“My People Are…” promotes positive racial & ethnic identity in ALL children

Children’s Books « Irene’s Daughters

OK, I’m responding to the request for Children’s Books via trackback because I don’t know how this table will post in a comment. If any of my blog reader’s have some book recommendations, please share them here & over at at Irene’s Daughters.

It’s pretty old, but we started one of these in a very small yahoo group I was in seven years ago. We have more books now, but this list has more of the details about the books than the list I’ll handwrite while going through my bookcases Also, Amy Hodgepodge is a must have!

Bill Marten Jr. & John Archambault	Chicka Chicka Boom Boom	ABC’s	book, audio, VHS. audio tape features ray charles. silly song sang by several persons, makes the ABC’s too cool!
Cheryl Willis Hudson & Bernette G. Ford	Bright Eyes, Brown Skin	race	beautiful and simple story featuring and celebrating the unique beauty of children with African heritage. a MUST HAVE for anyone with ethnic children.
Chief Jake Swamp	Giving Thanks – A Native American Good Morning Message	faith	Mohawks traditionally begin the day by giving thanks to mother earth, known as the thanksgiving address.
Debra Frasier	On The Day You Were Born	Birth	Great book that talks about many species and the wonders of our planet and the child’s place in that circle
Jane Kurtz	Faraway Home	Travel	Desta’s father must visit his dying mother in Ethiopia – what if he never comes back?
L.T. Sparrow	All My Relations, A Prayer	faith/race	An incredibly powerful poem embracing and honoring all forms of life and faith
Mem Fox	Time For Bed	bedtime	cute little story featuring animals as mamas prepare their babies for bed. can be a great resource for teaching some of the proper names for animal babies
Mem Fox	Sleepy Bears	bedtime	as this bear family settles in for hibernation, Mama bear gives each child a special ‘dram wish’. I especially like this book because the children’s names seem multi-ethnic, and it is not filled with sexual stereotypes of what boys and girls dream about.
Molly Bang	When Sophie Gets Angry – Really Really Angry…	Growing Up	character goes through a tantrum… can be used to help a young child or toddler identify anger and what it feels like, and how to respond to those feelings.
Phil Mendez	The Black Snowman	race	the story of a young boy finding pride in his heritage
Sylvia Long	Hush Little Baby	bedtime/song	mama offers baby comfort in the Earth and immaterial things, vs promising to buy baby things… 4 stars!

Amy Hodgepodge

Check it out.

Nancy : “This story truly touched me.  The authors made me love Amy, love her family and feel everything she felt.  It teaches friendship, kindness and gives us all insight into how to be good people.”

Aileen: “As a teacher, I am so grateful to the authors for providing my students with such dynamic material.  My students immediately identified with the characters.  Finally, a series that addresses real concerns with humor and love.”                                                                     

Joyce: “I just ordered all four of your books for my grandkids and grandnieces and nephews.  Thanks for this delightful, wholesome series!”

Maria: “Finally! A book for children who are a hodgepodge of so many different things.  Thank you for doing this book.  I have no doubt it will have great success and I hope to see it evolve into a whole series of cartoons, merchandise, etc.!                                  

Michelle & Melydia: “Thank you, thank you, thank you! My daughter (6) and I just finished reading some of “All Mixed Up!   Our family consists of black and white, with marriages bringing in Portugese and Cuban, and adoptions bringing in Indian.  She related so much to this book.  Here  is what she said: “I like your book and can’t wait to finish it.  I like it because she looks like me.”

Jil: “I love AMY HODGEPODGE.  As a grown Mixed woman it is so exciting to get to know this girl.  I fell in love with her, her family and her friends.  So sweet, engaging, well-written and great illustrations.”              

Angela: “I just wanted to thank you SO much for your ground-breaking work in providing images for the multiracial generation!  I am the founder of Melting Pot Moms, a national organization for multiracial/multicultural/multiethnic families (through birth and adoption).  Your books reflect our children exactly!”

Sheryl: “I love these books!  Amy is such a sweet character.  My six-year old adores her, and my eight-year old next door neighbor does too.                                                                   

LC: “I can’t say enough how much I love this series.  Finally multiracial girls have a heroine in Amy Hodgepodge.  Amy is a great role model for all kids.  A great discovery!”

Kyle: “My daughter loves these books.  It’s definitely timely in that more and more families have mixed-race kids.  But the books are truly for everyone.”

Stephanie: “My six-year old daughter found this book and loves it.  She has announced that she wants to collect all the Amy Hodgepodge books and will be adding them to her bookshelf right next to her Junie B. Jones and Magic Tree House collections.”

Mary: “My granddaughter, who is seven, absolutely loves the Amy Hodgepodge books.  Amy and her friends are good kids who have lots of fun together and come up with good solutions to kids everyday problems and adventures.”                                                      

Ruby: “I love Amy Hodgepodge with a passion.”           

Shenita: “My girls love your book.  We read the first chapter last night , and they didn’t want me to put it down.”

Lisa: “My fourth-grade class is sooo enjoying listening to me read your delightful books to them.   They really relate to and love the character, Rusty, too.”

