‘WARRIOR NORI’ AFFIRMS THE POSITIVE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

Nkoya Kidd wrote a book about Warrior Nori, a 5-year-old-girl that blocks negativity and teaches young children to stand up for themselves. PHOTO PROVIDED BY NKOYA KIDD.
Nkoya Kidd wrote a book about Warrior Nori, a 5-year-old-girl that blocks negativity and teaches young children to stand up for themselves. PHOTO PROVIDED BY NKOYA KIDD.

 ‘WARRIOR NORI’ AFFIRMS THE POSITIVE FOR YOUNG
CHILDREN

BY TIA CAROL JONES

Nkoya Kidd started writing when she was in third grade. In
kindergarten, her teacher told her mother that while Kidd was a good student, she talked a lot, and that talkers are good
writers.

Her mother nurtured her, buying her journals to write in. Kidd took that love of writing and has turned it into a children’s book series, “Warrior Nori,” that is intended to inspire and encourage
young children.

Kidd found out she was pregnant with a little girl. She
wanted to protect her little girl. “A lot of times we look at
children, we try to change the world. I realized that the world
wasn’t going to change, so I knew I would have to start at
home. I have to build a foundation for my child. I have to find
a way to embed her foundation in her heart and her mind that
she is perfect just the way she is, and also teach her that other
children are perfect just the way they are,” Kidd said.

She decided she would come up with daily affirmations,
reminding her daughter of who she is, as a Brown
young girl, as a person, that she is awesome, amazing
and talented. She decided to write the Warrior Nori book
series.

The first in the series is “Warrior Nori: No Crabby
Comments Allowed.” Warrior Nori is in different situations
where she has to stand up for herself. The way she
stands up for herself is using her words of affirmation to
remind herself how amazing she is.

“So, when the outside world tells her something that
doesn’t agree with that, she can stand up and remember,
‘I know who I am, I know that my hair is supposed to be
this way, I know that me not liking this type of food is
OK.’ She can stand up and say that out loud and allow
that to sink in, as a reminder, and make others aware of that as well,” Kidd said.

It took Kidd 30-40 minutes to write the first book. It was easy
for her because she always had the idea for the book. Her process began with her writing all the titles and scenarios to all the books. She knew where she would start.

When Kidd saw the illustration of the book, she cried. It was
surreal for her because Warrior Nori is a composite of a 5-year-old version of Kidd’s 10-month-old daughter. It made her emotional.

“I knew that I was that age; I was 5 and I wanted to be so many
different things in the world and I thought I could only be one, out of the many things I wanted to be. It took me to get into
my 20s to realize I can do any and everything I want to
do,” Kidd said. “Right now, I’m just letting it sink in that I’m accomplishing one of those many things. And, it feels really good to know that I’ve done that.”

Kidd wants other children and other parents to read the books. The book is available for pre-order now at www.warriornori.com. The book launch will take place
Jan. 7, 2023.

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