I got to live out a dream this week - shopping at a bookstore with an (almost) unlimited budget. If I could have a shopping spree anywhere, it would, without doubt, be at a book store. This week, I got to have some fun!
Today, each of our elementary school students received three books. These level-appropriate books will, we hope, keep our students reading during Winter Break. Shopping for the books, however, was not entirely easy. The title of today's blog is intentional: so few of the available children's books feature characters of color. Though this has improved, to some degree, during recent years, there is still very little children's literature available that represents the cultural reality of Reach's students.
Improvements have been made, yes. There are now books about children in Africa and Mexico and China and even Indian Reservations in Oklahoma; however, few characters have lives similar to my kids.
Today, it seems that many authors have chosen to make main characters ethnically ambiguous (for example, the Wimpy Kid is a stick figure). While this may avoid accusations of overt trends, it does little to actually address the issues faced by our students. Even when characters are ethnically ambiguous, they live in nice houses with nice yards and both parents and comfortable beds in safe neighborhoods. This is not the experience of my children.
This is not to say things aren't improving. I was able to give many children books by Ezra Jack Keats - an author that tries to depict real scenes of inner city life. And, without doubt, there is a universality to the experience of children - it's why some of them fall in love with the Wimpy Kid or Captain Underpants. But, there's a long way to go. One day, perhaps Reach's tutors - who now notice these things - will be the ones that write the stories that the next generation will read.
One day, maybe Christmas won't have to be quite so white.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Mark
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