This book is called “I’m A Pretty Little Black Girl!”, by Betty K. Bynum. Illustrations by, Claire Armstrong Parod. The book was Published in 2013.
"I'm A Pretty Little Black Girl!" is about a young African American girl who is energetic, confident and loves the company of her friends. In the book she describes the color of each and every one of her friend’s skin in beautiful detail "and like a special rainbow" (Bynum, 2013) they are all "different shades of brown." (Bynum, 2013)
This story is well written, interesting and engaging. The story is easy for young readers to understand and the message is easily received.
The young girls in this book are depicted as individuals not as stereotypical African American characters. I found that the characters lifestyles are not generalized but typical lives of young girls.
The most important aspect in this book is that the young African American girls being portrayed, have high self-esteem and have confidence in themselves.
The main character, Mia holds the power in the story with a confident attitude and a positive self-image. Even though she says her hair is, "just-a-going every which-a-ways" (Bynum, 2013), she stills looks in the mirror every morning and yells, "I'm a Pretty Little Black Girl!" (Bynum, 2013)
The author uses rhyming and she uses colorful description's to illustrate Mia and her friends. For example, she uses imagery such as, the milk in coffee, the color of a pecan, the color of sprinkling cinnamon, toffee and sweet dark chocolate cream to describe each girl.
The artistic elements used show happy, self-assured, beautiful young girls enjoying their time together.
Bynum is an actress, writer, singer, songwriter and entrepreneur. "She created the I'm A Girl collection out of her passion and love and her intense tenacity for girls of all colors to celebrate their individual and special beauty."(Heller, 2013, para. 1) Parod, the illustrator, "is an award winning designer, animator and director for film, television, and commercials." (Heller, 2013, para. 3) Although I was unable to find a picture of Parod, Bynum is herself African American. This makes her inside the group she is presenting.
This book is clearly written for African American girls and they are the only group represented in this book. This book is portraying that no matter what shade, shape or size, all African American girls are pretty, smart, and capable of achieving any dreams they may have.
I would recommend this book to African American families with young daughters. I do not think that this would be appropriate for young girls of other races (although she does offer other books that young girls of other races can relate to), but I do think that this book send a wonderfully positive message to young African American girls.
Bynum, Betty K. (2013). I'm A Pretty Little Black Girl!. Los Angeles, CA: DreamTitle Publishing.
Heller, Phyllis. (October, 2013). The I'm A Girl Collecting. Retrieved from http://theimagirlcollection.com/index.php#
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ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this book or the author. It sparked my interest! When I first looked at the picture on the cover I thought of diversity, but as I read your blog I found that the book is geared towards African American girls in particular. At first that made me a little sad, then I read about this book building self esteem. I would like to read this book to see if it would be a good book to have in the classroom library. If there is diversity in the classroom I think a book like this may be a great asset to the class library. This book could be a great opportunity of learning diversity for other children in the classroom too. Self esteem is a wonderful thing to have.
DeleteHello :) I really enjoyed your book analysis. I have never seen this book before, but I am interested to read it. It is a good thing for young children's book to draw children's self-esteem in a book. Especially for children in minority group, they might have some feelings about their differences of skin color, hairs, eye colors etc.. So this kind of book is so helpful to children who have a negative emotion about their body images. I want to read this book ! :)
ReplyDeleteIt is so important for young girls to have high self esteem and a positive body image, especially since we live in a society where the white beauty ideal seems to be the "right" beauty ideal.
ReplyDeleteVery nice book analysis. The only comment which surprised me is when you said you would not suggest this for all children. I think a book like this needs to be read to all children, no matter their ethnicity.
ReplyDeleteI loved the story and the way you analyzed it. You have explained everything very clearly and in a interesting way. So, you analyze is interesting and easy to understand. I think this story can help African American kids improve their self confidence and have a positive feeling about themselves. I will read this book for my kids, totally loved it.
ReplyDeleteI love this book. I think this will be a wonderful book to be in our classroom library and to be read to our children. Colorful pictures and positive message are good for our children. Thank you for sharing this wonderful book.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds great. I will definitely look for it. I thought it was interesting that you didn't recommend it for all girls though. I feel it would be great for all boys and girls.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds like a great read, I definitely want to find it. I love how you said " I found that the characters lifestyles are not generalized but typical lives of young girls." That is important when having books for children, because we do not want to put an impression on how they or others should be.
ReplyDeleteYou have very direct information on your book. I can see how this book will be good for African american girls. Thank you for your review on the book. It was very informative and nice to read.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a great book and great for my preschool class where I wanted a good direct book like this one
ReplyDeleteI am wondering why it would not be a book that you think children of other races should read? Is it not ok for a white child to see a black girl thinking highly of herself? It would be nice for you to elaborate on that.
ReplyDeleteNicole,
DeleteI do not think that it is not okay for a white child to see an African American girl think highly of herself. That would be absurd. At first, I had thought that boys and girls of other races would feel excluded and I just wasn’t sure, but after taking everyone else’s comments into consideration, I think it would be a fine choice for the classroom. It’s not like I can’t go back and change my analysis at this point. That would be dishonest and it was how I felt at the time.