I am so delighted to share a book series created by a talented young man named Garrett Carter and illustrated beautifully by Anahit Aleksanyan. I stumbled upon these books by way of the author, who read one of my prior Huffington Post pieces. He reached out to me by e-mail and offered a copy of his book for my consideration. He sent an autographed copy, to my delight, and I sat down in awe of the gem, only to find out that there are more.
I held the copy I received in my hand and marveled at the concept and the illustrations. When my children, who are now adults, were little, I constantly searched for books with images of Black children and I was successful in finding some, but I had to search long and hard for quality materials. They were not as readily available as books that did not have children of color and that always disturbed me. Perhaps things have changed somewhat. I think that all children should read Carter’s new books, no matter their race as Black children have been exposed to books that, for the most part, do not include children of color for generations. Until multicultural books are the norm, White children should be exposed to books with children of color too. As stated by Carter: “In the world of children’s books, there is underrepresentation of African American characters featured as protagonists. This is why I am here—I want to do my part in chipping a way at this void. It is important for children to read stories with characters who are similar to and different than them.”
The author of these wonderful books is a former school teacher and currently, a doctoral student. As a teacher, he worked with many students who were only interested in fame-oriented careers. Consequently, his series seeks to expose children to other careers as well. He actually interviewed one of his childhood friends who is a veterinarian to make sure his storyline was accurate in his book, “I want to be a Singer and A Veterinarian.”
Beyond the visual affirmation for Black children, through the protagonists, what I love about Carter’s books is that they expose children to open their minds about who they can become in terms of career/entrepreneurial/artistic choices. Why is it that we generally tell children to pick one thing and become that for their entire life? I have found, in my own personal life that although I had an interest in science (namely biology during my undergraduate experience, and subsequently public health and education in graduate school), that I am equally interested in languages, art, travel, photography, writing and so many other things. I am absolutely amazed that at this point in my life, I have had the opportunity to hone in on my artistic skills and that I am filling sketch pads with drawings. It is fantastic to fully embrace my artistic side, not just by writing, as a published author of several books, but as a visual artist, creating images that give me a sense of calm and peace, every time I pick up my sketch pad and pencils.
So if you have children, grandchildren, young students, or anyone in your life and you want to encourage them to dream about many possibilities for themselves, you may want to consider these books. No matter the race of the children you want to share these books with, you can pick them up and let the exploration of who they want to be begin. I have and will continue to purchase them for the little people in my family. I have no financial stake in these books, but I know gems, especially pearls of wisdom, when I see them. The question is, what do you want children to be?
