We are so excited to have Laura Obuobi join us today to share information about Identity Picture Books!
Laura Obuobi was born and raised in Accra, Ghana but has been living in the United States since 2003. Laura received an MA in Early Childhood Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and taught for 8 years as a preschool teacher. Her time in the classroom with preschoolers set the stage for her transition into writing for children. Laura is a graduate of the Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Besides creative writing, Laura also finds joy in drawing, collaging, and painting.
When I wrote Black Gold, I didn’t set out with the theme of identity at the forefront of my mind. I was simply thinking about myself as a child, and the physical, psychological, cultural, and even spiritual attributes I have that make me who I am. And isn’t that what identity is about?
When I think about what identity means, I consider the following:
What is your name? Where are you from geographically? What is your ethnicity? Which neighborhood did you grow up in? What kind of family do you come from? Who are/were your caregivers? What values and moral codes were instilled in you? How were you raised? What values, moral codes, or belief systems have you adopted? What is your personality? How do you like to dress? What colors are you drawn to? What is unique about you that no one else in the world has? Which socio-cultural groups do you affiliate yourself with, feel most connected to, and/or at home with? Where were you raised? Are you religious? Which religious societies are you a part of? Where do you worship? How often do you visit this place of worship? What festivals and holidays do you celebrate? How do you celebrate these festivals and holidays, and with who? What habits, behaviors, and activities do you like to participate in? All these questions and more, point to the kind experiences that shape our perspective of self, impact how we show up in the world, and reveal who we are.
The beauty about writing picture books about identity is that you can take any one of the questions above and use that to craft a story or poem that answers the question: who are you?
The following picture books all answer the question “who are you?” and highlight various aspects of identity. (These are just a few books that stand out to me, and is not at all prescriptive, but I hope it gives you a sense of how the topic of identity can be written as a picture book.)
Your Name is a Song - Jamila Thompkins-Bigelow and Luisa Uribe
Eyes that Kiss in the Corners - Joanna Ho and Dung Ho
Say my Name - Joanna Ho and Khoa Le
I’m From - Gary R. Gray and Oge Mora
I am Golden - Eva Chen and Sophie Diao
I am Brown - Ashok Banker and Sandhya Prabhat
Alma and How She Got Her Name - Juana Martinez-Neal
Where Are You From? - Yamile Saied Méndez and Jaime Kim
Hair Twins - Raakhee Mirchandani and Holly Hatam
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story - Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal
The Day You begin - Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael Lopez
Mommy’s Khimar - Jamila Thompkins-Bigelow and Ebony Glenn
Sankofa: A culinary story of resilience and belonging - Eric Adjepong and Lala Watkins
Even books where the character shows or describes their understanding of a universal concept such as love, can fall under the theme of identity because in these books, the character is exploring and explaining what love means to them, and how they express this universal concept called love.
I am Love by Peter H. Reynolds, is one; my picture book - What Love Looks Like illustrated by Anna Cunha - is another.
Reynold’s book shows the character describing the various ways they express and embody love, while my book shows the main character exploring and experiencing what love looks like with her father.
Picture books about identity aren’t only restricted to fiction. They can be non-fiction too. A perfect example is Before She was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome and James Ransome. In this biography picture book about Harriet Tubman, we get to see and learn the various roles and jobs Harriet Tubman took on, in her life’s journey and work as an activist and abolitionist. These various roles and jobs all reveal and answer the question: who was Harriet Tubman?
And so, I think that identity covers a wide range of subjects that inevitably answer the question, who are you, and what makes you special, different, unique, powerful, interesting?
If you were to write a picture book about identity, what would you write about?