Representation Matters: Stories featuring black characters.

So I was reading to a group of kids the other day and it was the last week of our summer theme. I asked the kids if they knew who Michael Phelps is. One of the kids asked "Is he black?". Important to note - all of the children I was reading to were black - and I suddenly realized, "Wow. I totally could have picked a book about a black athlete to read to them". We just picked Michael Phelps because he's going to be in the Olympics again this year, and the book is cute in illustrating what all he had to do to train to get there. This past week though, I decided to consciously pick out books that had black people as the main focus, just for them. They weren't the only group that I read to, but that didn't matter. (In fact, they cancelled my story time with them before I got to read them - but I'll just save them for next week.)

 

Say Hey!: a Song of Willie Mays by Peter Mandel. This has a great repeating refrain of "Say hey, Willie, say hey" that I had the kids say after every couplet of lines, helping keep them engaged in the story. It's a good, brief telling of his life, though it does gloss over the segregation stuff a little- but hey, it's a kids book. I did briefly talk about segregation and Civil Rights after and one little girl said something like "Yeah, and that's why we have Black History Month..." I didn't say anything to that or point out the theme in all my books that day. I have no idea if any of them noticed. I probably missed a teaching moment. :/ 

 

Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard. This is a really cute story about two little girls who love to visit their great-aunt, go through her hatboxes and listen to all the storied that accompany each hat. You get to hear three - including one that they get to help tell at the end. :)

 

Jump Rope Magic by Afi Scruggs. This book is definitely written with a certain rhythm and cadence to it. It's great when you can get into it and go with the flow. You can really get tripped up if you don't get into the beat though. The girls I read this to LOVED it because they recognized some of the jump rope rhymes used in it.

 

We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past by Jacqueline Woodson. This book is told by the little girl who goes to a family picnic with her grandma, and they comment on everyone and everything they bring. And the whole time they keep talking about this one aunt and her terrible apple pies, but they can't tell her that because it would hurt her feelings. FINALLY the aunt shows up with a box - does she have TWO pies?!

 

Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron. This story is set up as being told at a reunion or some family gathering, so you have the main story teller, and then you have two other voices that chime in and interrupt. The story teller is talking about how this child has the nappiest hair in the world. He goes on and on and on about it - and the voices that interrupt get exasperated with him and can't believe that he won't stop talking about it. In the end, he says that God gave that child that hair, and when he looked at what he created he was proud and said "Well done." For all the teasing that starts out in the story, it's really heartwarming in the end.




Like I said, I haven't had a chance to read these stories to my intended audience. I'll update soon once I do and can gauge their reaction to the stories. I had others picked out too - I only had so much time to read before I had to run to my story time, but some of the other titles were Bippity Bop Barbershop by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley (but couldn't use because half a page was missing :/), Baby Tamer by Mark Teague (the main character just happens to be black - nothing about it is ever mentioned), black is brown is tan by Arnold Adoff (about a biracial family), and Cherish Me by Joyce Carol Thomas.