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Bébé Antiraciste
Goodreads Choice Award
Winner for Readers' Favorite Picture Books (2020)On ne naît pas bébé antiraciste, on le devient. Un bébé antiraciste est élevé pour faire évoluer la société.
Apprenons-nous à être racistes ou antiracistes? Heureusement, il y beaucoup de choses que nous pouvons faire pour faire de l'équité une réalité. Ouvrir nos yeux et voir toutes les couleurs de peau, en parler et aller à l'encontre de politiques racistes constituent de bons moyens de combattre le racisme. Nous avons le pouvoir de transcender les idées reçues et d'oeuvrer pour le bien. De ne pas juger un livre selon son apparence et de le lire jusqu'à la fin.
Cet album d'actualité, en rimes et rempli d'illustrations en couleurs, permettra aux parents et aux gardiens de déclencher des conversations sur le racisme avec les enfants.
Apprenons-nous à être racistes ou antiracistes? Heureusement, il y beaucoup de choses que nous pouvons faire pour faire de l'équité une réalité. Ouvrir nos yeux et voir toutes les couleurs de peau, en parler et aller à l'encontre de politiques racistes constituent de bons moyens de combattre le racisme. Nous avons le pouvoir de transcender les idées reçues et d'oeuvrer pour le bien. De ne pas juger un livre selon son apparence et de le lire jusqu'à la fin.
Cet album d'actualité, en rimes et rempli d'illustrations en couleurs, permettra aux parents et aux gardiens de déclencher des conversations sur le racisme avec les enfants.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2020
98 people are currently reading
14436 people want to read
About the author
Ibram X. Kendi
38 books7,339 followersDr. Ibram X. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, and the founding director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a CBS News racial justice contributor. He is the host of the new action podcast, Be Antiracist.
Dr. Kendi is the author of many highly acclaimed books including Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, making him the youngest ever winner of that award. He had also produced five straight #1 New York Times bestsellers, including How to Be an Antiracist, Antiracist Baby, and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, co-authored by Jason Reynolds. In 2020, Time magazine named Dr. Kendi one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was awarded a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the Genius Grant.
Dr. Kendi is the author of many highly acclaimed books including Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, making him the youngest ever winner of that award. He had also produced five straight #1 New York Times bestsellers, including How to Be an Antiracist, Antiracist Baby, and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, co-authored by Jason Reynolds. In 2020, Time magazine named Dr. Kendi one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was awarded a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the Genius Grant.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,144 reviews
August 27, 2020
A real disappointment and missed opportunity. This was a chance to write a positive book about acceptance for young children....unfortunately this isn't it. The first requirement of a book for toddlers is that it arouses curiosity and entertains. I'm afraid this fails spectacularly on both counts.
The language is complex, the rhyme poor, and the concepts way beyond a toddlers understanding (given the style of the pictures and the fact that its a board book, you would assume it's for the 18 months to 3 years group). Any 2-3 year old will wander off to the playdough long before the necessary parental explanations of racial injustice required to understand the vocabulary are finished. It reads like a dreary rallying cry for angry millennials, a vanity project published only so someone could tick a box. I hope it doesn't use up a publishing opportunity for someone who could do justice to this subject.
But the main problem with this book is that conceptually it does more to divide than unite. How can anyone set out to write a book for toddlers with the intention of making some of its tiny listeners feel guilt and shame (for nothing they have done wrong), and others feel wronged (for nothing they've experienced), before they barely know what a duck or a bike or a picnic are?
It attempts to sensitise toddlers to the political ramifications that only adults attach to skin colour, before they've even learned to walk. It doesn't call for love or acceptance or standing up for what is right, but presents the world as a scary battleground in which they have to fight an invisible evil force called racism - a pretty difficult idea to get across to a two year old, and sadly Mr Kendi does nothing to help define it. The presumption seems to be that every baby is racist until taught not to be, when the opposite is the reality - it is racism and division which are taught - and I worry that is exactly what this book, if unwittingly, achieves.
Anyone who has actually met a toddler (and I'm not convinced Mr. Kendi has) knows they have a natural sense of justice and know when it is breached. This topic could have been successfully tackled in so many positive ways, but the world Mr Kendi presents is a scary place of raised fists and multiple wrongs; at best sad, but mostly damaging. If you want to teach your children about acceptance, inclusivity, and standing up against racial injustice, there are many more positive ways to do it than this book.
