When Derrick Barnes began writing children's books 15 years ago, he didn't see Black kids — boys in particular — depicted in positive, affirming ways. So his new book reminds them: You are every good thing.
"I am / a nonstop ball of energy. / Powerful and full of light. / I am a go-getter. A difference maker. / A leader."Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James/Penguin Young Readers
"Whenever you saw a black male character in children's books, he was either playing basketball, he was a runaway slave, or just visually looking very docile or assimilating," Barnes says. "I am Saturday mornings in the summertime. / I am two bounces and a front flip / off the diving board. / I am hilarious. I am the life of the party. / I am the smile forming on your face / right now."Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James/Penguin Young Readers
"My son is autistic, and so he doesn't often get asked to do things or asked to be the center of things," James says. It was powerful to illustrate his child"looking like how I feel he sees himself and how we see him as his family."
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