AUTHOR WRITES INCLUSIVE CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Dr. Pamela Gurley is the author of the “Brown Boy and Girl” series which teaches children about self confidence, self love and self acceptance. Photo provided by Dr. Pamela Gurley
books about the culture, representation,
shifts and changes, trying to gain equity and
equality. What always resonated with her
was how her vision of the world changed
from childhood to adulthood. The “Brown
Girl and Brown Boy” book series came to
her in her sleep and she woke up with five
titles.
who is a therapist and she helped her come
up with five more titles. There are 10 titles,
which have been translated into French and
Spanish. They are geared toward Black and
Brown children, ages 3 years old and older.
The books focus on topics of having self-determination
and self-confidence; self-love
and self-acceptance. There are three books
that are specifically for Black and Brown
children with Down Syndrome, Autism (or
other social diagnoses), and children with
Physical Disabilities.
look at representation, I look at it from a
holistic standpoint. A lot of times when
people talk about representation, a lot of it
has to do with skin color or socioeconomic
things and I wanted to really capture what
representation meant when it came to
books,” she said.
in her books. It was her vision to
have all kinds of children represented in her
books and have them feel good when they
read her books.
are the overarching themes of the
books. The next two installments of the
books center around learning how to be
yourself and wellness and hygiene. The
following book will be about manners.
when we were learning, ties to who we
became,” she said. “I wanted to have these
books explore, kind of from the psycho-
social development ages and explore
who children have the opportunity to be
and become.”
she presents in the books. She also tries to
look at the topics through a child’s lens. Her
goal is to enhance the readers’ vocabulary
but also give them sight words, so the
words they learn in school can be applicable
when they read her books. Gurley wanted
to make sure in writing the books she
included several layers.
The lengthy part of the process is illustrating
the books because of the details
required.
and uplifting feedback from parents and
children. It has motivated her to write more
books to add to the series. She receives videos
from people children reading the books
and being read to by their parents and their
reactions to the content. Those comments
mean a lot to her.
the books have been selling much faster
than the English versions of the books.
The feedback assured Gurley that giving a
voice to those community made them feel
included.
Gurley and to purchase the books, visit
https://iamdrpgurley.com.
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