The language is complex, the rhyme poor, and the concepts way beyond a toddlers understanding (given the style of the pictures and the fact that its a board book, you would assume it's for the 18 months to 3 years group). Any 2-3 year old will wander off to the playdough long before the necessary parental explanations of racial injustice required to understand the vocabulary are finished. It reads like a dreary rallying cry for angry millennials, a vanity project published only so someone could tick a box. I hope it doesn't use up a publishing opportunity for someone who could do justice to this subject.
But the main problem with this book is that conceptually it does more to divide than unite. How can anyone set out to write a book for toddlers with the intention of making some of its tiny listeners feel guilt and shame (for nothing they have done wrong), and others feel wronged (for nothing they've experienced), before they barely know what a duck or a bike or a picnic are?
It attempts to sensitise toddlers to the political ramifications that only adults attach to skin colour, before they've even learned to walk. It doesn't call for love or acceptance or standing up for what is right, but presents the world as a scary battleground in which they have to fight an invisible evil force called racism - a pretty difficult idea to get across to a two year old, and sadly Mr Kendi does nothing to help define it. The presumption seems to be that every baby is racist until taught not to be, when the opposite is the reality - it is racism and division which are taught - and I worry that is exactly what this book, if unwittingly, achieves.
Anyone who has actually met a toddler (and I'm not convinced Mr. Kendi has) knows they have a natural sense of justice and know when it is breached. This topic could have been successfully tackled in so many positive ways, but the world Mr Kendi presents is a scary place of raised fists and multiple wrongs; at best sad, but mostly damaging. If you want to teach your children about acceptance, inclusivity, and standing up against racial injustice, there are many more positive ways to do it than this book.
September 14, 2020
Antiracist Baby is not the worst thing you could read, if you want to indoctrinate your infant into a biased way of thought. You could try Das Kapital. Or the Communist Manifesto. Or Mein Kampf. Or White Fragility. Or Rules for Radicals. There are lots of other examples of propaganda and wrong-thought you could also choose from to really mess up the way your baby thinks. At least this one has illustrations of adorable babies making the black power fist. So there's that.
The idea that "Babies are taught to be racist or antiracist- there's no neutrality" is the repugnant new ideology making the rounds amongst people who seem to not know better. Adults who read How to Be an Anti-Racist (same author) and for some reason can't see through its flaws in reasoning, will no doubt want to expose impressionable children to this brainwashing so they can feel all woke and superior too!
There are SO many great books out there to teach children how to be NOT racist, which is a different and better thing than being an Anti-Racist. Go buy one of those.
Skip this book and just raise your kids to be kind to everyone, not going around calling ALL people racists, which is one of the tenets of Anti-Racist (not non-racist) thought.
The idea that "Babies are taught to be racist or antiracist- there's no neutrality" is the repugnant new ideology making the rounds amongst people who seem to not know better. Adults who read How to Be an Anti-Racist (same author) and for some reason can't see through its flaws in reasoning, will no doubt want to expose impressionable children to this brainwashing so they can feel all woke and superior too!
There are SO many great books out there to teach children how to be NOT racist, which is a different and better thing than being an Anti-Racist. Go buy one of those.
Skip this book and just raise your kids to be kind to everyone, not going around calling ALL people racists, which is one of the tenets of Anti-Racist (not non-racist) thought.
October 17, 2020
This Book Contradicts the Author’s Views
I wish I could give this negative stars. This book is not as bad as I expected it to be. Ibrahim Kendi’s views seem much more racist in his adult commentary than in his children’s book. I have plenty of issues with the contents of this book though. For instance, The author calls white people “colonizers” (on Twitter) yet says (in this book) that we should celebrate the diversity of all people. Those are two conflicting ideas. In the Q&A at the end of the book, he discusses how we automatically envision white people in places of authority. The first time that I was able to cast a vote, I voted for a man named Barack Obama. Most of the politicians in my local government are black. Most of the people in charge of my local school system (a system in which I taught) are black. I’m confused as to why we aren’t able to see black people in authoritative roles. Is it because we aren’t looking? He is a professor and a famous author. Does that not mean anything? I’m black, but I’ll avoid teaching Kendi’s ideas to my children. This book and the rest of his material will only teach them how to be racist but think that they are fighting for a good cause.
