By DAPHNE LEE
From Tots to Teens, StarMag
SEVERAL years ago, I worked as a sub-editor at a local entertainment magazine. Our covers featured the stars of the music and movie industry, but we were careful to avoid black musicians and actors as we knew that sales would dip if we did. I don't know if things have changed since then. I don't know if Barack Obama has changed Malaysians' perceptions of black people. I know our children still have much fewer black role models than white ones.
Children's television has more pale-skinned stars than dark-skinned heroes. There are no black characters in Barbie movies, although, in general, children's TV is a lot less dominated by white actors than programmes for adults are.
Storybooks, however, feature mostly white characters - or rather, books with mostly-white characters are the ones you find in our bookstores. Like fashion magazines with black models on the cover, books with black characters on their covers don't sell well. I have noticed that the children and teens I work with rarely pick books that show black characters on their covers.
This has, to a degree, to do with the Asian idea that fair skin is more attractive than dark skin, but it is also because of the lack of exposure. I grew up with stories that depicted white, not brown-skinned children and I still find myself identifying more easily and readily with books about white children. It's a habit I'm trying to break. Back in the 70s and 80s, books (especially children's books) were scarce enough, let alone books that described the lives of non-caucasian characters. We are luckier these days. Stories about Asian, black and hispanic characters are available in bookstores - they may not be prominently displayed but they are there for the asking.
I think it's important that our children are told these stories, and that they are shown the bigger picture, given a more varied sense of the world and its citizens. There's nothing wrong with the all-white world of Enid Blyton unless that world is all we offer our children. What a shame to restrict them to books about only a small segment of society when people are so richly diverse.
To this end, here are some books that you can use to introduce your kids to a more colourful literary experience:
FRUITS: A CARRIBEAN COUNTING POEM
By Valerie Bloom
Illustrated by David Aztell
Publisher" Macmillan Children's Books,
(ISBN: 978-0333653128)
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books,
THIS delightful poem, written in West Indian dialect, must be read aloud for maximum effect. A young girl and her baby sister discover a whole lot of fruit - starting from "half a pawpaw" and ending with "ten banana" - and gobble up as much as they can - with the girl taking the lion's share. The bananas finally get the better of her: "Mek me lie down on me bed, quick. Lawd, ah feeling really sick." The children's expressions are a joy to behold, and the whole book, from the jaunty rhythm of the poem to the vibrant colours of the illustrations, just oozes a sunny vibe - it's guaranteed to put a huge grin on your face.
SO MUCH
By Trish Cooke
Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
Publisher: Walker Books, 48 pages
(ISBN: 978-0744543964)
A STREAM of relatives come calling on baby and his Mama one afternoon. Oxenbury's illustrations show an Afro-Carribean family in all their colourful, ebullient, rambunctious and loving glory. The illustrator is of course well known for her multi-racial baby books and her expertise with these bundles of joy is evident in her portrayal of this baby who everyone wants to pinch, bounce, swing, squeeze and kiss "SO MUCH!"
AMIRI & ODETTE: A LOVE STORY
By Walter Dean Myers
Paintings by Javaka Steptoe
Publisher: Scholastic Press,
(ISBN:978-0590680417)
THE romantic story of Swan Lake is transplanted to the gritty setting of an inner city housing project. Amiri meets Odette during a basketball game and falls in love at once. But Odette's soul belongs to the evil Big Red who sends her evil twin to steal Amiri's heart. Walter Dean Myers's poetry is ful of raw energy, matched by the paintings, done with stark, strongly hued acryllic on slabs of concrete and given a three-dimensional look with candy wrappers, jewelry, newspaper and other material.
FEATHERS
By Jacqueline Woodson
Publisher: Puffin Books, 144 pages
(ISBN: 978-0142411988)
"HOPE is the thing with feathers/ that perches in the soul" quotes Frannie, the heroine of this Newbery Honour Book. Frannie knows all about hope - it's the only thing that keeps people going in the face of pain, disappointment and tragedy. Her brother is deaf, her mother has suffered many miscarriages, but Frannie doesn't have all the answers yet. The new white boy in Frannie's all-black school prompts her to ask more questions, and view the world and the people she loves most in new ways. The Cosbys were not a typical black American family, and the Obamas certainly are far from it - the one in Feathers is a lot more real, even in the context of 1970s America with it's racial segregation and other problems.
More books:
Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation: Vol 1: The Pox Party by M. T. Anderson
Sounder by William Armstrong
Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Lavine, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Heaven by Angela Johnson
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
The Soul Brothers and Sister Lou by Kristin Hunter
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