This week on Scholastic Reads, we're talking with three creators who are working to ensure that all children see themselves in books, especially black girls. First, we sit down with Marley Dias, the 13-year-old activist behind #1000BlackGirlBooks, a campaign with a mission to collect and donate 1,000 books featuring black girls as the main protagonist. Marley started the campaign after feeling frustrated with her elementary school's reading curriculum which predominantly featured, as she says, "white boys and their dogs."
Marley is now the author of her very own book, Marley Dias Gets It Done...and So Can You!, so she talks with us about what it's like becoming the character that she was looking for on her bookshelf.
Suzanne, our host, shares her duties with Titus Smith III, one of our fabulous Scholastic News Kids Press Corps reporters, and it is heart-melting and inspiring to hear him talk with Marley about their shared desire to see themselves in the books they read.
Later on in the episode, we talk with Kelly Greenawalt and Amariah Raushcer, the creators of the picture book character Princess Truly.
Kelly shares with us that she created Princess Truly after one of her daughter's preschool classmates told her that she couldn't dress up as a princess because she didn't have "magical princess hair."
So, she created Truly, a beautiful, strong, inventive black girl who can do everything from travel through time to start a rock band with aliens to tame lions! (All thanks, of course, to her magical, sparkling curls.)
This is an episode you won't want to miss, so pop in your headphones and give it a listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts! And when you're done, let us know what you thought! Tweet us @scholastic, and/or leave us a review on your favorite podcast app!
