His first was a caravan-shaped board book featuring Irish Traveller brothers and sisters counting various things in and around their home which he adored.

He does have a secret advantage in this area, however, as any quick online search of Gypsy and Traveller children’s books is bound to include several titles written by his grandfather – the well-known children’s author Richard O’Neill.

Why is representation in children’s books even an issue? Well, according to the New York Times 2017 guide How to grow a reader, children need to see themselves in the literature that they consume.

An article from children’s rights organisation Humanium (Braga, 2022) further explains that children’s books are a key factor in how they build perspectives on their own ethnic group and build empathy for others.

A lack of positive Gypsy and Traveller characters, or indeed negative ones, in books can undermine children’s sense of self and promote low self-esteem. The New York Times’ guide adds that diversity has positive effects on a child’s own self-image and also prepares them for life in a diverse world.

Gypsy and Traveller children are bombarded with negativity from mainstream media. From newspapers’ front pages plastered with racist sentiments to the comment section on any story online about Gypsy, Roma, or Traveller people.

At school they suffer from unchallenged racist bullying and speech and a lack of understanding and visibility of their cultures and backgrounds – this according to research produced by Friends, Families and Travellers and the Anti-Bullying Alliance (2020).

Positive books can become a retreat from a world that seems determined to malign our Gypsy and Traveller children.

Children love reading books with characters who look, sound and act like them, and as the experienced educator Jodie Rodriguez – the founder of Growing Book by Book – has written so powerfully (2018), this helps with their literacy by allowing them to form a connection to those books on another level. This leads to a deeper understanding and comprehension of the story and a more enjoyable reading experience.

This is incredibly important for Gypsy and Traveller children, who are often let down by mainstream education. A study led by the Centre on the Dynamics of Diversity, in conjunction with Friends, Families and Travellers (2023), found that more than half of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people have no educational qualifications and the last government census found that at all key stages, Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller pupils’ attainment was below the national average (HM Government, 2022).

And as the International Literacy Foundation reports (Bolling, 2021), how can children see themselves as belonging in school if not one book in the school library features a child like them? How can they aspire to success if they aren’t shown that success is achievable for them?

Tommy is an eager and confident reader with excellent comprehension skills. He has always had a deep-rooted pride in himself as a Romany Gypsy and in his family and community. I can’t say for sure exactly how much of that self-assuredness and confidence has come from the representations of Gypsies in his books, but what I can say is that he has always shared with me the pride he feels when he reads about a child who is just like him and is a positive character.

 

Choosing books for your school

I have recently offered some advice and recommendations for schools in a free guide – A Beginner's Guide to Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Inclusion – published by Tapestry (see Lees, 2024).

In my opinion, the best Gypsy and Traveller books available are written by people from within our own communities. Authentic representation really matters so I definitely recommend doing your research to ensure that the books provided for Gypsy and Traveller children are written by Gypsy and Traveller authors.

Bilingual books in Scottish Cant, Irish Cant or Romani/ Romanes are also recommended and those which feature brave, intelligent, creative, and overall positive Gypsy and Traveller children as protagonists.

We are starting to be listened to by publishers and it’s my hope that the internet will continue to open up inexpensive self-publishing opportunities and also the chance for us to meet and communicate with traditional brick-and-mortar publishers who otherwise wouldn’t get to see our work.

More and more young people, like Tommy, are growing up with positive Gypsy and Traveller characters in their books, perhaps inspiring them to become authors too or otherwise inspiring them to greatness.

 

Book recommendations: Key stage 1

  • Can’t Lose Cant (Child’s Own Publishing Partnership): Written with Irish Traveller children in Country Kildare, Ireland, this beautifully illustrated book introduces children to the traditional language of Irish Travellers.
  • Romany Johnny Joe by Hilda Brazil (Athena Press): Illustrated story about not prejudging others and the underdog triumphing, told through the annual conker championship between the toads and frogs of Toadville.
  • Wee Bessie by David G. Pullar (Hott Press): An illustrated child-friendly retelling of Bessie Townley’s childhood as a Scottish
  • Polonius The Pit Pony by Richard O’Neill (Childsplay): An illustrated story of a pit pony who escapes for a new life with a Traveller family, told partly in the Romani language.

 

Book recommendations: Key stage 2

  • Spokes: Stories From The Romani World by Janna Eliot (Five Leaves Publications): A selection of funny, tragic, and real short stories of displacement, fragmented lives and cultural identities from settled and travelling Irish Travellers, Eastern European Roma and British Gypsies.
  • Threatened Cultures: Romanichal Gypsies by Thomas Acton (Wayland): This non-fiction book looks at the culture and traditions of Romanichal folks and how traditional ways of life are under threat.
  • Fireside Tales of the Traveller Children by Duncan Williamson (Canongate Books): A collection of folk tales from a renowned Scottish Traveller storyteller.
  • A Different Kind of Freedom: A Romani story by Richard O’Neill (Scholastic): A story set in 19th Century Sheffield about a Romany boy who discovers football and the legendary Rab Howell, the first Romani to play for England.

 

  • Gemma Lees is a Romany Gypsy disabled and neurodiverse fine artist, poet, actor, facilitator, journalist, and theatre-maker.

 

Further information & resources