This final installation examines what illustrators can do so
that all kinds of children can see themselves reflected in our
books. If that’s our goal, what do we need to know about White
Mind in order to achieve our vision? 1. Good intentions aren’t
enough, or if the stuff is unexamined, it will leak. Take a look
at a selection of picture books, even recently published ones,
and it quickly becomes clear that there are ways of getting it
wrong despite meaning well, such as: - creating an all-white
world without even realizing it - “coloring in” faces with
varied skin tones, but all Caucasian features - portraying
people of color in stereotypical ways - adding background
children and adults of color, none as significant characters -
always situating white children front and center - featuring
children of color only in “ethnic” roles, never as Everychild or
hero 2. We can’t see what we can’t see. This one applies to
everyone portraying people across race and culture lines. But
for some of us there’s the added ve