Race Cars
A children's book about white privilege
by Jenny Devenny
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Pub Date 11 May 2021 | Archive Date 24 May 2021
Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books | Frances Lincoln Children's Books
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Description
Race Cars is a children’s book about white privilege created to help parents and educators facilitate tough conversations about race, privilege, and oppression.
Written by a clinical social worker and child therapist with experience in anti-bias training and edited by a diversity expert, Race Cars tells the story of 2 best friends, a white car and a black car, that have different experiences and face different rules while entering the same race.
Filled with bright, attention-grabbing illustrations, a notes and activities section at the back helps parents, guardians, and teachers further discuss these issues with children.
Why is this book important? As early as 6 months old, a baby’s brain can notice race-based differences; children ages 2 to 4 can internalize racial bias and start assigning meaning to race; and 5- to 8-year-olds begin to place value judgments on similarities and differences. By age 12, children have a complete set of stereotypes about every racial, ethnic, and religious group in society. Our guidance is especially crucial during this impressionable time.
Race Cars offers a simple, yet powerful, way to introduce these complicated themes to our children and is a valuable addition to classroom and home libraries.
Available Editions
EDITION | Hardcover |
ISBN | 9780711262898 |
PRICE | £11.99 (GBP) |
Featured Reviews
*A free copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own*
This is a simplly illustrated picture story book about a some very challenging problems; white privilege and racial discrimination. I can see this being a great starting point for conversations with children about race.
From the outset of this review, I'd like to note that I am not an Own Voices reviewer. Overall, I thought the presentation was engaging for children and a car race is a good way to introduce the idea of white privilege. There are tips provided to support adults when reading this text with children and some questions to stimulate conversation. This is definitely not an independent text, if you want the child to get the deeper meaning out of the book. It requires thoughtful discussion and an openness to questions. And that is ok - the best learning comes when the child is an active member in their learning, rather than when an answer is handed to them in black and white.
The only improvement I would suggest is to adjust the ending. It was oversimplistic, alluding to the false idea that racism can be solved with one small action.
I would definitely recommend this to educators and parents with children from 5-12 years old.
This is a brilliant book. It makes the idea of white privilege and ravial discrimination really easy for children to understand in an enjoyable way.
Would highly recommend.
This is such a clever book. It tells the story of two cars: a black car called Chase and a white car called Ace. The cars are best friends and both love to race together in the annual race, until the race leaders begin to change the rules for the non-white cars, making it much harder for them to do well.
I really liked the illustrations and overall look of this book. The simple shapes and colours support the text but without taking the focus away from the text.
I also liked the notes both before and after the book, explaining how the book came to be written and providing guidance for reading the book with children.