ISO books for kids w/parents of two races

[ourbabygirl]

We have friends having another baby this spring, and I'd like to get them some books as a baby gift (they and I prefer books over toys or something else). The dad is black and the mom is white, and I was wondering if you have any recommendations for some kids' books (especially board books) that would be more representative of this? I'd like to look on Amazon before heading into a book store, but don't know what I should type into the search engine :).
Do you have any specific titles or authors I should look for?

Thanks for your help! :thumbsup:

[SASM]

This doesn't address the parents but addresses the various shades of black. IMO, it is a beautiful book (we are caucasian family and it is in our home library).
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Shades-of-Black/Sandra-L-Pinkney/e/9780439802512

[Pepper]

Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Day. All Families Are Beautiful. Daddy Calls Me Man (really beautiful illustrations in this one - great art). I know there are more that we've read, just can't think of them now!!!

[DrSally]

Good question! I personally can't think of any books with both an AA and a Caucasian parent. Every once and a grea while I'll see an advertisement with Caucasian and Asian parents or Caucasian parents/Asian girl (obviously adopted).

[citymama]

We are a biracial/multiracial family and generally like books showing diversity - not necessarily a family that looks like ours, but books with protagonists of all colors/races/nationalities. I agree with A Snowy Day, or Corduroy for classic books with African American leads. For babies, some of Karen Katz' books show wonderfully diverse kids and families.

[american_mama]

There are a couple books about biracial black-white families. Ironically, all the ones I can recall are about black mothers and white fathers, which is actually quite atypical: black women outmarry the least of all racial groups.

"Hope" by Isabell Monk is my favorite. I bought it and later discovered the author is an actress in Minneapolis, where we lived at the time, and she wrote it in part for a friend's family. The mom is black and the father white, but I think your friends will love the story and illustrations. "Family" is another story with the same character, same author, but I found the story weak, as I recall.

"Black is White is Brown" and "Black, White, Just Right." Both are classics, I believe, but I wasn't a fan when I looked at them years ago, probably because I thought the stories or rhymes/writing were weak. "Black is White is Brown" is originally from the 1970's, but was re-issued in the last ten years or so with newer illustrations, so make sure you look for that info. if you order that one.

We also like the "Shades of Black" book mentioned before - not about a family, but awesome photography showing a range of skin tones/eye colors/hair types among African-American children. My kids have always loved this book and it's got less text and a simpler message, so it will be enjoyed sooner than the books mentioned above.

I have never read "Am I A Color Too?" but read about it in a library column about two years ago and have meant to ask my daughter's school to order it ever since.

A wonderful board book for this baby stage is "Baby Dance" with an African-American dad dancing and boucning with his baby while mom sleeps. It's not a biracial family, but I love it for showing a lovely interaction between a dad and toddler: their ethnicities is a bonus. I'd recommend this book to anybody. It may be hard to find or out-of-print: I recall something like that when I get my copy.

Kadir Nelson is an awesome illustrator of a lot of books by celebrity African-American authors. I think most of the books are pretty bad, so I love the one that nobody wrote and he still illustrated : "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" by Kadir Nelson with illustrations following text of the classic song. I was inspired to get a certain hairstyle for my DD from one of his illustrations.

This book is for elementary aged kids, but "Grace for President" is a lovely book about the not-so-lovely topic of the electoral college; it teaches the topic in the context of a great story. Grace is African-American, I guess, but her race is entirely incidental, which is kind of nice. There are several nice elements to the ending.

If you look for these books on amazon, check out the "Customers Also Bought...." and customer favorite lists for more ideas.

[ellies mom]

Kadir Nelson is an awesome illustrator of a lot of books by celebrity African-American authors. I think most of the books are pretty bad, so I love the one that nobody wrote and he still illustrated : "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" by Kadir Nelson with illustrations following text of the classic song. I was inspired to get a certain hairstyle for my DD from one of his illustrations.

I think he is the illustrator of "Please, Baby, Please" by Spike Lee. It isn't a interracial family but you only see the parents in the last page or two. The baby (could be a boy or girl) is just so stinkin' cute and I love the way he drew the curls. That's the way my daughter draws her hair now.

[marie]

Not quite the same, but Todd Parr's The Family Book is all about how families are different in many ways (including color - but in this case bright blue and yellow!) and yet the same.

http://www.amazon.com/Family-Book-Todd-Parr/dp/0316738964/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261573190&sr=8-3

We have a nice "preparing big sibling" book with an AA family - Will There Be a Lap for Me?
http://www.amazon.com/Will-There-Be-Lap-Me/dp/0807591106/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261573416&sr=1-1

[ourbabygirl]

Wow- thank you all so much for an amazing list! :bouncy: I really appreciate the time you took to help me out!

[DrSally]

Great list!!