We Read Too app showcases books by, about minorities

A college student created an app highlighting books about and written by people of color. It is called We Read Too.

Kaya Thomas is a senior at Dartmouth College. She says she decided she had to do something about the lack of books by or about people who look like her. Her desire was rooted in an experience when she was growing up of flipping through the pages of young adult and children's books and feeling left out.

She put her computer science skills to use and created an app-based directory for books that speak to minority readers. About 600 books featuring black, Latino, Asian, and other nonwhite characters are listed on the app. Since 2014, when she launched, there have been more than 15,000 user downloads.

She says so many authors and titles are often not front and center. She says We Read Too gives them the spotlight because they are doing such a great job.

And it sounds like this could be right on time. The U.S. Census Bureau says that more than half of the nation's children are expected to be part of a minority by 2020.