Category

Diverse Representation

The Night the Reindeer Saved Christmas
by Raj Kaur Khaira & Kasia Nowowiejska

Yesterday I dug out all our Christmas books and added them to the towering pile of new titles sitting on my desk. We have so many lovely ones but as I flicked through them one thing was immediately obvious – an almost total lack of diversity. It seems that white boys have a monopoly on saving Christmas, white girls are all about the gifts, and black and brown people barely feature at all.

So I’m kicking off my Christmas books with this little gem which we have only recently discovered. It features an Indian Santa and a Black Mrs Claus and the story highlights the fact that the reindeer are all female!

It’s December 23rd and Mr Claus is 100% prepared for Christmas. Hooray! But naturally, this doesn’t last long and his peace is shattered when a fault is discovered with the rockets on his sleigh. With no way to deliver the presents it looks like Christmas will have to be cancelled!

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M is for Melanin: A Celebration of the Black Child by Tiffany Rose

This gorgeous alphabet book is a celebration of black children everywhere.

Each page features an affirmation, beautifully illustrated with happy children who are making their mark on their world. From A for Afro, B for Black, and C for Creative right through to X for Malcolm, Y for You and Z for the Zillion people trying to tell you to be someone else – this book encourages kids to be the best version of themselves.

Every child featured is unique and each has their own special style. We see black skin in a wide variety of hues (including a child with vitiligo and another with albinism) and so much joyful freedom of expression –  I really can’t recommend this book highly enough!

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Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice
by Nikki Grimes & Laura Freeman

When little Eve slams the door on her return from school her Mum instantly knows that something is wrong. She listens carefully as her daughter explains that a boy in her class had laughed at her when she said she wanted to be President one day because “Girls can’t be President, stupid.” Her Mum sits her down and tells her a story about a girl from their own town – a girl called Kamala…

What follows is a detailed but child-friendly look at the life of Kamala Harris, the Vice President-elect of the United States. We learn about her heritage, her childhood and how the quest for justice and peace has been a part of her life since she was a baby. We follow her story as she deals with family separation, moves to a new country, graduates college and fails an important exam. Whatever the obstacles she has to face in her own life, she never stops fighting for the rights of the people around her as she edges ever closer to her dream.

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Ella Has A Plan
by Davina Hamilton & Elena Reinoso

It’s the day of the big family party and everyone at Ella’s house is busy getting ready. Kind-hearted Ella can’t wait for her relatives to arrive but she’s also a little bit worried. Two of her cousins, Taye and Jade, have a habit of arguing and bickering and she’s concerned that this might ruin the party for everyone else.

Mum tells her to go and chat to Great Grandad Frank who apparently has a great story about how he once tricked two of his children into playing nicely together. Ella speeds off to find him, but sure enough, a fight breaks out before he gets the chance to share his wisdom.

As Ella steps between Taye and Jade she realises that she needs a plan. How can she get the two cousins to understand that they are more alike than they realise, and that arguments are not the answer?

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Only A Tree Knows How To Be A Tree
by Mary Murphy

This gorgeous book celebrates the fact that we are all unique and we all have something special to share with the world.

The joyful pages take us on a tour of some of the wonders of nature and show us how they contribute to our lives. From trees and oceans to dogs and birds, everything on earth has something wonderful to offer and every single one is different. Every tree is different and every bird is different – and only a tree knows how to be a tree, and only a bird knows how to be a bird.

But what about people? There are billions of us on earth and we all function in pretty much the same way – but each of us is unique. We all have different thoughts and feelings – and only you know how to be you.

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Coming to England
by Floella Benjamin & Diane Ewen

Hands up if you’re old enough to remember watching Play School when you were a kid? I loved it and just seeing pictures of Dame Floella Benjamin makes me feel all warm and nostalgic! When I saw that she was releasing a children’s book I was very excited and I am so pleased that it is utterly wonderful.

Coming to England is a very personal story about the author’s own experience of the being part of the Windrush generation. The stunningly illustrated pages follow a young Floella as she makes the journey from Trinidad to England in 1960 to start a new life with her family.

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Layla’s Happiness
by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie & Ashleigh Corrin

Everything about this beautiful book is joyful – from the sheer poetry of the text through to the bright and bold illustrations. I love stories which focus on specific emotions and this one is really special because it looks at happiness from the point of view of a child.

If you ask an adult what makes them happy then the answers are generally unsurprising – their family, their friends, travel, a good book, a hot drink on a cold day – but kids see the world differently and their answers reflect that.

Seven year old Layla loves life and as we follow her through the pages of this story she shares all of the things which make her happy. She loves the night sky, eating spaghetti with a fork and climbing trees. She loves to listen to her dad tell her stories about his childhood. She loves dancing in the garden, feeding the chickens and picking vegetables to sell at the farmer’s market.

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Wanda’s Words Got Stuck
by Lucy Rowland & Paula Bowles

Wanda’s words have a sneaky habit of getting stuck. Whenever she tries to speak, the words just won’t come out and this makes her feel nervous and small in front of her teacher and the other children. Everyone else just seems so confident so why can’t she be the same?

Wanda struggles along until one day a new girl joins her class. Flo looks nervously at her new classmates before dropping her eyes to the ground and blushing. In the playground Wanda gives her a little wave and a smile and soon the two are playing quietly alongside each other. They slip into an easy and comfortable friendship where few words are needed. The two girls just seem to ‘get’ each other.

Later that week their teacher announces something which terrifies them both – a school magic contest in which they will have perform a spell in front of the class! Flo and Wanda decide to work together but when the big day arrives they are both dizzy with nerves.

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It isn’t RUDE to be NUDE
by Rosie Haine

What’s this? A book about nudity for kids? Surely that’s a bit, well…weird?

In short – NOPE. I think it’s fabulous and it’s perfect for showing children that our bodies are wonderful things which need to be celebrated and looked after.

The text is minimal but the pictures speak volumes. The gorgeous illustrations show us bums and tummies both big and small. We see nipples in a wide range of hues and forms. There are pages on male and female genitalia, body hair (including ladies with underarm and leg hair) and certain skin conditions.

The characters are diverse and inclusive. They show us different races and ages and we also see characters with disabilites including a wheelchair user, a girl with a prosthetic leg, a man with one arm and a man with restricted growth. There are also people with scars and a lady who has had a breast removed.

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Super Sapiens: 3-in-1 Game

We have something slightly different for you this evening – a review of a product which isn’t a book! This isn’t something I usually do but I wanted to share this with you because it fits so nicely with our values and I think that you will like it too.

The lovely folk over at Super Sapiens recently gifted us a copy of their card game which is aimed at players aged 3 to 103. The cards feature 12 inspirational women from around the world who are real-life superheroes. Each card has an illustrated image of the ‘super sapien’, their name, where they were born, when they lived and some information about what they achieved. They’re a diverse mix of ladies and many were previously unknown to me so it’s definitely educational. It has been reviewed by The Conscious Kid and their expertise helped to make the game more inclusive and ensure it promotes positive racial identities.

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