Oh, the wonderful world of toddler picture books and more . . .
by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Tereza Topferova
Part I: My Many Colored Days
I took my son to a thrift store last month and bought a few toys, including a pink stroller and a black doll, and books. When we got home, I read one of them, My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss, with my son. The illustrations are beautiful paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. And my son and I usually enjoy Dr. Seuss books, but this one… oy vey!?
The “narrator” of the book is a yellowish-orangish gingerbreadman-like figure who talks about the different ways s/he feels on different days. The feelings are all based on colors. The pages dealing with colors that don’t usually describe skin colors are fine: “Gray Day… Everything is gray. I watch. But nothing moves today.” or “Then all of a sudden I’m a circus seal! On my Orange Days that’s how I feel.” Okay, fine. Those are generally happy or neutral, innocuous feelings and pictures.
But when we get to colors that are typically used to describe skin color or race, take a look at this: “Some days, of course, feel sort of Brown. Then I feel slow and low, low down.”
“Then come my Black Days. Mad. And loud. I howl. I growl at every cloud.” This page, of course, has some sort of a wild boar or dog with big teeth and a mean expression, growling at the sky. Scary!
How about our “multiracial page” with gingerbread people of all different colors? “Then comes a Mixed-Up Day. And Wham! I don’t know who or what I am!”
Of course, there is also the yellow page. I really hope that no one describes Asians as yellow anymore, but I have to quote here: “Then comes a Yellow Day. I am a busy, buzzy bee.” Where the other pages had just one animal each, this one has a swarm of bees with indistinguishable features, all flying in the same direction.
Finally, after going through all the colors, including the confusing multi-color page, the narrator concludes: “But it all turns out all right, you see. And I go back to being . . . me.” Phew! So relieved is our gingerbreadman with green eyes that he doesn’t have to feel black, brown, or all mixed up from too many colors confusing his days. So much for a book linking skin colors with negative emotions and stereotypes. Very disappointing, to say the least. I have removed the book from “circulation” 
Part II: Survey of the Diversity in my Son’s Books
My experience with the “color theory” of My Many Colored Days as well as anti-racist parent Sue Lyons-Joell’s survey of diversity in parenting magazines, led me to do my own little survey of my son’s books.
I sorted his picture books, most of them geared towards toddlers, into piles:
- a pile of books featuring animals or objects (no people)
- a pile of books which include “visible minorities” (subjective definition, of course)
- a pile of books which incorporate white people or ambiguous/unknown people race-wise
- a pile of Dr. Seuss books only
- a pile of books in the Czech language (I am raising my son to be bilingual and bicultural)
Here are the results:
“Jay”, who is nearly twenty-months old, has a total of 52 books. Of those, 16 books focus on objects and animals, excluding humans all together. Nine are Dr. Seuss books, which incorporate humans that are either white or ambiguous-looking. One of Jay’s Dr. Seuss book, My Many Colored Days, is, as I said above, quite problematic in its association of negative characteristics with colors often used to describe skin tones.
Four books are Czech picture books. Three of them include white people only (the Czech Republic does happen to be 97% white) and one has one page portraying a father and child of color (They are Roma). This page unfortunately reinforces stereotypes about the Roma people, because the two are shown dancing around the fire; a sort of primitive, tribal image very much removed from reality. This is something I hope to discuss and balance out with other portrayals when my son gets older.
Ten books include “visible minorities”, whether in drawings or photographs. However, none of my son’s books has a person of color as a central character or depicts solely people of color. Next, twelve books focus on whites or racially ambiguous people, whom I did not count as “visible minorities”.
To sum up, only 19% of the total of my son’s books and 28% of all his books featuring people, include “visible minorities”, and 0% focus solely on people of color. Time to change that ASAP!
So far, I’ve had no luck in bookstores or thrift stores. The only used books I’ve found whose central characters are people of colors have been old discarded racist library books about Native Americans and tiny caricature-style “tribal” people in the jungle. You know, the pejorative type that perpetuates stereotypes. When browsing in bookstores, I have only seen toddler books about white children or animals. I will have to do some research before my next trip to a bookstore.
Suggestions welcome!
