African and African-American Culture: Early Elementary Books

African and African-American Culture: Early Elementary Books | Heritage Mom

source: https://heritagemom.com/index.php/2020/04/15/african-and-african-american-culture-early-elementary-books/

When I recently shared my black history lesson plans for our 20th century studies, I included a list of picture books that I'm using for my 1b (Year 1, first grade) child. The books cover some key people and events from the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement, and my family has enjoyed them all, but they are definitely not the first books we use to begin studying African American culture.

Before sharing books about the "struggle," my kiddos have had extensive exposure to books that simply ground them in who we are and where we come from. I consider this to be an ideal approach for children of all backgrounds as no child needs to be introduced to black people as a group of downtrodden individuals who have had to struggle and fight for every right.

I think children - yours and mine - should first read about how black people's lives transcend the struggle. We should introduce them to the fullness of who black people are: fellow humans who love, live, and laugh...who eat, visit, and play...families who experience the joys, sorrows, trials, and triumphs common to all mankind.

For early elementary, my main goal is to introduce African and African-American

cultures

vs.

history

in the technical sense. Black history will make a guest appearance here and there, but I'm mostly focused on choosing books that offer up the following ideas:

Africa is a diverse continent full of many different countries and people with their own customs, languages, food, and more. The ancestors of most black Americans come from Africa, but they have been a part of America from the very beginning so they have unbreakable ties to both places. African-Americans are typically bi-cultural. They share a strong American identity with others across various races, and they also have a distinct culture with its own norms and practices - some of which are rooted in African traditions and some of which are distinctly American. African-Americans are a very diverse group with many different backgrounds and experiences; there is no "typical" black person, just as there is no "typical" white person. Black families are much like families everywhere. Black parents love their children and want the best for them. Extended family members (grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins) often play a significant role in the lives of black children. Black children adore their parents and like to play, have fun, and find new adventures around every corner.

With these goals in mind, below is a list of some of the books that I've used. This is by no means an exhaustive list. We live this day in and day out. Our home library is chock full of books about black people (about all people actually), and we've read most of them many times over. I can't possibly list every wonderful title, but I do feel that this framework is an excellent start as it will show you the types of books to look for.

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Picture books about African culture: I always like to start with Africa Is Not a Country where children can "enter into the daily life of children in the many countries of modern Africa. Countering stereotypes, [it] celebrates the extraordinary diversity of this vibrant continent as experienced by children at home, at school, at work, and at play." As we go through this book, a little at a time, I include other picture books focused on a specific country discussed because Africa is Not a Country only provides brief glimpses into the lives of the various people. So when we read the page about Ethiopia, we also read Fire on the Mountain and The Perfect Orange that week. After the page on Mali we read Yatandou, and we read The Butter Man after learning about Morocco. My Great Grandmother's Gourd is our choice for Sudan. For Kenya, we use Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain along with the nursery rhyme The House That Jack Built as they're written in the same style. We continue on this way until Africa is Not a Country is complete.

After completing Africa is Not a Country, we read about 26 African tribes in Ashanti to Zulu - one for each letter of the alphabet. I use this as an opportunity to include more picture books about Africa - especially ones that I can't tie to a specific country - along with other books illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon, the illustrators of Ashanti to Zulu. For example, we read Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears (a West African tale illustrated by the Dillons) and Aida told by Leontyne Price (based on the opera set in the old kingdom of Egypt and also illustrated by the Dillons) during this time. As a side lesson, we talk about the job of an illustrator, I share a little info about Leo & Diane Dillon, and I always show a photo. He was black and she is white, and I think it's really neat that they collaborated on these beautiful books about Africa. Africa Dream (sweet but very short with few words), Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, It Takes a Village, Sosu's Call, and Jambo Means Hello are a few others that we read after the Dillon books.

And for your youngest learner: We All Went on Safari: A Counting Journey through Tanzania - Join Arusha, Mosi, Tumpe and their Maasai friends as they set out on a counting journey through the grasslands of Tanzania. Along the way, the children encounter all sorts of animals including elephants, lions and monkeys, while counting from one to ten in both English and Swahili. The lively, rhyming text is accompanied by an illustrated guide to counting in Swahili, a map, notes about each of the animals, and interesting facts about Tanzania and the Maasai people.

Picture books about African-American culture: These are books that give children a little glimpse inside African-American culture, and they typically focus on some element of family and tradition. Ma Dear's Aprons, From Miss Ida's Porch, Grandpa's Face, and The Patchwork Quilt are examples. And titles like Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea and From a Child's Heart (poems written as prayers to God from a child) are perfect additions for poetry time. They are contemporary poems and very different than the traditional poems found in books like Favorite Poems Old and New or A Child's Book of Poems, so I would read them "in addition to" but not "instead of."

