Best prejudice & racism books for children according to redditors
We found 59 Reddit comments discussing the best prejudice & racism books for children. We ranked the 36 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
I'm from Oakland and there's a wonderful book we all had to read as 5th graders called "Journey to Topaz." It follows a family of Americans as they're ousted from their homes, shipped off to desolate half-finished, barbed-wire enclosed barracks, then to return home after the war to find their homes and businesses had been sold off.
It's atrocious what the United States did to their own citizens out of ill-founded fear and paranoia. Remember, the most decorated unit in American military history was the 442nd Infantry Regiment - an all Japanese-American unit stationed in the European Front. Most of their relatives were interned in the Rockies while they were off fighting and dying heroically for their country.
the paper was actually plagiarized from Rosa Parks' book
book link
You could do worse than Brian Doyle as a starting point. He's written a number of works set here, many in the 1940s and 50s. Probably his most loved book is Angel Square: https://www.amazon.ca/Angel-Square-Brian-Doyle/dp/0888996098/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_1
Heather Robertson wrote a trilogy about the Mackenzie King years here in Ottawa, including Igor, which is about the Gouzenko affair. It's not nearly as well known as it should be that Ottawa was one of the places that sparked the Cold War.
Mary Jane Maffini and Barbara Fradkin are both mystery writers with protagonists who live in Ottawa, and you should also check out Elizabeth Hay's works.
And OH! Charles de Lint is a world-renowned SF and fantasy writer who sets many of his books in Ottawa.
Concentration camps: Where you go to play baseball
https://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Saved-Us-Ken-Mochizuki/dp/1880000199
https://www.amazon.com/Barbed-Wire-Baseball-Japanese-Internment/dp/1419720589
https://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Baseball-Japanese-American-Internment-Historical/dp/0766033112
Grandchild of Eastern European DPs here -- I too, know that feel. I almost cried at the end of the novel Between Shades of Gray because I know some similar things happened to members of my grandparents' families at the time.
I doubt this is the book you're looking for, but I'll give it a shot.
Twenty and Ten by Bishop, Claire H?
http://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Ten-Puffin-story-books/dp/0140310762
Published about 31 years ago
She may respond to books about children more like herself:
Big Hair, Don't Care
Marisol McDonald
Mixed Me
I am Mixed
We're Different, We're the Same - Sesame Street book!
Black, White, Just Right
Mixed Me - Different than earlier title.
Chloe's Curls
The Skin You Live In
Ooh that one looks great! I teach first grade so have a ridiculous list of all the books I plan on aquiring. Here’s one I love!
Twenty and Ten
A group of crows is called a murder...
A group of owls is called a parliament...
and my favorite, a group of flamingos is called a flamboyance!
Book
thanks for the contest!!
We could go into specifics about the terrible that lurks here. I work in a used bookstore and this was always the creepiest title for me to see.
This is basically page 1 of this book, only with horrible grammar.
I believe how well this type of stuff gets covered is highly variable. For example, I remember reading "Journey to Topaz" in middle-school.
To Be Free: Understanding and Eliminating Racism
Baseball Saved Us I believe was based on a mans time at the camp. I was in elementary school in Puyallup when the book was released, so we read it. Oh, it is intended for children. It wasn't like we were watching Schindler's List or anything.
https://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Saved-Us-Ken-Mochizuki/dp/1880000199
I read this too, in elementary school.
But that's what happens in an NYC public school and NYC public libraries. Not sure I can say the same for other systems.
I know Dara Hoffman-Fox does great work with gender exploration on their Facebook page and Youtube channel(?). They have The Gender Identity Workbook for Kids on their website and it seems great and age-appropriate.
There is hope for you.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~hist32/Hist33/chin%20Racist%20Love.pdf
Frank Chin is vilified in the current AAPI canon, despite being the first Asian American to get a play produced in the US. Though you can't even find any of his work for free (pirated) on the internet. They say his work (he wrote alot of short stories) are misogynistic, etc etc. This essay was written in the early 70's, so alot of the references might be lost on you, but the message is one that I think is very prevalent and unfortunately forgotten.
He also wrote a novel, he's a pretty funny writer, and it's not a very long read.
https://www.amazon.com/Donald-Duk-Frank-Chin/dp/0918273838
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Duk
This is more general, about colonialism, which pretains more to Malcolm X, "Who taught you to hate yourself" etc etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_and_Imperialism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism_(book)
Basically outlines how european cultures were able to justify their exploitation of asian/african/carribean/etc etc cultures. Painting the other's culture as inferior, portraying the males as either savage barbarians or effeminate perverts, and the women as repressed, oppressed, and waiting for the liberation of the west.
