Ask Anti-Racist Parent: book series featuring characters of color?
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
This is the first in what will be a regular column called Ask Anti-Racist Parent. We’ll post a question that we received via email, and invite all of you to weigh in with your advice. This will be a great way to tap into your collective knowledge and experience. If you’re interested in submitting a question, please email us at team@antiracistparent.com and put “Ask Anti-Racist Parent” in the subject line.
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Dear Anti-Racist Parent,
While there are plenty of one-shot children’s books that feature non-white main characters, there don’t seem to be very many series books.
There’s the That’s So Raven
I guess you could include the The Baby-Sitters Club
Those are the only ones I could think of, though. All books for girls, no less, except for Chasing Vermeer and Gregor.
However, for Caucasian kids, there’s Judy Moody
So are there book series featuring characters of color for children out there, and I’m just not hearing about them? If so, what are they?
Kyla in Lodi, CA
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Julie wrote:
Check out the Ziggy & the Black Dinosaurs series, by Sharon Draper. A group of 4 black boys who have different sorts of adventures. My 9 year old son enjoys them, and he’s not an enthusiastic reader.
Posted 22 Nov 2006 at 2:25 pm ¶
wrestlingmama wrote:
I have a similar question, and a suggestion. I’ve been looking for 2nd- or 3rd-grade level books about children of color (particularly Black children) for my daughter. She doesn’t particularly care if they’re part of a series. I’d love to hear recommendations of books about children of color that aren’t exclusively focused on trauma, but explore difficulties in the context of everyday life, like the Ramona books do.
My daughter isn’t old enough for them yet, but when I was growing up, I remember loving the books by Mildred Taylor that begin with Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-014034893x-2 .
Posted 22 Nov 2006 at 2:33 pm ¶
ALA wrote:
I’ve been gifting Ann Cameron’s books, especially _The Stories Julian Tells_ for years, and each time I do, I sit down and read them through cover-to-cover (alone or in the company of a small friend whenever possible) with absolute delight!
(Note” These books are an important part of my armiture, helping to establish me as Favorite Auntie, etc.)
Posted 22 Nov 2006 at 2:45 pm ¶
badgermama wrote:
I really like Akiko by Mark Crilley - you can get the graphic novel series or the chapter books, or… both. The protagonist is a girl, but boys or girls will definitely read this book (unfortunately that needs to be said, even for such a young age - and it is good for ‘anti-sexist parents’ as well)
Zapt! is very cool and funny…
Also Static Shock.
Just off the top of my head. All super good for kids 5-10.
Posted 22 Nov 2006 at 10:08 pm ¶
Sheryl wrote:
Try The Watson’s Go To Birmingham. It’s about a Black family and it’s hillarious! It’s more for middle schoolers, but younger children and their parents will enjoy it too.
Posted 22 Nov 2006 at 11:25 pm ¶
Mel wrote:
There are the Akimbo books by Alexander McCall Smith, about an African boy living on a game reserve. I think there are 4 or 5 books in the series.
Posted 25 Nov 2006 at 12:28 pm ¶
eliaday wrote:
There’s also the Gold Mountain Chronicles by Lawrence Yep which is about Chinese Americans at different points in American history - gold rush through present.
Posted 25 Nov 2006 at 6:58 pm ¶
RobynT wrote:
When I was young I liked the Yoshiko Uchida books. She has a few about the Japanese internment.
I also remember reading books of Chinese and Japanese fairytales.
Posted 25 Nov 2006 at 11:27 pm ¶
Kyla wrote:
Thank you all for the suggestions! I am working again tomorrow, and will make a list of these to give to the children’s librarian.
Posted 27 Nov 2006 at 12:48 am ¶
Jae Ran wrote:
Here are some more ideas:
Younger kids:
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
Cooper’s Lesson by Sun Yung Shin
Nappy Hair by Caroliva Herron
All of the books illustrated by Kadir Nelson including:
Ellington was not a street by Ntozake Shange
He’s got the whole world in his hands by Kadir Nelson
Thunder Road by Jerdine Nolan and Kadir Nelson
All of the books illusrated by Bryan Collier including:
Uptown
Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King
Visiting Langston
Grade School (4th – 6th)
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
Sadako and the Thousand Papaer Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
Bud not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
Island of the Blue Dolphin by Scott O’Dell
Young adult:
A Step From Heaven by An Na
Finding my voice by Marie G. Lee
If it hadn’t been for Yoon Jun by Marie G. Lee
Necessary Roughness by Marie G. Lee
When My Name was Keoko by Linda Sue Park
Posted 27 Nov 2006 at 10:04 am ¶
BobT wrote:
There’s a series of two (so far) books about Lakas, a Filipino-American boy in San Francisco, published by Children’s Book Press of San Francisco:
Lakas and the Manilatown Fish
Lakas and the Makibaka Hotel
They are bilingual books, written in English by Tony Robles, illustrated by Carl Angel, and translated into Tagalog by my partner’s mother Eloisa de Jesús. They are whimsical, colorfully illustrated, and fun to read, but they also teach kids about the history of San Francisco’s Manilatown, which was torn down to make way for so called “urban renewal”.
Here are the web pages for both books. I’d recommend anything by Children’s Book Press.
http://www.childrensbookpress.org/ob/lakas.html
http://www.childrensbookpress.org/ob/lakashotel.html
Posted 09 Dec 2006 at 9:46 pm ¶