Author Nic Stone Wants Us to Read Books About Black People, Not Just About Racism
In a recent Instagram post, writer Nic Stone urged followers to read more books about the normal lives of Black people.
The New York Times best-selling author wrote that reading books about racism is not enough; people must also read about Black people “ just being human.”
Stone’s own work features Black youth as the main characters. Her books, such as Odd One Out and Dear Martin, portray three-dimensional Black characters with unique problems and aspirations.
To encourage readers to engage with Black stories, Stone listed several books that have Black children as the main characters in her post. She mentioned Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, How to be Remy Cameron by Julian Winters, and many others.
After sharing this message on Instagram, Stone published an opinion piece in Cosmopolitan on the topic that received wide praise. In her article, Stone discusses how the books we read and shows we watch influence the way we see the world. As a child, Stone says she couldn’t find characters like herself in books. She writes, “As far as I knew then, Black girls like me didn’t exist in books.”
Ooh lookit me I wrote a thing in my favorite magazine to sneak-read as a teen! 🥰🥰🥰 https://t.co/LO9vKrRwjP
— Nic (@getnicced) June 8, 2020
As protests against police brutality and white supremacy continue, more and more people are working to educate themselves about racism in America. While learning about the concept of racism is important, we must also learn by reading the loving, complex, funny, mournful, and human stories of Black authors and their characters.
