Love, Mommy

I try to be intentional about buying books for our children that reflect all parts of their heritage. I would like to think I would be just as intentional about making sure they had diverse characters in their books even if they weren't multi-racial, but I know that it's especially important to me because I want them to understand who they are. I have witnessed many friends who are either bi-racial or have grown up in an all-white culture, when they are not white, have an identity crisis sometime between 18 and actual adulthood (if that even exists), and while I know there's no way to guarantee that I'll prevent that, I'd like to do everything I can for now. I just read a wonderful book to Jordan called The Sweet Smell of Roses about little girls who sneak out a join a civil rights march led by Dr. King. The author is Angela Johnson and there are beautiful illustrations by Eric Velasquez. My heart skips a beat when Jordan sees the picture of the man preaching and says "Dr. King!!!" And tonight, I explained to him that Dr. King was talking to people about love. When I asked him later, he was able to repeat that to me. Sometimes he listens and sometimes he doesn't, but it seems he always listens when it's a really important message like that. On the days when you wonder if you are making a difference in the world, there's nothing better than hearing your 3 year old, in response to the question, "What is Dr. King talking about?", respond "Love, mommy."

Some other beautiful children's books I've found lately -

My Brother Martin

The Lord's Prayer (The illustrations in this one are incredible.)

He's Got the Whole World In His Hands