@ We need more diverse books like The Snowy Day

[froggy76]

Aug 5, 2016 6:57:42 GMT -5 funchicken said:

Aug 4, 2016 15:34:49 GMT -5 froggy76 said:

A book we borrowed recently from the library and LOVED was called "Grace for President". It was about an African-American girl who realizes there has never been a female President and she decides to run in a mock election at school. It even explains the electoral college!!

I think this is a series, isn't it? DD1 has checked several of them out from the library.

It is?! I'll check out the others!

[chw57]

Aug 4, 2016 15:01:14 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

One of my son's all-time favorite books is Abiyoyo by Pete Seeger. It's not "everyday typical" like the Snowy Day book is, it focuses on an ostracized father/son who saves their town by outsmarting and vanquishing a monster. Check to see if your local library has it (where we found it and then had to go buy it because he loved it so much). I'll see if my library has Snowy Day, but living in Florida they might not, our library doesn't have too many snow-centric books in general but we have a lot of beach ones haha

My daughter was OBSESSED with that book!

She also loves One Love and 3 Little Birds, by Cedella Marley
(Edit: just went back and saw sporklemotion mentioned these already)

[granthamite]

Max and the Tag-Along Moon is one we recently received through the Imagination Library program. My son loves it!

[atexan]

We don't have Snowy Day, probably because it doesn't snow here. But my son likes Corduroy and LOVES Abiyoyo. Some others are the Karen Katz books (which he's outgrown now but loved, and featured babies of all colors) and the Mini Myths series by Leslie Patricelli (and a co-author that I don't remember). Athena and Midas are black, Pandora and Odysseus are sort of racially ambiguous but I think Pandora is meant to be east Asian and Odysseus is meant to be west Asian/middle eastern.

[greeneggs]

I've made it a small mission to find books for DS that are diverse but it's not a major plot point and have a few favorites.  Most of them are about black children and I really wish I could find more books with Hispanic, Asian, and Muslim kids.  

One Word From Sophia is one of the cutest books ever and I think every one should have it.  It's about a little girl who wants a giraffe for her birthday and tries to convince her family to get her one. This is one of the few books we've checked out from the library enough times to justify buying it. 
Lizard from the Park A little boy has to figure out what to do when his beloved pet dinosaur gets too big
Blackout A family's experiences one a night in the city when the power goes out
A Beach Tail  Super sweet story about a little boy and his dad at the beach.  

[eponinepontmercy]

I just added a ton of stuff to the amazon wishlist I keep for DD.

Thanks for all the recommendations!

[ribollita]

Bumping an old post to share a recent find:

Note that it is not like the Snowy Day as it doesn't have any characters - just feet.

Island Toes by Christin Lozano

It is a easy and enjoyable read, probably best for 1.5-3 year olds, and features many various skin tones. It is based in Hawaii.

My daughter loves it so it's been on repeat in our house.

[underwaterrhymes]

I'm glad this got bumped because I forgot to mention My Cold Plum Lemon Pie Bluesy Mood.

So so good.

[sonrisa]

DD is really into The Princess and the Pony by Kate Beaton right now. It's a silly picture book about a warrior princess who wants big, strong horse for her birthday. Instead, she gets a role poly farting pony. The pony ends up defeating the other warriors with its cuteness.

Race is never the issue, nor is feminism, it just happens to have a strong central female character whose mother is black and father is white.

www.amazon.com/Princess-Pony-Kate-Beaton/dp/0545637082

[Jermys]

I always assumed Ezra Jack Keats was black, and found out he wasn't a few years ago.

[darnkatz]

Sept 22, 2016 17:13:30 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

I'm glad this got bumped because I forgot to mention My Cold Plum Lemon Pie Bluesy Mood.

So so good.

I have this on hold at the library right now for DD1. 

[Jermys]

Sept 22, 2016 17:18:08 GMT -5 spunbutterfly said:

Aug 5, 2016 9:26:35 GMT -5 greeneggs said:

I've made it a small mission to find books for DS that are diverse but it's not a major plot point and have a few favorites.  Most of them are about black children and I really wish I could find more books with Hispanic, Asian, and Muslim kids.  

