Antiracist Baby Book Review (Picture Book)

Antiracist Baby by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Illustration by Ashley Lukashevsky

https://bookshop.org/lists/antiracist-books-for-young-readers

I have waited a looooooooong time to get my hands on this book! I went to see Dr. Kendi in August of 2019 (thanks to my husband) and got a signed copy of “How To Be An Antiracist”!! So, the minute I found out he was making a children’s book, I was beyond excited. I should have prepared that day in June when I found out because we are still waiting to receive our 2 copies of the board board. (I prepared ordered 2 weeks before its release date this past June). I would not make that mistake with the picture book version and here we are!! Yaaaay!!!!

Dr. Kendi beautifully crafts a very complex and difficult topic into 9 simple steps on how to live an antiracist lifestyle for readers.

Not only does Dr. Kendi take an extremely difficult topic and break it down for children, THE BOOK RHYMES!!!

Who can resist a rhyming picture book. I know we had lots of fun reading and rhyming with it. Plus the rhymes make it super catchy and easy to remember.

Out of the 9 steps outlined in the book, the one step that was most profound to me is step 3.

Step 3
Point at policies as the problem, not people.
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

This makes the reader dive deeper into thinking about race and racial issues, especially racial inequity. It makes the reader challenge the notion that people are the problem for racial disparities and to really look at the roles of policies to have created these inequities.

The is also a resource for adults at the end of the book that help parents and caregivers to have a much needed and deeper conversation. Children will have a lot of questions throughout this book, so these pages are extremely important and useful.

These illustrations by Ashley Lukashevsky are vibrant and cheery. They also help reflect the steps in the book in a simple way for children. I loved the brightness and fun of the illustrations.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for anyone that truly wants to start the steps toward antiracism. This may be a picture book for children but I think it is a starting point for adults that want to start antiracism work and do not know where to begin. This books gives 9 steps that can be initiated while you dig deeper into antiracism.

One critique of the book that I have read is that some of the language is too difficult for children. I loved it! My daughter encountered so many new words and has increased her vocabulary tremendously. I do not mind explaining complex words when reading to my kids. One of the reasons for reading is to increase their vocabulary so this is just the book for that.

You could also take them time to introduce your children to a dictionary and thesaurus and deepen the learning activity. Some of the complex words are equity, access, transcend. (see activity below)