Kenya: “I read your book and couldn’t put it down.  I know it’s a children’s book, but I loved it.  This is an excellent book for biracial kids trying to find their place in the world.  It’s also a great book for all children to encourage them to be true to themselves and celebrate their differences and similarities.  I’m buying these  books for all my friends with kids!”

Reggie: “Almost all my nieces and nephews are multiracial.  They love your books and really related to them!”

Barbara: “Your books are such a great idea.   I am of mixed-race.  My mom is African-American and my dad is Latin-American.  I’m pregnant, so I’ll be stocking up on these books for my baby!”

Michelle: “Congratulations on your wonderful book series.  There’s a real need in this world for these books you’ve created.”

Daphne: “I just bought all the Amy Hodgepodge books off the shelf at Storyopolis bookstore.  You’d better have them reorder!”

Kim Wayans has numerous television and film credits and now brings her skill and charm to the stage with her own one-woman show. Part of a unique family of comedians, Kim Wayans has enjoyed working with her brothers, film and television stars Keenen, Damon, Marlon and Shawn. She starred with all of them on the groundbreaking television comedy sketch show IN LIVING COLOR and has worked with them in various combinations in such motion pictures as SCARY MOVIE 2, I’M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA, DON’T BE A MENACE TO SOUTH CENTRAL WHILE DRINKING YOUR JUICE IN THE HOOD AND LOW DOWN DIRTY SHAME. Kim starred in JUWANNA MANN with Miguel A. Nunez, Jr. And Viveca A. Fox. Kim’s first break in entertainment came when she was booked to do stand-up comedy at the The Laugh Factory and The Improv clubs in Hollywood. Since then, Wayans has made several guest television appearances, and has starred as a regular on Quincy Jones’ IN THE HOUSE opposite Debbie Allen and LL Cool J. She excelled as a producer, director and writer on the ABC comedy MY WIFE AND KIDS. Kim’s writing has expanded to plays and full length screen plays.  She is presently touring the country with her hit one-woman show, A HANDSOME WOMAN RETREATS.  Her latest project is a series of children’s books she wrote with her husband, entitled “AMY HODGEPODGE.”  This ground-breaking series gives a face and voice to multi-racial children, and is published by Penguin.

AmyHodgepodge.com.

Walking the (color)Line

WARNING – Racial Smog Ahead

Proceed with caution. If you have a low tolerance for white guilt (stage whisper: that’s code for, if you’re black) or tend to have defensive reactions during conversations about white privilege (stage whisper: that’s code for, if you’re white), I recommend some form of psychiatric medication or perhaps even the liberal use of recreational drugs before proceeding.

Know your limits. Step out of the sweat lodge as frequently as necessary.

Breaking the last racial taboo « video

 

 

Breaking the last racial taboo « curlykidz.

 

via Breaking the last racial taboo « curlykidz.

The Souls of Black Girls

About The Souls of Black Girls

The Souls of Black Girls is a provocative news documentary that takes a critical look at media images — how they are instituted, established and controlled. The documentary also examines the relationship between the historical and existing media images of women of color and raises the question of whether they may be suffering from a self-image disorder as a result of trying to attain the standards of beauty that are celebrated in media images.

The documentary features candid interviews with young women discussing their self-image and social commentary from Actresses Regina King and Jada Pinkett Smith, PBS Washington Week Moderator Gwen Ifill, Rapper/Political Activist Chuck D, and Cultural Critic Michaela Angela Davis, among others. The Souls of Black Girls is a piece that attempts to provoke honest dialogue and critical thinking among women of color about media images and our present condition—internally and externally.

via The Souls of Black Girls.

The Princess & the Frog Featurette

My girls are already talking about how they can’t wait to see this movie.

The Princess & the Frog – “Disney’s Newest Princess” Featurette – The most popular videos are here

The “authentic” Black Barbie…

Cali Girl & Friends

OK, I know, I know.  I used the word AUTHENTIC and BARBIE in the same sentence.

Stop laughing.

Breathe.

Breathe again.

I wish that I could be as excited about the So In Style Barbie line as I was about the Cali dolls. And I might be a little more generous in my critique if they weren’t being billed as “authentic” representations of the African American community and culture.

Now we have a new line of Black Barbies, the So In Style African American Barbie dolls. I’ll be the first to admit that the original blonde Barbie is no more an authentic representation of white women than these dolls are… but I can’t remember in my lifetime ever hearing anyone, white, black, or pink with purple polka dots, assert that she was authentic.

