ABC7 Unite: New children's book series tackles hard-to-discuss topics
NEW YORK (WABC) -- A brand new picture book is helping parents talk to children about subjects that might otherwise be uncomfortable or overlooked.
"Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race" was co-authored by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli, and illustrated by Isabel Roxas.
"When we don't talk about it, children often come to their own conclusions," Ralli said.
The book is the first in a series on diversity and is in libraries and book stores now.
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"We really created the tool that I had been looking for as a parent," Ralli said. "To have supportive, intentional, and honest conversations early and often about race and racism with my own kids."
She has young children and a background in childhood education, and she was looking for way to talk to them about the civil unrest they were seeing.
"Children are ready to have these conversations," she said. "By not having them, we are doing them a disservice. Because it's already something they are thinking about and noticing."
The books are based on an anti bias education.
According to the authors, there are four core goals for kids and grownups: Identity, diversity, justice and activism.
The book depicts a protest and a child holding a Black Lives Matter sign, encouraging kids to act.
"There are things they can do to make the world more, just, to make the world more fair," Ralli said.
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The authors are working on the next three books in this series, which address gender, consent, and body image. The next book will be available July 13.
For more on the book series, visit FirstConversations.com.
Additional resources from the Brooklyn Public Library:
--Diverse books for preschoolers and pre-K
--Diverse books for children in kindergarten and first grade
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RESOURCES
We are also publishing resources in a range of areas, which will grow and can be found below:
Ways to Help
National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform
Voices of Community Activists & Leaders (VOCAL-NY)
Black LGBTQIA + Migrants Project
Teaching the Next Generation
Creating Space To Talk About Racism At Your School
Teaching for Black Lives - Rethinking Schools
Black-Owned Bookstores in New York and New Jersey
The Little Boho Bookshop (Bayonne)
Books
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children In A Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
Podcasts
Movies
American Son: Available on Netflix
If Beale Street Could Talk: Available on Hulu
Just Mercy: Available on Amazon Prime
Selma: Available on Amazon Prime
The Hate U Give: Available on Amazon Prime
When They See Us: Available on Netflix
Documentaries
13th: Available on Netflix
America Inside Out with Katie Couric: Available on National Geographic
Becoming: Available on Netflix
I am Not Your Negro: Available on YouTube
