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.

Donate book

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

@sonia.faleiro 's new book: The Good Girls. The in

@sonia.faleiro 's new book: The Good Girls. The investigation into two murdered girls that started a national conversation about sex, honour and violence. Her prose is blistering and sharp. Rich. Not a wasted word. I'm gripped from the first page. Total #authorgoals
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#thegoodgirls #newbooks #reading #bookrec #bookrecommendation #amreading #bookstagram #igbooks

We're well pleased to be included in Ivy's Library

We're well pleased to be included in Ivy's Library's new newsletter. @ivyslibrary has a true passion for children's literature and that includes diverse books in all forms. You'll get some fantastic and surprising recommendations here. Well worth signing up for!

If you look closely at the sneak peek pics you might spot one of our books 😃
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#babieslovebooks #bedtimestory #bestkidsbooks
#diversebooksforkids #childrensbook #childrensliterature #coverkidsbooks #kidsbookshelf #picturebooks #readingismagic #literacy #eyfs #childrensbooks #kidsbooks #picturebooks #childrensbookart #childrensbookshelf #kidsbookswelove #kidsbookart #picturebookoftheday #readingisfun #teachersofthegram #parentsofinstagram #homeschoolmama #lockdownwithkids #parakeetbooks

Though it's wet and grey and miserable outside, pl

Though it's wet and grey and miserable outside, plants are starting to grow. It won't be long before we start seeing little shoots and blossom. I can't wait. My nose has already started to itch from tree pollens. And so has Victoria's!

This book is 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

Totally gorgeous review 😍 at the end of the pics from one of our heroes @hemmograms

£1 from every sale of The Mysterious Dinosaurs of Crystal Palace to @cpdinosaurs for the restoration of the park dinosaurs.

It stopped raining so here's our kolam. Just in ti

It stopped raining so here's our kolam. Just in time for the last day of Pongal!

Just seen this: new Maya Angelou barbie. Sold out

Just seen this: new Maya Angelou barbie. Sold out already.

I put my anxiety in my pocket and got the little o

I put my anxiety in my pocket and got the little one out for the first time in days. There was no one around and we inhaled great lungfuls of fresh air.

Happy Pongal everyone! Pongal is a harvest festiva

Happy Pongal everyone! Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated by Tamil people all over the world. We eat amazing gooey rice with coconut chutney, we draw beautiful decorations outside homes called kolam.

This year we're in lockdown and can't get any pongal rice... Aaaand there's torrential rain here in south London so we won't be chalking outside either!

Here's a throwback pic of us all at a family gathering dressed up in our gorgeous Indian clothes.

Lockdown in a nutshell 👆 For those of you who

Lockdown in a nutshell 👆

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet: This is Eve’s New Brother. The story is about Eve getting used to her new little brother Stanley. So far so seen-it-all-before. Eve has two mums, she’s in a mixed heritage family, and she’s Black. The story is not about these things, they’re just facts. It might seem like this book is aimed at same-sex parents… or mixed heritage families… or Black people.

But this book is for everyone.

As adults and even more so as parents we get weirdly pigeonholed in everything we do and buy for our children (pink and blue anyone?). It’s not conscious most of the time, we just do it. Even switched on people like us.

It’s important that we do show our children families and lives outside of our own. Particularly in a familiar setting like a picture book about families. As we know children just soak it all up like sponges and it all goes back into their subconscious and forms part of the many building blocks that make them the tolerant and loving people we want them to be.
Beautifully put by 5-year-old Ava: “Eve has two mummies? That’s lucky.”

We have a campaign to get Eve’s New Brother into every school library: you buy and donate a copy at parakeet books.com/no-outsiders (the link is in our bio). And of course you can buy yourself a copy there too!

How's your lockdown going? Ours is mixed. One day

How's your lockdown going? Ours is mixed. One day will go well and we bake biscuits and have movie nights and one day will be fraught and tearful. For Rita it's difficult, she misses being outside and obviously misses her friends. But today she's not Rita she's Bob from Bitz and Bob.

I came into the room to find this idyllic scene!

I came into the room to find this idyllic scene!

Back in the days when one could wander about freel

Back in the days when one could wander about freely and browse somewhere as decadent as a charity shop I picked up this classic by John Agard. Agard is a radical poet and children's writer who pulls no punches - as can be seen from the poem about the black boy perplexed at his birthday card with a white child on it. But his work is playful and wild and hilarious. It's extremely fun to read.

Published in 1982 it reminds me of many of the books in my school library - diverse, radical, edgy. I went to a forward-looking primary in south east London, we sang protest songs in assembly. I thought all schools were like that. I remember poring over a book all about afro hair and being enchanted by all the incredible and beautiful braiding styles. Testiment to a well stocked DIVERSE school library.

Agard has made scores of books and got the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. There are lots of YouTube videos of him performing and the powerful Checking Out Me History might blow your mind. As will this poignant poem:

MY TELLY

My telly eats people
especially on the news.

Little people
with no shoes
Little people
with no food
Little people crying
Little people dying.

My telly eats people.
If you don't believe me
look inside the belly of my telly.

Let's celebrate with jokes our children came up wi

Let's celebrate with jokes our children came up with.

Eddie:
- How do you know it's ok to use the toilet?
- You get poo-mission

Rita: I'M RUBBING POO ALL OVER MYSELF
Me:... What?
Rita: SHAMPOO HAHAHA!

Happy Christmas everyone ❤️❤️❤️
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#christmas #poojokes #christmaspoo #parakeetbooks

It was my birthday yesterday. I'm 44. I ate chocol

It was my birthday yesterday. I'm 44. I ate chocolate tart, dosa, tomato chutney and bacon, more tart, lemon rice, crisps and non-alcoholic beer, tart.

I wore lipstick and fishnets for a ramble in the woods and made a huge Christmas wreath.

One of my pressies was a litter picker. Now I can make the world a better place while I roam the streets. Like David Sedaris.

#tier4 #covidbirthday #smashedit #parakeetbooks

We're so fed up with the persisting sexism that's

We're so fed up with the persisting sexism that's damaging our girls and boys. This shit has to stop.

"Gender stereotyping is everywhere and causes serious, long-lasting harm. From “boys will be boys” attitudes, to jobs for boys and jobs for girls... these stereotypes are deeply embedded and they last a lifetime.
We need to end the ‘princessification’ of girls and the toxification of boys.”
-Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society

Meet Buddy. This boy is cuuuuuute. He plays with t

Meet Buddy. This boy is cuuuuuute. He plays with trains, he paints, he cuddles his family. But does he eat his pancakes? Not so much. Join Buddy and his dad, mum and grandparents for a tale of love, family and food. This story will resonate with families with a picky eating child and ANYONE who loves pancakes.

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