Over the years I have been able to add reviews of many wonderful books to my Black History Month Feature. Many of these books tells the stories of brave and steadfast African-Americans who made the world a better place even though the odds were so strongly against them. Today a bring you a book that is a little different. It is about two little Caucasian children who know nothing about racism when we first meet them, and who later see the ugliness of bigotry first hand. When we look through the eyes of innocent children we truly see how cruel and unacceptable racism is on so many levels.
A taste of colored water
A taste of colored water
Matt Faulkner
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Simon and Schuster, 2008, 978-1-4169-1629-1
Abbey Finch recently went to the big city with her mama
to go shopping, and while she was there she saw a water bubbler that had a sign
hanging over it that said “Colored.” She tells the kids back at home about what
she saw and they all think she is “crazy.” Why would anyone have colored water
coming out of a water fountain?
The kids are
inclined to think that this story is yet another of Abbey’s fibs, but they
cannot help thinking how wonderful it would be to see a fountain that spouts
forth colored water. Lulu and her cousin Jelly decide that they really have to
see this marvel, and by some miracle they soon get the opportunity. Uncle Jack
needs to get a part for a tractor he is working on, and the two children pester
the man to take them with him until he gives in. Of course, Lulu and Jelly know
better than to tell Uncle Jack why they really want to go to the big city so
badly.
Now, Lulu and
Jelly have never been to the big city before, and the sight of all those tall
buildings, the streets, and the lack of fields and trees is rather
overwhelming. Uncle Jack finally gets to his destination, a shop across the
street from city hall, and he goes to get the tractor part that he is looking
for, telling the children to “Stay put” while he is gone.
Of course they
don’t. The colored water bubbler is right there and so they go and investigate,
never expecting that what they will experience on that hill next to the city
hall will put a crack in their world view that will change them forever.
Children are
naturally open and accepting of everyone. Until someone teaches them to be
fearful of people who are different from them, they more often than not do not
really see or care about another child’s skin color, hair color, eye color, or
eye shape. For them a kid is just a kid.
In this thought-provoking book Matt Faulkner
gives young readers a story about two children who have no idea that a whole
section of their society, African-Americans, are forced to live separately, and
are denied rights that white people take for granted. In just a few minutes the
children discover that in the adult world there are lines and boundaries that
cause anger, pain, and frustration.
Seeing the world
through Jelly and Lulu’s eyes will remind adults of that time when they, like
these two children, were free of prejudice. The story will give those adults
the means to have an open dialogue with the children in their lives about
racism.
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