Thursday, July 28, 2011

Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high...

Hi! My name is myblackfriend, and today I want to tell you about three books that I really like, and think that you might like too!





The first one is called I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont. The opening lines of this book say:

I like myself
I'm glad I'm me
there's no one else I'd rather be


I like this book because it's pink. And also because it has a little black girl talking about how cool she is, and if other people don't like her...oh well. She's just gonna go on being her super cool self. This is a good message for anybody of any race, sex or age. We can all use a reminder from time to time to embrace our unique us-ness.



The second book is called Please,Baby,Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee. This book covers the day in the life of a toddler who finds herself in situations where her parents strongly encourage her to make different choices. I like this book because it has a lot of repetition for young readers. Another thing that makes it unique, is that all the characters are black--even the ones in the background. It's very common to see a book with all white characters, or white main characters with unnamed black characters on the periphery. It is less common to see books with black main characters, and even less common to see books with only black characters.




Lastly, President Obama's children's book Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters. I have to be honest and say I've only read this book a couple of times. This is because my little guy is still on board books, and I don't want him to rip the pages of this one when we're reading together.

I like this book because is goes through U.S. history and shows how people of all ethnicities helped to make this country great. Like, did you know that an Asian-American woman designed the Vietnam Memorial? I didn't. I do remember their being some controversy when this book came out around the fact that President Obama honors a Native American leader who killed U.S. soldiers and to that I say--give me a break. If citizens of this wonderful country can't come to terms with the fact that the government did some messed up -ish, and weren't always the "good guys," Then we've got a lot of work to do. But I guess we already knew that, didn't we? ;)

So there you have it--three books that I think would make great birthday gifts, baby shower gifts, or just a new addition to your own child's library. I plan to be back tomorrow to do follow up friday on my last post about abortion, so if you'd like to get in on that conversation, feel free. And if you have any favorite books that feature kids of color (or other kids that aren't typically featured in children's books,) that you'd like to share, I'd love for you to leave me a comment.

7 comments:

  1. please baby please is a book I checked out to read to the kids......seems like forever ago. The illustrations are very cute. Love it!

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  2. We like all three of these books too. We also love, I love my hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley, The Colors of Us (one of my daughter's favorites) by Karen Katz, Dancing in the Wings by Debbi Allen, and Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson. We go to the library a lot. :)

    Andrea

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  3. Andrea1:47 PM

    I <3 reading rainbow

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  4. Okay, now I've got that song in my head! I'd like to get these books. Thanks for the ideas.

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  5. I totally knew about Maya Lin.

    But I think we all tend to know more about people who are like us. ;)

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  6. My little princess learned to read on "Please, Baby, Please"! She demanded I read it to her every night for at least 6 months. I think she liked it because the baby in the book has curly hair just like she does.

    I really love the concept of "I Like Myself" (and that's it's pink!!) so even though she might consider herself to be on the older end of the spectrum for it...we're reading it!

    Great recs!

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