Black Kids Don't Want to Read About Harriet Tubman All the Time — New York Times / Opinion
Good read by Denene Miller at the NYT. If we envision a diverse community for our children, that should be reflected in their stories, which help them to process the world around them.
"Books with white children and, like, ducks, were de rigueur, which I guess was fine for parents who were having white babies or ducks. But this was not going to work for my brown baby, who would spend a lifetime looking for her image in a pop cultural landscape that all but ignored children who looked like her. I wanted — needed — her to see her beautiful brown self reflected in the music and stories I hoped to feed to her as consistently as food. In my house, she would be visible....
"Stories about the everyday beauty of being a little human being of color are scarce. Regardless of what the publishing industry seems to think, our babies don’t spend their days thinking about Harriet Tubman, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and black bodies swinging; they’re excited about what the tooth fairy will leave under their pillows, contemplating their first ride on the school bus, looking for dragons in their closets.
"They want to read books that engage with their everyday experiences, featuring characters who look like them. Just like any other child. White children, too, deserve — and need — to see black characters that revel in the same human experiences that they do."
Illustration by Caldecott Honoree and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honoree Christian Robinson. (And so many more awards.) His stuff is so fun, click through and get some of his books!
