On International Children’s Book Day (April 2), we asked five women who have jumped into children’s publishing—Meena Harris, Chelsea Clinton, Hilary Duff, Pamela Paul and Sharee Miller—about the role that children’s books and early childhood reading play in their own lives:
Meena Harris
To Foster Diverse Representation Meena Harris’s jump into early childhood reading was born out of frustration. “If I wanted a book with characters that looked like my daughters, I’d just have to write it myself,” the author, Phenomenal founder and mother of two thought. “As a new parent, I just got really tired of having to grab a brown marker or switch up pronouns just to introduce some diversity into the books I was reading with my kids.” Imagining a world in which all children saw themselves represented is why Harris got into writing—but it also keeps her here. In a 2019 report by Cooperative Children’s Book Center, there were more animal main characters (29.2 percent) than Black, Asian, Pacific Islander, Latinx and Native American combined. “We know children’s books have a big impact on developing minds—and studies have shown that children can start harboring racial bias as young as age three. So kid’s literature in particular, which has the power to shape the way children see the world and the way they view themselves, has a hugely important role to play.” Harris’s latest title, Ambitious Girl, is a reminder of just how powerful words are for children, specifically words used to describe ambitious women in a negative light. “In 2020, I felt really angry about how the media kept treating the word “ambition,” like it was a valid critique of women,” she says. “I wrote Ambitious Girl to help reclaim and reframe women’s ambition and show the world that it’s a good thing.” While it’s written for young girls, it’s a reminder for women everywhere that your ambition, your assertiveness, your persistence is never a drawback. It’s something to embrace. Dreams are never a burden, no matter what voices might tell you otherwise.
Chelsea Clinton
To Introduce Kids to the World “The stories we read and hear as children are some of the most powerful ways we learn what’s possible—for ourselves, our friends, our families and our communities,” says Clinton, whose 2017 bestseller She Persisted sparked conversations about the achievements of women in history, so much so that it has expanded most recently to once-a-month chapter book biographies of Harriet Tubman (by Andrea Davis Pinkney, January), Claudette Colvin (by Lesa Cline-Ransome, February), Sally Ride(by Atia Abawi, March), Virginia Apgar (by Dr. Sayantani DasGupta, April) and more. “You can’t be what you can’t see,” says Clinton, acknowledging both Sally Ride and Marian Wright Edelman’s words. “Helping close that imagination gap for kids is why I’m so passionate about sharing the stories of strong women who have persevered, against the odds.” Not new to the children’s publishing world (she’s even collaborated with her mom for Grandma’s Gardens, a picture book about her late grandmother’s shared love of nature—and the bonds that can be created around it), Clinton recognizes the enormous impact reading to children can have on their early language and literacy development, as well as their ability to empathize and see the world. “When we read to our kids, we’re fostering their imaginations and we’re helping build their brains. All of that is important to their development, happiness and success.”
Hilary Duff
For a Moment of Bonding Dealing with the challenges of life as a working mom, Younger actress Hilary Duff wrote a love letter for mothers and daughters called My Little Brave Girl, a reminder that her own daughter’s future (and the futures of little girls everywhere) were boundless. “I was less than four months postpartum, and I had just started back to work,” she says. “I knew that things were going to change. And with a heavy heart, I felt proud and scared and moved by all of the ways I was going to watch my little girl take on the world bravely.” The spark for the mom of three’s first children’s book came during a bonding moment with her daughter, Banks. That shared stillness, that shared time together is also one of the reasons Duff finds reading with her kids so important. “The bonding experience of having a bedtime routine that includes books and quiet time spent closely together provides a sense of stability, love and comfort,” she says. The books she turns to are ones with ambitious themes for young girls—“books where the girls are the heroes, where the girls are as capable and strong as others, and books with a message of independence and empowerment. We love a princess and a castle, but we don’t need no savin,’” she says.
Pamela Paul
To Encourage a Love of Stories For New York Times Book Review editor Pamela Paul, the stories children read are the ultimate way to instill empathy in them. Rectangle Time, the author and editor’s first jump into children’s literature is a sweet, hopeful tale about friendships that change as one boy transitions from storytime with his silly cat to become a more independent reader. The reading time ritual is shown from the feline’s point of view (“rectangle time!”) and highlights the power of stories to bring people—and their furry friends—together. “Children’s books open up children’s eyes to the world outside and the world within,” Paul says. “They allow children to explore their feelings, understand their own experiences and process their own ideas through the useful lens of a story, which offers some distance. Books also allow us to cross distances—to bring other peoples’ experiences into our own line of vision, to understand people and situations and places and times that we don’t have direct, first-hand experiences with.” For many kids, that starts with a picture book, “the real wizards of the literary world,” as Paul has written. With picture books, children are absorbing the narrative through images they’re seeing, while pairing them with words they’re hearing. “They are forging connections between what they see and what they hear,” she says. “Having a picture book read aloud to a child is a full-sensory experience.” And as Paul will remind you, the illustrations enrich the words on the page. “I think we’re living in a golden age for picture books, and to focus for a moment on illustrators, there are so many artists [that I reach for]: Hyewon Yum, Sophie Blackall, Marla Frazee, Jillian Tamaki, Beatrice Alamagna, Isabelle Arsenault (to name just a few women). Through these full sensory experiences, we come to know other peoples’ stories by reading and feeling them, Paul says. “To find the commonalities we all share despite differences in background, era and experience.”
Sharee Miller
To Learn Something New Author (and illustrator—she does it all!) Sharee Miller had an idea. For her latest book, Michelle’s Garden: How the First Lady Planted Seeds of Change, she would reflect on the largest kitchen garden ever grown at the White House, the woman who made it happen and the process of learning—with the help of those around her. “When I learned Michelle Obama had never gardened before, but she was prepared to learn, I saw the story I wanted to tell take shape,” Miller says. “This book is not only a tribute to her contributions to children’s health, but it’s also a timeless lesson in learning new things with the help of others.” For Miller, these stories allow young children to experience new places, skills and cultures and better understand one another. “The concepts, lessons and differences we are exposed to as children form the foundation of the type of adults we will be.” And seeing representation in those learning roles—someone as accomplished as a Black former first lady, for instance—is vital. “Growing up, I felt books that featured girls that looked like me were mainly full of struggle and pain. Or they told stories of triumph and adversity I did not identify with. I hope the “trend” of representation and OWN voices continue as not just a trend but as a permeant, lasting change that impacts the market. I hope that underrepresented characters are no longer represented as a monolith, and we can see the full spectrum of the human experience.” Next, find out why Julie’s Greenroom is the perfect Netflix binge for your family.