Part III: Stereotyping Toddlers’ Gender
My son is currently obsessed with things that go - trucks, diggers, bulldozers, and the like. He pretty much wants to watch these types of vehicles in action, talk about them, read about them and play with them all day long every day. At this point, it would be easy to say that my little boy is a typical male already. My feminist self would be highly disappointed at this concession I’d be making in contradiction with what I really want to believe: that most gender stereotypes are a result of socialization, not biology. Here is my disappointed feminist self buying into the “manly boy” stereotype : “I guess there is something to that stereotype that boys like truck and tools and that sucks, because I hate stereotypes.”
Thank goodness that at just the right time, a survey, which to a large extent dispelled my fears, came my way via email. The babycenter.com poll on the topic of favorite toddler picture books asked parents of boys and girls separately to choose a picture book theme in which their child is most interested.
According to the survey, taken by over 74,000 people, the majority, or 34% of boys who are toddlers, prefer picture books about animals. 26% of toddler boys are reported to show no preference. Picture books about things that go, such as trains, cars, and diggers, are preferred by only 21% of boys - the third, not the first largest group.
Most girls also prefer books about animals, though only 2% of girls as opposed to 21% of boys are interested in things that go. I guess that still means that boys my son’s age are ten times more likely than girls to prefer books about vehicles.
When my son started getting excited about diggers and trucks in the real world, I got him a couple of picture books focusing on those. I went with his interest. (The stroller and a doll I got him recently he plays with once in a while, but only a small fraction of time compared to diggers, bulldozers, and dump trucks.) Weeks later he still loves books about things that go the most.
I wonder if in general girls are less exposed than boys to car-type toys and books about vehicles, because the toys chosen for them are already based on gender stereotypes. Are toddlers’ gender identities, even those of children under two, already getting shaped by the toys, games, and books these children are exposed to? My hunch is yes. If so, does the babycenter.com survey reflect that?
Tereza Topferova is a teacher, who has worked with both youth and adults, teaching English, Czech, speech, journalism, creative writing, workplace communication, and vocational education. She grew up in the Czech Republic and immigrated to the U.S. at age fourteen. She is a mother of a toddler and blogs at White Anti-Racist Parent.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Lyonside wrote:
Hunh. I grew up with dolls and Matchbox cars, and I want to do the same with my kids. I adored my Matchbox cars, mostly because they could be used to knock things down, but I always envied the kids (mostly boys) who had the huge Tonka earthmovers and dumptrucks. I knew though that I probably wouldn’t get them if I asked.
My mom got me dolls and matchbox cars because that’s what she loved as a kid - she was a tomboy who didn’t really do the “house” thing but had an attachment to a few dolls.
I think sometimes the toys we choose for our kids are too gender specific - it can be as simple as the words we use to describe babies. If boys are encouraged (or rather, simply not discouraged) to be active and loud, and girls are constantly told how pretty they are, it can affect the choices, say, an 18 month old makes in how to play. It could be subtle too - you got your son earthmoving toys when he expressed an interest in the real thing - how many girls are also into big machines, but their parents don’t notice it, so it never gets encouraged?
Even animals aren’t gender neutral - a lot of protagonists are male or male-inferred. I recently started singing a count-down song about 7 rabbits to my daughter, and there’s a book that goes with it. The song refers to every rabbit as “he,” but the illustrations clearly have about 3 female rabbits (by attire) in the group. I never noticed that when i was a kid, but since my kid’s not ready for pictures, I alternate the pronouns in the song. She doesn’t care right now, but maybe she will some day and I have to start schooling my tongue now.
Posted 11 May 2007 at 7:51 am ¶
Bibliophile wrote:
These books feature children of color and were well-loved by my kiddo as a toddler. All are available in board book format:
The Snowy Day - Ezra Jack Keats
A Whistle for Willie - Ezra Jack Keats
More More More Said the Baby - Vera B. Williams
Chugga Chugga Choo Choo - Kevin Lewis
I Love You Like Crazy Cakes - Rose Lewis
Posted 11 May 2007 at 8:06 am ¶
daisy wrote:
Tereza, I hear ya with the disappointment over the Seuss book. I was delighted to see it in a bookstore and then so disappointed when I read the brown and black entries. Dr Seuss may have been a creative genuis but unfortunately, apparently, he couldn’t see beyond color stereotypes.
There are some typical toddler boy books that I’ve been quite pleased with: the board book series by Byron Barton, including Trains, Planes, Boats, and Trucks. All of these books feature an even mix of people of color (sort of brownish) and white people. Not all men, though gender stereotypes do seem to be in play (men are usually the ones working).
