If You Can See It, You Can Be It
One day while walking through a local bookstore, I noticed something that immediately brought a wave of emotions over me. I remember trying to recall all the books I read when I was a little girl that came close to what I was staring at, but the only books jogging my memory at the time were “The Baby-Sitters Club” series and “Charlotte's Web.” I remember feeling disappointed yet excited – although I didn't have what my kids will now have, I was excited for them to experience this revolutionary time in literature that would hopefully spark a passion for reading and boost their self-esteem.
The book was Ayesha Rodriguez’s “I AM…(Positive Affirmations for Brown Girls),” a book full of rhymes and positive affirmations that made me excited for my daughter to see herself as powerful, beautiful and kind: all the things that weren't shown in any of the books I read growing up. So I grabbed the book and kept walking, desperately searching for something similar for my sons.
“Brown Boy, Brown Boy, What Can You Be?” by Amesha Gabriel Arthur, a book inviting Black and brown boys to believe that they can grow up to be whatever they want to be in life, grabbed my attention. While putting that book in my shopping cart, I stumbled upon more, and before I knew it, I had several books in my cart written by Black and brown authors that I couldn't wait to take home and read to my kids.
As a mom, it is very important to me that my kids see themselves everywhere they go. Seeing is believing, and if you can see someone who looks like you living your dream, who knows what they can inspire you to do. The “Reading Rainbow” song says it best…
Butterfly in the sky
I can go twice as high
Take a look
It's in a book
A Reading Rainbow
I can go anywhere
Friends to know
And ways to grow
A Reading Rainbow
I can be anything
Take a look
It's in a book
A Reading Rainbow.
I am so grateful to all the Black and brown writers who decided to pick up a pen and write about what our kids needed to see and hear. Seeing a plethora of books on shelves with people who look like my kids brings me so much joy. My only hope is that other children see them too.