with children back in school this week I wanted to share a new children’s book you will find inside our back-To- School Gift guide 23: What Do Brothers Do All Day? By Ajuan Mance this book is from ChronicleKids.com. I received a copy of this book for the review and a spot in our Gift Guide.
I hate to admit it but I don’t remember much of my childhood and what books I would read as a little child. But I do remember when my daughter was born and my nephew how I would read them books from Richard Scarry‘ including What Do People Do All Day? Charlie came along and I repurchased the books to reach to Charlie which is why I was excited to have a copy of What Do Brothers Do All Day?
I enjoyed how the author focused on black men for this book and what they do every day. What Do Brothers Do All Day? allowed Charlie to learn more about black men and how they are the same as we are but at times different. We learned about African American communities. Brothers drive and they ride. Would you like to ride with them??
They wait for the bus which I would like to take Charlie on our community bus for a Homeschool Field Trip. Would you like to go with us? We can stop for lunch. They wait in line just like we do. They get lined up or for us a haircut and then the build just like Charlie’s dad used to do. They cook and eat. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t mind having something to eat.
They float and they fly but in what I’m not going to tell you because I think you should purchase a copy of What Do Brothers Do All Day? to read with your friends and family. They jump and they dance which Charlie and I need to watch them so we can use dancing in our Homeschool PE class. They March just as we did in the 60’s only, I wasn’t old enough to. Were you?
They sing and we need to listen to their music to study in our Homeschool Music class. They play, sip and spin but don’t ask me what this is you need to purchase a copy of What Do Brothers Do All Day? to find out. They listen and laugh just like we do. Most of all they love which we all should do more of.
Inspired by Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day? these joyous portraits of Black men engaged in everyday life celebrate the deep roots and rich cultures of African American communities.
Have you ever wondered . . .
What do brothas do all day?
Brothas drive. Brothas dance. Brothas work. Brothas listen. And brothas love .
Scarry’s now-classic book, first published in 1968, is a richly illustrated guide to the places, jobs, and activities that defined the daily lives of grown-ups. Author-illustrator Ajuan Mance created What Do Brothas Do All Day?, like Scarry, in response to children’s innate curiosity about the activities and experiences of others, but also to meet the longing many kids have for characters and communities that look and feel like the people and places they know.
This joyous reflection of real Black men and boys engaged in everyday life is a gift for Black kids who rarely see themselves reflected in the pages of a book and an affirmation of their world and the people who populate it. From grocery shopping and waiting for a trim at the barbershop to singing, dancing, and laughing with friends, Mance captures the beauty in the ordinary, affirming the enduring strength of the Black community.
DIVERSE BOOKS FOR KIDS: This picture book features real Black men the author has observed in the world-everyday people, not models or stereotypes. One fan describes it as just a rainbow of Black men, a beautiful rainbow of Black men.”
LIBRARIAN LOVE: What Do Brothas Do All Day? began as an all-ages zine, but the author began to conceive of it as a children’s book after being approached by two children’s librarians.
INSPIRED BY A CLASSIC: As the author notes in the book, “I first encountered Richard Scarry’s work in the early 1970s when I was about six years old. The world of adults, with its grocery lists, PTA meetings, shopping trips, and dinner parties, seemed both tantalizingly exotic and impossibly complex. Today, those same descriptors can be applied to the ways that many people of all ages perceive Black men.”
AN INVITATION: The book ends with an invitation, perhaps even a call to action: What will you do today?
Perfect for: • Parents and grandparents seeking engaging read-aloud and read-along picture books
• Teachers and librarians looking for books featuring Black communities
• Gift for readers of Jacqueline Woodson, Kwame Alexander, Cedella Marley, and Derrick Barnes books
• Fans of Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day?
Meet the Author:
Ajuan Mance is a professor of African American literature at Mills College in Oakland, California. A lifelong artist and writer, Mance uses humor and bright colors to explore race, gender, power, and people, and the places in which they intersect. She lives in the Bay Area.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
