Author Greg Soros has a two-part theory about what children’s literature is for, and the second part gets less attention than it deserves. While much of the conversation around representation focuses on kids seeing themselves in stories, Soros insists that opening a window to someone else’s life matters just as much.
“Children’s books should open their minds to different perspectives and experiences,” Soros notes, describing the half of his philosophy built around empathy rather than recognition. These windows, he argues, let a child step outside their own household and their own habits for a few dozen pages, and come back changed. Greg Soros, speaking in a recent interview with The Future of Things, outlined a thoughtful approach to creating characters that resonate with young readers. Drawing on his experience in children’s media, Soros emphasized emotional honesty, simplicity of motive, and an attentiveness to the realities of childhood as the cornerstones of compelling character design.
Building Empathy Early
Soros points to a specific kind of reading experience as proof of concept. “When a child reads about someone from a different culture, someone with different abilities, or someone facing challenges they’ve never encountered, it expands their understanding of what it means to be human,” he says. That expansion, in his view, cannot start too early, since the habits of curiosity and compassion that carry into adulthood tend to form long before a child can articulate them.
It is a philosophy the author has carried through more than sixteen years of writing for young people, one built on the conviction that “children’s books should serve as both mirrors and windows, helping young readers see themselves reflected in stories while also opening their minds to different perspectives and experiences.”
Fiction as a Bridge
For Soros, a window is not simply information about an unfamiliar life. It is an invitation into it, delivered through character and story rather than a lesson plan. A child who spends a chapter alongside someone whose home, ability, or background differs from their own is practicing a kind of understanding that sticks. Greg Soros author who has made this his throughline, sees that practice as essential groundwork for the kind of adult a child eventually becomes, one capable of recognizing a shared humanity across difference. See related link for additional information.
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