Antiracist Baby

by Ibram X Kendi

Other authorsAshley Lukashevsky (Illustrator.)
Board book, 2020

Status

Available

Collection

Publication

New York : Kokila, [2020]

Description

Illustrations and rhyming text present nine steps Antiracist Baby can take to improve equity, such as opening our eyes to all skin colors and celebrating all our differences.

User reviews

LibraryThing member varwenea
It’s a sad state when a children’s book needs to be written to teach people not to be a racist. It’s an even sadder state when a certain senator finds this book to be objectable and uses it to grill a U.S. Supreme Court nominee. Cue the eyeroll. (Rex Huppke of USA TODAY wrote, “…the
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collective eye roll was so intense the Earth briefly tilted off its axis.”) I just had to read for myself what was so disconcerting. Not surprisingly, I find the book to be very agreeable instead. The book is a teaching tool, for kids, parents, and caregivers, to learn how to be a non-racist person, or simply, a better person. We all can use a few pointers, right?

Kendi’s basic premise is that being non-racist is bred, not born; this trait needs to be continuously nurtured, even as adults. He provided nine steps to explain his approach. I thought the book’s messages are on-point and reasonable, if not enlightening at times. The book is not the end-all, but it certainly covers the basics. When your child is hurt, wounded by hurtful words, images, or actions, or if you observe your child doing the hurting, this book provides the talking points to help or to correct the child. Other than the book text, Kendi also included two detailed pages geared towards the adults. I found these two pages to be informative and provided viewpoints different than mainstream buzz-phrases. An example is “It is a fallacy that children are ‘color-blind.’ Help your child explicitly name the race of the people around them so they understand it is not insulting or harmful to do so. We want to normalize discussions about race and remove the stigma around these conversations.” This is so, so true when you consider how children of color want a doll or a superhero or a princess who looks like themselves. They see color! Kendi advises us to see race, acknowledge it, embrace it, and learn from each other. Additionally, Kendi advises focusing on policies that don’t provide equal access. Target the policies, not the people.

Kendi’s credentials are impressive, with years of being a professor teaching Africana and Latino Studies at multiple universities, as well as having founded Center for Antiracist Research at two universities. His most popular book and an NYT bestseller is “How to Be an Antiracist.” How appropriate. Meanwhile, thanks to the senator, this book is a bestseller, too. The artwork of the book interprets the words very well. Naturally, the babies are of different races. I’m not keen on the artwork type, but that’s just my personal taste.
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LibraryThing member widdersyns
Good resource for parents who want to raise an anti racist child, or for older children. Not necessarily a book that I think an actual baby would find engaging, but I’m still a fan.
LibraryThing member Lindsay_W
No one is born a racist, but no one is born an anti racist either. Start your baby off right, and ensure they never have to unlearn racist beliefs by following these nine steps. The good news too is that you are never too old to adopt the mindset of an anti racist and these steps work for any age.
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It’s never too late to “confess the racist ideas that we sometimes express” and “grow to be an antiracist.”
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LibraryThing member jothebookgirl
This board book will be a good introduction to combatting racism, which outlines nine steps for rearing accountable kids. Each spread begins with a numbered rule, then follows with a rhyming explanation. Starting with “Open your eyes to all skin colors” and ending with “Believe we shall
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overcome racism.
The bold illustrations by Lukashevsky complement the text by showing a world populated by people of various skin tones, sizes, identities and orientations, religions, and abilities.

The theme is “Antiracist Baby is bred, not born.
The book is not just for babies.
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LibraryThing member villemezbrown
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.
LibraryThing member deslivres5
This picture book is to be shared with one's children, has cute illustrations and lessons written in rhyme.
But this important message seemed more geared towards the parents than the child, i.e. how to raise an antiracist child. The vocabulary words would need to be explained to a younger child,
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which might be the point in starting this discussion with a child.
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LibraryThing member reader1009
children's picture book for adults

Pros:
* appealing illustrations that include diverse babies of different ethnicities and skin colors so kids can see people that look like them
* support the work of Ibram X. Kendi and artist Ashley Lukashevsky
* informative tips for parents to become more antiracist
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at the end

The best, most helpful part is the tips in the back pages, the text of the book itself is not quite enough to make much of an impact in either the mind of the parent or the child. I would recommend reading other, adult/teen books for a better understanding, but since parents most likely don't have that kind of time, these quick tips might fit the bill, for now.
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LibraryThing member LibrarianRyan
This is a great non-fiction book for parents and babies. I actually think of it as more a self-help book for adults than really for babies. The information in it is great, I just wish the author did try so hard to rhyme. It threw my off as a reader. On some pages it worked great, and on others I
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felt it messed with the flow and the message.
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LibraryThing member Unkletom
Ted Cruz really should have read this book before shooting off his mouth in front of the entire world. His question, “Do you agree with this book that is being taught to kids that babies are racist?” is directly contradicted in the book which states cleary that ideas and policies, not people,
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are racist or antiracist. Of course, Ted wouldn't likely have let the truth sway him from his idiocy.

But I do want to thank Ted for suggesting that I read this book, as the truth is that anytime some ignorant fool tries get a book banned, it just serves to bump it higher up the charts. Never let someone tell you what you shouldn't read.
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LibraryThing member cougargirl1967
This book opens up lot of possibilites for conversation about race. Some of the wording is a little advanced for the age range this book appears to target, but it opens up plenty of possibilities for conversations about race and justice. Some people want this book banned from school libraries. I
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pity people whose world is so limited that these statements cause fear.
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Language

Original publication date

2020

ISBN

0593110412 / 9780593110416

Barcode

193
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