One Word From Sophia is one of the cutest books ever and I think every one should have it.  It's about a little girl who wants a giraffe for her birthday and tries to convince her family to get her one. This is one of the few books we've checked out from the library enough times to justify buying it. 
Lizard from the Park A little boy has to figure out what to do when his beloved pet dinosaur gets too big
Blackout A family's experiences one a night in the city when the power goes out
A Beach Tail  Super sweet story about a little boy and his dad at the beach.  

As an Asian mom, I wish there were more Asian people featured in books too. Even in many Korean television shows, the children are white, not Korean. It's maddening.

I think Asian kids are second to last in percentage of representation.
ETA, I was incorrect. They're third.

[darnkatz]

greeneggs, DD2 loved One Word From Sophia. SO cute.

Someone else recommended Thunder Boy Jr. a while ago, and that was also awesome. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is really cute. 

[StrawberryBlondie]

I bought The Snowy Day after this thread reminded me of how much I loved it as a kid and my child is totally obsessed.

[darnkatz]

Oh, we also read Looking For Bongo by Eric Velasquez, and it was great. Bilingual, too (Spanish/English).

[katfco]

I absolutely adore this website: thebrownbookshelf.com

It's run by African-American authors and recommends high-quality books featuring characters of color. Some of the books celebrate their origins/culture but others are just good books that feature people of color.

Jacqueline Woodson is an excellent author for books featuring African Americans. Rita Williams-Garcia is a good author as well.

Seriously, everyone has to check out that website!

[Gato]

My kids both love The Hello Goodbye Window, which features biracial grandparents and an AA protagonist. It is a cute story about a little girl's days hanging out at her grandparents' house, with adorable illustrations. I'd say 3-6 are the best ages for enjoying it.

[estrellita]

I'm glad this got bumped because I'm adding all sorts of books to a list for my son! Thanks for all the recommendations!

[jene]

The Last Stop on Market Street and A is for Activist are big hits in our house right now.

[indifferentstars]

Someone upthread mentioned Lola Loves Stories. There are actually a few other books by the same author (Anna McQuinn) featuring Lola and her little brother Leo. We've borrowed a few and they were all cute (for toddlers or preschoolers, they're pretty simple books)

Sept 22, 2016 19:52:45 GMT -5 katfco said:

I absolutely adore this website: thebrownbookshelf.com

It's run by African-American authors and recommends high-quality books featuring characters of color. Some of the books celebrate their origins/culture but others are just good books that feature people of color. 

Thank you for sharing this link. What a great resource! The last time I was at the library with my son I wanted to find some books with characters of color and couldn't find a previous thread of recommendations that I thought I'd saved on my phone. I made sure to bookmark this one and will consult it on our next trip. 

[anna7602]

Aug 4, 2016 15:48:58 GMT -5 pescalita said:

We need more of these too; I was thinking about canceling ipsy and doing a book a month instead, focusing on diversity.

The only issue I have with Snow Day and Corduroy is they're both in apartment buildings. None of the white kids live in apartment buildings.

I'm coming into this thread super late, but man, I WISH my biggest issue with finding books DD can relate to is the kind of physical structures the kids in the books live in. 

(@dontcallmeshirley1, this is what you get when you tag me!)

[Deleted]

Sept 22, 2016 20:11:35 GMT -5 Gato said:

My kids both love The Hello Goodbye Window, which features biracial grandparents and an AA protagonist. It is a cute story about a little girl's days hanging out at her grandparents' house, with adorable illustrations. I'd say 3-6 are the best ages for enjoying it.

We ADORE this book! (Also thanks for the other suggestions everyone!)

[berrysweet]

The Wonderful Things You Will Be by Emily Winfield Martin is another good one that includes a really diverse group of kids throughout the story.

[pescalita]

Sept 22, 2016 21:02:22 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

Aug 4, 2016 15:48:58 GMT -5 pescalita said:

We need more of these too; I was thinking about canceling ipsy and doing a book a month instead, focusing on diversity.

The only issue I have with Snow Day and Corduroy is they're both in apartment buildings. None of the white kids live in apartment buildings.

