96/365
This week's Storytime letter was Pp. Of course I read 'The Princess and the Pea'...but I picked a book that was a little more multicultural than perhaps the kids were ready for. Which is good, I think.
Some of the younger kids were confused because the princesses didn't look like they normally do, which is blonde, blue-eyed, and white. One of the little guys kept asking, "Lisa, who's that?" when we'd see a picture of a princess. He wasn't buying that princesses looked like that.
The population out thisaway is rather, well, white (mostly German in heritage). I still remember back when my Kid was playing t-ball (so she'dve been about 5ish), and one of the moms (actually out-loud) said, "Well, I just take my kids to the Mall of America so they can see what black people look like." I remember thinking, "Whaaaaaa?"
When I was in library school, I took a couple of children's multi-cultural literature classes. One of the things that stuck with me was when one of my classmates posted something on the class forums along the lines of "well, my patrons probably want books they can relate to (about white people), so that's what I'll give them." Our professor went off the deep end and came back with, "THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO NEED THE MULTICULTURAL LITERATURE THE MOST."
Maybe, maybe not.
As for me, though, I try and mix it up for the Storytime kids. Maybe it'll stick in their heads that not all princesses are blonde & blue-eyed, but that it's OK, because they're still princesses. Maybe I'm helping these kids look at life through a wider lens, and helping them realize that there's more out there than this small town.
Or maybe I'm just confusing them even more.
Whatever. I still liked the book.
Here's pictures of the princesses:
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