REPRESENTATION IN CHILDREN'S BOOKS

When I started school in the south Wales valleys I was the only black child out of about 200 pupils - there were also very few boys like me in the books I would read. The closest was maybe Mowgli from The Jungle Book, the fictional Indian boy raised by wolves. My parents tried their best to find books with black characters but I never really found a black literary hero. But here was Superman. Although he was white I could relate to him as the sole survivor of the planet Krypton. I may not be from another planet but the way I was constantly stared at, I may as well have been. I was never on the end of overt racism but there were the odd cases of random people touching my hair and I was often the last child to be picked for schoolground games. But I never really found a black literary hero. So reading was just another thing in my life that told me I was different. I felt alienated, my self-esteem nose-dived. Since my childhood in the early 2000s I've seen things change. I would no longer be the only black child in that school, people are more racially aware and there are more books with people who look like me. These days, when I'm in a bookshop and see books with brown and black boys or girls on the cover it gives me hope today's children can have a hero who I never quite found.

Me as a child

Exposing children to other people's stories and the motivations behind those narratives, children begin to connect with others on an emotional level, which is the foundation for bridging differences between worlds. Books have the power to foster empathy and understanding of other people and cultures; their hopes and dreams, and their joys and sorrows.

Kunda Kids children's books have fun, creative, inspiring lead characters from the African diaspora. Our stories improve the under-representation of African and Afro-Caribbean children in mainstream children's literature, a real and longstanding issue that is present even across African countries.

Exposing children to other people's stories and the motivations behind those narratives, children begin to connect with others on an emotional level, which is the foundation for bridging differences between worlds. Books have the power to foster empathy and understanding of other people and cultures; their hopes and dreams, and their joys and sorrows.