Each of us is unique, but 99.97% of our genes are the same irrespective of how different we look or how differently we react. It is emotions that bind us together and beyond birth, brain and environment, at our emotional core we are all the same.  Vandana Kohli in an article entitled “I Am You” wrote “You will be taken aback if I am rude; you will feel at ease if I am warm; you will be irritable if you are uncomfortable, stressed or hungry, just as it happens with me.  I can imagine the insecurities that drive you to act irrationally. I see them within.  I know you.”

The following are the two major emotions and the sentiments associated with them:

Love                                                 Fear

1.)   Kindness                                     1.)  Anger

2.)  Compassion                                  2.)  Disgust/Distrust

3.)  Generosity                                    3.)  Sadness

4.)  Happiness                                    4.)  Hate/ Dislike

5.)  Harmony                                      5.)  Envy

6.)  Warmth                                        6.)  Dissonance

7.)  Trust                                            7.)  Rudeness

We can use the following books to help children learn about our emotions and racism.  These don’t necessarily need to be books only about race but can be books which deal with the above emotions.  For young children, I recommend using books portraying positive emotions.

Infants: Books about Love and Happiness – From Scholastic Mary Had a Little Lamb by Sarah Josepha Hale and from Feiwel and Friends Chocolate Me! by Taye Diggs.  These two books talk about love by a mother for her child and the love by a pet for a child.  In both books the children and the authors happen to be black.  The book about the mother and child is richly illustrated in bold colors and the lamb book has beautiful photographs of the lamb and child.

Toddlers: Books about Fear and Trust – From Random House The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss and from Mulberry Books Bread * Bread * Bread by Ann Morris.  These two books are very different.  The Bread book has photographs of different breads from different countries and the other is illustrated by Dr. Seuss in his traditional style.

Preschoolers: Books about Kindness and Dislike – From Annick Press The Paper Bag Princess by Bob Munsch and from Penguin Group brown girl dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.  The book by Ms. Woodson’s is a lovely poetry book with short poems for younger children and longer poems for older children about growing up in the North as a Jehovah’s Witness and in the South with her growing awareness of the civil rights movement and her experiences in both environments.  Mr. Munsch’s book is not a traditional princess story.  Here the princess is the hero and saves the prince and learns and a lesson about what is really important in life.

Attitudes Are Caught Not Taught.                               (Quaker Saying)