In the Spring of 2013, Sailaja Joshi was on a mission to complete her baby registry in preparation for the arrival of her first child. Inline with her “library” themed baby shower, Sailaja went on the hunt to find books about Indian culture that should could share with her newborn daughter. Of the few books that spoke to her Indian heritage, Sailaja realized that none of these books took into account the developmental needs of her growing child. Recognizing this gap in children’s literature, the idea for Bharat Babies was born.
The mission of Bharat Babies is simple: design and produce developmentally appropriate books that tell the stories of India’s heritage for children from birth through elementary school.

ALWAYS ANJALI  When Anjali finally gets the bike of her dreams on her birthday, she and her two best friends are excited to get matching license plates with their names on it. But Anjali can’t find her name. There’s Amy, Betsy, Chris, and many more, but no Anjali. To make matters worse, she gets bullied for her different name, and is so upset she demands to change it. When her parents refuse and she is forced to take matters into her own hands, she winds up learning to celebrate who she is and carry her name with pride. A timeless story about appreciating what makes us special and honoring our differences.

SUPER SATYA SAVES THE DAY  Super Satya is ready to have a super day, including finally conquering the tallest slide in Hoboken. But her day takes a not-so-super turn when she realizes her superhero cape is stuck at the dry cleaner. Will she be able to face her fears, help her friends and be the true hero everyone knows she is? Super Satya Saves The Day introduces Satya, a precocious Indian-American superhero.

With all of that in mind, I eagerly picked up Mae and June and the Wonder Wheel – with a Black girl on the cover of a transitional chapter book, I knew I had to read it in the hope that my students would have access to more books with racially diverse characters in the forefront at the elementary level.

What I did not expect was to be surprised 40 pages in to discover a large plot point relating to encouraging the main character to arbitrarily select a “spirit animal” to be for the day. I was so disheartened to find this cultural appropriation in a book that had potential to be a solid selection for my elementary library collection. This appropriation ruined the rest of the book for me.

Some context to help you learn more if you are unfamiliar with the concerns about the use of “spirit animal”:

      In an unforgettable new novel from award-winning authors Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, two teens—one black, one white—grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension.
      A bag of chips. That’s all sixteen-year-old Rashad is looking for at the corner bodega. What he finds instead is a fist-happy cop, Paul Galluzzo, who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter, mistakes Rashad’s pleadings that he’s stolen nothing for belligerence, mistakes Rashad’s resistance to leave the bodega as resisting arrest, mistakes Rashad’s every flinch at every punch the cop throws as further resistance and refusal to STAY STILL as ordered. But how can you stay still when someone is pounding your face into the concrete pavement?
      But there were witnesses: Quinn Collins—a varsity basketball player and Rashad’s classmate who has been raised by Paul since his own father died in Afghanistan—and a video camera. Soon the beating is all over the news and Paul is getting threatened with accusations of prejudice and racial brutality. Quinn refuses to believe that the man who has basically been his savior could possibly be guilty. But then Rashad is absent. And absent again. And again. And the basketball team—half of whom are Rashad’s best friends—start to take sides. As does the school. And the town. Simmering tensions threaten to explode as Rashad and Quinn are forced to face decisions and consequences they had never considered before.
      Written in tandem by two award-winning authors, this tour de force shares the alternating perspectives of Rashad and Quinn as the complications from that single violent moment, the type taken from the headlines, unfold and reverberate to highlight an unwelcome truth.

My thoughts:


I’m not sure my words will be able to adequately express the importance of this book and the urgency I feel to get it into hands of my urban teens specifically, and all teens generally. 


This is a book to start conversations, in our classrooms and with each other. It’s a book to make you take a step back and look at bias in your own life. 


The power in this book lies in the stripped down simplicity-two boys, two views, one incident, which, through the honesty and realness of the characters who are dealing with complex issues of race, community, perceptions, stereotypes, and assumptions, is able to address a timely issue in a way teens will be able to relate to without feeling lectured at. 


Reynolds and Kiely have written a story that stays true to the teen voice and the inner struggle of trying to understand things that don’t make sense, and wanting to change but not knowing how, wanting to fight for what’s right in the face of outside pressures, and how that all impacts relationships with family and friends. 


It’s a gut-wrenching book because of how easy it was for me to picture my own students’ faces and voices in place of Rashad’s & Quinn’s, and in how it made me think about privilege while keeping the focus on these characters and the many real people who have been affected by racial incidents of police brutality. I especially appreciated that the two characters were the forefront, but had friends, teachers, and family who all affected their actions and decisions in a true to life way. 


It’s honest, real, powerful, and oh so important. 


It’s a book people need to read. 

“All-American Boys is amazing. I’m literally at a loss of words to explain how I feel. It was so powerful.” (Larry)

“I think this book is really good. But there’s more than just good. There is a deeper meaning to the book.” (Harrison) 

“This book is so powerful. It has let everyone know about racism that has been going around lately.” (Madelyn) 

“[The authors] produced a thoughtful way to write about what is going on these days.”(Malik) 

“I feel this book had a goal to have you look at society different and it did…” (Alex) 

“I liked this book a lot! It is definitely a part of my Top 10. I think it is a different way to talk about police brutality. I am scared for my black family.” (Aalisiyah) 

“All-American Boys was a really powerful story. Altogether the story was amazing.” (anon) 

“This book gives the best inside look on black and white societies and perspectives of teenagers.” (Kimi) 

“All-American Boys really affected me. Why are black people portrayed as the bad guy? I think this book shows that this is wrong. People appear to be more racist than they think. It’s sad that not many people notice this.” (Carlos) 

“I think most people can relate to this book.” (Rosita) 

“These are things that are happening today, police brutality. It’s not just in the book, it’s in real life this stuff happens in real life. And it’s not fair.” (Roman)

This summer they created The Summer 2011 Diversify Your Reading Challenge

From the website:
“This summer, we’re challenging readers to read books that feature a diverse world, to read beyond their comfort zones, and to just plain dive into some wonderful stories.”

I think this it’s always a good idea to push ourselves to read more diverse characters and stories because you just never know which books are going to be the ones that speak to you. Especially for me as a teacher, I feel it’s important to read these so that I know what’s out there for my students that may need/want to read about various themes.

I hope you’ll consider joining the challenge!