Let’s make time to explore our nation’s storied history with our children.
After all, many modern picture books are doing a phenomenal job of connecting kids with a more colorful, nuanced, and inclusive understanding of the American experience.
Stay with me. I’m not planning to wade into faux controversies over tortured buzz words. Set that aside.
Instead, I’m offering up a few new resources from Doing Good Together, including
A list of picture books for kids
A booklist for adults and teens
A simple kindness project to celebrate reading about diverse histories and experiences
These tools will help your family connect with robust (and age-appropriate) stories that explore our many-colored nation, stories that illuminate our founding history as well as modern histories that celebrate the many ways heroes of all backgrounds have made a difference in this country.
For example, when my son was younger, each time his sisters mentioned the phrase “girl power,” he would pout at his exclusion. Then, we tracked down Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History... and Our Future by Kate Schatz. Embedded in these uplifting, exciting, and brief biographies is the gently presented truth that women weren’t always listened to, educated, or considered powerful. Over time, this long-view perspective took the sting out of that gender-specific phrase. We paired that reading with Ground Breaking Guys: 40 Men Who Became Great by Doing Good by Stephanie True Peters to offer even more role models for our budding changemaker.
Some parents fear that learning about America’s complicated past will make white kids feel ashamed.
I can tell you that my son didn’t feel bad, personally, reading about Malala Yousafzai or Harriet Tubman in the Who Was… series. In fact, he walks around quoting interesting facts about these historic figures, and the many others we’ve read about together.
Yes, he feels sad about the situations they were in, but he’s also inspired by their bold actions and feels eager to be part of creating a more just future. (Of course, in the short term he mostly fights the injustice of nightly showers and occasional hair cuts - he is ten, after all.)
This is important. The stories we tell our children about our history shape their civic identity, and the research bears this out. According to the remarkable paper “There’s Still Not Justice”: Youth Civic Identity Development Amid Distinct School and Community Contexts by Beth Rubin of Rutgers University, presenting all students with a fuller, more dynamic picture of history moves them from “discouraged resignation to empowered engagement.”
Let’s empower our kids –all kids – with stories that inspire civic engagement and a hunger for justice!
These stories can become the scaffolding for their vision of where this country has been and what they can make it become, together.
I feel more ashamed by the histories I did not learn when I was younger.
I recently finished reading The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Truer, a history full of characters that walk with you long after you close the book. Full of powerful stories I hadn’t heard before.
I grew up near a reservation in rural South Dakota. If you’ve ever read Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely True Story of a Part-time Indian, Reardon High School was essentially my alma mater’s doppelganger. And yet I just now learned the histories of survival and adaptation of my First Nation neighbors.
I grew up with war stories aplenty but failed to encounter stories about the leadership and heroics of people of color, marginalized by the same country whose freedoms they fought for.
We cannot be content with a static creation myth.
The messy, heart-breaking, triumphant, persistent unfolding of our history is a much more powerful story. Introducing the many different facets of the American experience doesn’t diminish our - or our children’s - understanding of this country, it expands it.
Understanding more of our shared history will help us see each other with greater compassion as we continue to push for a more just society.
Here are a few new tools from Doing Good Together to teach resilience, perseverance, and a hunger for justice.
Picture Book Histories for Curious Kids and Their Grown-Ups
Click here to browse this growing list!
All American kids deserve to see themselves in the history of this country.
Those stories are here.
All American kids need to see one another as potential heroes.
Those stories are here.
And all American kids can learn a bit about progress and grit and determination from well-told histories.
Those stories are here, too.
Inclusive, Compelling Histories for Adults and Teens
If you share my discomfort with the gaps in your historical knowledge, add these exceptionally-told, well-researched, rave-reviewed histories to your must-read (or must listen to) list. And add your own suggestions in the comments!
Share Bookmark Kindness
Work together to share a simple bookmark kindness project and get diverse histories onto more bookshelves!
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Join today and we’ll help you keep kindness on your family calendar all year long, now with access to DGT’s latest exclusive download: Raising an Anti-Racist Generation: A DGT Toolkit.
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The recommendations we offer are based solely on our mission to empower parents to raise children who care and contribute.