The power of a story

Children feel seen when they see people that look like them, families, traditions, and culture that reflect what is familiar.  A kid that feels seen is one who will worry less about feeling different or not fitting in. It also teaches children to accept those of different races, and traditions and helps to dispel stereotypes.

If parents/schools fill kids’ libraries with books that feature characters that look like them it has a positive impact. 

Some books should be ‘mirror books’ – featuring characters that look just like our kids, and some ‘window books.’ These act as windows into other cultures, allowing kids to travel to other places and connect with others who are not exactly like them (source).

“Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of a larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books (source).”

Books help kids understand their feelings, how to navigate life, and have a sense of belonging.

When we see ourselves reflected and represented it helps us to feel seen and accepted for exactly the person we are.

“… We have the power to introduce our [kids] to stories and characters that either enhance or harm their identity development, self-esteem, sense of empathy, and overall worldview (source).” 

Our feelings of competency and worth are impacted when we see ourselves reflected. We feel validated. Encouraged.

My own culture, customs, and traditions

The Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is a two-day celebration held just before Ash Wednesday each year (which marks the beginning of Lent). Trinidad’s carnival is sometimes called the greatest Caribbean street parade in the world!

Seeing images of this celebratory show of Trinidad pride transports me back to the soca beat that is still in my heart and the fond memory of generations of my family enjoying this pre-Lenten celebration.

I created a picture book to showcase this authentic celebration of one aspect of Caribbean culture and in doing so it reminded me how much representation matters.

I didn’t realize how I missed not seeing myself in a story.

My response to the missing gap

I was an avid reader as a child and none of the characters or toys looked like me or what I would play with.

“Children prance and dance in the street. The musical sound of the steel drums floats in the air, reminding everyone of the beautiful Caribbean islands (excerpt from Molly Morningstar, Carnival Girl).”

Molly is a girl inspired by my own daughter and the illustrations transport me in the most beautiful way to the parade, the prancing and dancing, and the colorful costumes.

In my children’s book, NOTHING goes as planned for Molly, but she finds a way to have fun and keep on dancing.

We should keep on dancing when we face challenges, but always work to create a place where kids see examples of their own version of Molly’s parade on the pages they read!

February is Black History Month

“If companies, schools and other organizations “keep relegating the story to just February,” they’re missing the point of Black History Month (source).”

Adding diverse character, experiences, traditions, and celebrations into the content our children consume allows the importance of months like this to go beyond the present moment and be something we teach and talk about all. the. time.

I care about children and people all over the world who feel left out and unimportant. And, I want to make sure tomorrow is going to be better than today.

“When you get to a place where you understand that love and belonging, your worthiness, is a birthright and not something you have to earn, anything is possible (Brene Bown).”

What an idea! Your belonging and worthiness is your birthright. Let’s acknowledge this as true and teach kids to believe it.

A sweet hit of nostalgia for this mom

Molly Morningstar gets to indulge in my favorite ice cream flavor, soursop. Holding the book in my hands allowed my senses to almost taste that sweetness.

Each time I visit Trinidad, I enjoy soursop juice, the soursop fruit on its own, and soursop ice cream!

If you identify with Molly, you know about soursop (a mirror). If her reality is new to you, then you’ve just learned about one of the best-tasting ice creams on the PLANET (a window).

Representation matters

I may have ‘made it happen’ for myself (and other people like me) by writing a picture book, but seeing a representation of my life that I had never seen in a children’s book before helped me feel seen.

Having words, a character, and a culture I identify with to read to children and share with the world is more emotional than I expected.

Mindy Kaling has sought to bring diverse depictions into the mainstream. Whether TV, a movie, books, or other forms of media – representation matters. Mindy advocated to include the celebration of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights in “The Office;” a mundane ceremony in “The Mindy Project;” and depicted a Muslim wedding in “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”

“I guess on some level I thought, if I’m going to see any reflections of my childhood religious experience reflected on TV, I’m going to have to just do it myself (Mindy Kaling in reference to the show “Never Have I Ever”).”

Understanding the need to reflect culture, religion, sex, gender, ability, race, and all variety of human experience and uniqueness is part of what the conversation for increased diversity and inclusion is about. I hope the future is a place where every child feels like they can be found somewhere in the media they consume, the books they read, and feel wholely accepted as the person they are.

“Authentic and diverse representation in books has significant impacts for readers, especially given how they influence the way in which young [children] come to make sense of themselves and the world around them.

When children read books that only depict one kind of protagonist, it can skew their perceptions of themselves in a negative way. Children may see less value in themselves because of such poor representation, which can potentially minimize, erase, and ignore their identities (source).”

Strategies to help children feel seen

As we wait for representation to take center stage, here are a couple of strategies for helping kids feel seen (source):

1. Let curiosity lead you to take a deeper dive

• • Just spend time observing.
  • Chase the ‘why’ behind kids’ behavior.

2. Make space and time to look and learn

• • Create opportunities for kids to show you who they are.

Molly Morningstar is full of spunk, perseverance, and offers a peek into the colorful Caribbean. I am proud of this picture book, and I am excited to put a small dent into the hopeful future of more and more meaningful representation of kids for kids.

Join me in the movement. You can buy the book here if you are looking to diversify your library or have kids at home who look like Molly.

I’m excited to be part of the change and thank you for reading along.