Come Together, Change the World

This book is such a wonderful story full of diverse children. Teaching racial justice is so important right now, and I love that it explains what it is and what to do to combat it (at the educational level of young children and with familiar characters). I love that the author and Sesame Street have taken a stand. I appreciate that it spoke, not just of skin color, but other characteristics such as hair, eyes, etc. It’s a great book to teach such an important lesson.

My niece will be 2 next month and she LOVES Sesame Street! I will be buying this book for her so we can talk about treating people fairly and with kindness. Great book!

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

Sesame street tackles the heavy issues. Racism is running rampant in the world. This book presents the topic in a way that children will understand. I pledge to be an upstander. Racism is a name on this world and we should all do our part to eradicate it.

Sesame Street is always a slam dunk with my 4yo, and this book was no exception. I am absolutely stoked that this book now exists, as the SS special on the topic was not a good match for my kid's attention span.

We read this book before bed tonight, and I was thrilled to answer his questions, like what does "unfair" mean and what is an "upstander." Then we climbed into bed, and after a little bit of quiet time, he had more questions about skin color, and it got a great conversation started about melanin and whether or not people can change the color of their skin. It was great to know that he was thinking about the book after we had finished reading it.

This is a very simple book, and I think that is absolutely perfect- it makes it accessible to.a wider range of ages and leaves a ton of room for good questions and conversations. I look forward to what future readings with my kid will spark.

Thank you for the copy!

I received an electronic ARC from Lerner Publishing Group through NetGalley.
Golusky offers information about racism and Racial Justice in simple to follow text for preschool and young elementary level readers. This is a terrific read aloud for families as they answer questions from their children and/or introduce the topic of being kind and caring. The blend of photographs and drawings of Sesame Street characters works as it offers familiar faces from the show and familiar skin tones from the photos.
Information about further research and a Glossary are provided at the end of the book.

In Come Together, Change the World, live photographs are paired with your favorite Sesame Street puppets to explain the difficult concept of racial injustice in a child-friendly way. Golusky helps children to see that "upstanding is outstanding," and described an upstander as someone who stands up for what's right in the world!

This book seems like it would be a great introduction to learning about racism and discrimination for some of my younger students. I like that it includes a glossary of terms, so even after reading the story (or before we read) we can check for understanding.

I felt the book could have been a little longer, but I also know that for some of my younger students, this might be the perfect length. I'm excited to read this and see how my students respond. I will say, though, when looking at pre-order pricing in order to have a physical copy of the book, it seemed a little more expensive than I was willing to pay for a short children's book (via amazon).

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me early access of this book in exchange for an honest review.