I wish I could give this negative stars. This book is not as bad as I expected it to be. Ibrahim Kendi’s views seem much more racist in his adult commentary than in his children’s book. I have plenty of issues with the contents of this book though. For instance, The author calls white people “colonizers” (on Twitter) yet says (in this book) that we should celebrate the diversity of all people. Those are two conflicting ideas. In the Q&A at the end of the book, he discusses how we automatically envision white people in places of authority. The first time that I was able to cast a vote, I voted for a man named Barack Obama. Most of the politicians in my local government are black. Most of the people in charge of my local school system (a system in which I taught) are black. I’m confused as to why we aren’t able to see black people in authoritative roles. Is it because we aren’t looking? He is a professor and a famous author. Does that not mean anything? I’m black, but I’ll avoid teaching Kendi’s ideas to my children. This book and the rest of his material will only teach them how to be racist but think that they are fighting for a good cause.
October 27, 2020
I feel like this does this the opposite of what it is meant to do.
December 9, 2020
If you're looking for a tool to help you indoctrinate your kids into a worldview of racist white-hating woke intersectional progressivism then this is the book for you!
Filled with a general sense of hopelessness and dread, this book will make sure to stoke that white guilt and/or anti-white hatred in the parent while teaching toddlers that character is really secondary to skin colour.
If there was a way to make this review ZERO stars I would, it is much much more insidious than I can explain here, the best short comparison I can make is that this is the communist manifesto for kids.
Cringy and vomit inducing throughout.
Filled with a general sense of hopelessness and dread, this book will make sure to stoke that white guilt and/or anti-white hatred in the parent while teaching toddlers that character is really secondary to skin colour.
If there was a way to make this review ZERO stars I would, it is much much more insidious than I can explain here, the best short comparison I can make is that this is the communist manifesto for kids.
Cringy and vomit inducing throughout.
October 15, 2020
What is actually wrong with someones brain to think that a baby, is born racist? I honestly thought this book was a satire joke.
November 2, 2020
Each year my family reads all the Goodreads-award-nominated picture books. Antiracist Baby is book #1 (of 20) of 2020.
Hank (14): 4 stars. Great rhymes, cute baby.
Harry (15): 2.5 stars. I liked the rhymes. Makes a good point.
Tara: 3 stars. Not really a kids' book--to many big words--but maybe the information for parents in the appendix is useful. And I usually don't like rhymes but these I didn't mind so much.
Dave: 2 stars. I think of myself as an anti-racist. Which as a white person in America means in part that I own up to the ways I have been racist and remain complicit in racism. And then try my hardest not to do that anymore, for starters. I opened my fall class, after a summer of continuing police shootings of black citizens, protests (some of which I participated in), with a unit on Black Lives Matter, reading The Hate U Give and James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, and so on. And I just read The Oldest Student, another Goodreads Picturebook 2020 nominee about Mary Walker, who as a slave had been denied the right to read.
Now, The Oldest Student is as I see it an anti-racist picturebook (for older children), but Antiracist Baby is not in any way intended to be a children’s picturebook. It’s a didactic book for parents that only features people of color (except one white lesbian apparently in a relationship with a woman of color). I get that point about representation but I feel that white straight people have to have a role in the process of antiracism, too.
I hesitated about giving this book two stars in that it is highly rated and includes five stars from my friend Rich Farrell, who heard a webinar about the book and liked the conversation. Maybe if I had participated in the webinar I would have liked it more. The advice in this book often comes in sorta vague bullet points such as Grow to be Antiracist, Talk about Race, Open Your Eyes to all Skin Colors, Confess When You are Racist, Celebrate Differences, and so on. I just prefer stories to preaching, having been raised Dutch Reformed and forced until I was eighteen to attend two church services every Sunday with long sermons. I prefer stories as antiracist tools.
Hank (14): 4 stars. Great rhymes, cute baby.
Harry (15): 2.5 stars. I liked the rhymes. Makes a good point.
Tara: 3 stars. Not really a kids' book--to many big words--but maybe the information for parents in the appendix is useful. And I usually don't like rhymes but these I didn't mind so much.
Dave: 2 stars. I think of myself as an anti-racist. Which as a white person in America means in part that I own up to the ways I have been racist and remain complicit in racism. And then try my hardest not to do that anymore, for starters. I opened my fall class, after a summer of continuing police shootings of black citizens, protests (some of which I participated in), with a unit on Black Lives Matter, reading The Hate U Give and James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, and so on. And I just read The Oldest Student, another Goodreads Picturebook 2020 nominee about Mary Walker, who as a slave had been denied the right to read.
Now, The Oldest Student is as I see it an anti-racist picturebook (for older children), but Antiracist Baby is not in any way intended to be a children’s picturebook. It’s a didactic book for parents that only features people of color (except one white lesbian apparently in a relationship with a woman of color). I get that point about representation but I feel that white straight people have to have a role in the process of antiracism, too.
