There are so many wonderful picture books about the emotion of LOVE.
A parents’ love for their children.
A child’s love for family.
Love for each other.
So in honor of Valentine’s Day, here are my top picks for The Best Diverse Picture Books About LOVE.
Family Love
Love is a Family by Sophie Beer
This fun, inclusive board book celebrates the one thing that makes every family a family . . . and that’s LOVE. Love is baking a special cake. Love is lending a helping hand. Love is reading one more book. In this exuberant board book, many different families are shown in happy activity, from an early-morning wake-up to a kiss before bed. Whether a child has two moms, two dads, one parent, or one of each, this simple preschool read-aloud demonstrates that what’s most important in each family’s life is the love the family members share.
My Dad’s Job by Deedee Cummings
My Dad’s Job is a book about the relationship between a father and son. I wrote the book for many reasons, but first and foremost was probably my frustration with finding a good book on fatherhood that had characters resembling my own family. There are many books with dads as the main character, but not many books with Black dads as the main character.
While not 100% true to life, it is inspired by my family’s story and follows the relationship of a father and son as the son grows up. The dad and son talk about what the dad’s job is and the dad focuses on the fact that his primary and most important job is being his dad.
It is important for families to see that love and loyalty are shown in lots of different ways. Each person’s version or idea of what love looks and feels like will not always be the same. In this story, the father is a man of few words, but a lot of action. The father shows his family every day what it means to love, care, provide for and protect his family more through modeling than talk.
When the dad tells the son that he is going to track him how to be a man, the boy misunderstands how this will happen. Maybe the son thinks that this education will look more like a classroom or a formal lesson. He just does not realize that the father is showing him by his own daily actions and interactions exactly how a man should be. This is a story of the power of modeling and the importance of being there in a child’s life. Just keeping your word can be a powerful lesson for a child to absorb. Showing is often better than telling.
Sibling Love
The Proudest Blue A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S.K. Ali, illustrated by Hatem Aly
This beautiful picture book shares the sweet bond between the sisters. Woven into the story is also the importance of the hijab in the Muslim faith and the feeling of pride for who you are. Faizah looks up to her big sister, Asiya, and especially when her big sister wears a beautiful, blue hijab for the first time. Not everyone at schools sees Asiya’s hijab as beautiful, but Faizah only sees her sister’s beauty and strength despite the comments of others.
The New Small Person by Lauren Child
This book shares the familiar tale of the adjustment period that sometimes takes place when a new little human is added to the family. Elmore Green is perfectly satisfied with his life. He a room to himself and toys that no one else can mess with. But then one day, everything changes and a new small person infiltrates his comfortable world. In her signature visual style, Lauren Child gets to the heart of a child’s evolving emotions about becoming a big brother or sister.
The Emotion of Love
Love Is…is a succinct 73-word diverse children’s picture book that reveals a powerful lesson through lyrical verse and beautiful illustrations. Within the vibrant pages, author Deedee Cummings shares a simple message that bears repeating; Love is precious and it is something we must nurture, take care of, and never take for granted.
Love Is… reminds readers of all ages that Love is a gift meant to be shared by every being. Love is… is a masterpiece of word and color poetry that draws readers of all ages in. {ages 2 and up}
Love Is...is a charming children’s book that shares a valuable message: love is a gift meant to be shared by every being. Filled with beautiful illustrations and a stunning palette, this book shows children the many different ways that love is expressed – many of which can easily be forgotten or taken for granted. Love is… is a masterpiece of word and color poetry that draws readers of all ages in. {ages 2 and up}
“My 6- year old son saw ‘Love is…’ and couldn’t wait for me to read it to him. It filled his bucket. We discussed the beautiful illustrations and talked about love. We love the positivity of the book and that it reminds us to shine our light and to not close off our hearts.”~Eat Pure Love
Love is Powerful by Heather Dean Brewer and LeUyen Pham
Mari raised her sign for everyone to see.
Even though she was small and the crowd was very big,
and she didn’t think anyone would hear,
she yelled out.
