Hey lovely.
Any recommendations of books where the mummy is white and the babies are brown?
We have lots of beautiful books to celebrate my babies gorgeous skin but I have found it so hard to find a book that represents us as a family!
Xxxx
I read this message just after putting the girls to bed tonight and immeditately my mind went to one book about gratitude that features a mixed race main character.
But just one?
That's the only book to feature a white mum and mixed race children?
Gratitude is my superpower is a really sweet book by Alicia Ortego, who creates beautiful stories about our internal superpowers: gratitude, breathing, confidence, kindness, acceptance, honesty.
In it, the main character, Betsy, is worried about her pet turtle and through a fun, little game Betsy is introduced to gratitude by her mother who is white. After a short, emotional journey she finds herself implementing gratitude all by herself and feeling really proud about this milestone.
I love this book for the gratitude, of you know me you know that's my thing, and I am heart set on teaching children my own and any other little people that cross my path, about their internal superpowers.
My only qualms with the book is in the last few pages, the text describes a new boy at Betsy's school as having 'curly, light brown hair' but the boy in the image has blond hair and blue eyes. It's a minor discrepancy in the grand scheme of thing, but the kids will notice it. My girls do.
There are actually plenty of Children's books that feature a mixed race child and I love to see it, but within that scope, there are very few books that include a white mother and as someone who has a number of white, mum friends who have mixed race children, I thought I'd go the extra mile to do something about this. I was either going to find more book with this family dynamic or I'd illustrate one myself. I scoured the internet and found I'm Mixed by Maggy Williams. The reviews online make this book sound phenomenal and I cannot wait to read it.
"I'm Mixed is a simple story which approaches how we describe ourselves from an early age, from the perspective of a young girl who has a black father and a white mother. It encourages children to embrace their appearance without labeling themselves as one race or another. In an increasingly diverse world, acceptance, inclusion and self-awareness are imperative, and Maggy Williams gives us a great starting point for conversation."
--Lori Siesto, MME-MT, MT-BC, author, educator and music therapist
Another 5 star review about the book reads,
I purchased this book for my bi-racial granddaughter, that fitted her perfectly, the wording that is, because her father is black and her mother is white. She read the book aloud and then read it again, and said "I love this book, this is me, I'm going to take it to school". She's now eight and I have been looking for such a book since she was two."
I'm so so pleased that this little girl finally got to read a book that resonates with her and empowers her to own, accept and love her mixed heritage and identity. But they buyer looking for a book like this for 6 years, shows just how few books we have easy access with shows this family dynamic.
As I really want this to be a positive community effort, if you’ve any books you’d like to recommend or if you’ve read any of these and are keen to share your review please DM it to me entitled ‘children’s book review’ and I’ll get it uploaded / updated here with your credits too!