Naturally, books are long, here's some articles, you might have read them before, I dunno.
http://nymag.com/news/features/asian-americans-2011-5/
Basically talks about the bamboo ceiling also asian american passivity.
http://www.east-west-dichotomy.com/the-violent-cult-of-america-and-why-asians-should-quit/
Here's a study about the colonialized mentality of asian females:
https://books.google.com/books?id=d_oOCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT596&lpg=PT596&dq=When+respondents+mimic+the+racialised+gender+stereotypes+perpetuated+in+the+larger+racist+society,+Asian+masculinity+is+constructed+as+the+opposite+of+white+masculinity+it+is+the+%E2%80%98other%E2%80%99+against+which+white+masculinity+is+defined+as&source=bl&ots=cLzhwDFq3h&sig=VlBFbprz9FJ5R_V8qO9a1njjg5k&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjX99zoxdHNAhXH34MKHb4EBhAQ6AEIIDAA#v=onepage&q=When%20respondents%20mimic%20the%20racialised%20gender%20stereotypes%20perpetuated%20in%20the%20larger%20racist%20society%2C%20Asian%20masculinity%20is%20constructed%20as%20the%20opposite%20of%20white%20masculinity%20it%20is%20the%20%E2%80%98other%E2%80%99%20against%20which%20white%20masculinity%20is%20defined%20as&f=false
Anyways, I wouldn't stick around here too long, it gets really depressing and will eat at you. It's very negative and toxic but think of /r/hapas as the malcolm x side of the coin on AAPI activism.
Diverse Energies
Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories
Join In: Multiethnic Short Stories by Outstanding Writers for Young Adults
Free?: Stories About Human Rights
You Don't Even Know Me: Stories and Poems About Boys
Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices
Flying Lessons & Other Stories
Ah, Sandy, the left-handed Jew. Everybody must find this book and read it in the Brooklyn accent in which is was written. That book is GOLD.
I am the same way. I even tried going back and re-reading it after I was done with school. Didn't work, still just a terrible book in my opinion. I had to read that and All Quiet on the Western Front freshman year and they were just awful. I did get to read Fallen Angels that year though and it is still one of my favorite books to this day.
Came here to post this:
http://www.amazon.com/Henrys-Freedom-Box-Underground-Railroad/dp/043977733X
It has reached "beloved" status in the picture book world. Great story!
Amazon listings of some of her books:
The Street
The Narrows
Tituba of Salem Village
Miss Muriel and Other Stories
Added yesterday! Not sure if I'm linking this correctly but http://www.amazon.com/Henrys-Freedom-Box-Underground-Railroad/dp/043977733X/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=6ATZZU7BRZN1&coliid=I28ILSRXXRAYWR is 12.36 =] Also, can someone tell me how to make the link just say the words I want to it say instead of the entire link? If that makes any sense...
No, he did...you can see it on page 1 from the "Look Inside" from this book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Rosa-Parks-My-Story/dp/0141301201#reader_0141301201
I've never read it, but the author is a solid YA author with serious nonfiction and fiction chops. Fallen Angels, Walter Dean Myers: http://www.amazon.com/Fallen-Angels-Walter-Dean-Myers/dp/0545055768
Walter Dean Myers - Fallen Angels
this book was so intense I can not believe we were asked to read it.
I actually have not read this but I’ve heard good things about Fallen Angels. https://www.amazon.com/Fallen-Angels-Walter-Dean-Myers/dp/0545055768
Fallen Angels
The Pawn
I read Fallen Angels in high school for a reading assignment and I just really enjoyed it. It's about an African-American troop during the Vietnam War and how they were treated compared to white troops.
The Pawn is the first book I've read since high school and the first one I've read on my own for entertainment since way before that. But I really liked it and it was free on iBooks (at least a few months ago). It's the first book of a crime series that seems pretty interesting (on the second book now)
We really like this book.. Shades of People. It straightforwardly says that people come in different colors, and that's just great.
I think it's really normal at 4-5 for kids to be thinking about sameness and differentness and try to make sense of what they see.
The approach I take--after a lot of thought and research--is to teach and talk about skin color the same way we would about eye color or hair color. There are some good books that talk about the science of skin color - First Encyclopedia of the Human Body touches on it--my kid is obsessed with that book, All the Colors We Are takes a matter of fact and scientific approach. The book Children Just Like Me is another really useful resource when talking about different cultures and people.
I've also made a point to buy black, brown and Asian baby dolls and Barbies (not just the standard white ones) since she was about 2. At first I felt really self-conscious about doing this, but I think it's helped her see variety as the norm instead of thinking of her whiteness as normal and everything else as "other."
At this stage, that's the message you want to be instilling - everyone has lots of differences and they're all pretty darn normal and cool.
And finally--how to deal with loud kid comments in public. A few days ago my daughter shouted and pointed, "LOOK MOMMY! A little person!!! THAT'S NOT A KID!" I was embarrassed and felt bad and I told her in the moment that it's not nice to yell out people's differences because it might make them feel like everyone is looking at them--she got that--attention can be embarrassing.
When we got home we talked about dwarfism just like hair color or normal height -- it's something about you that get when you're born. I think I said something like, "even if a person is born to be a little person, their brain grows up just like yours or mine as they get older and when they're grown ups they have jobs and families just like any other grownup." She thought it was really really cool.
I'm sure she'll do it to me again. I don't know if there's a better way to handle it in the moment to be more respectful of others--but my main focus is trying to get a message of inclusiveness to my kid.
I dunno. This stuff is hard.
https://www.amazon.com/You-Never-Heard-Sandy-Koufax/dp/0553498428
I love the penny books <3 Made buying school books less painful. Uuuh, this is one of my favorite books but I lent out my copy and it never made its way back to me.
Awesome contest!
[To Be Free: Understanding and Eliminating Racism]
(http://www.amazon.com/Be-Free-Understanding-Eliminating-Racism/dp/1890434809/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1330933064&amp;sr=1-9&amp;tag=bookforyoudm-20)