We're now offering a click and collect option. If you are happy collecting your books from SE19 tick the click collect box at checkout, we'll then contact you with collection times.

Our Campaigns

No Outsiders

At Parakeet Books we believe education can build bridges. As Ofsted points out, "Children need to know that some people have two mummies or two daddies". It's normal.

We think every school should have a copy of Eve's New Brother so every child can learn about every kind of person, every kind of love, every kind of family.

You can a copy of Eve's New Brother and we will send it to a school. Either nominate the school you wish it to go to or we can choose one for you.

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See O u r s e l v e s

All children need to see themselves in the pages of a book. Our books are about Black people and people of colour, strong female characters, and LGBT+ families.

Donate here and we will send book packages to schools, libraries, and charities.

Donate

Our books

The Mysterious Dinosaurs of Crystal Palace

The Mysterious Dinosaurs of Crystal Palace

£9.99

Buy

Scout's Bedtime

Scout's Bedtime

£7.99

Buy

Eve's New Brother

Eve's New Brother

£7.99

Buy

Buddy’s pancakes

Buddy’s pancakes

£6.99

Buy

Pattu's Dosa

Pattu's Dosa

£7.99

Buy

Alice and Judy and their amazing snowball adventure

Alice and Judy and their amazing snowball adventure

£8.99

Buy

Alice and Judy and their incredible tree house adventure

Alice and Judy and their incredible tree house adventure

If you are interested in buying this book please drop us a line and we'll email you when the new batch arrives.

The James Dixon ABC

The James Dixon ABC

£7.00

Buy

Poetry greetings cards

Poetry greetings cards

£3.00

Buy

Instagram

@parakeetbooks

parakeetbooks

Reposting this delightful review from @pipsqueak_

Reposting this delightful review from
@pipsqueak_uk

"There's been a renewed interest in dinosaurs in our house recently, thanks to this beautiful book, 'The Mysterious Dinosaurs of Crystal Palace' from Parakeet Books

Join Eddie + Rita as they visit @crystalpalacepark + encounter sibling Iguanodons Paxton + Victoria

Beautiful illustrations, rhythmic language + a sprinkling of magic make this a wonderful story for young children

+ I'm sure we'll be taking this along with us next time we visit"

We're so glad you like it! Available to buy through our bio. A pound from every sale goes to the @cpdinosaurs restoration fund.

Yes we're all different. But we're all the same t

Yes we're all different.
But we're all the same too.

Image borrowed from one of our favourite accounts @rubysreads_uk
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#rubysreadsuk #diversechildrensbooks #readyourworld #raisingreaders #readeveryday #readmorebooks #readingmatters #booklover
#weneeddiversebooks #multiculturalbooks #representationmatters #picturebooks
#empoweringchildren #inspiringkids
#parakeetbooks

We've been thinking about Richard Okorogheye. We d

We've been thinking about Richard Okorogheye. We don't know the facts of his death or his life but there have been undertones in the press about him struggling with mental health.

"Evidence shows that Black men are far more likely than others to be diagnosed with severe mental health problems and are also far more likely to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act. However, up until 11 years old, Black boys don't have poorer mental health than others of their age.
There are multiple reasons for this including stigma, cultural barriers, and systemic discrimination, all of which are more directly experienced by Black boys and young Black men as they get older."
--This is from mind.org.uk @mindcharity

"We know that black boys and young men face a greater chance of exposure to key risks such as prolonged poverty ... there is also evidence that daily inequalities and routine experiences of racism and discrimination (such as race based bullying, being followed around a shop because you are believed to be shoplifting, having to think twice about calling the police when others are in difficulty because of fear of ending up in the back of a police car) have a weathering effect on wellbeing, leading to cumulative stress."
--From the centreformentalhealth.org.uk @centreformh

This information from respected organisations contradicts the utter tosh put out in our government's race report.

Our thoughts are with Richard Okorogheye's family and anyone else affected by his death.

Mind have dedicated support in place for young Black men and we'd love to hear of any other mental health support for Black people out there so we can pass on the information here. ❤️

Gender conformity is annoying for many and downrig

Gender conformity is annoying for many and downright harmful for those who feel they don't fit in. Gender stereotypes in books are alienating and boring, quite frankly.

All children are like Scout: cheeky, playful, full of energy.

Scout is a mixture of all kids and for that reason we thought why not make Scout gender neutral? The reader can decide whether to assign a gender to this totally cute kid.

Join Scout while they get ready for bed with Dad. Scout is impossibly cheeky and runs off at every opportunity. We then get to see Scout's amazing imagination while they play elaborate games with Flamingo and Jerry.

Happiest in trees #trees #happyplace #parakeetboo

Happiest in trees

#trees #happyplace #parakeetbooks

We've just stumbled across this heartwarming story

We've just stumbled across this heartwarming story. Danny Stewart and Pete Mercurio found an abandoned baby on the subway in New York and they adopted him. Now baby Kevin is all grown up and there's a book about their amazing journey. More here: @petemercurionyc

#oursubwaybaby #lovewins #gaydads #samesexparents #adoption
#booksforkids #kidsbooks #childrensbooks #BAME #LGBTQ #weneeddiversebooks #picturebooks #bookish #diversity #bookstagram #diversebooks #diverse #diversity #raiseareader #kidsbookstagram #booksofig #parakeetbooks

I'm dumbfounded by the government's race report. D

I'm dumbfounded by the government's race report. Doreen Lawrence says it all for me so I'm quoting her verbatim from yesterday's Guardian piece:

“When I first heard about the report my first thought was it has pushed [the fight against] racism back 20 years or more.

“I think if you were to speak to somebody whose employer speaks to them in a certain way, where do you go with that now? If a person is up for promotion and has been denied that, where does he go with that now?

