Diversity Children’s Books Website is Live
Mixed Diversity Children’s Book Reviews is officially a website: http://mixeddiversityreads.com/.
The Website, which founder Omilaju Miranda began as a page on facebook is now a full website with blog where you can find books with diverse protagonists by specific category. Books are easily locatable on a drop down menu. The site is dedicated to listing and reviewing children’s and YA books with protagonists who are either: biracial/mixed, transracial adoptee, bilingual, lgbt-parented, single-parented, or gender non-conforming. There is also a magazine where the site will feature writing for, and by children, and an opportunity for parents to send in photos and videos of their children reading or reciting stories and poems. Check out the book site and find the book for your little one today. If you are a writer or interested in communications and publicity, the site is actively seeking children’s book reviewers and interns to publicize and network with schools and libraries.
My Hair is So Happy by Nik Scott
I thought any little girl with curly hair would love seeing images similar to herself in this book. My first response when I read it was “I love these illustrations.” As I read, it was exciting to see four girls representing nearly the full spectrum of skin tones and hair textures found amongst African Diaspora and African Diaspora mixed heritage kids. The writing makes a well-intentioned commitment to reforming the language of curly hair from “nappy” to “happy”. There is no story here though and no character-based reasons for a child to attach to any of these characters. Many will find it disconcerting that, in a book that seems to celebrate unity and self-love, the characters are participating in a beauty contest. Although they are all wearing tiaras and “Lil’ Miss Curly” sashes, we all know that competition means someone must be judged better or more beautiful than the other. Also, depending on one’s beliefs, there is language of being “fearfully” made that may be inexplicable to your children. When I read the book to my three-year-old, she asked why the girl was happy, was more interested in the dog in the illustrations and started chanting “My Hair is So Angry.” If I were a child psychologist I would analyze my daughter’s responses and offer insight into how other little girls might respond to this book but I’m not. As a reader and writer, I say the illustrations in this book offer images showing girls enjoying all aspects of life while leaving their hair curly and parents can create many conversations based on these images.
Recommendation: Recommended. We rarely see these many representations of different types of curly-haired children on the page and these girls are also happy and happy about their hair so if that is valuable to your little one, buy the book.
Book Review by Omilaju Miranda.
I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley
This board book is a first person narrative that lets you hear the defined voice of a child on a journey of loving herself led by her own mother’s love. The book doesn’t fall into the categories to which this page is dedicated however, it is a wonderful celebration of the realistic challenges and versatility of Afro-curly/ kinky coily hair that I think many on this page will find value in reading it with, and for, your children with Afro-curly hair. Discussing everything from necessary oils, the occasional tear-inducing pain of combing and the wonder of hair that braids well, curls into the air and afros out, If you are looking for a resource outside of yourself to validate the natural beauty of your child’s hair, this is one of the best books I’ve seen. As there is no father mentioned, single mothers can enjoy this book as a reflection of their relationship with their children as well.
Recommendation: Highly Recommended; Ages 4+
Reviewer: Omilaju Miranda
From the Bellybutton of the Moon/ Del Ombligo de la Luna And Other Summer Poems/ y otros poemas de verano by Francisco X. Alarcon
This is a book of free verse poems about the poet’s childhood experiences in nature, travel, and with his family during his visits to his grandparents’ home in Mexico. The poems are filled with simple vignettes of imagery. They are printed first in Spanish then in the English translation. All poems are accompanied by vivid oil painting illustrations. This is a great book to introduce middle school and older elementary children to free verse poetry while imparting the wonder of being a part of the life of grandparents in a different rural country every summer. All children who spend extended vacations with family members during the summer will relate with these poems of familial love and journey and those who visit Mexico will enjoy this celebration of the rural Mexican landscape, lifestyle and Mexican culture.
Recommendation: Highly Recommended; Ages: 8+
Book Reviewer: Omilaju Miranda
Dumpling Soup by Jama Kim Rattigan
This first person narrative peppered with words from four different languages and a prominent grandmother character who speaks Korean almost every time she talks, was the 1990 winner of the New Voices, New World contest. Marisol, the protagonist narrates with such open vulnerability that the reader becomes easily attached to the story of her Hawaiian family’s New Year’s eve and her first time making dumplings for the Dumpling Soup, which is the most important first meal of the New Year. I can not say any better than the publisher that “Dumpling Soup is a rich mix of food, language, and customs from many cultures—Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Hawaiian, and haole (Hawaiian for “white”) The distinct traditions and heritage of each culture are not forgotten but play a vital part in this close-knit family’s life.” As cousins, aunts and even the grandmother of various heritages bring their different, ethnically distinct foods, speak their different languages, and use their different recipes and techniques for making dumpling soup to the protagonist’s and then, the grandmother’s home, readers from around the world see the reality of recognizing and loving people with, and for their differences instead of for the ways they are the same.