I hesitated about giving this book two stars in that it is highly rated and includes five stars from my friend Rich Farrell, who heard a webinar about the book and liked the conversation. Maybe if I had participated in the webinar I would have liked it more. The advice in this book often comes in sorta vague bullet points such as Grow to be Antiracist, Talk about Race, Open Your Eyes to all Skin Colors, Confess When You are Racist, Celebrate Differences, and so on. I just prefer stories to preaching, having been raised Dutch Reformed and forced until I was eighteen to attend two church services every Sunday with long sermons. I prefer stories as antiracist tools.
April 12, 2021
This book was such a disappointment. I was hoping for something geared towards my small children that could spark conversations or explain this topic at a kid level (something that I am terrible at), but this book was not it. It looks like a book for toddlers, but it was just super weird. The book was full of awkward rhymes with language geared towards adults (who would be better off just picking up a copy of How to be an Antiracist).
Edit: I think I’ve finally figured out what is bothering me so much about all the rave reviews for this book. I think that people are either praising it because they want to show everyone how Not Racist they are (or are afraid of being called racist), or they are doing that thing where they think that all Black people are stupid/undereducated and are giving the author patronizing kudos (like when I tell my 3 year old that her drawing of Elsa is the most amazing thing ever when it actually looks like Mrs Potatohead ykwim?).
I also want to add that if you felt the content of the book was racist/divisive, then maybe you aren’t yet ready for that message and would be more comfortable starting with something like Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want To Talk About Race.
Edit: I think I’ve finally figured out what is bothering me so much about all the rave reviews for this book. I think that people are either praising it because they want to show everyone how Not Racist they are (or are afraid of being called racist), or they are doing that thing where they think that all Black people are stupid/undereducated and are giving the author patronizing kudos (like when I tell my 3 year old that her drawing of Elsa is the most amazing thing ever when it actually looks like Mrs Potatohead ykwim?).
I also want to add that if you felt the content of the book was racist/divisive, then maybe you aren’t yet ready for that message and would be more comfortable starting with something like Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want To Talk About Race.
February 4, 2021
I picked this book up from the library. It has been on lists out there, so I picked gave it a try.
This is not a story, this is 9 steps in rhyme in ways to help a child grow up being antiracists. One of the big things they stress is to notice color. We can't pretend we don't see it. It makes us different and that's okay. We are all still people.
Everything the book has to say is great, but this is more a soapbox, or not a soapbox, but a pamphlet for growing up with acceptance. Again, this is not a story in any way. It would have been much better for kids, if those 9 steps were turned into a story. Then it would be easier for a child to understand. This is like a, well, it almost feels like propaganda.
I didn't think much of the artwork either. It's not horrible, but it felt like artwork from sunday school and the ideas felt like a weekly lesson at Sunday school. I fully agree with and support the ideas put forth, but it wasn't a whole lot of fun and not in a package I think kids will enjoy. I think this is more for adults in this time, not for kids. It's easy for adults to understand. I think the perfect person for this is someone confused about what's going on and how to change. An adult who needs simple and understandable ideas. I have a hard time thinking children will enjoy this. For kids, it should be a story. I gave it 3 stars because the information is good.
This is not a story, this is 9 steps in rhyme in ways to help a child grow up being antiracists. One of the big things they stress is to notice color. We can't pretend we don't see it. It makes us different and that's okay. We are all still people.
Everything the book has to say is great, but this is more a soapbox, or not a soapbox, but a pamphlet for growing up with acceptance. Again, this is not a story in any way. It would have been much better for kids, if those 9 steps were turned into a story. Then it would be easier for a child to understand. This is like a, well, it almost feels like propaganda.
I didn't think much of the artwork either. It's not horrible, but it felt like artwork from sunday school and the ideas felt like a weekly lesson at Sunday school. I fully agree with and support the ideas put forth, but it wasn't a whole lot of fun and not in a package I think kids will enjoy. I think this is more for adults in this time, not for kids. It's easy for adults to understand. I think the perfect person for this is someone confused about what's going on and how to change. An adult who needs simple and understandable ideas. I have a hard time thinking children will enjoy this. For kids, it should be a story. I gave it 3 stars because the information is good.
September 1, 2020
this one was so cute and also taught important lessons to young children while providing resources/tips at the end. perfect for parents and their children!