“You know, all these things we’ve been working for and showing that structural racism exists – we talk about the pandemic when you look at how many of our people have died, all the nurses, the doctors, the frontline staff, of Covid, and to have this report denying that those people have suffered?

“They are denying that the likes of my son was murdered through racism and the fact that it took 18 years to get justice for him. The report is denying all those issues.”

#racereport #institutionalracism #antiracism #doreenlawrence #listenlearndothework #dothework

Maybe you'll meet Crystal Palace dinos this Easter

Maybe you'll meet Crystal Palace dinos this Easter...

But if you don't you see them in the park you CAN meet them in our book, The Mysterious Dinosaurs of Crystal Palace!

Two children out for the day have a mysterious encounter... with dinosaurs. The story is hilarious and charming and is available at Parakeetbooks.com

We’ve been discussing the recent protests in sec

We’ve been discussing the recent protests in secondary schools over perceived racism and tone-deaf policies.

Students at Nonsuch School took on their school's luke-warm approach to the BLM movement.

A heartfelt protest took place in the grounds: "After the assembly on Tuesday, I cried. I cried out of sadness because I felt the school had invalidated my feelings and experience as a black person. I cried out of frustration because I was told that instead of standing up for myself I should stay silent,” the girl says (anonymous because of her age).

The faculty have taken the protest seriously and are taking steps to solve the problem.

However, Pimlico Academy have not been quite so forthcoming in having a sensible dialogue with protesting students. The students have taken issue with a union Jack placed outside the school and uniform policies targeting hairstyles and “colourful” hijabs. The school remained unmoved. Now there is spray paint on the walls and staff are resigning en masse.

The phrase "listening and learning" has become synonymous with insincerity but that doesn't mean we should stop doing it. I can genuinely have a reasonable discussion on just about any topic with my six-year-old so why a headteacher feels it unnecessary to consult with a student group on uniform and hairstyle policy that affects the the students, who are human beings, is beyond me.

I went to Pimlico School back in the 1990s when there was no uniform policy at all - we all wore we want want: hairstyles, hijabs and all. Sounds like a utopian dream but we really did thrive on each others difference, having philosophical and religious debates in the classroom. How has that evolved into this unimaginative institution fixated on outdated rules?

I'd love to hear what you think about this, especially any teachers.

#knowledgeispower

#knowledgeispower

This is my grandmother, I called her Ammama. Amm

This is my grandmother, I called her Ammama.

Ammama was my best friend. I can’t remember why really, I don’t remember what we talked about. I just wanted to be with her and she wanted to be with me. We would walk hand in hand to church (we were Christians back then) every week. We walked slowly because she was old.

We’d stop at a tea shop and the Malayali people running the shops would recognise a fellow Keralite and say, "Chai for Ammama, don’t keep her waiting”.

She commanded respect with her distinctive white clothes, a common sight on older women in Kerala but unusual in Chennai, and her bidi smoking.

“Why do you smoke Ammama, women don’t smoke.”
“Well I do,” she would say.

My Ammama was an inspiration to me. She was tough, she worked in building sites hefting bricks to and fro. She brought up four children and provided for her family alone. Circumstances required her to be hard and make difficult decisions but she was loving and kind.

Ammama is one of my main role models. She’s a woman and I’m a man.

I wanted to spotlight that it’s perfectly possible for a woman to be a man’s role model. And vice versa. Our boys can want to be Maggie Aderin Pocock and our girls can want to be Tim Peake. Yes we still need proper representation of all people in books, tv and movies. And we can all be influenced by each other whether we’re boys, girls or non-binary.

Reposting this delightful review from @thegirlwit

Reposting this delightful review from
@thegirlwithaheartonherhand

>>>

"This wonderful story sees Buddy's Daddy in the kitchen making pancakes for all the members of the family, as one by one they come into the kitchen and each have their pancakes with different toppings. I might add Daddy keeps asking Buddy if he would like some but he always politely says no thanks. It's not until Daddy sits down for a rest that Buddy decides he is actually hungry.

We've all been there!

I really love this book with family and food at the heart of it. The repetitive verse is great for children and the inter-generational love for Buddy shines through."

>>>

Available at Parakeetbooks.com and if you are local to SE19 we now offer Click and Collect so you can save on postage.

Just as we climb out of lockdown we've sorted out

Just as we climb out of lockdown we've sorted out Click and Collect on our website 😆

So if you are local to SE19 and want to save on postage you can collect your books from our house!

We're local indie publishers, Parakeet Books, making gorgeous children's books.

📚 All our books are diverse and inclusive
📚 The stories are lovely, exciting and funny
📚 Our illustrations are bright, bold and beautiful

So please check us out at Parakeetbooks.com and you can save on postage if you want to click and collect.

Hats off to our hero, Koneru Humpy, for winning th

Hats off to our hero, Koneru Humpy, for winning the Indian Sportswoman of the Year award.

Humpy is the World Rapid Chess champion and won the Cairns Cup, an elite-level tournament for top players.

She says, "Chess doesn't get as much attention as sports like cricket gets in India. But with this award, I hope the game will draw people's attention."

Humpy advises young sportswomen to "just enjoy the game and believe in yourself."

Remember when Meghan and Harry got married and we

Remember when Meghan and Harry got married and we all, non-monarchists and monarchists, came together to enjoy their love and wish them well? An example was set that this was the future. A Black woman can enter this old crumbling institution and revive it. We had this wonderful symbol of hope. It was a beautiful thing.

How disappointing now to have that hope dashed. That this woman was treated badly and unseemly questions asked about the colour of her unborn child's skin by members of her new family. The example being set now is that, no, you can't enter the royal family. You can't challenge us.

And as for "casual racism"... At the end of the day racism is racism is racism.

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