Here are a few books that we checked out that we didn't personally love, but considering how difficult it is to locate holiday books feature people of color I thought I'd still summarize them below in case people were interested:
Grandma's Gift, by Eric Velasquez: A Puerto Rican family prepare for Christmas. In particular, a boy (meant to be the author Eric Velasquez) and his grandmother take a trip to the Met where he is enchanted by a painting by Diego Velasquez, and subsequently receives a sketchbook and colored pencils as a gift. My 4 year old was bored by this book and refused to finish reading it (I finished on my own), which never really happens - it was definitely a bit advanced for him but it was also too technical and didn't have an engaging story.
Santa's Kwanzaa, by Garen Eileen Thomas: A black Santa returns home to a Kwanzaa celebration, prepared by Mrs. Claus and the elves (all black). Neither my son or I enjoyed this much, but then again - we don't celebrate Kwanzaa and maybe the book is more appealing to those who do.
Christmas Makes Me Think, by Tony Medina: Despite the fact that my husband and I both find this book oddly hilarious and therefore kind of love it, and my son frequently requests it as well, I have a hard time recommending it to others. It's just super weird. It starts out typically enough - a black boy is listing things that Christmas makes him think about, like food and presents and Christmas tree, but then abruptly shifts to "But what about all those trees that never make it to Christmas . . . how much better it would be to just visit a tree and just give it presents" and goes on from there.
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Fatima's Great Outdoors, by Ambreen Tariq and illustrated by Stevie Lewis
BUY HERE (or, even better, request at your local library!)
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