You may well ask.
When we started Parakeet Books two years ago our goal was to save the world while making kids books. We knew straight away we wanted all our books to be diverse and inclusive. While book buying for our own babies we found out very quickly that there’s a lack of representation in children’s books. Where were the characters with brown skin? 1% of main characters in kids books published in 2017 were a person of colour, that rose to 4% in 2018. And characters with a disability or with an LGBT+ theme get even less representation. Publishing can and should do better.
Also when people of colour are featured in a book often it is to focus on their “difference” or their struggle.
And although addressing themes of difference or struggle are important so are books about normal stuff, funny stuff, adventures. A little brown boy eating pancakes, or a girl getting used to her new baby brother (they have two mums), or two brown kids meeting the Dinosaurs of Crystal Palace
So here we are. We made The Mysterious Dinosaurs of Crystal Palace because we love the real dinosaurs that live around the corner from our house and we all need stories with all types of people in them.
Parakeet Books give back as much as possible to causes important to us like the Black Curriculum and the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs conservation fund.
