Local Author Weaves Moral Themes and Examples of Diversity Into Children’s Books

Kenyatta Scott (pictured) is the author of The Violet Book Series, a series of morally based children books. Photo Credit: Amber Green
Kenyatta Scott (pictured) is the author of The Violet Book Series, a series of morally based children books. Photo Credit: Amber Green

Local Author Weaves Moral Themes and Examples of Diversity Into Children’s Books

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

Kenyatta Scott is the author of The Violet Series, a children’s book that follows the life of a young girl living in a African-American family. Within each book, Scott has very thoughtfully woven a moral lesson into the everyday happenings of Violet and her family with the intention of showing children that doing the right thing is fun.

So far, Scott has released two books in the Violet Book series, Violet Finds A Dollar and Violet Makes A Pizza. The series first launched in 2016 when Scott was able to self-publish Violet Finds a Dollar.

“The first book in the series is Violet Finds a Dollar and that one is all about what would you do if you found something that didn’t belong to you and that is the underlying theme and concept,” said Scott. “Each book follows a day in the life of Violet and she is learning life lessons along the way.”

In the book, Violet spends a lot of time with her father. She also has a little brother and a step-mom that are represented in the stories.

“Violet is a spunky, rambunctious six-year old little girl,” said Scott. “We have her dad, I really wanted fathers to be represented in the book and Violet is learning a lot of her life lessons from dad. I think the focus on daddy-daughter time works to break down that stereotype that fathers are not as prevalent in our communities. She has a little brother Derek, he’s three, and she also has a stepmom which gives a good representation of blended families.”

The second book in the Violet Book Series is Violet Makes a Pizza and Scott said after she published the second book she had a revelation that Violet is a true Chicago girl with a great love for pizza.

“Violet Makes a Pizza is the second book in the series and it wasn’t until I actually came out with the book that I realized she was really a Chicago girl, she loves pizza and I love pizza too! I knew that this would really represent us well. The underlying moral theme for this one is all about being thoughtful and thinking of others outside of yourself and seeing how you can help somebody’s day to be just a little bit brighter and easier,” said Scott.

The Violet Book Series grew out of Scotts lifelong passion for working with children and wanting to create a better representation of minority characters, families, and role models for them.

“This really came from my passion for communication, my passion for children, and also wanting to inspire our children and share with them the possibilities that are endless and vast if they just put in the hard work and believe in themselves and I wanted to let them know that somebody else believes in them too, all of that added up to creating The Violet Book Series,” said Scott.

To learn more about the Violet Book Series visit www.thevioletbookseries.com.

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