April 11, 2024
I was thrilled when I saw this one so prominently displayed in the children’s section of my local library.
It is clear from the beginning that this is a teaching book. One that hopes to change the landscape of our thinking about racism. Of how we can teach children to think and have explicit conversations about race and equity.
Through beautiful, colorful illustrations and nine lessons, the author outlines those nine ways to be an antiracist baby.
I can’t emphasize enough how much this book is such a powerful teaching tool that needs to be available in all homes and libraries throughout the world!
The author provides a note to parents and caregivers at the back of the book that helps with conversation about race and racism with young children.
It is clear from the beginning that this is a teaching book. One that hopes to change the landscape of our thinking about racism. Of how we can teach children to think and have explicit conversations about race and equity.
Through beautiful, colorful illustrations and nine lessons, the author outlines those nine ways to be an antiracist baby.
I can’t emphasize enough how much this book is such a powerful teaching tool that needs to be available in all homes and libraries throughout the world!
The author provides a note to parents and caregivers at the back of the book that helps with conversation about race and racism with young children.
June 19, 2020
This is pretty cute but it's a little complicated for actual babies and toddlers with both word choice and ideas that are insufficiently concrete. On the other hand, for older kids (mine are 6 and 9) it's not in-depth enough about what the problem is or how they can address it in their own lives. However, I do I plan on using either the older version of Stamped from the Beginning or the new version (TBR) to teach my kids about racism and how to address it.
August 15, 2020
This book is awkward, clunky, and completely ineffective for the intended picture book audience. Even though this is designed to be a counting book with a few short statements on each page, the text is full of high-level vocabulary words, abstract concepts, and unexplained assertions. Also, even though the cover is adorable, I think that the illustrations inside are weird and unappealing, because the babies and adults have awkward proportions and look flat and unrealistic.
The only reason why I am giving this book more than a one star rating is because the author's note at the end is informative, clear, and helpful. I do not agree with all of the author's broad-brush statements, but he shares helpful talking points and tips for parents who want to discuss racial issues with their children but aren't sure where to start. I particularly appreciate his message that parents should focus on applying the adjective 'racist' to ideas, behaviors, and policies, rather than people, to help children grow and change instead of internalizing the label of 'racist' as something that is bad about them, just because they were ignorant or made a mistake.
The only audience I would ever recommend this book to would be white parents who need help and advice for how to start talking about race with their children. The main concepts here are so basic that they would not be particularly helpful to parents who have already navigated racial challenges in their own lives, and the book's only merit is in the parenting advice at the end, not the main text.
I cannot imagine trying to read this to a child. The author boiled down the subjects of lectures, books, and seminars into a handful of context-free assertions, and then wrangled them into an awkward, uneven rhyme scheme. This book reads as if someone copied down random statements from a textbook and then tried to turn them into poetry. It is truly terrible.
I agree with the author that parents should start discussing racial issues with their children early on, even before a child can fully understand the issues involved. However, when he says this at the beginning of the parents' note, it almost seems like an excuse for the lack of thought and effort that went into gearing this project towards young children's developmental stages and comprehension levels. This book is a very poor introduction that makes no effort at meeting a child where they are.
The only reason why I am giving this book more than a one star rating is because the author's note at the end is informative, clear, and helpful. I do not agree with all of the author's broad-brush statements, but he shares helpful talking points and tips for parents who want to discuss racial issues with their children but aren't sure where to start. I particularly appreciate his message that parents should focus on applying the adjective 'racist' to ideas, behaviors, and policies, rather than people, to help children grow and change instead of internalizing the label of 'racist' as something that is bad about them, just because they were ignorant or made a mistake.
The only audience I would ever recommend this book to would be white parents who need help and advice for how to start talking about race with their children. The main concepts here are so basic that they would not be particularly helpful to parents who have already navigated racial challenges in their own lives, and the book's only merit is in the parenting advice at the end, not the main text.
I cannot imagine trying to read this to a child. The author boiled down the subjects of lectures, books, and seminars into a handful of context-free assertions, and then wrangled them into an awkward, uneven rhyme scheme. This book reads as if someone copied down random statements from a textbook and then tried to turn them into poetry. It is truly terrible.
I agree with the author that parents should start discussing racial issues with their children early on, even before a child can fully understand the issues involved. However, when he says this at the beginning of the parents' note, it almost seems like an excuse for the lack of thought and effort that went into gearing this project towards young children's developmental stages and comprehension levels. This book is a very poor introduction that makes no effort at meeting a child where they are.
