The Children’s Center aims to cultivate a community that feels welcoming to all. Our intentionality is focused on embracing the discomfort in learning what we do not know; and striving to listen, reflect and advocate for change as we recognize the impact of biases promoted by living in a predominantly white community. The Children's Center staff has had the privilege of engaging in trainings with consultants Britt Hawthorne, and Takiema Bunche Smith. More recently, we worked with the Bay Area training group, Kaleidoscope who led our staff in trainings focused on gender diversity in early childhood education. Katharine Scott, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Bowdoin, has also offered our staff and parents presentations on her research around children’s understanding of diversity and difference. Below you will find a list of resources recommended by our consultants and collected over the years.
For Children
Books
BCCC Inclusivity Booklist
Coretta Scott King Book List
Diverse BookFinder
We Need Diverse Books
Videos
PBS Kids Talk about Race and Racism
Sesame Street: I Love My Hair
Podcasts & Audio
- Brains On! (episode including: What is Down syndrome?; What is ADHD?; How do our eyes, skin, & hair get their color; and more!)
- But Why? (Vermont Public Radio; episode including: A discussion abut race and racism, Why are boys boys and girls girls?)
- Circle Around—folktales from around the world
For Caregivers and Educators
Books
- Anti-Biased Education for Young Children and Ourselves byLouise Derman-Sparks and Julie Edwards
- Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do byJennifer L. Eberhardt
- Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
- Demystifying Disability by Emily Ladau
- Evicted by Matthew Desmond
- My Grandmother's Hands: Resmaa Menakem
- Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom by Lisa Delpit
- Parenting Beyond Pink and Blue by Christia Spears Brown
- Raising Antiracist Children: A Practical Parenting Guide by Britt Hawthorne & Natasha Yglesias
- Raising Them by Kyl Myers
- Supporting Gender Diverisity in Early Childhood Classrooms by A Practical Guide by Encian Pastel, Katie Steele, Julie Nicholson, Cyndi Maurer, Julie Hennock, Jonathan Julian, Tess Unger and Nathanael Flynn
- The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fediman
- Teaching and Learning in a Diverse World: Multicultural Education for Young Children by Matt Lamothe
- The First R: How Children Learn Race and Racism by Debra Van Ausdale & Joe Feagin
- The Gender Creative Child by Diane Ehrensaft
- The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
- Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race byDebby Irvin
- What If All the Kids Are White? Anti-Bias Multicultural Education with Young Children and Families by Louise Derman-Sparks
- We Be Lovin' Black Children by Learning to Be Literate About the African Diaspora: Gloria Swindler Boutte, Joyce Elaine King, et al.
- Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum
- White kids: Growing up with privilege in a racially divided America by Margaret Hagerman
Indigenous books that we are currently using as resources:
- Baskets of the Dawnland People byProject Indian Pride
- If You Lived During the Plimouth Thanksgiving byChris Newell and Winona Nelson
- Many Hands: A Penobscot Indian Story byAngeli Perrow & Heather Austin
- The Micmac: How Their Ancestors Lived Five Hundred Years Age byRuth Holmes Whitehead and Harold McGee
- Six Micmas Stories byRuth Holmes Whitehead
- Swift Fox All Along byRebecca Lea Thomas & Maya McKibbin
- Racoon's Last Race byJoseph & James Bruchac
- Why Indigenous Literatures Matter by Daniel Heath Justice
Websites and Blogs
Britt Hawthrone: For Educators: Anti-Bias Teaching
Embrace Race
Gender Spectrum
Learning for Justice
Talking About Race
Nicole the Librarian: Anti-Racism Resources for All Ages
Wabanaki REACH
Articles
An Exploratory Cross-Cultural Study: Fathers’ Early Involvement With Infants
Black Homeowners Face Discrimination in Appraisals
Dear White Teachers: You Can’t Love Your Black Students If You Don’t Know Them
Grandmothers’ Developmental Expectations for Early Childhood in Botswana
How to Raise Kids Who Won’t Be Racist“I’m Gonna Cook My Baby in a Pot”: Young Black Girls’ Racial Preferences and Play Behavior
Mirrows, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors: Rudine Sims Bishop Essay on Multicultural Literature
My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant
These Books Can Help You Racism and Protest to Your Children: The New York Times
The Black Baby Doll Doesn’t Fit the Disconnect Between Early Childhood Diversity Policy, Early Childhood Educator Practice, and Children’s Play
The Goals of Anti-bias Education: Clearing Up Some Key Misconceptions
They’re Not Too Young to Talk About Race
What I Learned When I Recreated the Famous ‘Doll Test’ That Looked At How Black Kids See Race
Who Gets to be Afraid in America?
Podcasts
Anything for Selenas (WBUR)
Codeswitch (NPR)—race and identity in everyday life
Fare of the Free Child (last episodes in 2023)
Gender Playground
Integrated Schools
Louder Than a Riot (NPR)
Nice White Parents (New York Times)
Opinion Science: Person=man
Opinion Science: Raising color conscious kids
Talking About Race with Young Children (NPR)
The Takeaway (WNYC)
This American Life Story: "Babies Buying Babies"New Books Network: Mothers of Massive Resistance
Southlake (NBC)
Videos
Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum: TedTalk: Is My Skin Brown Because I Drank Chocolate Milk?
Landmark Cases: Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka (Doll Test)
Melanie Funchess: Implicit Bias - how it effects us and how we push through
Peggy McIntosh: Ted Talk: How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion
Rudine Sims Bishop Interview on Multicultural Literature