Brown Boy Joy

by Thomishia Booker

Brown Boy Joy is a necessity in every classroom!

This book sparks conversations about diversity.

This book is filled with all the things little brown boys LOVE. From dinosaurs to gardening there are no limits to what little brown boys can enjoy. This book shows the world what Brown Boy Joy looks like. Brown Boy Joy is an empowering story filled with affirmations . Inside you will find vibrant illustrations and rhyming text designed to capture the attention of children.
“I am Brown Boy Joy and I shine like gold. Smiling ear to ear I am fearless and bold!”

In a world where little Black boys grow up to be feared as men this book is needed to shift narratives. Brown Boy Joy was intentionally designed for Black children but helps build empathy and understanding among all children as they are exposed to realities different than their own. The world needs to see happy Black boys living their happy Black lives.

Featured in the Netflix original series Celebrating Black voices
Brown Boy Joy was chosen for Bookmarks because it aligns with the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards in the Identify Domain. This book is endorsed by the Black Caucasus of American Library Association and Association for Library Service to Children as a result of the project.


Discussion
What makes you happy?

Brown Boy Joy is a part of the Hey Carter!™ Children’s Book Series written by Dr. Thomishia Booker. The self-affirming series specifically made for Black children includes titles My Brown Skin , King for a Day , and an affirmations coloring book. All books are also available in Spanish. More information about Hey Carter!™ books can be found at www.heycarterbooks.com

Appropriate for ages 0-7
# Brown Boy Joy
# Books for Black Boys Toddlers
# I Am Every Good Thing
# African American Books for Boys
# Baby Books for Black Boys
# Affirmations Books for Kids
# Antiracist Baby

Genres: Picture Books, African American, Childrens, Realistic Fiction, Young Readers, Storytime

27 pages, Paperback

First published July 20, 2018

About the author

Dr. Thomishia Booker is CEO/ Owner of Hey Carter! Incorporated. She began writing her first series in 2016 called "Hey Carter! Children's Book Series. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion in children's entertainment. Her book "Brown Boy Joy" has been featured in Essence, NBC, and Netflix Family. Her book series focuses on building self confidence in pride among children 3-5 years old. She has set a clear vision to curate animated series filled with "Happy Black children loving their happy Black Lives!"

Earning a Masters in Social Work and Doctorate in Education Counseling Psychology she spent the early part of her career working in Early Childhood Mental Health. Her background serves as a foundation for writing books focused on building self-confidence and pride among children of color.

Reviews

[Lovee]

The key themes of this book includes the joy of childhood, a positive self-image for young black boys, and cultural pride. It focuses on everyday happiness and fun that children experience. The carefree and fearless days that children partake in with family and friends in exploring the world. The book highlights these moments valuable and important especially for young black boys to see a positive representation. This book offers positivity, confidence, and goodness all around.
•Audience 3-8 years old
•I chose this book because it points to a significant issue in publishing. For a long time, there weren't enough books featuring black boys as main characters especially as stories that were joyful and affirming. This book helps to provide that imbalance ensuring that black boys can see themselves reflected positively in the stories that they read. The overall feeling and take away from this book leave you feeling good, hopeful, and inspired to lift the next young boy.
•I will use this book in my future classroom by discussing who am I questions at circle time, elaborate on connections to family traditions, photos, or music that is shared. I would incorporate creative activities like drawing pictures of themselves or creating family trees.

[Timara (MB) Walker]

Text-to-Teach

Brown Boy Joy by Thomishia Booker is a wonderful book filled with encouragement. Encouragement that helps show and represent joy in Brown boys instead of consent chaos. This would most definitely be a read-aloud in my classroom. It's a great reminder for any age group. Once completing this book, I would go around the room and ask the students to demonstrate from the book what Brown boy joy looks like. They are able to take some things from the book and help encourage their classmates.

[Tábata Kotowiski]

Audiobook ouvido/assistido pela série da Netflix Bookmarks, Celebrating Black Stories. A série tem 12 episódios e cada um, com duração média de 6 minutos, é a leitura de um livro escritor por negros, com histórias voltadas para os negros e lidas por negros. Vale a pena assistir.

[Joey Gossett]

Brown Boy Joy is a book written by African American writer Thomishia Booker. This book follows a boy who refers to himself as Brown Boy Joy. It goes to talk about even though he has brown skin that he is still just like everyone else. He talks about the things that he likes to do and what he hopes to achieve in his future. This book is really about how nobody is different, even though some may look different than you we are all still people and you should be proud of that and be proud of where you come from.
The book has a good flow to it. The writing still is like a rhyme. It also feels like it should be read with a confidence. There are a lot of positive words in the story and it makes you want to read the story with a very positive tone. The pictures look like they were paintings and they resemble a comic book in a way. There are action words throughout the pictures like pow, whack, and boom which give it that comic book feel.
I chose to give this book 4 stars because I love the message behind it. It just says that we should all be friends no matter what we look like or where came from, it does a good job of putting this message in a way little kids can understand as well. It is one of the most important messages in the world and it does a great job representing that and showing that.