I'm coming into this thread super late, but man, I WISH my biggest issue with finding books DD can relate to is the kind of physical structures the kids in the books live in. 

(@dontcallmeshirley1, this is what you get when you tag me!)

I just want to be clear here that I'm trying to avoid a library of white kids in suburban settings and POC in urban settings. I'm not trying to make sure that they can relate to kids are in ranches like ours, I'm trying to make sure they don't get the idea that there are any areas where POC don't "belong". Our home setting is white kids in suburbia, which is 100% a failing on our part and also something I'm trying to compensate for with media, which is why I'm particularly cognizant of it.

[anna7602]

A good one that involves apartment-dwellers, half-Korean children, and a potentially Greek grandmother (@dontcallmeshirley1?) is Yiayia visits Amalia. Both DS and DD love that one, although DD tries to pretend she's too old for it now. 

I think most of the children in our Spanish-language books live in houses, but I guess the issue with those for pescalita would be that the text is in a foreign language. Hmmm, I need to keep thinking about this representation-of-dwellings issue. 

[jln]

Sept 22, 2016 21:18:23 GMT -5 pescalita said:

Sept 22, 2016 21:02:22 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

I'm coming into this thread super late, but man, I WISH my biggest issue with finding books DD can relate to is the kind of physical structures the kids in the books live in. 

(@dontcallmeshirley1, this is what you get when you tag me!)

I just want to be clear here that I'm trying to avoid a library of white kids in suburban settings and POC in urban settings. I'm not trying to make sure that they can relate to kids are in ranches like ours, I'm trying to make sure they don't get the idea that there are any areas where POC don't "belong". Our home setting is white kids in suburbia, which is 100% a failing on our part and also something I'm trying to compensate for with media, which is why I'm particularly cognizant of it.

This is something I haven't thought of before, so thank you for mentioning it.

[anna7602]

Sept 22, 2016 21:18:23 GMT -5 pescalita said:

Sept 22, 2016 21:02:22 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

I'm coming into this thread super late, but man, I WISH my biggest issue with finding books DD can relate to is the kind of physical structures the kids in the books live in. 

(@dontcallmeshirley1 , this is what you get when you tag me!)

I just want to be clear here that I'm trying to avoid a library of white kids in suburban settings and POC in urban settings. I'm not trying to make sure that they can relate to kids are in ranches like ours, I'm trying to make sure they don't get the idea that there are any areas where POC don't "belong". Our home setting is white kids in suburbia, which is 100% a failing on our part and also something I'm trying to compensate for with media, which is why I'm particularly cognizant of it.

A lot of kids' books set in big cities have apartments in them. I can't look at them all right now because my children are sleeping and the books are in their rooms, but off the top of my head, I think the white children in "Adele & Simon" live in an apartment. I am pretty sure that "The Tiger Who Came to Tea" takes place in an apartment. It's very possible that every Paris-centric kids' book we have involves white, apartment-dwelling children. 

Then you have white characters like Madeline and Eloise who live in boarding schools (or is it an orphanage?) and hotels, respectively. 

Dora the Explorer and a lot of the Hispanic kids who Alma Flor Ada and Georgina Lazaro write about live in houses. 

[hopecounts]

anna7602 Madeline is in a boarding school.
Her parent(s) are just never seen, though iirc she receives a present from her papa

[anna7602]

Sept 22, 2016 21:42:48 GMT -5 hopecounts said:

anna7602 Madeline is in a boarding school.
Her parent(s) are just never seen, though iirc she receives a present from her papa

Oh, right. When she has her appendix out or falls in the Seine or something? (Perhaps all of these things happen in the same book, it's been a while.) 

[hopecounts]

Sept 22, 2016 21:46:32 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

Sept 22, 2016 21:42:48 GMT -5 hopecounts said:

anna7602 Madeline is in a boarding school.
Her parent(s) are just never seen, though iirc she receives a present from her papa

Oh, right. When she has her appendix out or falls in the Seine or something? (Perhaps all of these things happen in the same book, it's been a while.) 

Appendix out I think.