Rough Draft: Margaret D’Jernes

Picture books:

  • “Skin Again” (Bell Hooks) – this book teaches children to look beyond skin color, and what’s on the outside to who people are on the inside.
  • “All the Colors We Are: The Story of How We Got Our Skin Color” (Katie Kissinger) – explains why our skin color is what the color it is (genetics, melanin, and the sun) to give children a better understanding.
  • “We’re Different, We’re the Same” (Bobbi Kates) – Uses the characters from Sesame Street to teach children about racial harmony by noticing all the ways they are more similar than they are different.
  • “Chocolate Me!” (Taye Diggs) – Teaches children to love what they see in the mirror even if others think they are different.

Children’s/YA Novels:

  • “The Latte Rebellion” (Sarah Jamilla Stevenson) – This book addresses racism in forms other than just white and black. After being teased the main character starts a club to raise awareness about mixed-race students that soon sweeps across the country.
  • “Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry” (Mildred D. Taylor) – This book takes place in the Jim Crow-era of the south and is told from the point of view of a young black girl who doesn’t understand why she is treated as an inferior. It covers what her and her family go through, and how white people in their community treat them.
  • “Mexican Whiteboy” (Matt De la Pena) – A young mixed race boy is judged by the color of his skin and tries to reconnect to his roots by staying with his father in Mexico.
  • “Wonder” (R.J. Palacio) – I’m hesitant to include this book as it doesn’t cover racism, but addresses the difficulties one boy with a facial deformity faces, how he learns to accept himself and the power of human kindness. So, it still covers how people with differences overcome them and how others treat them.

Nonfiction Text:

  • “Who was Martin Luther King, Jr.?” (Bonnie Baker) – History and facts about the leader of the civil rights movement with illustrations and text.

Graphic Novel:

  • American Born Chinese – The young boy in this is the only Chinese-American kid at his new school, and it shows how he is treated and how his American Cousin treats him.