Colors Around Me is a book I absolutely love. It's older and very basic, featuring an illustrated portrait of a single child on each page. Under the portrait it tells the child's name and compares their skin color to something familiar ("Emily is brown like chocolate cake. Sharon is tan like peanut butter. Victor is pink like bubble gum."), and it ends with a brief description of the term "African American" and how they're all beautiful "just like you" and "just like me." I really appreciate that this book highlights differences instead of shying away from them. Yes, we all have different skin. Cool! Neat! Interesting! Awesome! Beautiful! It gives young children permission to talk about skin color in a normal, non-threatening way. The Colors of Us is very similar, and I like it even more in some ways because the skin color references are in story form. Use the "Look Inside" feature on Amazon to see inside both of these unique books.

And for your itty-bitty one: Cassie's Word Quilt - In this 32-page lap book we join Cassie...on a tour of her home, neighborhood, and school, dozens of new words are introduced with simple labels throughout.

Familiar stories retold with pictures of Black children: This is a category of books that I've worked hard to collect. They are familiar stories that I want my children to know, but the illustrations feature brown children so my family can join in the common stories and literary themes shared by all American children while still feeling like the stories are not just for white children. I think these stories are important for white children as well because I can't tell you how many times a white playmate has told one of my children that some famous character "is not black." Thankfully, this makes my confident kids giggle because they know that fictional characters can be whatever we make them. So consider including books by Fred Crump, Jr. like Jamako and the Beanstalk, The Little Mermaid, and Little Red Riding Hood. Most are only available used, but we've been able to collect 6 of them inexpensively. Cendrillon: A Caribbean Cinderella, Leola and the Honeybears, and the Black Mother Goose Book are some of the others we enjoy.

Contemporary stories featuring Black children who are just being children vs. being black: This category is one of the most important for me. I think it's easy for us to get into a pickle with black books. So many books with black characters feature a storyline about being black. And that's okay. We read those books all the time, but...

Do ALL of the books have to be about being black?

Can't black kids be involved in a funny mystery?

Or have a pet lizard?

Or look forward to Grandma's famous chocolate chip double-fluff pancakes?

Are these innocent, sweet, child-like moments reserved only for white characters?

I certainly hope not!

Sadly, books about children who happen to be black become harder to find as children get older, but there are many to choose from for early elementary, and I'm always on the hunt for life-giving books to include and savor. Brothers of the Knight, Dancing in the Wings, The Hello Goodbye Window, The Last Stop on Market Street, I Had a Favorite Dress, Luke Goes to Bat, The Talking Eggs (My kids love this story, but please pre-read to ensure appropriateness for your family - it has a disrespectful child & mean mother who learn their lesson a la Cinderella, and there are fantasy elements with talking animals and a (kind) old lady who can remove her head), We Are Brothers, Princess Cupcake Jones and the Missing Tutu (I once read this book 19 nights in a row because my daughter LOVED it just that much! It's not a Charlotte Mason-y living book, but it made my little girl so happy. Making memories matters.), Amazing Grace series, Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon, Keat's Neighborhood (So amazing for little boys especially!), and Ada Twist Scientist are all nice picture books. For a couple of these, I can't say definitively that the characters are black, but they are definitely ethnic, and that works for me! Search here for many, many more of these Life-Giving Books for Black Children.

For wee ones: Big Hair Don't Care, I Am Enough, and Just the Two of Us are a few we enjoy.

For early readers, I love books like Tippy Limmey, Anna Hibiscus*, Little Bill Books for Early Readers, The No. 1 Car Spotter series, and Lulu's Animal Adventures.

In addition to traditional stories, I also like to have little "learning" books with brown faces like How a Seed Grows and the Izzy's Imaginarium series laying around the house. My little guy will pick up books like these and bring them to me to read so he can "do school" like his big siblings. Super sweet.

This is a sample of the types of books I focus on for early elementary. I own every book here except two of them, and I consider these foundational books for younger children, but my older elementary kids still love these books, too. In fact, they were crowding around me as I wrote this post because they saw many of their favorites scattered about. We start with these, but we never really stop reading them - we only add on as they grow in understanding and maturity.

*Note:

In the Anna Hibiscus books, Anna is simply from "Amazing Africa" with no country specified. I normally don't care for that type of approach, particularly after spending so much time teaching my kids that "Africa is not a country." However, I watched an interview with the author, Atinuke, who is Nigerian, and she explained that she wanted Anna and her family to represent financially secure modern African families that are found all over the continent. The storylines and details could occur in any number of African countries. I'm paraphrasing, but after hearing her explanation I became okay with Anna being from "Amazing Africa," in this instance. I did explain what Atinuke said to my kiddos though so they would understand.

What comes next? In our home, the next step after the aforementioned books is learning about specific people and events through picture book biographies and historical stories. I collect the 100 Best Children's Books for African American History Month (mostly focused on #1-60 for elementary), and we read them on a regular basis. These, along with many more life-giving books, make up the majority of our black history and culture reading in the early elementary years. And during this time, I take careful precautions to pre-read every single thing in order to avoid exposing my youngest children to "really good" books that hurt.

I hope this helps, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Happy reading!

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