{"id":19078,"date":"2016-08-09T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T12:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=19078"},"modified":"2016-08-09T08:00:20","modified_gmt":"2016-08-09T12:00:20","slug":"black-books-for-black-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=19078","title":{"rendered":"Black Books for Black Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, I invited POC booksellers<\/a>\u00a0to be guest bloggers for ShelfTalker, and to write about\u00a0any aspect of bookselling for children they wanted to address. Bookseller Alia Jones from Blue Manatee\u00a0in Cincinnati\u00a0was the first bookseller\u00a0to respond, with this post. We are delighted to welcome Alia to ShelfTalker. Take it away, Alia!
\n***
\n

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Cincinnati children’s bookseller, Alia Jones of The Blue Manatee.<\/p><\/div>
\nI\u2019m black and I sell books. Kids’ books at that. I sell the books that are full of whimsy.
\nThey\u2019re the books that spark creativity, imagination and wonder. When a customer\u00a0walks into my store, I\u2019m ready to help them fall into a great story.
\nRecently, a black couple visited my store and I noticed they were picking up books\u00a0that feature black girls, so I handed them a few more. As I checked them out, we\u00a0briefly discussed the need for more diversity in children\u2019s books and the woman\u00a0said something that has stayed with me. She said, especially these days, our children\u00a0need to see themselves in books.
\nAnd so I started to really think about the role I play in providing positive images of\u00a0blackness. Especially since black men and women are being hurt and killed by the\u00a0police at an alarming rate and nothing is changing. It\u2019s physically and emotionally\u00a0draining to live with violence and racial injustice. I can only imagine what black\u00a0children are feeling, the questions they\u2019re asking their loved ones and teachers and\u00a0how they\u2019re coping.
\nSelf-care is crucial. Books can heal and empower.
\nWhen I see a bad-ass black woman in a book, TV show, or movie, I get a boost. When\u00a0I read about a bad-ass black woman in history, a smile spreads across my face. When\u00a0I listen to our First Lady, Michelle Obama, I think, \u201cShe\u2019s like me.\u201d Mirrors and role\u00a0models are important and representation matters. Diverse books can be a balm; a\u00a0balm that helps children of color and native kids cope with loneliness, fear, self-doubt and anger. They\u2019re also a boost of confidence!
\n 
\nBlack kids, infants to teens, need all the images of shining black faces they can get\u00a0right now so let\u2019s give them excellent stories. Black kids deserve to have stories\u00a0where they\u2019re adventurers, scientists, veterinarians and sleuths too. Historical\u00a0books are necessary but we need more books with carefree black kids. Some argue\u00a0that race shouldn\u2019t matter when reading a book; if you\u2019re enjoying it, you\u2019ll connect\u00a0to the story and characters regardless.
\nChildren of color and native kids don\u2019t have\u00a0the privilege of a long history of books written for and about them and there\u2019s\u00a0nothing wrong with wanting to read about someone who looks like you.\u00a0Publishing houses are signing and\u00a0hiring a few more minorities and putting a few more\u00a0non-white faces on books, but parents, teachers, librarians and booksellers know\u00a0how urgently diverse books are needed. Powerful movements like Step Up\u00a0Scholastic are telling us how dire this situation is. Kids also need #ownvoices. Black\u00a0kids are surprised and inspired when they meet black authors because they don\u2019t\u00a0expect them to be black. What does that tell you? I\u2019ll say it again, representation.
\nWhile we work towards providing more diverse books for children of color and\u00a0native kids, let\u2019s be sure to read, teach, recommend, and sell them to white kids as\u00a0well. This is how we build a better world. I\u2019ve noticed that many white kids don\u2019t\u00a0care if a book has a non-white person on it; they\u2019ll pick it up as long as it looks fun.\u00a0Usually adults are the ones who carry biases and are \u201cgatekeepers.\u201d On several\u00a0occasions I\u2019ve recommended a book, per the customer\u2019s specifications, that\u00a0happened to feature a child of color or native child, only to find it didn\u2019t make it to\u00a0the checkout.
