MPA Minute
Supporting families through Anti-racism Discussions

We can no longer be silent
How Are We?
- We are SAD - Crying tears for a story that could be any of us
- We are SCARED - Quivering at the thought our world won't change for our children
- We are SCARED - Worried that one day the name we call in protest will be a loved one
- We are EXHAUSTED - Explaining why we feel the way we do is too much sometimes
- We are ANGRY - George Floyd deserved better; we deserve better
- We are TIRED - Ignoring racism is an all day job for us
- We are OPTIMISTIC - Our friends will try to understand
- We are HOPEFUL - A change is on the way; we cannot survive without one
Resources
Children's Non-fiction
- Let’s Talk about Race by Julius Lester
- Dictionary for a Better World by Charles Latham
- Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice by Mahogany L. Browne with Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood
- Not My Idea: A Book about Whiteness by Anatassia Higginbotham
- Racism and Intolerance by Louise Spilsbury
- We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices, edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Wells Hudson
- On the Playground: Our First Talk about Prejudice by Dr. Jillian Roberts
- Intersection Allies: We Make Room for All by Chelsea Johnson, LaToya Council, and Carolyn Choi
- The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
- A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara
- Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights by Rob Sanders
- Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson
- We Are the Change by Harry Belafonte
- Be A King by Carole Boston Weatherford
- Hey Black Child by Useni Eugene Perkins
Skin Again The skin I'm in is just a covering. It cannot tell my story. The skin I'm in is just a covering. If you want to know who I am, you have got to come inside and open your heart way wide. Celebrating all that makes us unique and different, Skin Again offers new ways to talk about race and identity. Race matters, but only so much--what's most important is who we are on the inside. Looking beyond skin, going straight to the heart, we find in each other the treasures stored down deep. Learning to cherish those treasures, to be all we imagine ourselves to be, makes us free. | Let's Talk About RaceIn this acclaimed book, the author of the Newbery Honor Book To Be a Slave shares his own story as he explores what makes each of us special. A strong choice for sharing at home or in the classroom. Julius Lester said: "I write because our lives are stories. If enough of these stories are told, then perhaps we will begin to see that our lives are the same story. The differences are merely in the details." I am a story. So are you. So is everyone. | Woke:A Young Poet's Call to JusticeHistorically poets have been on the forefront of social movements. Woke is a collection of poems by women that reflects the joy and passion in the fight for social justice, tackling topics from discrimination to empathy, and acceptance to speaking out. With Theodore Taylor’s bright, emotional art, and writing from Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood, kids will be inspired to create their own art and poems to express how they see justice and injustice. |
Skin Again
Celebrating all that makes us unique and different, Skin Again offers new ways to talk about race and identity. Race matters, but only so much--what's most important is who we are on the inside. Looking beyond skin, going straight to the heart, we find in each other the treasures stored down deep. Learning to cherish those treasures, to be all we imagine ourselves to be, makes us free.
Let's Talk About Race
In this acclaimed book, the author of the Newbery Honor Book To Be a Slave shares his own story as he explores what makes each of us special. A strong choice for sharing at home or in the classroom.
Julius Lester said: "I write because our lives are stories. If enough of these stories are told, then perhaps we will begin to see that our lives are the same story. The differences are merely in the details."
I am a story. So are you. So is everyone.
Woke:A Young Poet's Call to Justice
Historically poets have been on the forefront of social movements. Woke is a collection of poems by women that reflects the joy and passion in the fight for social justice, tackling topics from discrimination to empathy, and acceptance to speaking out.
With Theodore Taylor’s bright, emotional art, and writing from Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood, kids will be inspired to create their own art and poems to express how they see justice and injustice.
Children's Fiction (Picture Books & Middle Grade)
- Skin Again by Bell Hooks
- Black is a Rainbow Color by Angela Joy
- I Am Perfectly Designed by Karamo Brown
- Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story about Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano
- Why Am I Me? by Paige Britt
- I Can Write the World by Joshunda Sanders
- I Am Enough by Grace Byers
- Happy in Our Skin by Fran Manushkin
- A Boy Like You by Frank Murphy
- I Am Loved by Ashley Bryan
- Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes
- Hair Love by Matthew Cherry
- My Hair is a Garden by Cozbi A. Cabrera
- Hands Up! by Brenna McDaniel
- All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
- The Big Umbrella by Amy June Bates
- Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship by Irene Latham and Charles Waters
- Tan to Tamarind: Poems about the Color Brown by Malathi Michelle Iyengar
- I Walk with Vanessa by Kerascoet
- Say Something by Peter Reynolds
- Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
- A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Ramee Moore
- Blended by Sharon Draper
Hands Up A young black girl lifts her baby hands up to greet the sun, reaches her hands up for a book on a high shelf, and raises her hands up in praise at a church service. She stretches her hands up high like a plane's wings and whizzes down a hill so fast on her bike with her hands way up. As she grows, she lives through everyday moments of joy, love, and sadness. And when she gets a little older, she joins together with her family and her community in a protest march, where they lift their hands up together in resistance and strength. | Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut A fresh cut makes boys fly. This rhythmic, read-aloud title is an unbridled celebration of the self-esteem, confidence, and swagger boys feel when they leave the barber’s chair—a tradition that places on their heads a figurative crown, beaming with jewels, that confirms their brilliance and worth and helps them not only love and accept themselves but also take a giant step toward caring how they present themselves to the world. The fresh cuts. That’s where it all begins. | The Day You Begin There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look or talk, or where you're from; maybe it's what you eat, or something just as random. It's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it. Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael López's dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when we reach out and begin to share our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway. |
Hands Up
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut
This rhythmic, read-aloud title is an unbridled celebration of the self-esteem, confidence, and swagger boys feel when they leave the barber’s chair—a tradition that places on their heads a figurative crown, beaming with jewels, that confirms their brilliance and worth and helps them not only love and accept themselves but also take a giant step toward caring how they present themselves to the world. The fresh cuts. That’s where it all begins.
The Day You Begin
Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael López's dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when we reach out and begin to share our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway.
In this episode of Kojo N'jame's Kojo for Kids, he speaks with author Jason Reynolds about racism and protests
Additional Resources
Teaching Tolerance: Raising Open-minded Empathetic Children by Sara Bullard
We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know: White Teachers, Multiracial Schools by Gary Howard
How to be Anti Racist, Ibram X. Kendi
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
We Got This. Equity, Access and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be by Cornelius Minor
Being the Change: Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension by Sara Ahmed
White Kids: Growing Up With Privilege in a Racially Divided America by Margaret A. Hagerman
Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children In A Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey
Waking up White by Debby Irving