“What’s Your Story?” is a guest post feature on BCBA’s blog. Indie/Self-Published authors are invited to write about their books, writing journey, creative process, inspiration, rewards and challenges of publishing, etc. They can go in whatever direction they choose. We are excited and grateful for their willingness to share, and we hope you enjoy Nikki Cooper’s story. Go here for more WYS? posts.
Do you remember being a child and feeling left out at school? Maybe you were always the last one to get picked for the kickball team at recess? Perhaps you never got invited to the cool kid’s slumber party and had to go home with your parent while other kids were able to pile up in the back of your classmate’s car as their parent drove them and their friends off to all the fun things your imagination could dream up. Maybe you didn’t receive any valentines on Valentine’s Day, or your white elephant partner forgot to bring your gift, and it was the last day before the holiday break. That feeling of loneliness was all too familiar to me growing up in the 80s and attending a French immersion school in San Francisco—where I was the only African American student in the class.
The universal feelings of isolation and unworthiness that come from being “othered” are why I decided to create my children’s book series, The Chocolate Covered Series. I write every book with the intention of creating more representation for African American children in the books they read and inspiring all children to be their own heroes in their daily lives. Roughly 10% of children’s books feature African American protagonists. This is a disheartening statistic because this lack of representation can lead to African American children feeling isolated daily simply because of the books they read. Internalizing messages of being unworthy of representation in books can lead to any marginalized groups’ children feeling uncomfortable about representing their authentic selves, families, and communities—in the world outside of the environments they live in.
Conversely, studies show that when children see characters in books that they can identify with, that helps them develop a strong connection to the character and motivates them to read more. The foundation for the love of reading begins to be laid, and their ideas about who they can become expands. When a child reads my books, I want their imagination to explode with limitless and empowering views of themselves, and who they can be in the world and spaces they once felt invisible in.
Chocolate Covered Courage with Blessings on Top (Chocolate Covered Series)
Nikki Cooper | Feenix Fabay | Vmh Publishing | September 10, 2021 | 38 Pages | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Nikki Cooper is a second-generation owner of her family’s restaurant Two Jack’s Nik’s Place in San Francisco, where she lives with her husband and two children.
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