New Book About Exploring Nature in Children's Literature
Camping is my favorite thing, and so one of my new favorite children's books is this one from Jennifer K. Mann, which came out in April.
It's about a girl named Ernestine who goes camping for the first time. This book brings out all the best of camping: a campfire, swimming, s’mores, and a starlit sky. Ernestine is black—and it made me think about an article in The Atlantic that I came across last year about "a curious absence in kids’ books."
Black children are underrepresented in children's literature. They are underrepresented in all literature. And according to this article they are almost entirely absent from children's books where kids get to explore the natural world. "Of all the picture books about children exploring the wild outdoors for fun, only a scarce few feature African American kids as protagonists."
In the article, Ashley Fetters writes about the pervasive notion that BIPOC aren't interested in the outdoors and hiking—which is complete nonsense. (I say this as a woman who spent most of her twenties leading many people on backpacking trips with NOLS and another organization that is no longer but was based in NW Colorado).
The author of the Atlantic article writes, "In children’s literature, every reader [every child] needs “window stories” and “mirror stories,” ...“Mirrors to be able to see themselves, and windows to be able to see the lives of other people who maybe don’t look like [them].” Those stories are key to developing empathy, she said. Martin hopes that one day, young readers will look into their proverbial “mirrors” and out their proverbial “windows” and see more kids and families of color exploring the wonders of the natural world."
You can buy this wonder of a book in my Bookshop, from which I donate 10% of my revenue to We Need Diverse Books. If you want to donate to support more diversity in children's literature, please check out We Need Diverse Books and make your own contribution.
“In children’s literature, every reader [every child] needs ‘window stories’ and ‘mirror stories,’ ...Mirrors to be able to see themselves, and windows to be able to see the lives of other people who maybe don’t look like [them].”