A celebration of childhood from an award-winning author, this upbeat day-in-the-life of a bunch of friends was inspired by the #BlackBoyJoy meme that spurred a movement.
From sunrise to sunset, a group of young Black boys joyously spend the day together as they live their best lives freely in their community. With confidence and a touch of swag, these friends do everything with one another: build a time machine, tend to the community garden, role play in the park, read, take a group selfie, and play basketball. With simple, spare text from celebrated author Carole Boston Weatherford and colorful, playful art from Reggie Brown capturing the pleasures of boyhood and friendship, Bros affirms the truth that Black boys deserve and are worthy of a childhood full of joy and free of risk, just as much as anyone. Timely and buoyant, it’s a story sure to be enjoyed by anyone who knows what it is to be surrounded by friends with a day of adventure ahead of you.---from the publisher
32 pages 978-1536220414 Ages 4-8
Keywords: boys, African American and Black stories, daily life, fun, friendship, growing up, African American author, diversity, diverse books, childhood, joy, 4 year old, 5 year old, 6 year old, 7 year old, 8 year old
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My real estate agent's BROKER just called me at 9pm on a Friday to tell me that the seller doesn't want to sell a house to me because I am BLACK. This is after the inspection, contract agreement, down payment. Baby, I'm either buying your house or buying YOUR BLOCK. CHOOSE ONE.
– Dr. Raven the Science Maven (5/17/24 on the site formerly known as Twitter)
“People struggle, people fight
For the simple pleasures in their life
The trouble comes from everywhere
It's a little more than you can bear
I know that it will hurt
I know that it will break your heart
The way things are
The way they've been
And the way they've always been”
– Natalie Merchant (1988)
“Bros fly and cry.
We smile. We style.
We pretend. We defend.
Bros dare. We care.
We speak. We geek.
We lead. We read.”
BROS, with Carole Boston Weatherford’s spare, rhyming text and Reggie Brown’s bright, digital illustrations, features a quintet of happy Black boys. The five friends are seen playing and praying, reading and gardening, building a time machine, playing with a pup, and having other typical young boy fun.
BROS is a bouncy, enjoyable read, and will be a super circle time addition.
But BROS is an important book beyond that. It effectively exposes white kids to the parallel normalcy of being a Black kid goofing around with friends. Amongst young white audiences, these just-like-us parallels will help to weaken the chains of prejudice and hatred that are still far too often handed down from parent to child in the 21st century. Whether it be cops shooting Black boys first, and asking questions later, or some old white woman having a cow about her Virginia Beach condo being sold to a Black physician racial prejudice remains a significant, stubborn problem in America.
Reading about those who are different from us opens eyes and minds, and provides an alternative to parental idiocy and prejudice, whether it’s the subtle, or the in-your-face variety. We all benefit from the understanding gained through the creation and sharing of books depicting different sexes, different religions, different cultures, and different orientations. This is how, in a world of hate, authors, publishers, librarians, teachers, and enlightened parents, are able to act in the hope of making the world a happier, safer, more loving place for all of God’s children. That’s why I sit around at 3 am, writing about stuff that, as a kid in the Sixties, I had hoped and dreamed would be ancient history by the time I was in my sixties.
Unfortunately, in far too many instances, it’s still the same-old same-old.
Recommended by: Richie Partington, MLIS, California, USA
See more of Richie's Picks <http://richiespicks.com/> http://richiespicks.pbworks.co