August 4, 2020
I really disliked this book. Not for its messages, which are excellent, but for its language and illustrations. I can’t imagine parents trying to engage toddlers with its convoluted rhymes and its adult verbiage. And I find the illustrations just creepy in their execution.
December 30, 2022
Thank you to Edelweiss and Kokila for the advanced copy!
February 2, 2024
This is exactly what you think it is.
If you are acquainted with the board book market you know what I mean. There are beautiful board books out there with appealing illustrations and text that both adults and children of most ages will enjoy. Then there are the ones that are "let's review your colors/numbers/ABCs." I think there is a place for those board books. Board books that present nursery rhymes or favorite songs are also great.
But then we have books that are really just marketed to adult purchasers. BabyLit immediately comes to mind; where vocabulary is presented but there is no actual story. But "we love Books so we are going to buy this" (it's not about baby). Books where the entire story is "mommy/daddy loves you so much" (these books are the equivalent of a hallmark greeting card. Do you really need the copy in the card to deliver your message or can you come up with it on your own? There are a few that are not bad, but most of them are drivel), and, finally, books like this. The illustrations are nice, the message captures the current zeitgeist, and since anti-racist books are selling out, of course publishers want to get in on the money grab.
Don't get me wrong, the quality of execution is not bad. It's just that the style of these books, in my opinion, does not work for kids. Presenting vocabulary without a story. A didactic tone. You see it across a range of topics. This book is written to sell. If you want to educate your child on anti-racism, let them see you reading books on the topic, engage them in other communities outside your comfort zone, diversify your other children's books, and teach them to be critical readers. In spite of my rant, you may want to get this book if 1) you want to support the author, 2) you want to signal to publishers that there is a market for books like this, 3) you love the illustrations, 4) you want to send a message to others (including your kids) that this matters to you.
If you are acquainted with the board book market you know what I mean. There are beautiful board books out there with appealing illustrations and text that both adults and children of most ages will enjoy. Then there are the ones that are "let's review your colors/numbers/ABCs." I think there is a place for those board books. Board books that present nursery rhymes or favorite songs are also great.
But then we have books that are really just marketed to adult purchasers. BabyLit immediately comes to mind; where vocabulary is presented but there is no actual story. But "we love Books so we are going to buy this" (it's not about baby). Books where the entire story is "mommy/daddy loves you so much" (these books are the equivalent of a hallmark greeting card. Do you really need the copy in the card to deliver your message or can you come up with it on your own? There are a few that are not bad, but most of them are drivel), and, finally, books like this. The illustrations are nice, the message captures the current zeitgeist, and since anti-racist books are selling out, of course publishers want to get in on the money grab.
Don't get me wrong, the quality of execution is not bad. It's just that the style of these books, in my opinion, does not work for kids. Presenting vocabulary without a story. A didactic tone. You see it across a range of topics. This book is written to sell. If you want to educate your child on anti-racism, let them see you reading books on the topic, engage them in other communities outside your comfort zone, diversify your other children's books, and teach them to be critical readers. In spite of my rant, you may want to get this book if 1) you want to support the author, 2) you want to signal to publishers that there is a market for books like this, 3) you love the illustrations, 4) you want to send a message to others (including your kids) that this matters to you.
August 1, 2020
I heard Ibram X. Kendi read it aloud, but didn't want to log it until I held a copy in my hands. This is a book I'll be sharing with my 5th graders. (How to write simply about a complex topic.)
November 19, 2020
Brightly coloured pages with wonderful steps on how to help teach your baby (or anyone else) how to recognize and dismantle racist thoughts and actions.
What a fantastic way to introduce children to bias and the power of change.
I especially enjoyed the discussion bits at the back that have real world applications to try out with your wee ones.
What a fantastic way to introduce children to bias and the power of change.
I especially enjoyed the discussion bits at the back that have real world applications to try out with your wee ones.
February 4, 2021
Big, bold, and vibrant illustrations demonstrate in nine simple steps how to raise a baby to be antiracist. What a beautiful and powerful book of wisdom. If all parents read, taught, and spoke out to their children about these issues their children’s world could be transformed. We are not “better” or “worse” but “diverse.” “Celebrate our differences” as “we are all human.” Conversation suggestions and insights are included in the end. Highly recommend.
January 10, 2020
Antiracist Baby is a very cute introduction to toddlers about racism. The illustrations are bold and beautiful & the message behind is an important one. I can see this book being very appealing to little ones. The only thing I would add is that I wish there was more rhyming. I feel rhythm & rhyme will stick more with toddlers quickly. Over this a great book.