One of the small details that parents can discuss with their kids is the character Maxie. This is a cousin who the protagonist describes as haole but whose phenotype is Asian. The illustration of this cousin presents a great opportunity to discuss how people think of race and ethnicity differently i.e. how for this Hawaiian family, “white” is Asian, also. Because Marisol tells this story with the joy of participating in a family celebration and the anxiety over participating on a big girl level in that celebration, even as she carries us through the different scenes of the family fun, we never forget that Marisol’s sense of accomplishment and feeling of being valuable within the family depends on the decision her grandmother will make about whether or not to serve the dumplings that Marisol made. Accompanied by emotionally transparent illustrations, this is a beautifully told story that you and your child will enjoy.
Recommendation: Highly Recommended; Ages 4-adult
Reviewer: Omilaju Miranda
Oprah: The Little Speaker by Carole Bosaton Weatherford
This book about the first six years of Oprah Winfrey’s life, being raised by her single grandmother has received strong reviews from the School Library Journal and Booklist. The book presents Oprah as a child who knew she was special and wanted to be paid to speak as her career; her childhood vision came to fruition once she was an adult. The illustrations are inspiring with language accessible and inviting to small children.
Recommendation: Highly recommended; ages 5+
Pinata by Ken Locsmandi and Sebastian A. Jones
Oh, the piñatas talk and I love this book but more importantly, my daughter loves this book. She asked me to read it to her five times the first night and three times the next. It sits atop her dresser like a favorite family photo—her comfort and entertainment. This is the magical Pinnochioesque story of Pancho the Piñata. Pancho is a creation of Jorge the piñata maker who uses a magical, secret, paper mache mix to bring to life piñatas that speak.
Other than the fact that there is only a partial commitment to rhyme in the story, this is a narrative that transports you into a mystical reality and keeps you there. These piñatas enjoy being at the center of a party. Making the children who break them happy is their life mission. With a plentiful smattering of Spanish words of endearment, Pinata tells the story of Pancho maturing from a scared new piñata into a piñata who finds his self-worth in making Lulu, Jorge’s granddaughter happy on her birthday.
Lulu is confined to a wheel chair but that is never mentioned. So, in just a few pages and with the answering of my daughter’s one question about her, “Why does she have that chair?” the story transported differently abled people from unseen in my daughter’s life to normal. Pancho lives on after his candy is spilled and the extra special fantasy of Pinata continues through the other characters, especially the little candy addicted mice that keep the wonder of this world going. Pinata is an exciting, bilingual, magical experience. At the end of the book, you and your child will learn how to make your own, real life, magical pinata. So, turn a page and swing a bat!
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Reviewer: Omilaju Miranda
‘Mine, Mine, Mine’ by Shelly Becker
This is a great story about Gail, the protagonist, learning to share. As an exciting break in the pleasant, prose of most of the books I’ve been reading lately, this story has conflict between two children, a tantrum over not wanting to share, youthful sarcasm, an arc of growth on the part of the 1st person narrator and it is all told in accurate rhyme, the melody of which I am certain contributed to holding my daughter’s attention so intently that she only interrupted me with one question during the read. The protagonist who doesn’t want to share her toys with her visiting cousin and then decides to share disgusting cast-off items, does by the end of the story— after her mother speaks to her twice and models sharing for her—learn to share and the reader is the recipient of a surprising shared gift. After we finished the story my daughter did something she rarely does—she took the book from me and not only asked if she could sleep with it (that she does all the time), she began to “read” the story back to me, telling it as closely as she could from memory. Sharing is a skill that most, if not all small children resist, so coupled with an energetic, melodic story, the topic captivates the young child’s interest. This book is sure to be a hit with your little one.
Although this book does not mention the protagonist and her mommy being the only ones in the household, it covers a large span of time in the protagonist’s life in which we never see a second parent. The first time I read it, I also thought the protagonist was a Mixed Heritage child although upon second read I’m not sure but there are certainly mixed heritage children who will see themselves reflected in Gail’s physical features especially in contrast to her mother’s and her cousin’s phenotypes.
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Ages: 3+
Reviewer: Omilaju Miranda
When Mama Gets Home by Marisabina Russo
Every kid is self-absorbed, wants all their mother’s attention, sees the world through the lens of “mommies and daddies” and tolerates their siblings as much as they have to just to please their mother. So is the reality that many experience and that Russo writes in When Mama Gets Home. Three siblings begin dinner as they eagerly await their mother’s arrival from work, then each of them ambush her with their own agenda before she even has a chance to take off her coat. The mother is a diplomat, finding a way to give each child the attention s/he needs. Although the ten-year-old protagonist has a teenage brother and sister, the protagonist gets the most time with Mama as she needs her for the end of night and bedtime routine. As parents, we always love stories that include the bedtime routine and carry the reader to bed and this one delivers, ending with a “goodnight” tuck in. When Mama Gets Home demonstrates how a family led by a single mother must be a team on which the children are major players and the mother communicates with a strong level of patience in order to make sure each child feels loved and heard.
Recommendation: recommended; ages 3+
Reviewer: Omilaju Miranda
Diverse Kids Books--Reviews 