[Monday Reading] Celebrating Black Boys and Girls

Myra here.

It’s Monday, What are You Reading is a meme hosted by Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers (new host of Monday reading: Kathryn T at Book Date). It has been awhile since I joined this reading community and I intend to be more present this year, life circumstances permitting.

Similar to last year, we hope to feature books that fit any of the following criteria:

1. Postcolonial literature and/or [pre/post] revolutionary stories

2. Stories by indigenous / first-nation peoples / people of colour

3. Narratives of survival and healing, exile and migration, displacement and dispossession

4. Books written or illustrated by people who have been colonized, oppressed, marginalized

5. Translated or international literature

Little Black Boy: Oh, The Things You Will Do! (Amazon | Book Depository)

Written by Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Larry C. Fields III Illustrated by Paul Davey
Published by Nancy Paulsen Books (2022)
ISBN: 9780593406267 (ISBN10: 0593406265) Borrowed via Overdrive. Book photos taken by me.

Given the number of inspirational diverse stories published as of recent, it may be easy to forget the fact that twenty to thirty years ago (or more), it was a struggle to find stories that centralize narratives of young children of color.

Told in rhyming verse, this is a story about everything a little Black boy can be. People who have been following GatheringBooks for awhile now would know that I do not particularly enjoy rhyming text – but this does not mean that this applies to all readers, and so this picturebook will definitely work for those who appreciate stories told in rhyme.

The artwork seems to be computer-generated – which again may not work for other readers – but the message conveyed remains uplifting and joyful. I wish there was a short afterword at the end of the book that explains who Samuel M. Nabrit, Robert K. Trench and Ernest Everett Just are (see my review of a picturebook biography on Ernest Everett Just), as that would have added another layer of substance to an otherwise just another feel-good book.

Little Black Girl: Oh, The Things You Can Do! (Amazon | Book Depository)

Written by Kirby Howell-Baptiste Illustrated by Paul Davey
Published by Nancy Paulsen Books (2022)
ISBN: 9780593406236 (ISBN10: 0593406230) Borrowed via Overdrive. Book photos taken by me.

Written in pretty much a similar vein to the Little Black Boy, this picturebook encourages young Black girls to dream widely and to pursue their aspirations regardless of what other people say.

I seem to gravitate more towards this book than the former one – maybe because there were a larger variety of professions featured in the narrative that defy gender stereotypes, for one.

And there was also a level of complexity in the portrayal of establishing one’s identity across cultural nuances that I appreciated seeing:

Once again, it would have been nice to see an Afterword that would detail the contributions of Audre Lorde, Claudette Colvin, Toni Morrison, Florence Griffith Joyner, Hattie McDaniel and Joy Buolamwini. Links or references to picturebook biographies done on these amazing people would have been good as a Reference list.

#DecolonizeReading2023 Update: 15/16 out of target 100