[Ella Nighswander]

This book is all about African American boys and the things that they enjoy. The book explains different occupations that African American boys want to do, what their different haircuts might look like, and much more. One of the themes in this book includes the idea of self love and loving who you are. Another theme in this book is that just because you look different, does not mean that you can't be anything you want to be. This book captures the different occupations such as astronauts and superheros that African American boys want to be just like every other little boy their age.
I gave this book five stars because I enjoy the themes throughout this book. I believe both of the themes are important for younger students to read about. I also enjoy that this book has characters who do "look" different because it is beneficial for students to read books like this to understand that it is okay for people to look different.

[Leah Thomas]

Brown Boy Joy is a bright, uplifting book that celebrates Black boyhood, happiness, and self-love. Perfect for grades kindergarten-3, it’s a joyful, rhythmic story that highlights the beauty of being carefree, confident, and proud. The book is all about showing that Black boys deserve to dream, laugh, explore, and just be themselves; something that isn’t always represented enough in children’s books. I picked this book because it’s so positive and empowering. In class, students will feel inspired by the message and see themselves or their classmates in the story. It’s a great conversation starter about self-expression, identity, and breaking stereotypes. Plus, the illustrations are vibrant and full of energy, making this book just as fun as it is meaningful.

[Kylee Doty]

Brown Boy Joy is a children’s book written by Thomishia Booker. In this book, Booker explores all of the things boys like. From doll houses to dinosaurs, boys like so many things! I rated this book four stars because it has very interesting information that some kids will enjoy. Fun and exciting, this book has great illustrations and a nice tone. Booker’s work has the potential to teach great lessons in this world.

[K.C. McMillian]

This children's book follows a young boy who refers to himself as " Brown Boy Joy." The message you get from this story is that although he has Brown skin and may appear to look and be different, he is not. And that he should be proud of his culture and where he comes from. It was an uplifting story that had a little bit of rhyming to it.

Q&A with my little one.
Me: Did you like this book?
My son: Yes.

[Alexis R. Young]

This is now our third book read from this author, LOVED it! Such a sweet book teaching kids to love who they are unapologetically. What I always tell my kiddo… Brown and beautiful!
I think my favorite part about this specific book were the illustrations. They are so beautiful, colorful, and kid friendly! They led to so much room for imagination! Uzuri Designs did a beautiful job with the illustrations!

[Annamarie Carlson (she, her)]

Brown boys are beautiful, amazing, and happy. Features brown boys finding joy in everyday activities. Recently featured on Netflix's Bookmarks.

An adorable, simple, and necessary read. Features a black boy in a wheelchair as well as different family makeups, including two moms. Great addition to any collection.

[Cindy]

Poetry in action - focusing on the things little boys love, and especially lifting up brown boys. The illustrations are more cartoons than I usually like, and this book is a straight up reinforcement that brown boys can hold their heads up, explore the world, shine.

Read for me by Jill Scott on the Netfilx series Bookmarks.

[Madalyn Adams]

I read this book to my class, and the children loved it so much that I gave it as a reward. I have since purchased multiple copies of this book and given them as gifts. Our children can't have enough accessible, empowering reads. I love providing access to actual paper books, and this is an excellent book for young ones to grow up reading.

[Renee]

Cute.

I loved the picture of the boys playing with dolls and doll houses plus feeding dinosaurs. This is the book little brown boys need to help fight against the dogma of machismo in the community.

[Melanie Dulaney]

Thomishia Booker’s illustrations make this book’s message of self-worth a must-have for libraries serving students PK-grade 1. Big, bold drawings transform every page a stopping point for conversation and by the end, maybe each brown and black face will see their value at least a little bit more.

[Maria Verduzco]

loved this book! Teaches young boys that they are special in many ways. I would like to read this for future students as it allows students to know their worth and that they can accomplish anything. Grade level is prel-1.

[Mariela Espinoza]

This book is a good book to read for children ages 3 to 10 years old. The book teaches us to embrace and be proud of who we are. I picked this book because we should all be inclusive and never have to feel like we don't fit in.

[Chubby93 Grey]

So cute.

[Ellon]

Watched the episode of Netflix's Bookmarks that featured this book. It was fabulous! Jill Scott did a great job of capturing the joy. I still want to read the print version :)

[Marianne]

Every page bubbles over with joy. It's lovely.

[Tonia Christle]

Great illustrations and such an important story!

[Sara]

A quick, easy read. Lots of good rhyming words. Great illustrations. Love the affirmations.

[Jordan Pierre]

This is the answer to everything Black Boys love. This is a fantastic introduction into African American Life and the experiences that establish young black youth into fantastic men and women 5/5

[Maria Woods]

Great theme and flow to the book.

[Katie Dowe]

Great book, got this for my nephew and he loves it. Highly recommended.

[Linda]

A poetic affirming of a young boy.

I think this may have been a book that Stephen Colbert mentioned on LSSC.

[Vanessa Kelly]

Love reading this with my baby boy. Great illustration and story.

[Meaghan]

First read: no rating