We’re not really into TV, but my husband did rent a Thomas video one day, and I was so disappointed that all the people in the illustrations were white. So for this and other reasons, we’re trying to limit Thomas.
There’s a lovely book called All Aboard by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrator Amiko Hirao, about a girl who goes on a train trip to see her grandparents. They are black.
We also really like the book called Daddy and Me by Harriet Ziefer, about a daddy and son coming home from the park. They are also black.
A really fun book that was a bit hit in our household was This Jazz Man by Karen Ehrhardt and R.G. Roth. It features black musicians and is set to the tune of “This Old Man.”
I usually browse at the public library til I find books that feature black characters. It’s a bit easier as we have a good library that has made efforts to have a diverse collection. And when I find books I love, I then sometimes buy them.
I’ll be interested to hear what others suggest as well.
Posted 11 May 2007 at 8:41 am ¶
julia wrote:
A favorite book of ours is Do You Know What I’ll Do?, by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by Javaka Steptoe. It’s a sweet story about a sister’s love for her brother, and the children in the pictures are black.
Another one we like is Mama, Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joosse, illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. In it, an Inuit child asks her mother just how much she loves her, and gets some beautiful answers.
Posted 11 May 2007 at 9:44 am ¶
Melissa wrote:
Does anyone know of any books featuring biracial kids/mixed race families?
Posted 11 May 2007 at 9:47 am ¶
Kim wrote:
Melissa:
Can’t think of the titles right now, but look up Trina Hart-Schyman’s work.
Also, you didn’t mention an age, so, on the whole, I would look for work by Arnold Adoff (lots of poetry), and his son wrote a book my eleven-year old will read this year, “Jimi and Me.”
Posted 11 May 2007 at 10:54 am ¶
shanamadele wrote:
Thanks for staring this conversation and for the book recommendations.
Everywhere Babies is a great book for very small children (and their parents). The illustrations celebrate a wide range of families and children — white, Black, Asian, multi-racial, multi-generational, gay/straight, etc. (Plus, all of the parents look exhausted!)
I like Paperbag Princess, which turns the usual fairy tale gender stereotype on its head.
I have some friends who have doctored their children’s books to change the genders or the skin color of the characters portrayed.
I am Jewish, and I want to share one thing that I have observed about kids books. I’ve noticed that several of our books, such as one with pictures that go through the seasons, include Christmas-themed pictures. Granted, they don’t have any particularly religious content, but they reinforce the idea that this is a culturally universal holiday.
Posted 11 May 2007 at 3:06 pm ¶
Tereza wrote:
Thanks, everybody, for the book suggestions. I can’t wait to go to a bookstore and look them up!
Shanamadele, I hear you. One of my son’s new favorite books (since I had written the post above) is Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak. I’ve always been disappointed with the December section that is all about a Christmas tree, especially knowing Sendak is Jewish.
Posted 11 May 2007 at 4:29 pm ¶
slackermom wrote:
i totally agree with the seuss book critique, though i had never thought of the mixed up page, just the black and brown pages.
some books for the under 5 set that our multiracial family loves…
-brown like me (about a transracial adoptive family)
-the colors of us (about different skin tones- shades of brown) and all of karen katz’s books (she has great board books too)
-faith ringgold’s board books (her picture books appeal more to older kids)
-jan ormerod’s board books (all fall down, say goodnight, tickle, tickle, and clap hands)… very simple and feature all colors of babies and parents
- i love my hair (comes in board and picture book format)
- abiyoyo (great monster story!)
- hope (story of a biracial girl)
- girls rule the world (jada pinkett smith… beautiful pictures)
- just the two of us (will smith… his song in a book)
- one hot summer day (donald crew’s daughter wrote this)
-stuff by brian pinkney (for older preschoolers and young school agers)
i know there’s more, but my little ones are napping with their books safely tucked away in their rooms!
Posted 11 May 2007 at 4:55 pm ¶
Jessicahtx wrote:
We like
Sing Along Song (http://tinyurl.com/24vmcl) and
Whoever You Are (http://tinyurl.com/28uwb9)
Posted 12 May 2007 at 10:31 am ¶
Stacy wrote:
I am not trying to be negative here but just stating another point of view.
I refer to my moods by color. A black day for me is when I am very angry and mean, and yellow day is when I have lots of energy and am very busy.
