BY Kirsten Cappy
Illustration by Rafael López from The Day You Begin
What do kids absorb when they hear lies or generalities about immigrants?
What does hearing “Venezuelan” paired with “violent gangs” again and again do to children’s perceptions of themselves or their Venezuelan classmates or neighbors?
It is hard to find the words to counter the onslaught.
“There will be times when the words don’t come.”
—Jacqueline Woodson, The Day You Begin
I encourage you—even if you do not work with children—to turn to the words in children’s books to counter negative narratives.
I have Jacqueline Woodson’s perfect picture book The Day You Begin, open in front of me.
In it, Rigoberto who has just moved from Venezuela is laughed at by his US classmates when “no one understands the way words curl from your mouth, the beautiful language of the country you left behind.”
In Rafael López’s glorious illustrations, Rigoberto looks lost until his teacher says his name and “Venezuela” “so soft and beautifully that your name and homeland sound like flowers blooming the first bright notes of a song.”
This is what educators and community leaders do—turn each of us into the bright notes in the song of America.
Let books give you the words to celebrate the Venezuelan community.
Let books give you a powerful counter-narrative.
As —Jacqueline Woodson says, “This is the day you begin.”
Watch Woodson Read Aloud
