Children's Books To Educate Against Racism and How We Can All Be Anti-Racist

We have been talking about creating a collection of children's books focusing on anti-racism for some time. The term anti-racist refers to actively opposing racism by identifying, challenging, and working to dismantle systems, policies, behaviours, and beliefs that perpetuate racial inequality or discrimination. It goes beyond simply not being racist, emphasising a more proactive effort to create equity and justice in society.

The first discussion came a couple of years back following a seminar on unconscious bias by Orlene Badu, a Leadership and Education Consultant and racial literacy advocate. Her mission is to disrupt systemic inequalities that have and continue to exist in our communities. A mission we wholeheartedly support at LoveReading4Kids and LoveReading4Schools. Through the creation of recommended reading lists in this area we aim to support and challenge schools to improve the lived experiences and academic outcomes of Black and global majority children and those who are systemically disadvantaged.

And first on the list is How to Build Your Anti-Racist Classroom by the aforementioned Badu. Encouraging you to challenge your unconscious bias with possible steps and strategies to reduce micro-aggressions in the classroom, this book is an education. Acknowledging that your racial literacy is your responsibility is a key step on your journey to anti-racism.

In the Runnymede Trust’s report Race and Racism in Engish Secondary Schools (Joseph-Salisbury, 2020), the importance of racial literacy is a key part. They describe racial literacy as:

... the capacity of teachers to understand the ways in which race and racisms work in society. It also involves having the language, skills and confidence to utilise that knowledge in teacher practice as stated by Guinier [2004, as cited in the report]. Focusing on racial literacy means that issues pertaining to race and racism become the responsibility of all teachers. (Joseph-Salisbury, 2020, p. 7)

This responsibility for racial literacy is to ensure that teachers and educators understand the importance of racial literacy and the impact it has on the students they teach and the colleagues they work with. Whilst we want all of our children to be racially literate, we must be racially literate ourselves.

As well as building the right culture in our classrooms, we need to develop a diverse curriculum. It is clear that the current curriculum in our schools fails to represent the diversity of our children and there is disproportionate underperformance in certain ethnic minority groups and there needs to be clearer Anti-Racism Policies. Badu’s book takes you on a journey and offers educators a guide to the things that can be done to create profound social change.

Discussions developed further recently after a workshop on building an inclusive school through race equity. The workshop delivered by Equitas showcased some of the recent stats which highlight the real inequalities in our society.

When children enter schools in reception, roughly the same numbers meet the expected standard in development, regardless of ethnicity – the playing field is in effect, fairly level. But by the time they leave secondary schools, black student attainment has significantly fallen away from their peers, with only students from Roma/Gypsy backgrounds performing worse. In addition,

Black Caribbean students are twice as likely to be permanently excluded from school versus white students. In some areas they are 6x more likely
Just 34% of Gypsy / Roma students meet expected standards of development at age 4, and this drops to 19% at the end of KS2
Gypsy / Roma students are the demographic most likely to be excluded from school

Social inequality is part of the story but, interestingly, even black children from high socio-economic status, do significantly worse.

There is no requirement to teach a diverse cultural history in our schools and when we see the lack of diversity in our practitioners, we see the gap widening even further.

46% of schools don’t have a teacher from an ethnic minority background
96% of headteachers are from white ethnic backgrounds
60% of schools have all an white teaching staff

Racism shows up in microaggressions, overt racism, bias and systemic or institutional racism. However, before we address the realities of racism we need to first acknowledge it and recognise that racism exists both at individual and systemic levels.

The first stage of this is active engagement, taking steps to counteract racism, whether by educating oneself, advocating for policy changes, or confronting racial bias when encountered.

We must all be prepared to self-reflect and examine our own biases and privileges and commit to change. Only through solidarity, advocacy and working together to make change happen will we support marginalized communities and amplify their voices.

Through the promotion of equity we will work towards systems and policies that ensure fair treatment, opportunities, and outcomes for all racial groups.

Anti-racism is rooted in the idea that neutrality is insufficient; silence or inaction in the face of racism can enable its perpetuation.

This collection of books for children was previously housed within our Diverse Voices collection. They of course still belong there but we have created a specific collection to help signpost teachers, parents and carers to books to support the conversation, to encourage action and to start making a difference. As we were recently told by one Senior Leader, anti-racism is just as important as safeguarding in our setting.

Scroll below to view the book recommendations, and remember by purchasing them through LoveReading4Kids you can donate 25% of your spend to a school close to your heart. If you're a school, that's 25% cashback for you to sepnd on more books.

For pre-schoolers, you start the conversation early and here we highlight a range of books for all ages.

Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi is a bold picture book urging everyone to create antiracist babies.

I Am an Antiracist Superhero! by Jennifer Nicole Bacon is a book that tells the story of 6-year-old Malik, who after learning about racism in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, decides to change the world by becoming an antiracist superhero.

This Book Is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell is a short powerful book challenging individual perceptions – and what to do about it. With 20 lessons on how to wake up, take action, and do the work. The colourful chapters slowly build to give a full picture of identities, histories and anti-racism work in the USA, Australia and UK. It is aimed at students (mainly) with the intention to make them feel empowered to challenge racism and stand up for what they believe in. Having said that – it is a powerful and accessible read for everyone.

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi is a crucial, empowering, #1 New York Times bestselling exploration of racism and antiracism in America, making critical ideas accessible for teen readers, adapted from Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning.

This is NOT a history book. It is a book about the here and now. A book to help us better understand why we are where we are. A book about race. It’s a remix of Stamped from the Beginning for younger audiences, written in an engaging and accessible style.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of This Book Is Anti-Racist and The Antiracist Kid, Tiffany Jewell, Everything I Learned About Racism I Learned in School is a YA non-fiction book that highlights inequities Black and Brown students face from preschool through college. It’s an incredibly important, and empowering read.