Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter.

For anyone looking for resources, my Soaring 20s Picture Book Debut Group put together a thoughtful list at the end of our Statement of Solidarity (which I fully support).

Because I’m passionate about children’s books and read a lot, I especially want to highlight the booklists and places to find booklists (these are the same as provided in the Soaring 20s resource link above). Several of these were new to me and I’m excited to have found them.

Booklists and places to find booklists:

*Editing to add an especially good handful of book stack pics from Here We Read—I think these are all own voices. Make sure you click through to see all the book stack pics.

Because I also want to speak for myself here’s a post I put up for friends and family on IG and Facebook, kind of a 101 for checking your book stack for Black and Diverse voices if you’ve never done so. I’d call myself a passionate reader of books but these thoughts are really not as finely written as others have written them elsewhere. I only post them here on the off-chance that someone I know is digging around on my blog and might not be compelled to click through to better resources. Sometimes it does help to hear from someone you know. In that way, I hope these thoughts below are useful but please if you are considering linking to this, I’d ask that you raise other voices instead or link to the Soaring 20s Statement of Solidarity as my group put a lot of thought into compiling those further resources. Thanks!

Black Lives Matter. ⠀⠀
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And it matters to have Black lives in books. Trying to think of a way I might be useful online (and not just despair or rant), I thought I’d throw out 1. some picture book titles for friends and family and teacher friends who ask me for book suggestions because I read a lot. And 2. A few other thoughts that aren’t exactly original but might be helpful on a 101 level if you aren’t already reading from book experts more knowledgeable than me. ⠀⠀
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Check your kids’ bookshelves for diversity. Do you need to add some? Here are a few book stacks of books I personally love with main characters who are Black (a couple have animals as MCs but the kid characters who love them in those books are Black). Not all of these are own voices—if you can, especially seek out own voices titles—support authors of Color. ⠀⠀
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I acknowledge that it is very basic to offer books with main characters who are Black. And also, basic is a decent place to start if you look at your shelves and realize you’d like to expand.⠀⠀
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Sharing history through books is incredibly important but so is sharing Black joy and present-day Black kids solving problems in the here-and-now. I also like to look for high-interest books—like one of my sons was really into inventors for a long time, so I sought diverse books about inventors for him. ⠀⠀
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Buy diverse books for babies. A board book with diverse characters is a great gift to a new parent—it’s a small thing that can help plant a seed for building more inclusive reading habits. ⠀⠀
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If you can afford to do so, actually buy some books with Black characters in them. The library is great but showing up with money—if you can—helps support a book market with greater diversity. ⠀⠀
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Hey and know that this is just back of the envelope thoughts from me sharing for my loved ones (not really meant for my author or librarian friends who likely have read similar things more expertly written). I’m constantly learning and listening and growing. If I’ve inadvertently fumbled or missed a big hole in these suggestions or in how I’ve presented them, I welcome feedback that I can sit with and from which I can try to learn.

I’ll add that I am listening, learning, and unlearning myself all the time—I don’t always get everything right. But I’m grateful to always do my best to do better.