Diversity in children's books In Mylo Freeman's picture books you will mainly encounter colored children as the main characters. Why actually? Some years ago someone told Mylo about a little Surinamese girl named Jahkini. She was given the role of a princess in a school play, but she flatly refused. 'There are no black princesses, do they?', was her answer. After Mylo heard this story, she immediately decided to do something with it. There had to be a picture book about a little black princess! That became Princess Arabella, a dark little prince with a strong will. There are now 12 books published about this stubborn princess. There is also a musical theater piece about Arabella made by Marielle van Sauers and performed by theater company 'de Lange Mannen'.

 

In the picture book world there is still a great need for books with children from a different ethnic background. An excellent opportunity for white and non-white children to identify themselves with each other!

 

'Children need both mirrors and windows. Many colored children only see the world through windows and they need mirrors. Other children only see mirrors and they also have to learn to see the world through windows.'