Diversity For Children
In the blink of an eye 2020 is almost over. It was and still is a different and difficult year. In addition to the pandemic and everything that is going on, the heartbreaking stories about violence and the Black Lives Matter movement left me thinking often about diversity, and, more generally, about the importance of empathy and kindness.
In this post, I would like to share two sets of books. These books are some of our favourite books, we read them often with my three-year-old daughter and looking forward to the little boy to join in. As a three-year-old, my daughter asks a lot of Whys, of course, and as such, these books are a great conversation starter. But also, she is still little and learns most of the things by observation: observing the world around us, what she sees in the books and TV. And so just enjoying the books also helps to build a foundation for bringing up kind, caring and inclusive children.
The first set of books is by Tom Percival. We have “Ruby’s Worry“, “Perfectly Norman“, “Ravi’s Roar“, “Meesha Makes Friends“ and “The Sea Saw”. I personally love them all, but my daughter’s favourite at the moment is “Ravi’s Roar”. These books’ world is not different from the one where we live. However, in the pictures, the characters are often shown from multicultural backgrounds. I like the idea of showing a diverse world as a normal everyday environment, which it is, but most books don’t seem to address that. But what I love the most about these books are the stories themselves. They are about the emotional world of a child. They help to learn that many of us have the same feelings, and we are not alone in feeling the way we feel. They are beautiful stories teaching empathy and kindness and so they address the very fundamental qualities our diverse world needs.
The second set of books is by Eileen Browne: “Handa’s Surprise” and “Handa’s Hen”. “Handa’s Surprise”, the first book. was originally written more than 25 years ago. “Handa’s Hen” is a sequel, but they are two independent books about a girl called Handa. The environment, animals, plants, and lifestyle suggest the action takes place in Africa; however, it’s never explicitly mentioned. The cultural references in the books are a great conversation starter point for curious little minds. There is an opportunity to talk about modern living and compare to a traditional living that the books show.. There are a lot of wonderful pictures, I really enjoy looking at them together with my daughter. The stories are simple and appealing. My daughter absolutely loves the animals stealing fruits behind Handa’s back in the “Handa’s surprise” book. She remembers which animal wanted which fruit and role-plays it often too. “Handa’s hen” is also a counting book providing more fun counting animals that Handa and her friend Akeyo found while looking for the hen. My daughter often “reads” these books on her own, looking at the pictures and remembering the storyline.
What are your favourite ways to introduce diversity to children? Do you have books that help the conversation about diversity?