Thank you Kokila Publishing for gifting this ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review
Thank you Kokila Publishing for gifting this ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review
November 24, 2020
This book is such a pathetic attempt. Children are only racist if they are taught to be. Ibram is a racist himself so taking advice on racism from him is the same as taking advice on racism from a jihadist Muslim or a KKK member.
September 8, 2024
In 2020, “Antiracist Baby” by Ibram X. Kendi and illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky, won the 2020 GoodReads Choice Award. But I have to disagree, for the reasons that I will outline below. Kendi’s vision for this book was/is powerful. And I completely understand **why** he chose to focus on this subject: because the world desperately needs it. But the way in which he reveals that message isn’t one, I fear, that will bear fruit. Let me explain…
This book appears to be written more for adults rather than for young children. Do I think it should be banned? Absolutely NOT. But as a children’s book, I don’t believe that it will be particularly effective. Kendi uses terms that, as an anthropologist, I’ve found that undergraduates haven’t even grasped yet. For example, “imagined construct”—not to mention equity, diverse (in the anthropological sense), and transcend. How then, I have to ask, can a little child? The answer is through explanation, of course. But it has to be a **long** explanation—far longer than one might think. In fact, at times, it would take **an entire semester** for a college student to really grasp those concepts. If a parent—or even a teacher—doesn’t even know what these definitions are, then there’s going to be a problem.
Nobody—and this includes small children—likes to be preached to. Kendi could have used this book to help veer children to think critically about the subject through example(s). But as I’ve seen at the university level, instead of learning to think critically, even college-aged young people are simply just memorizing what they think are facts (depending on what the person who is teaching them thinks is a fact).
One of the lines in this book made me pause:
“Point at policies as the problem, not people.”
I have to disagree. Certainly, political policies ARE a problem—but not more so than the beliefs embedded within the dominant American culture and its subcultures. In fact, policies in many cases **cannot** be separated from the people who’ve created them.
I understand why people nominated this book for an award—Kendi gave our society a message that we so desperately needed, and still need. But I can also see why so many people didn’t like this book—it’s preachy and more of a commentary on how Kendi thinks that we should raise children.
Kendi incorporated far too many advanced words and abstract concepts without taking the time to even define what they were. This is unfortunate because he could have really made a difference in the way young people and adults think. Instead, the preachy tone of this book—rather than the content—put this book squarely in many school boards’ firing lines. Because, remember, there are **many** adults who do not understand those definition or concepts. If you think that I’m wrong, go up to any adult on the street and ask them:
1) What is the textbook definition of an “imagined construct?”
2) Give me an example of what an imagined construct is, and
3) Use the term “imagined construct” correctly in a sentence.
Unless they’re a social scientist, you’ll likely just get a thousand-yard stare. And I know this because I got these looks all the time from students.
Because this was an audiobook, I didn’t get the opportunity to evaluate Ashley Lukashevsky’s illustrations, other than the cover, so I can’t comment on it. The narrator, Shayna Small, did a great job with the narration.
Overall, there are numerous issues with this book. If the author had approached it differently, this picture book could have made a positive impact on the lives of young people and on the adults that care for them. It could have been a model for other writers of picture books. But it isn’t, and that’s a shame because Kendi touched on some various important concepts that each human being should be made aware of.
This book appears to be written more for adults rather than for young children. Do I think it should be banned? Absolutely NOT. But as a children’s book, I don’t believe that it will be particularly effective. Kendi uses terms that, as an anthropologist, I’ve found that undergraduates haven’t even grasped yet. For example, “imagined construct”—not to mention equity, diverse (in the anthropological sense), and transcend. How then, I have to ask, can a little child? The answer is through explanation, of course. But it has to be a **long** explanation—far longer than one might think. In fact, at times, it would take **an entire semester** for a college student to really grasp those concepts. If a parent—or even a teacher—doesn’t even know what these definitions are, then there’s going to be a problem.
Nobody—and this includes small children—likes to be preached to. Kendi could have used this book to help veer children to think critically about the subject through example(s). But as I’ve seen at the university level, instead of learning to think critically, even college-aged young people are simply just memorizing what they think are facts (depending on what the person who is teaching them thinks is a fact).
One of the lines in this book made me pause:
“Point at policies as the problem, not people.”
I have to disagree. Certainly, political policies ARE a problem—but not more so than the beliefs embedded within the dominant American culture and its subcultures. In fact, policies in many cases **cannot** be separated from the people who’ve created them.
