Books For Littles

What Is Books For Littles?

Books For Littles (BFL) helps caregivers and educators ignite the next generation of kind and courageous leaders by unpacking children’s media through a critical literacy and social justice lens. Children’s media is a delightfully accessible tool to examine cultural bias and systemic oppression for both experienced advocates and those who are completely new to justice work.

Who Books For Littles Is For

I built this space for caregivers, parents, and educators raising kiddos to recognize injustice and dismantle systems of oppression.

You may have arrived here after a frustrating search for respectful representation in children’s media. And maybe you stuck around after learning how creators normalize bias even in innocuous kids books. I hope you’ll stick around to learn how to challenge those systems to build a brighter future together.

What You’ll Find in Books For Littles

I designed the resources in the Books For Littles Legacy Library to be accessible  whether you’re an experienced advocate or completely new to social justice issues.

You’ll find:

• Guides to unpack problematic tropes in children’s media
• Book recommendations to navigate tricky conversations with kids
• Lesson plans and discussion prompts to build your child’s advocacy skills
• Simple, free, and time-saving art activities and discussion guides for home or the classroom

How Books For Littles Started

I started Books For Littles in 2014 as a small Facebook group inspired by a book recommendation for Flora and the Flamingo by a friend and homeschool educator, Laurel Wong Cellemme. 

At the time, I had a two-year-old and an infant, and had already vetted hundreds of books while searching for stories that normalized and celebrated our multiracial, multi-cultural, and mixed-ability family. 

So when members of the group asked for books about common interests like trucks or princesses, I would suggest stories that also featured people of color, disabled characters, and gender-nonconforming kids. Knowing how boring books seed resentment in kids, my goal was to highlight only stories that our kids genuinely enjoyed.

Raising Luminaries Revolution & Service

Members of our rapidly-growing Facebook group began actively asking for book recommendations to push back against the hate and rising authoritarianism exposed by the 2016 elections.

In response, I created reading lists and guides to support families having honest discussions about systemic injustice. Rather than let all this hard work rot in ancient facebook posts, I launched the Books For Littles website in 2017 so caregivers could search and browse through these resources. That same year, I also founded Raising Luminaries as a larger umbrella to provide broader support for caregivers doing justice-oriented parenting work beyond bedtime stories.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when many families shifted toward alternative schooling, I began creating family action toolkits and home-school curriculum for parents struggling to keep their kids from climbing the walls in isolation.

Books for Littles became our hub for free, time-saving toolkits and child-centered curriculum accessible to the public. But what about the caregivers who wanted more than book clubs? Raising Luminaries became our tinker space connecting through parenting support groups, building workshops, and supporting neurodivergent caregivers struggling to balance advocacy and care work.

The Next Stage for Books For Littles: The Legacy Library

Now that the Little Earthquakes are in middle school, they don’t want to screen children’s books with me – and I don’t blame them! I think it’s unethical to recommend kids books without evaluating how actual children engage with each story. And on top of that – I’m moving abroad under a limited work visa, which means I can’t touch the Books For Littles website for two years.

So I hosted listening sessions to make sure I’m supporting our most vulnerable community members during this transition. I was surprised to learn that parents with younger children still find these resources helpful even a decade later. Our members decided to transition my work into a legacy library that keeps these resources free and accessible for the next generation of kyriarchy-smashing kiddos.

The Books For Littles website now serves as a free archive containing twelve years of guides, articles, and teaching tools to help caregivers raise kind and courageous kiddos all the way from infancy through the tween years.

Keep this Library Accessible

If you’ve found these resources helpful, time-saving, or supportive, consider keeping them accessible for caregivers working alongside you toward collective liberation.

Your support helps maintain this free public library of educational tools for families who cannot afford paywalled resources. You can contribute with a one-time donation or by becoming a sustaining patron of the BFL Legacy Library.

with you,

Ashia R.

PS: Writing ‘About Pages’ stresses me out so I avoided it for 12 years. Thanks to Lena H. for helping me finally get this done!