\nBooks help us expose children early to cultural diversity. These \u201cwindows\u201d teach\u00a0respect and nurture open-mindedness.\u00a0I like to highlight and \u201cface-out\u201d diverse books in my store because making an effort\u00a0to do this not only exposes customers to new books but can also help them feel\u00a0more comfortable. Many non-white customers enter bookstores expecting not to\u00a0find a lot of books that feature people like them. Children\u2019s booksellers, regardless of\u00a0their race, should have at least a basic knowledge of quality diverse children\u2019s\u00a0books. If you can recommend children\u2019s \u201cclassics\u201d but can\u2019t put at least four good\u00a0books that feature black kids (that aren\u2019t about slavery!) into a customer\u2019s hands,\u00a0that\u2019s a problem. Provided a bookstore has the inventory (I\u2019m looking at you, book\u00a0buyers!) and booksellers have the knowledge and desire to help, good diverse books\u00a0should get good homes. I\u2019ve seen too many booksellers freeze up when asked about\u00a0diverse books.
\nCompared to thirty years ago, we\u2019ve certainly come a long way in the quantity and\u00a0quality of diverse books. That being said, we still have a long way to go. We need\u00a0more diverse authors and their stories. Because children need these rich resources,\u00a0if traditional publishing routes aren\u2019t working, writers, please self-publish! If you\u00a0decide to self-publish, please make sure your book has an ISBN and barcode so that\u00a0bookstores can seriously consider your books.
\nAs a black bookseller, I\u2019m asking for more diverse books so I can better serve my\u00a0customers, so I can send them home with treasures and so I can show black kids\u00a0how much they\u2019re loved.
\nSankofa is a word in the Twi language of Ghana that means \u201cGo back and fetch it.\u201d I\u00a0like to think back to formative books from my childhood that showed me reflections\u00a0of myself. I grew up loving Mufaro\u2019s Beautiful Daughters<\/em> by John Steptoe for its lush\u00a0depictions of blackness and\u00a0kindness. I connected to Addy from the American Girl\u00a0series because she was black like me and was a snapshot of my ancestors.
\nBecause I love sharing good books, here are five more excellent black books that I\u00a0hope you\u2019ll enjoy (and recommend).
\n1) The Stories Julian Tells<\/em> by Ann Cameron\/Illustrated by Ann Strugnell
\n– Do cats really come from a catalogue and help you plant your garden? Black boys\u00a0dream in this magical beginning chapter book.
\n2) Marvelous Cornelius<\/em> by Phil Bildner\/Illustrated by John Parra
\n– Already a pillar of his community, a singing and performing trash man becomes a\u00a0hero during Hurricane Katrina.
\n3) Drum Dream Girl<\/em> by Margarita Engle\/Illustrated by Rafael L\u00f3pez
\n– Millo, an Afro Chinese Cuban girl in 1930s Cuba, is determined to drum despite\u00a0what everyone thinks.
\n4) Little Melba and Her Big Trombone<\/em> by Katheryn Russell-Brown\/Illustrated by\u00a0Frank Morrison
\n– Melba Doretta Liston, a musical genius from Kansas City, grew up with music in her\u00a0blood and rocked the jazz world!
\n5) Ten, Nine, Eight<\/em> by Molly Bang
\n– A black girl and her father get ready for sleep. This is a beautiful counting\u00a0book and display of black family and\u00a0love.
\n***
\nAlia Jones attended Cornell University for Cultural Anthropology and after graduation\u00a0flew\u00a0to South Korea on a Fulbright to teach English. After returning to the US, she became a children’s bookseller and enjoys reviewing and\u00a0blogging about diverse books. You can find her blog here:\u00a0readitrealgood.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our first POC bookseller guest post, from Alia Jones at Blue Manatee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19078\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}