Colors are commonly used to describe certain behaviors or moods and that does not mean they are necessarily racially motivated.
JMO.
Posted 12 May 2007 at 7:41 pm ¶
Tereza wrote:
Lyonside, that’s so true about animals being gendered as well. Even when they don’t have to be, the default is usually a “he” and the same goes for objects - a train engine, a truck, whatever… I remember being surprised by this when I first started learning English. My first language, Czech, has three genders and the default is also often masculine, but objects and animals each have a main assigned gender, either feminine, masculine, or neuter. So, a squirrel is a she, a pig is an it, and a dog is a he. Interesting how different languages work.
Stacy, I guess to go along with my piece above, I want to say that it may be good to examine what kinds of feelings and emotions we tend to assign to colors, because these may very well shape how we perceive people from different racial groups - maybe subconsciously. There is a very long history in this language of negative associations with dark colors and positive with light or white. I think it’s worth paying attention to. I have personally been changing my word choice, because of this.
Posted 13 May 2007 at 11:41 pm ¶
Erin wrote:
We’re a white family in the process of adopting from Ethiopia, and so I’ve been looking for more books that feature main characters who are black. Whistle for Willie is a good one. Another one we like is How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?, which has both white and black parents (people) saying goodnight to their dinosaur “children”. I’m making a note of this post so that I can check out some of the other books people have recommended!
Posted 14 May 2007 at 1:19 am ¶
Patricia wrote:
Interestingly enough, my son was obsessed with machines when he was three and even most of four. Now at 5, it is superheroes mostly but he still likes pretending to be a girl and tells me he wants to be a girl when he grows up (I am single mom so there is a some gender identification with mom going on ) But I bought him a princess dress the other day and he loved it!! So don’t despair - your son may grow out of trucks.. and into dresses…LOL
Patricia
Posted 14 May 2007 at 9:06 am ¶
Lyonside wrote:
Patricia -that’s a very healthy way to let a child use their imagination and role-play popular concepts, even if they’re not what society tells us is gender-appropriate. I applaud it.
Posted 14 May 2007 at 9:57 am ¶
Kim wrote:
Patricia, the princess dresses do allow them that time to explore, yes?
When my first son (now eleven) was in second grade, the single mom of his best friend worried that her son wanted to play in her clothing. I told her my little guy did it every once in a while, and when he was tired of it, he moved on to something else. With no drama from the mama.
I think such an exploration allows them ‘the freedom to be,’ and we should wish that for them.
Posted 14 May 2007 at 12:55 pm ¶
Stacy wrote:
Patricia-
I too am a parent that let my kid play in dresses and heels when he was younger.
Now all I hear from others is how I “turned” him gay (he is 11 and is self identified as gay but somedays says he is bisexual). I know this is how he was born, but it has been said in front of him, and is very hurtful to him.
Y’all have any suggestions to repair the damage to your child after hurtful comments from others??
Posted 14 May 2007 at 3:35 pm ¶
Kellie wrote:
My daughter is only ten months old, but she cannot get enough of “Please Baby, Please” by Spike Lee. She reaches for it over and over again and gets upset if I try to read anything else
It is a beautifully illustrated book and features an AA family.
I second the recommendation of browsing the library, then heading to the bookstore or Amazon.com with specific titles. At our local library, I have actually had no trouble finding books featuring children of color as the protagonists, including many many books for which diversity is not the focus of the story.
I have had much more difficulty finding appropriate books in the YA category.
Posted 14 May 2007 at 7:15 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
Sorry to derail the thread, but this hit home…
——-
oh Stacey… information, information, information, is all I can say. But at 11, all the info in the world doesn’t make the bullies go away, as I’m sure you know. Dressing up in whatever clothes as a child =/ Transvestite=/ Transgender =/ GLB, but it’s the tiny minds that need to lump it all together.
All I can think of is to remind your son that too many people can’t think outside their own little comfort zones, and they need to label everything in order for their world to make sense. But it’s not your or his responsibility to make THEIR (shallow, washed out, limited) world make sense for them.
And of course that goes for any one of us who fall a bit out of the mainstream in any of our identities. Identity at this age especially is fluid and there are a lot of us who try to figure out what label works best, or we make up our own label, or we toss them out completely and start fresh.
