Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Color-full books teach kids tolerance

Marketplace \| Services \| Contact Us \| Community \| Arts & Entertainment \| Local Guides

Published by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. CLICK FOR NEWSPAPER DELIVERY

Tuesday, November 6, 2001
Color-full books teach kids tolerance
Multicultural themes shed light on diversity, help stamp out prejudice
By Maria Coder
Associated Press

'Mr. Lincoln's Way' by Patricia Polacco. Philomel Books, 40 pages

NEW YORK - Flip through several children's books and you'll find pages full of color - and not just the magic-marker type.
   More and more children's books appear to be incorporating different ethnic races into their stories. From one page to the next, black kids interact with Hispanics, hold hands with white kids or play together with Asians.
   "It is self-evident that the need is there because the country is getting more diverse," explains Philip Lee, co-founder and publisher of Lee & Low Books, an independent children's book publisher specializing in multicultural themes.
   Lee says schools and libraries make up more than half his clientele. "We get a lot of requests because bookstores are not necessarily located in communities of color but obviously schools and libraries are everywhere."
   Spreading the word
   Despite the popularity, Lee says there aren't enough books out there. It's the "same people published over and over again, there's not enough new people."
   Author Patricia Polacco often visits schools to draw inspiration for books. She says it's vital for children to read and see different people so that they appreciate cultural differences and also realize that fundamentally we are all the same.
   "We're drawing lines in the sand that are unnecessary. There's so much in life we have in common; we all want full bellies, we want to be able to pay our bills."
   Polacco's best friend since childhood is a black man. In Oakland, Calif., Polacco never gave it a second thought.
   But once she started spending summers with her father in rural Michigan, she began to see the prejudices bestowed upon interracial friendships.
   "Growing up I lived in a neighborhood where every nationality, race and religion were neighbors.... I just assumed that's how everyone was."
   Her most recent book, "Mr. Lincoln's Way" (Penguin Putnam), tackles the issue head-on. The book tells the story of Mr. Lincoln, a hip elementary school principal in Michigan, who has to disarm a student bully who targets kids because of their race. Lincoln can see that "Mean Gene" isn't bad, just confused. Through the help of a courtyard full of mallards, Lincoln is able to get through to the boy and shatter his prejudices.
   Learned behavior
   TV journalist Deborah Norville also writes children's books. She says prejudice is a learned - not innate - behavior. The key to keeping it from developing is to help kids relate to all kinds of people as they grow.
   "Kids don't see differences, we adults make kids see differences."
   The main characters in Norville's books "I Don't Want To Sleep Tonight" and "I Can Fly" (Golden Books) are gender neutral so that all children could see themselves in the books.
   Repeated exposure to people who might look a little different but have the same basic human traits and values might help the walls of little worlds filled of stereotypes from going up.
   The Children's Museum of Manhattan in New York City is featuring the work of Asian-American author and illustrator Ed Young through Jan. 11, 2002. From Jan. 19 through February, spanning Martin Luther King's birthday and Black History Month, the museum will host the work of African-American illustrator Jerry Pinkey and son Brian.
   Dana Diprima, associate director for the museum, says the exhibits are meant to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome. "Forty percent of the family audience are people of color. ... It's very important to the museum to mirror the audience of the world. We don't want to paint one picture or another of the public, we really want to paint the diversity that they'll find in the world."
   Or, as Polacco reaffirms, "We should be celebrating each other."

| Talk about this story | Next Story | Home |

[ Printer-friendly version ]
[ Subscribe to newspaper ]

SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND