Observations in a Local Bookstore

For my bookstore observation I explored the Clarendon Barnes and Noble in Arlington, Virginia.  This bookstore is located in an upscale area in Arlington surrounded by restaurants and retail stores (Origins, Apple Store, Ann Taylor Loft, Free People.)  Before I began looking at the children's books I observed the people who were in the store.  The majority were Caucasian men and woman speaking English.  While I was in the children's section I observed several Caucasian families with children looking around and some reading stories together.  The only diversity I observed was two woman each with their own daughter speaking in both English and Spanish.  One woman was Caucasian, while the other was Hispanic.  The young girls (probably five or six years old) appeared to be bilingual and the woman were encouraging them to speak in both languages.  I found this very interesting to observe. 

When I arrived to the bookstore I went up the escalator to the Barnes and Noble, Jr. section.  On display outside of the children's section were a variety of books written by authors who will be at the National Book Festival.  One of the books, Say A Little Prayer, written by Dionne Warwick, David Freeman Wooley, and Tonya Bolden represented diverse cultures thoroughly.  The main character was an African American female named Little D.  I found this interesting because many of the African American children I have gotten to know also have nicknames like this, and I'm sure these children would relate to this.  Little D goes around her town and talks to different members of her community.  When she says hello she verbalizes this in the language that represented the culture of the other person.  For example, Little D greets the Old Italian shop owner by saying "Buon Giorno!" and greets Mrs. Chavez (who is Hispanic) by saying "Buenos Dias!".  Little D lists places that she would like to go, such as London, Tokyo, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome, Abu Dhabi, and San Jose.  She also dabbles in what jobs she could go into when she is older (Court Stenographer, Teacher, or Ballet Dancer.) In the end she discovers that she has a great talent for singing.  This is based of Dionne Warwick's experience finding something that she loved to do.   The pictures were fantastic in this book and represented many cultures.  I found it interesting that so many cultures were represented in the church choir and congregation.  The book also includes a CD with a recording of gospel music. 

The second book I found, also located in the front of the children's section was We Are The Ship, The Story of Negro League Baseball, by Kadir Nelson. This book is about Negro League baseball and discusses the racial discrimination, hatred, and segregation these gifted athletes experienced.  The oil paintings are stunning and this book would appeal to baseball lovers, particularly African American boys.  I always love finding books like these because I find that my African American students do enjoy reading about African American sports stars.  I think this book is also good because it shows how these men stuck with something they loved, even while they were experiencing so much negativity around them.  

Shante Keys and The New Year's Peas, written by Gail Peinas-Davenport, is a book about an African American female who learns how New Year's Day is celebrated in different countries.  Shante is upset because her Grandmother does not have any black-eyed peas for their families New Years Day meal.  Shante goes out to ask her neighbors if they have any black-eyed peas but instead learns about their different cultures.  Shante learns about the Chinese New Year, Diwali, and how New Years Day is spent in Mexico.  This book is truly multicultural and was only book that I found that had a character who was Hindu.  This book was in the picture book section.  Only one copy was available and it was located on the bottom shelf in between several other books. 

I found the picture book Ish, by Peter Reynolds to be one of the few books that only concentrated on a Hispanic family.  The other books that focused on Hispanic families were only available in Spanish (Libros para Ninos) section.  I attempted to find these books in English, but they were not available in the store.  Ish is a sweet story about a Hispanic boy named Ramon who loves to draw but isn't very good at it.  He ends up throwing all of his pictures away but his sister Marisol has been rescuing the pictures from the trash and hanging them up on her bedroom wall.  Ramon realizes that his pictures aren't so bad after all but are just ish.  This book, like Shante Keys and the New Year's Peas was located on the bottom shelf in between several other books.  It was not easy to find.  

Whoever You Are, by Mem Fox is a book that explores diversity.  This book discusses how all over the world people may look different, their homes and schools may be different, but we all experience love, pain, blood, smiles, and our hearts are all the same. The pictures represented a lot of different cultures.   While this is a good book to discuss diversity I think this book is very sugar coated in how it represents our world today.  This book was in the back of the children's section and difficult to locate.  There were two copies of this book.

Grace for President, by Kelly DiPucchio was a book that was on display in the American section.  Several books in this section focused on Washington D.C. and the upcoming election.  I enjoyed reading this book and thought it brought a lot of issues to the table.  The book begins by Grace's teacher discussing how the United States has never had a female president.  The teacher shows pictures of all the white males who have been president.  Grace, an African American female, is very upset about this and does not understand why a girl has never been president.  Her school decides to hold a mock election and Grace runs for President against an all world, smart, athletic, Caucasian boy.  This boy says he is the best MAN for the job and begins to capture all of the male votes in the school.  Grace says that she is the best PERSON for the job.  The story continues to explore the election and how the boy goes about gaining votes and what Grace does differently.  Many different cultures are represented within this book.  I think this would be a great book to share within a classroom, especially with the election coming up so soon. 

Within the non-fiction children's section I found many books that represented diverse cultures.  This section was in the back of the children's section.  I found books about Barack Obama, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Whoopie Goldberg. The book Barack Obama, Son of Promise, Child of Hope,  by Nikki Grimes discussed the race of Obama's parents. She described his Mama as "white as whipped cream" and his father as "black as ink."  I don't know why I found this upsetting, but I know that at school we try to have children avoid using descriptions like this.  I did not like seeing this in a children's book.  

Overall, I found it to be much more difficult that I thought it would be to find books that represented diverse cultures and ones that highlighted social issues.  When I interacted with the staff at Barnes and Noble and asked them questions, I was told over and over again that most of the books either focused on Caucasian children or animals.  I kept being directed to the Libros para Ninos section.  To find diverse books it seems like ordering them online is the best bet.  I spent a long time digging through piles of books before I was able to find examples that included diverse cultures.   I didn't notice too many cultural stereotypes being portrayed in these books, although some of the clothing in the pictures could be considered stereotypical. Most of the authors who wrote the books I discussed above were not Caucasian, and were the ethnicity of the main character in the book they wrote.  It must be very difficult for children of other cultures to find books that they can see themselves in.