As for dealing with it directly: if he has a good sense of humor, he could react with a “nah, TVs are ‘male tomboys’.” (Eddie Izzard). Or he could learn to give the, “I know you’re not that stupid” Stare of Doom, and see if he can shut people up that way… At 11 it’s hard to have that kind of self-assurance, but faking it can help until he has it for real. As with any identity issue, a supportive parent is a gift.
If you haven’t already, please look into PFLAG, see if there are any groups/contacts in your area. They may have some better tactics. I’d also look into whether the local school (either junior high or high) has a straight-gay alliance - it may at least help your son deal with peers and find allies.
Posted 15 May 2007 at 3:25 am ¶
Stacy wrote:
Lyonside- Thanks!! Luckily my son is homeschooled, and we don’t worry about him anymore. We we lived in the country in the middle of nowhere, Indiana, he has a really hard time at school just because he has some effeminate mannerisms.
I just figure that is just how he is, and we love him regardless!! This is a kid that told me when he was 4 he was going to marry a boy that was just like his daddy….LOL. I am pretty sure he is gay, but we will just continue to let him develop and see how it goes.
Thankfully we have a great therapist that lets him work these things out with her, as well as being very free atr home for him being able to talk. It also helps that our circle of friends include good role models that happen to be gay and lesbian.
We haven’t joined PFLAG yet, but I have looked into it. Figure we will join when he is a bit older. He is still just a baby now:-)
Posted 15 May 2007 at 11:09 pm ¶
Stacy wrote:
Wow, I shouldn’t have made that last comment after taking my sleeping pills for bed…LOL. It shoudl say “When we lived in the country”, we don’t anymore. We currently live in a college town and since he is homeschooled, I don’t worry about the crap from other kids.
Posted 15 May 2007 at 11:11 pm ¶
Terry McAnally wrote:
Check out my website, I write children’s books my children are either African American or non discript as far a color. My Cameron books and my soon to come Ayden books are all African American.
I am now starting to write more books about African Americans, in fact my book I’m working on At Knife Point has a police detective and a law firm that are African Americans looking for a killer.
Posted 25 May 2007 at 12:28 pm ¶
Rachel wrote:
The only picture book I know of that depicts an interracial/ intercultural family is “How My Parents Learned to Eat”. It’s not perfect, but I thought it was cute. I liked that the little girl looked a little bit like my daughter.
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 8:17 am ¶
bird wrote:
A sweet little book that features an interracital family is “Oscar’s Half Birthday”.
I also like “Vroomaloom Zoom”.
On the topic of gender and vehicle obsession, I have to say that I do think there is something innate to some kids that makes them car crazy (or truck, or machine, or airplane crazy). This is not to say it happens with every boy. I think the toys and books you offer a kid have an impact, but my own experience says that’s not all there is.
I had a daugher first, and we had a nice mix of toys when my son was born, including a few cars and trains. We didn’t go out and buy anything special for my son. Sometime around his first birthday, however, he became fixated on cars. Every morning he would sit up in bed an shout “Car!” After about six months this subsided, but he still is mainly interested in playing with cars and trucks, and it’s hard to have a conversation with him without having cars and trucks somehow work its way in.
We didn’t offer him anything different from what we offered our daughter in terms of playthings, but cars were a big, big deal for him.
I’ve constantly wavered between indulging his obsession and fighting it. Now that he’s two and half, I lean more to feeding his interest. After all, that’s who he is right now, so we try to share his enthusiasm while still exposing him to more.
There is something to be said for environment though, since he has a bigger sister, he has plenty exposure to playing with “girl” toys as well, and he likes to tote around his “dollies” and put them to bed. I’m glad we have kids of both genders, since if we had had the boy first (and if he had fixated on cars), I’m not sure we’d have as many dolls around for him to play with.
The biggest thing, however, that I struggle with is making sure my daughter doesn’t get excluded from identifying herself as someone who can play with cars and trucks as well, since her brother tends to fiercely monopolize them. She’s a couple of years older and is definitely going through an “I’m like this” and “You’re like that” phase which can be a little restrictive. She doesn’t seem to have picked up on the idea that cars are for boys though. Instead she’s told me that cars are for babies and when she was a little baby she loved cars too.
Posted 09 May 2008 at 4:10 pm ¶
bird wrote:
Oh, another great book you might be interested in is
Flower Garden by Eve Bunting. It has fabulous illustrations! Good luck with the books
Posted 09 May 2008 at 6:18 pm ¶