Do you think you have a "Shady" Baby? Shady in the sense that when someone new or friendly comes along, your child will give them the side eye? Shady in the sense that when your child is playing with a ball, and another child comes to play with them they pick the ball up and take it somewhere else? If this sounds like your child, then the picture book Shady Baby by Gabrielle Union-Wade and Dwayne Wade Jr. is a perfect way to reshape their shady ways.
Shady Baby is a fun story about a girl named Shady who sticks up for her friends when others are not being nice to them. She is all about sharing, kindness and playing together. But what happens when someone does something to Shady that she doesn't like? Her feelings get hurt and she cries. Her friends don't like that at all so in true Shady fashion, they think about what Shady would do in that situation. They remind new friends that sharing, kindness and playing together is how real friends do.
This picture book is short and sweet. It's a good reminder on how we want our children to treat others as well as how to stick up for others when they are mistreated. It is one of those lessons that as a parent, I found hard to explain to my children. But with this book I have showed them how friends are supposed to treat each other.
I can definitely say that when I first stumbled upon this book, I thought it was going to talk about a baby who was Shady towards people. Shady in the sense that when someone new or friendly came along, the child in the book would give them the side eye stare. Shady in the sense that when she was playing with the toy and another child came to play with them, they would pick the ball up and take it somewhere else. I know there has been plenty of times that I have joked about my kids being "Shady" in one way or another. I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that this book reshaped what a Shady Baby meant to me and gave it a positive spin.
I can honestly say that I have become a huge fan of Gabrielle Union-Wade and her journey into writing books. Her books about her self and her life journey are great. But I love how she created a book inspired by her own daughter. And to make it even better, it presents one more opportunity for African American children to see themselves in books in todays world. I hope that we get more books about Shady, as Gabrielle and Dwayne's own daughter, Kaavia, continues to grow up.
The Richland Library #OwnVoices initiative is a space for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) staff members to provide thoughtful and well written book reviews, book lists and blog posts. These posts work to promote authors of marginalized groups and their work about the life experiences of these under-represented groups through their own perspective. The series invites our customers to learn one more way we are continuing the conversation in our community and speaking our voice. Find more resources on race, equity, and inclusion, here.