I understand why people nominated this book for an award—Kendi gave our society a message that we so desperately needed, and still need. But I can also see why so many people didn’t like this book—it’s preachy and more of a commentary on how Kendi thinks that we should raise children.
Kendi incorporated far too many advanced words and abstract concepts without taking the time to even define what they were. This is unfortunate because he could have really made a difference in the way young people and adults think. Instead, the preachy tone of this book—rather than the content—put this book squarely in many school boards’ firing lines. Because, remember, there are **many** adults who do not understand those definition or concepts. If you think that I’m wrong, go up to any adult on the street and ask them:
1) What is the textbook definition of an “imagined construct?”
2) Give me an example of what an imagined construct is, and
3) Use the term “imagined construct” correctly in a sentence.
Unless they’re a social scientist, you’ll likely just get a thousand-yard stare. And I know this because I got these looks all the time from students.
Because this was an audiobook, I didn’t get the opportunity to evaluate Ashley Lukashevsky’s illustrations, other than the cover, so I can’t comment on it. The narrator, Shayna Small, did a great job with the narration.
Overall, there are numerous issues with this book. If the author had approached it differently, this picture book could have made a positive impact on the lives of young people and on the adults that care for them. It could have been a model for other writers of picture books. But it isn’t, and that’s a shame because Kendi touched on some various important concepts that each human being should be made aware of.
September 13, 2023
Sometimes a board book just gives you hope - hope that the next generation will do better - this is one such book - art is wonderful. I have seen this book on lists that people want to ban - there is nothing wrong with this book at all; it might make some people uncomfortable because it looks at problems that have been going on for a very long time.
March 9, 2021
An Important Book for Today and Everyday
I really liked “The Antiracist Baby” by Ibram X. Kendi. This is a children's book with a message of hope and the tenants of anti-racism for today and everyday. Additionally, the illustrations are gorgeous.
One criticism is that it is too advanced for a child. On the other hand, the author was using this method to get the incredibly important message across to everyone in the simplest of fashion.
At any rate, it's a solid way to start a discussion of these vital topics.
It is a good book. A child is not into it yet, writes like it is written more for me.
I highly recommend it.
I really liked “The Antiracist Baby” by Ibram X. Kendi. This is a children's book with a message of hope and the tenants of anti-racism for today and everyday. Additionally, the illustrations are gorgeous.
One criticism is that it is too advanced for a child. On the other hand, the author was using this method to get the incredibly important message across to everyone in the simplest of fashion.
At any rate, it's a solid way to start a discussion of these vital topics.
It is a good book. A child is not into it yet, writes like it is written more for me.
I highly recommend it.
October 16, 2020
I truly wish I had these 9 steps when I was a kid! This needs to be added to your collection of children’s book. Racism is not inherent, IT’S TAUGHT! Use this book as a stepping stone for your baby to be better than WE are!
May 20, 2022
Thanks Ted Cruz for the recommendation 😂
June 17, 2020
This book seems to be targeted at adults rather than actual babies or children, and if that's the case, I don't really think the nine steps are super actionable because they're written as little rhymes and don't convey a ton of information about how to do any of the steps. It's a good springboard for antiracist ideas, but if this book is more targeted at parents, I think reading the actual How to Be An Antiracist makes more sense for them.
November 1, 2020
Annual Goodreads Choice Awards reading project: Read all the Picture Book nominees! (2 of 15)
Love the sentiments, cringe at the couplets.
I liked Kendi's How to Be an Antiracist, but this kid spin just did not work for me.
Love the sentiments, cringe at the couplets.
I liked Kendi's How to Be an Antiracist, but this kid spin just did not work for me.
December 28, 2020
I am just boggled. This book is poorly illustrated and, I have to say, poorly written. I can't believe anyone would recommend this book seriously. I get why it was published -- good on the author for taking advantage of the current crazy political climate. I hope he's laughing all the way to the bank -- I just don't get why someone would actually ever recommend it as a useful text. Are we sure it's not satire? I rather feel like I've stumbled into an episode of South Park. They did it better, just sayin'.
December 22, 2020
Yep. That's right. 1 star review for Ibram. For one, this is way too long for a boardbook. (Makes me wonder if it's one of those books secretly made for the parents more than the kids) Also, the story and ideas inside are far too deep for tots who will have this book read to them. It's too abstract.
And really, the art isn't great. It's kinda weird.
And really, the art isn't great. It's kinda weird.
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