When my cousin had her son, I knew exactly what I wanted to bring them as a present. Growing up in Ottawa, I remember falling asleep to stories like Love You Forever and Goodnight Moon. Those were the classics of my childhood. Two decades later, I was hoping to introduce our newest family member to a different type of character?one who looked like us.
I am second-generation Indo-Canadian. My Indian parents immigrated to Canada and I was born here (in Belleville, Ont., actually). I celebrate Christmas and Diwali, understand Hindi but cannot speak it, and my skin is the colour of whole-wheat toast. My story, like many of the 1.9 million Canadians who also identify as South Asian, has been a true blend of my Indian heritage and Canadian life?and I knew my cousin?s son was in for a similar experience. But at the bookstore, among the paperbacks about caterpillars, bears and little tots, I couldn?t find a single story with a main character who looked like me.
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How to talk to kids about racism: An age-by-age guideIndian-American actress Sheetal Sheth remembers feeling a similar frustration when she was expecting. ?When I was pregnant with my first child, I was dismayed at the lack of representation in kids? literature,? she says. ?I didn’t see e...