Equity Walk Books: Walking on Tiptoe

What does it mean to tiptoe around a subject? Have you been quiet when you could have said something? What makes you want to speak out?

Drum Dream Girl, by Margarita Engle
A Cuban American author writes a story inspired by a Chinese-African-Cuban girl who defied the rule against girls playing drums.
Each Kindness, written by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by E.B. Lewis.
When a new girl named Maya joins their class, Chloe and her friends shun her efforts to become friends, instead taunting Maya for her ragged clothes. Then Maya suddenly moves away, and Chloe is haunted by her failure to be kind to her.

Sylvia & Aki, by Winifred Conkling
Important and undersung history about Sylvia Mendez and Aki Munemitsu Nakautchi, about school desegregation, friendship, family, courage, home, Japanese internment, colorism.
Real Friends, written by Shannon Hale and illustrated by LeUyen Pham.
In this graphic novel memoir, Hale details the ups and downs of her early years (through 5th grade) in finding friends and her place in her family.

Good Kind of Trouble, by Lisa Moore Ramée
A steadfast rule follower has to decide whether or not she should fight for what’s right and get involved in Black Lives Matter.
First Rule of Punk, by Celia Pérez
A creative punk rock Mexican American zine creator with divorced parents finding her place among her family and school.
Okay For Now, written by Gary Schmidt.
The compelling book is told from the viewpoint of Doug Swieteck, who works out his anger and fear about a rocky home life and his own insecurities by bullying others.
Dear Bully, edited by Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones. Seventy top authors share stories about victims and bullies from their early years.

Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob
Mira Jacob responds to her 6-year old biracial son who asks if the president hates brown kids like him. She deals with her white in-laws being Trump supporters, her relationship with her parents, and her history of being marginalized.
How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir by Saeed Jones
A brief, poetic, and powerful coming of age story of Jones’s life as a Black, gay, Southern man told mostly through his relationships with older men, his mother, and his grandmother and how he cannot comfortably be his whole self with all its intersections.
Montgomery County Schools Equity Initiatives Unit
Raising Race Conscious Children
NAEYC Equity Resources: Living the Statement
An Educator’s Guide to This Moment