Baby Young, Gifted and Black

It’s important for children to know from a young age that they can be anything they want to be, given time and effort. This beautiful and aspirational board book from Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins (who created Young, Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past and Present for older readers) presents babies and toddlers with 17 portraits of a diverse and international range of black icons, leaders and visionaries from history and the present day, combined with positive affirmation-type statements, such as 'I love to move my body' like Misty Copeland, or 'I am powerful' like the Williams sisters. At the end of the book, there’s a mirror for little ones to see themselves too.

While babies won’t specifically understand about any of the people featured, or what words like 'champion' and 'powerful' mean, it’s still good for little ones to hear names that they’ll become more familiar with as they get older, and be talked to in an empowering way by their parents or carers. The focus of this board book is instilling a sense of confidence in little ones, as well as providing an all-too-rare resource featuring black role models for small children – both of which are welcome.