“the only color”

A new mommy friend mentioned looking for a sport for her daughter, and I started telling her about Halle’s wonderful experience with the Starlings/TEAM AZ, and reminiscing over last season and how much she grew in the experience. While I was reminiscing, I remembered how nervous Halle was at tryouts, and her fear when she thought she was going to be placed on a team where she would be “the only color” and emailed a friend about it…

my daughter confronts the N-Word… with love

I wrote a blog a couple years ago about the controversy surrounding the Don Imus fiasco, where he referred to a championship basketball team of women as Nappy Headed Hos… which led to a conversation with my children about the words ho and nigger, among others. In this entry I titled Don’t call me out of name, a phrase which comes from street vernacular and means don’t label me something I’m not, I struggled with a heavy subject… how could I give my children not only the tools, but also the strength to take a stand for themselves against the lure of the n-word in peer situations. While it’s probably unlikely my kids would feel pressure to use the word themselves, I wanted to empower them to “be the change” and influence others in a positive manner to not only discourage others from using the n-word to address them, but to also reconsider their use of the word, period.

I realize that’s a mighty tall order… and from a white girl at that. Like black folks haven’t been trying to discourage their kids from the use of the word for more years than I’ve been alive. And I can get up on my soapbox with other white folks and let them have it over the n-word… cuz to paraphrase a handful of white folks who are way smarter than me… racism is a white problem. We created it, we benefit from it… we need to address it within ourselves, our families, and our communities. And I feel pretty confident in teaching my children not to tolerate for one second a white person calling them by that pejorative. But I really struggled with how to guide my brown-skinned children through the minefield of the n-word when it’s used a so called endearment or as a sign of solidarity. I’m not naive enough to think that being called a nigger lover gives me any kind of authority on what it feels like to be on the receiving end of the n-word, whether from the mouth of a white or black person… and while I know that anyone who lived through the civil rights movement and the first generation after would be hard pressed to justify or tolerate it’s use, but I guess part of me did figure that it was somehow less painful for the younger generation to hear, that whether they used it themselves or not, they were desensitized to the vulgarity of the word due to the prevalence of it’s use in music and media. I was very much mistaken in this assumption, and exactly how deeply wrong I was became very clear to me last year as my daughter first encountered the complexity of social cliques… part of the shrapnel I mention in that post was one girl’s foul mouth, including her use of the word “nigga.”

In Between-Memoir of an Integration Baby

Author Mark Morrison-Reed talks about his latest book In Between-Memoir of an Integration Baby.

Thanks Jimmy!

A White African American ~ 2004

Tyler is exploring what it means to be multiracial. Monday he asks me,

am I African American?

He tells me that people keep telling him he looks African American. We’ve touched briefly on race before, but apparently it’s come up at school. We talked about what his dad and I were, and what that makes him, and how much. Then I asked him,

do you feel like you are Black?

and he said no. I said,

do you feel like you are White?

and Tyler said,

yeah… I’m a white African American.

How Do I Make the Journey Easier?

Black Children/White World: How Do I Make the Journey Easier? at soulbrother v.2 really touched a chord in me.  As a white(ish)* mother of three multiracial  children, I’ve struggled with many of the issues described by Maxwell Reddick, a black father of three… right down to our sons being more confident in their racial identity than two of our daughters are. Despite those similarities, there are profound differences between our families, communities, and most certainly, the perspective through which each of us views the world.

The Summation

I have attempted to teach my children who they are, what they are. I have attempted to instill in them pride in who they are, what they are. But often I cannot find the right words. Often I am faltering in my speech. And too often I contradict myself in words and deeds.

But in the meantime, I fear they and other African American children like them are sinking gradually into the frigid depths of a cold naked abyss, and I am unable to find a rope long enough or strong enough to throw down to them and pull them to a place of safety.

What advice to you have for me?

The Unbearable Whiteness of Cheerleading

This was a very interesting read for me; some of you may remember that it was an actress who looked very much like Hayden Panettiere (Elisabeth Harnois) who sparked off a discussion that led me to realize the depth of my oldest daughter’s insecurity over her multiracial appearance. That conversation sent me on a research spree that was very enlightening for me & changed the way I parented my girls… and Miss Halle is now much more confident about who she belongs to and all the beautiful features that are uniquely hers.

The Unbearable Whiteness of Cheerleading

by Guest Contributor Carly Kocurek, originally published at Sparklebliss

As is often the case when I find myself any place where cable is readily available. I stayed up entirely too late last night watching television, sucked into a movie I would have never deliberately viewed. Last night, the film in question was Bring It On: All or Nothing, the third installation in the Bring It On franchise.

(body snipped… full article here… via The Unbearable Whiteness of Cheerleading at Racialicious – the intersection of race and pop culture.

This address of race and class politics in a film about cheerleading, an athletic pursuit that persists in the American imagination as a bastion of small-town wholesomeness (read: whiteness) is compelling, and suggests the complex negotiations and discussions that so often happen in seemingly facile genre films.

Just like me… from Anti-Racist Parent

This photo from the White House Flickr account shows a young boy rubbing President Barack Obama’s head. Reportedly, “The youngster wanted to see if the President’s haircut felt like his own.”

I don’t know if I could possibly love this picture more.  Not just the obvious of what it means to children to be able to see people who look like them in the media, their government, etc… this doesn’t look like a staged photo op for the media’s benefit. It’s very personal, very touching, and speaks so loudly for the sensitivity and generosity of spirit of President Obama. 

 

 

via Just like me… at Anti-Racist Parent – for parents committed to raising children with an anti-racist outlook.