My two-year-old son loves to be read to, maybe even more than his sisters did at his age. “Read it again!” is one of his most common sentences. He likes books about dinosaurs, books about hippos, books about cars. . . . He’s not picky.
So I thought I would get him Ibram Kendi’s board book, Antiracist Baby. I would read it to him, record his reactions, and get a quick light column out of it. I might find a way to mention that I’ve found him making the “ok” sign once or twice a year ago, and figured the book might do him some good.
No such luck. I had gotten four words into the book last night — “Antiracist baby is bred, not born,” is the first sentence, with a drawing of a protest — when he pushed it away. “Don’t like it!” And with that, the column was dead, and we were back to Quiet Bunny.