PICTURE BOOKS
Between you and me
Two new picture books leave third-person narration behind for a more direct approach
BY SHANNON OZIRNY
Mii mnnad ezhi-gkendm nh / This Is How I Know
★ Dear Black Girls
Shanice Nicole and Kezna Dalz, ill.
Metonymy Press, Ages 6–10
★ Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh / This Is How I Know
Brittany Luby and Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, ill.; Alvin Ted Corbiere and Alan Corbiere, trans.
Groundwood Books, Ages 3–7
DEAR BLACK GIRLS, by Black feminist educator Shanice Nicole and Black artist Kezna Dalz, grabs readers from the first page. Writing in the second person, a mode rarely used in picture books, Nicole addresses her audience directly: “Dear Black girls, / Yes, you, the ones who are starting something new / and wondering how you’ll do ...” What follows is a powerful, honest affirmation of belonging that is striking in its poeticism. Nicole writes, “I love the way your Black skin / wraps itself around you, / as if it never wants to let go, / as if your colour is the richest thing / it has ever known.” Nicole’s text also recognizes the choices Black girls have in how they do their hair, the rights they have regarding body autonomy, and the challenges they will face in a society where racism, implicit bias, and misogyny actively work against them – all at a level that kids as young as prelisting all the things that have changed) creates a more personalized, meaningful learning experience and also invites the reader to ponder the same question in their own environment.