One of my favorite forms of activism is books. Specifically, getting more books with BIPOC protagonists written by BIPOC authors into school classrooms. I love it because it works on so many levels: the sales send signals to publishers about valuing these stories, to bookstores to order these stories, and then to the students who spend time in those classrooms about what kind of stories matter. About who matters. Plus it supports teachers — most of my favorite teachers have massive classroom libraries, most of which is done on their own dimes. Let’s face it, because publishing is and has been so overwhelmingly white, most donations and hand-me-downs teachers receive will also be white. So it takes a little effort to keep those libraries diverse. . . So I recently offered to buy some books for a friend’s second grade classroom. He and I both did some research on good books by Black authors for that age group, and the Jaden Toussaint series ended up at the top of both of our lists. I flipped through them and they seem pretty fun. What’s better, they seem to come from a small, Black-owned press! So I am delivering the first three books in the series this weekend, and hopefully they will find lots of eager readers in the fall! . . #jadentoussaint #martidumas #plumstreetpress #jadentoussaintthegreatest #jadentoussaintbookseries #weneeddiversebooks #mariemuravski #stephanieparcus #blackstoriesmatter https://www.instagram.com/p/CBV_Ta2A1Hv/?igshid=1apxutj5okzir