The Day You Begin (and other resources)
Increasing the diversity of authors and characters in your home library is a great step towards raising race consciousness, and can it can also support anti-racist parenting. The books do not have to address race explicitly in order to facilitate conversations about race and racism. I recommend seeking out books that portray a variety of storylines with characters from various demographics. Importantly, make sure that the non-White characters in your books are portrayed realistically and positively. Below, I’ve provided a few resources for diversifying your book collection at home and included a detailed example of how to use one of these recommended titles to facilitate conversations about race and racism with your young children.
Resources for diversifying your book collection at home:
31 Children's books to support conversations on race, racism and resistance From: https://www.embracerace.org/
We Need Diverse Books booklist
Children’s Book Suggestion: The Day You Begin (Spanish Version: El día en que descubres quién eres) by Jaqueline Woodson and Rafael López. (There are also also several online readings.)
Some of you live in communities where most people share a common race, and others live in more racially diverse settings. Either way, this book reminds us that our strengths are in our differences and there is power in sharing our stories. Notice that the message is not one that teaches “color-blindness,” or the idea that we should ignore our racial differences. Instead, the focus is on embracing and celebrating what makes us unique.
For younger children, this book might be hard to follow because it presents scenarios, rather than a straightforward sequence of events. For example, one section reads, “There will be times when the lunch your mother packed for you is too strange or too unfamiliar for others to love as you do.” However, you can use the captivating illustrations along with (some of) the existing words to narrate a storyline that might be easier for younger ones to follow. The basic plot that you could highlight is:
Angelina is a child who sometimes feels different from everyone else [because of the color of her skin, her experiences, etc.]. On the first day of school, the students in Angelina’s class talk about what they did over the summer (e.g., Chayla shares that she went to France, Jonathan went to a beach in Maine, etc.). Angelina doesn’t want to share how she spent her summer, because while her peers were traveling, she was at home caring for her little sister and reading books. She wonders, “What good is this when other students were flying and sailing and going somewhere?” The author then reveals additional examples of other children who have felt like they don’t fit in: one whose lunch seems unusual to others, and another who is excluded from playing. Eventually, Angelina finds the strength to share her story, “My name is Angelina and I spent my whole summer with my little sister… reading books and telling stories and even though we were right on our block it was like we got to go EVERYWHERE.” The book ends by emphasizing that we can find commonalities with those who seem different-- and at the same time -- love and appreciate our unique identities.
As you read this book with your child, you could pause to draw attention to the different races represented. The book starts with an image of Angelina examining her own hair with three other (non-Black) children looking at her, somewhat curiously. The text reads: There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you. Maybe it will be your skin, your clothes or the curl of your hair. If you think that your child might have a hard time relating to or understanding this, you might change the words to: Angelina [nervously] walked into her new classroom on the first day of school. She soon realized that nobody was quite like her. The color of her skin and the curl of her hair were different from the other children. Then, ask your child what she notices about Angelina’s skin and hair and use this to offer an explanation or reminders about race. (Your children will benefit from various opportunities to discuss race, racism and social justice.) You could ask your child to name other people who have a skin color similar color to Angelina’s. Or, you might ask questions about your child's classroom: Are there people from different races like in this book? Or, are most of the people White, Black, Latinx? Ask your child if she's ever felt different from everyone else. These types of questions might make the connection clearer. You could also connect this to your or your child’s skin color and talk more about your and your child's race, explicitly naming it. Depending on how much you’ve discussed, you could offer an explanation or reminder to your child that Black people often experience racism -- which means they are treated unfairly because of the color of their skin -- and this is why so many people are protesting and participating in the Black Lives Matter movement. Maybe suggest that Angelina might feel nervous because as the only Black student in this group, she is likely to experience racism.
There are other characters depicted in the book besides Angelina who experience feeling different, including Rigoberto. When he says, “My name is Rigoberto. We just moved here from Venezuela,” the other children don’t understand him and start to laugh until the teacher quiets them. He feels a bit better when his teacher says his name and homeland beautifully. If your child doesn’t know, you could pause here to discuss where Venezuela is and what language Rigoberto speaks. This might spark a conversation about immigration and immigration rights, and I would encourage you to highlight the various realities immigrants face depending on different contexts and circumstances. Or, encourage your child to consider how Rigoberto might feel when the other children laugh. Then, ask what a more compassionate response could be. You could suggest that if your child were in this class, she could ask the teacher later for help learning how to say the. name correctly. Offer suggestions that are inclusive.
There are many more conversations that this book, and others from the lists above, might spark for you. I hope that the ideas I’ve shared encourage you to consider new opportunities for using literature to engage your child in ongoing conversations about race, racism and social justice.