Let's Talk About Race / Julius Lester

Let's Talk About Race, written by Julius Lester and illustrated by Karen Barbour, is an excellent book for children to read; this children's book does an excellent job of creating a multi-cultural environment within its pages and allowing children to learn how people are "different," but really, how people are all the same.

Lester uses an interesting narrative to get his point across; he communicates directly with the reader. He uses lines such as "Your race is not all that you are. My race is not all that I am. Yes, I am black but I am also a man. I am of medium height. I have a deep voice and a loud laugh. (I love to laugh. Do you?)" to create an open communication with the readers, asking questions and trying to find commonalities.

The graphics / illustrations in the book are wonderful, creating an atmosphere of beauty among the many different races represented. Children who read this book can see how people may look different, but all people are realistically the same. The book shows people "without their skin," relating how, if humans had no skin, we would look exactly the same. This concept is one that Lester easily communicates in such a way that children can easily understand.

Julius Lester is a Newbery Honor Book Award winner for To Be a Slave, a Caldecott Honor Book Award winner for John Henry, and a National Book Award finalist for Long Journey Home: Stories from Black History. Lester is an accomplished civil rights activist, radio talk-show host, and a professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.


Nate Smith

Resource:

Lester, J. (2005). Let's talk about race. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.