Mari is getting ready to make a sign with crayons as the streets below her fill up with people. “What are we making, Mama?” she asks. “A message for the world,” Mama says. “How will the whole world hear?” Mari wonders. “They’ll hear,” says Mama, “because love is powerful.” Inspired by a girl who participated in the January 2017 Women’s March in New York City, Heather Dean Brewer’s simple and uplifting story, delightfully illustrated by LeUyen Pham, is a reminder of what young people can do to promote change and equality at a time when our country is divided by politics, race, gender, and religion.
Caregiver Love
The Remember Balloons by Jessie Oliveros
Sometimes relationships with grandparents are coupled with difficulties due to age-related decline. This sensitive tale of how a boy and his grandfather use balloons to represent memories offers children a positive way of coping with a grandparent’s memory loss.
I Really Want to See You, Grandma, by Taro Gomi
This is a joy-filled diverse picture book about the excitement and anticipation surrounding a trip to see grandma. Yumi and her grandma are so excited about seeing each other that they race to the other’s house–at the same time! Will they cross paths? Or miss each other completely?
Superhero Gran by Timothy Knapman and Joe Berger
All grandmothers are wonderful, and this gran is no exception. She might not lift buildings or go whooshing through the sky, but she can plan super sleepovers, tell tickle-filled stories, and even put together great disguises to make a superhero team with her grandchildren.
The Kayla: A Modern-Day Princess 5-Book Kickstarter Campaign
In 2020, I made the decision to rewrite Kayla: A Modern-Day Princess with new illustrations and a stronger message. But my brain and creativity didn’t want to stop at just one book! That’s when an epic project began to unfold as my team and I met and brainstormed on how to help the world see the beauty and power of how our Brown and Black girls all have the potential to be QUEENS
A princess is a queen in training. According to the dictionary, a queen is the reigning female of her family, regarded as the most outstanding in a particular sphere or group. How better does a young girl figure out her place in the world than by watching her mother proudly proclaim hers?
Girls become strong by witnessing the challenges of their mothers. It is life training in real-time and it was definitely the case for my daughter and me.
This #OwnVoices project is a five-part series set for Rapid Release in the spring and summer of 2021. Following the picture series will be a middle-grade series and a script to continue to tell the story of this dynamic and necessary character.
Why Kickstarter?
Because this project is innovative and unique!
This Kickstarter Project will be supporting author Deedee Cummings’ mission of Rapid Releasing a picture book series and sharing Black Girl Magic with the world! These five beautifully-illustrated books will be released back-to-back so readers can watch Kayla grow up and, through her eyes, see the power of following your dreams.
Kickstarter is wonderful because it gives creators the chance to offer fun rewards, and it fosters a spirit of community giving. There are many amazing themes and topics within the Kayla series, including following your dreams, the bond between mothers and their daughter(s), the importance of representation, and pursuing a career in the performing arts.
We have a lot of rewards to share with those who support this dream, and Kickstarter is the perfect way to make this vision come to life.
What is Rapid Releasing?
Rapid Releasing is the act of releasing 3+ books within a month of each other for maximum buzz, marketing, and visibility. Every time a new book is released, it will stay on Amazon’s Hot New Release list for 30 days. By releasing a Kayla book every 30 days, there will always be one of our beautiful series on the Hot New Release list. It’s an epic way to build buzz and build momentum for the next book in the series!
Rapid Releasing is an expensive and ambitious project, but it is one that the Make A Way Team is committed to implementing and successfully completing. Releasing Kayla: A Modern Day Princess books 2-5 in rapid succession allows readers, parents, caregivers, educators, and librarians to seamlessly share the story of a little Brown girl who grows, evolves, and inspires as the story continues.
Watch social media and this blog to participate, donate, and enjoy some of the wonderful rewards and incentives this project has in store for everyone! And follow these hashtags on Instagram: #moderndayk #moderndayprincess #makeawaymedia #kaylapecchioni #deedeecummings #diversebooks
GO HERE to preorder your copy of Kayla: A Modern-Day Princess (Spring of 2021) OR, support our unique and innovative Kickstarter 5-Book Rapid Release Project!