Three Books All Children Of Color Should Own

When your natural beauty isn’t celebrated and every media outlet tells you that your beauty is not the standard, it’s important to instill in the little brown people in your life that they ARE beautiful in every shade. They are smart and they are as important as their counterparts. While there is an increasing number of products geared toward people of color such as natural hair products, make-up and children’s books, many of them aren’t necessarily being created by people of color. This is especially problematic because the narratives may not reflect the realities that unfortunately are very real for these children. Authors Terrence Terrell, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Fila Antwine have penned children’s books specifically for children of color where they tackle identity, self-esteem, and bullying.

It’s hard to believe that Terrence Terrell, a beautiful, 6’5”, Cali actor and model, with a winning smile was once the victim of bullying. The pain and negative memories from childhood found itself into his interactions as an adult leading him to wonder how different things would have been had he been given the lessons he learned as an adult, when he was a child. This question led to the Mississippi native creating his debut children’s book Blacky an inspirational story about a young black boy’s road to self-confidence. Terrell says, “I wanted to give the tools of self-confidence to our younger generation so that kids will not have to wait until they are older to deal with self”

Blacky is the first of three in the collection following the character Skyler. Terrell says, “These books will help push children and adults into a space where it’s ok to be yourself.”