2 stars
I went into this without realizing it has a Christian focus. That’s my bad for just looking at the title and cover, and not going any further before checking it out from the library.
Note: I am not a Christian so this will be a biased review.
Good for what it is: a book on fighting racism specifically for Christians. The use of specific sections of the Bible and specific ideas about the Christian God make this hard to generalize to anyone who isn’t Christian.
Overall, it was fine. Personally, the sections on religion took me out of the subject matter. There is a section on why Christians specifically should fight racism, which may be helpful to many. It uses religion as a motivator such as connecting racism to sin and acts of racism as acts against God.
After each chapter, there are questions to consider. Some help the reader reflect on racism in their lives while others have the reader reflect specifically on religion and their connection to God. Again, good for the intended audience but not something I connected to.
While I can’t comment on whether this will be helpful for Christians, I do read a decent amount of children’s books and am not sure this would necessarily be of interest to children. I listened to the audiobook, which I personally did not find very engaging. It came off as a school lesson. It’s pretty common for children to dislike history because it feels like homework and that’s how this book came across. It came from an adult perspective to teach children rather than approaching them on their level. The examples used were simplified for children, but again I don’t think they were very engaging for a young audience. It definitely comes off as a book written by a grownup, which may be less appealing for children. Probably best read in a school/church setting as a group.
In the end, if it gets more people to be mindful of the racism in their own lives and fight against racism in the world, then great. It’s a step in the right direction.
For a non-Christian audience, I’d recommend going in a different direction. For YA books, I’ve found Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You and This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work helpful. For children’s books, I liked the Stamped adaptation, Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You.